Dear Pouran❤

Hi Pouran~

My mother and I miss you too~ The other day we were talking about you while we passed by the Bus Terminal.Therefore I went back home and search for the note that you wrote your email for me that day~ Lucky~ I still have it. ^^
How I wish that Malaysia snows too! haha~ It's getting hotter and hotter here in Penang.I think it's around 32 degrees out there?I just can't believe that there's merely rain and the heat here is already unbearable.I should really visit Sweden! I guess the people are nice and kind and it is a beautiful country~ and of course! I wanted to make snowballs...
Are you attending the Mathematics exhibition? I remembered that you've told us that you're a teacher. Teaching through Facebook? Wow~ That's new! I have never heard of this method before. It's surprising because I once read about an article saying that Facebook affects ones emotions and exposing their privacy~
My mum is as usual ^^ haha...It'll be Chinese New Year in 2 weeks time and so she's a bit busy with work, new year shopping and cleaning...Busy weeks ahead!
It was Thaipusam last Saturday. Have you heard of this festival? THAIPUSAM is an annual Hindu festival which they celebrate the 10th month of the Hindu calendar. It's a day of penance and thanksgiving for Hindus. Hindus believed that sins can be cleansed during Thaipusam.Several hundred devotees spear their cheeks with long, shiny steel rods - often a metre long - and pierce their chests and backs with small, hook-like needles in penance. People watch in awe as metal pierces the skin with hardly any bleeding and, apparently, no pain as the devotee stands in a trance in the dawn light after weeks of rigorous abstinence.My friend who is a Hindustan said that these are all about faith. No scientific answer towards these as they did all the piecing ..LIVE in front of the crowds. Haha...If you are here in Penang, you'll see many devotees carry kavadis. Kavadis is an ornate frames supported by metal spikes and hooks inserted into their bodies- without blood being let. Thousands of fresh coconuts are also smashed along the route of the procession. Fire walking is also common. Devotees enter a trance, feel no pain, do not bleed from their wounds and have no scars. I've attached some pictures on the celebration. One is about the Vel kavadi which is a portable altar decorated with peacock feathers and attached to the devotee through 108 vels pierced into the skin on the chest and back. Kavadi is a true experience in any Hindu community, especially in Penang !!!!
(You can also visit the Batu Caves. Many Hindustan come from around the world to celebrate Thaipusam there. They climb up the staircase to go to the temple up the hill. It's a big event too. See the attachments below~)
Do visit Penang again if you have time! Spend more days here. You can visit the seaside and go to Muka Head.(The one that I've told you that day. There's a National Park there as it is situated on the other side of the island. Many people go there for camping. They climb the hills starting from Batu Feringghi and it takes around 3 hours to reach there.)
Do write soon! Take care ~

Love Cindy.




p/s: I do wanna write about Thaipusam. But as you know, I am very lazy. So..I've decided to just paste the mail that I have written to a friend in Sweden. Miehaha... How clever I am. ^^