A Different Thanksgiving

By Zoe Yeoh

Most people spent Thanksgiving break catching up on unfinished work, sleeping in, or spending quality time with family. On the other hand, some of us decided to spend the weekend in Malaysia’s biggest city, Kuala Lumpur. 

“Woi, wasn’t it you guys who said be here by 5:45?” Caitlyn Chan (12) asked, raising an eyebrow at the group.

The day had started painfully early. We had all awoken around 4 a.m. to catch the 6:30 a.m. train to KL. While Caitlyn, Vennie Wong (12), and Ellie Park (12) arrived at the station on time, Annabelle Fan (12), Liv Gohan (12), and I showed up fashionably late at 6:15 a.m. There was a little delay because Annabelle had spent 15 minutes searching for her non-existent makeup bag, which she had supposedly left in school. 

Thankfully, everyone made it safely onto the train. The next four hours were spent sleeping, eating, talking, and of course, playing Brawl Stars. 

“I learned that you can never sleep in peace around friends; you will be targeted,” said Liv (12). 

Unflattering pictures were taken during this journey, none of which will ever see the light of day. 

When we finally arrived in KL, the first thing we looked for was food. As we walked around Pavilion KL, we stopped by Five Guys and ordered everything on the menu. After around twenty minutes, all that remained were empty wrappers and paper bags. 

With a satisfied stomach, our group headed to the next destination, the POPMART store. 

“I want the Alice in Wonderland poker card one!” Liv (12) exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. 

Annabelle (12), the blind box expert, skillfully took up each POPMART box and shook it; listening intently to the way the figure bounced around in the box. “Since the figure is pretty tall when you shake the box up and down, it shouldn’t have much space in between; however, if you were to tilt it side to side, since the figure is flat, it would shake around much more,” she explained confidently.

When I first heard Annabelle say these words, I thought she was crazy. There was no possible way someone could be this competitive, especially when it came to POPMART blind boxes, but I trusted her instincts, and sure enough, we walked out of that store happy with our choices.

After our little shopping spree, we headed towards the next, much bigger mall, TRX Exchange Mall. 

“Shopping is a sport,” Annabelle (12) said exhaustingly as the five of us trailed behind Ellie, who seemed to have boundless energy, stopping at every store possible. Liv was a close second in the shopping race, also scurrying around looking for her Armani blush in the shade 62, which was, unfortunately, all sold out everywhere. 

Finally, we returned to our Airbnb with our feet aching. This was only the first day. Who could’ve predicted what adventures the next would bring?