Maybe I should have seen it coming

Normally each room here has one plug. NOT one multi-outlet. One plug thingy. Like this:


Obviously that WILL NOT do. So we have one of these.




Which OF COURSE will not do. So we have one of these. It is either a "voltage regulator" or a machine that makes a lot of noise. And Yes RLM, we know NOW we should have forked out the extra $40 for the "regulator/suppressor" version :-p



Well, the regulator only has two outlets one that is 110v and one that is 220v. So, of course, we need two power strips.


This is for stuff that just won't handle the 220v power here. My beard trimmer and the Wii, namely.



This is everything else. Most electronics will take 110/220 and 50/60 cycles (check your cord). The computer does both, PDA takes both, portable DVD players take both. More importantly, the TV, DVD player, and router ONLY take 220.

The most interesting thing about our power is that is was running so low before. Like so low that at night our fluorescent lights wouldn't come on. So we asked for them to be taken out and something that didn't just constantly blink to be put in. Instead we got a voltage regulator for the whole house. So, the first day we burned 10 pieces of toast. Since we could now cook it on 1 or 2 instead of 7. Also, when we went to pay the electric bill it went from 168,000 to 256,000 which I didn't pay. Until I realized since all our lights work now the power bill should be higher. I never had that issue with the electric company before.

If you have counted correctly, you saw that we have 8 things plugged into that outlet. Its like Green Acres sort of. And if it makes you feel better, we had the printer unplugged during the photo (and the storms).

To What We Have Been Reduced

Yep. Board games ... even READING! Will the torture of soundless TV and no Wii never end? Alas, it has already been a DAY!!

Seriously, the camera wasn't here when I got home from school on Tuesday or I could have made some great pictures. The master bedroom had water everywhere. It was running down three walls and dripping in about 10 places, including 4 on the bed! NICE!!

I got the mattress moved to a dry spot and put out some buckets. Found all my shoes (except the ones I wore out in the rain) standing in a pool of water in the corner and moved them. Luckily a neighbor let us dry some blankets in her dryer since we don't have one. We put towels down under our sheet since you can't really turn the mattress over like you might expect. Then we were ready to roll.

And yes, I know that TECHNICALLY Connect Four isn't a "board" game. Thanks!

Say it Ain't So...

The last two days we have had strong thunderstorms in our area. Last night we had a lightning strike so loud we all yelled from various parts of the house. Later in the evening we noticed the TV worked but had no sound. Today when it happened we lost our Wii. Oh ... no ... faithful friend who made me a pro boxer just a few days ago. Fried. Crushing news that was for our children you can be sure. No sound is one thing ... but no Wii? Who can withstand that?

So I will now write a poem for the fallen Wii:

Oh, Wii.
Wii knew you so short.
Only a month you were with us.
And now. Wii are alone again.
With a TV that has no sound.
And subtitles in a languages wii can't read.
Oh, Wii.
How wii miss you.

Oh wait, we have insurance? That may change everything. Wii'll get back to you!!

(editor's note for the uninitiated: The Nintendo game system "Wii" is pronounced like the pronoun "We". Thank you.

Another one bites the dust

It hurt so bad. But it got out.

This is on our desktop...

A photo Angie made that sort of sums up this place for me. Mountains, sea, rice fields, banana and palm trees. Notice the people working in the field.

report on school

hooray i made it!!!

Let's Hear it for Universality!

Since we came to our house, we have named some of our rooms. Some normal (we simply call the kitchen "the kitchen") some not. Like one big room we call "the computer lab" even though there are no computers there. Hudson just called it that since someone has some extra desks stacked there. One room we haven't figured out is "the torture chamber". This little room had no door knob on the inside an a chain lock on the OUTSIDE of the room. Just seems like the kind of place people would get locked in for some kind of punishment.

Well, the inevitable happened recently, Bethany and Hudson went in there while playing and shut the door. Since there is no knob inside, they couldn't get out. I went to the knob that did exist and turned it and it turned. But the mechanism inside didn't. Not a good thing. After taking a screwdriver to the outside we were able to get the door open with little or no emotional scarring.

So I took the knob off, then had the bright idea to swap it with our bedroom knob since it won't lock and I can put the new one in our bedroom and we'll have a lock. The knob from the bedroom door went fine to the torture chamber. Then we went to a local store to buy a new knob with lock. No problem, got it for $3.75. Key and all! Yeah for privacy!!

Except when we got home, the new knob mechanism is too small. So we went to another store. Everything is either too big or too small. Go to another store. Same deal. Go back to the original store. Same deal. Too big we can find, too small we can find. Multiple pieces we can find. A match for the hole in our door and the holes in the door frame? Nggak ada (it sounds a lot like "ain't got it")!

My mind runs to Lowe's or Home Depot with aisles and aisles of knobs. All designed to fit the same hole no matter who made your door. Conformity? Uniformity? Universality? Privacy? Nggak ada!!

Weather

We get lots of questions about the weather here. Its "rainy" season here now. I say "rainy" since it hasn't actually rained for a week or so. The days without rain feel a little hot. But in reality we haven't seen the temperature in our house below 73 and never above 85 or so. It's great to watch the Glasgow forecast and see it was 7 Saturday night. We feel for you!!!

Since it stays so warm here, the plants keep on growing! Here is a picture of the guy cutting our grass. What you can see represents our entire yard. Not much room for baseball. This is a pretty normal way for the yards to be handled. Sometimes you see a guy attack a whole bunch with a small sickle or a straight knife.

Mango season has recently passed and now they are "really expensive" meaning last week I had to pay $1 for four or five. Now folks are eating rambutan:

Which is pretty good. After you get over the fact that the outside is kind of hairy looking and the inside looks sort of like an eyeball. Tastes more like a pear or something, though, in it's texture anyway.

Bethany and friend

Battling it out in exciting Wii tennis action! Notice here long hair. She is SO proud of it!!

Can't we all just get along?!?

One of the things we get pretty regularly when we talk about anything spiritual is this sort of thing: point at themselves, point at me, point at the sky, then give a thumbs up. Its sort of a "I'm OK, You're OK" thing folks have going on. I thought this picture summed it up great. Its from an English (language) book store near our home.

The books are:

The God Delusion by noted atheist Richard Dawkins
Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods
The Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad
The Qur'an
The Dalai Lama
Skip a book
Buddha or Bust
Skip a book
Then something about Jesus
A Pop Psychology book

Its interesting that so many different worldviews (basically) get along so well. Weird, but interesting.

Capacity?

Today we went shopping at a place that is always crawling with people and has the slowest elevators ever. It takes so long to park and get to the stores we've just started using the valet since we found out that it only costs a quarter. Except today, we had a friend with us so I didn't want to seem wasteful. So I parked.

Anyway, we were shopping and finally got finished and loaded into the elevator that stops at every floor (we got on at the top floor and parked in B3, the bottom floor). At some point I realized the elevator was full. Until we stopped again and more people got on. Then I counted. There were 16 people in a normal sized elevator. Not a hospital elevator with doors on both ends. A normal, everyday type of elevator. With 16 people.

That is one of the things about Asia ... you don't have to get lonely! Would you press B3, please?

Bad neighbors make good rats

The saga continues...

Last night we went to bed and just as we were about to fall asleep we heard a nice WHACK! There is nothing as satisfying to a hunter like me than the sound of a Victor rat trap. If you have only used the mouse version, you have no idea of the noise those traps can make on a tile floor.


Well, we got back up only to find the trap empty again. I reset it with little hope for that night. I think they are smarter than that. Except 30 minutes later (just as we are about to sleep) the trap cracks again! And this time we GOT that sucker.



Our house helper on seeing this photo assured us it was definitely NOT a big rat. Not like near her house. She also thinks we are exceedingly weird for taking pictures of dead rats. I don't feel we've got 'em all, though, and so the full armory is back out tonight. Sadly, we are catching lots of lizards with our glue trap. Lizards I like. Though wild they are welcome as our allies in the fight against insects.

This afternoon I learned our next door neighbors had moved out last week. Our landlord was showing me their house on the hopes we know someone who will rent it. When his wife mentions the people who lived there were "orang yang tidak baik" (people who are not so good). This we knew since they were in the habit of honking a horn every morning at 6am or before.

But I did start to put together: not-so-good-neighbors who have moved, their house now being cleaned, us all of the sudden battling rats. A little too much coincidence for me. Makes you wonder what YOUR neighbors are up to over there doesn't it?!?

I Ain't Your Man For That

There are a couple of big differences between the two of us. The way we sleep is one. Angie is a light sleeper, I am not. She is also a "what-was-that-do-you-think-you-should-check-it-out"? person. I am of the persuasion that things almost NEVER need to be checked out and IF they were to need checking, I CERTAINLY shouldn't be the person who has to WAKE up and do it. Just not your guy for that.

But last night about the time I get to REM sleep (which is like U2 sleep but not as cool and without as much staying power..) there was a noise. And worse than that--the question, "What was that?" "I dunno," I said. "Some kind of loud noise. I thought it was a dream."

Then the inevitable. "Don't you think you should check that out?" Of course not. I am sleeping. And what if its something bad? Do I look prepared for battle? "Oh, yeah." is my response. And what do I find?



My "humane" rat trap (maybe you should read the "Craig is a killer" post first) has been hit. This high quality trap allowed a rat to stroll inside, take a Hershey kiss from the hook, and then leave. And just for good measure he made a noise to wake Angie up. So I got awakened. Then I had to dig around and get out the traps from the USA my Mom shipped and set those. By the time all that was over, sleep had fled.

I was forced to the couch and even tried watching a documentary on Marie Antoinette on the Australian network. But to no avail. The rat is the victor in this round. But I will not be defeated. At least my lady can sleep well knowing I am here to protect her!

Wii boxing--fun for the whole family ('cept the LOSER)

Craig is a cold-hearted killer

The other day I found in a basket on top of our dining room cabinet some half-eaten Oreos in a ziplock bag. Now when you have kids, that sort of discovery is no surprise. But then yesterday as we went to make some sandwiches at lunch we found a HUGE chunk of our bread missing ... through a hole in the bag. And some suspicious droppings in the house. Tikus-besar. A RAT!

Its funny we started dealing with some OUTSIDE a while back but this daddy was IN the HOUSE. Not good. When we first started trying to find a decent trap here; we couldn't. We could find some humane traps that don't kill the rat but I have no interest in them. I kept describing how a real rat trap works and how the rat gets his back broken with such force his eyes can pop out (sorry, I get excited).

So I set some little glue mouse traps and the next day find they are just tossed aside like it was a joke. I set the big, metal, humane trap and the next day literally find it tripped and laying a few feet away. This dude is BAD.

I asked our lady who works with us, "What do I do with a rat after I catch him in this (the humane trap)?" "Oh, you can throw him in a river." "They swim. He'll come back," I say. "You can put him in the trash can," she helpfully adds. "They chew through bags and climb out."

Apparently they just have learned to live with rats here. But not THIS fella. I will kill him. I adopt the idea of pouring boiling water over the rat trapped in the cage. Maybe not as satisfying as beating him to death with a broom but easier at least.

So back to yesterday. We set some traps and I lay out this nice glue trap I bought and explain to the kids it will even trap an elephant (according to the picture on the box). If a kid gets caught up in it, there may be no getting them out. I opted for the glue trap since the idea of a broken backed eyeball-less rat on our snack counter was less than appetizing.

This morning we wake to find the glue trap in the floor. Just cast aside like before. "I will get you," I mutter. Then I pick up the trap only to find a rat underneath. Completely covered in glue and struggling for his life.

This is the cold-hearted killer part. I put him on the counter for a while while I waited for time to take out the garbage (our trash men collect on Sunday mornings, go figure). There he just struggles. Chest rising and falling rapidly until I finally fold the trap and throw him in the trash. No "putting him out of his misery". No throwing him the river. Not even any beating him with a broom. Just his struggling and my eating breakfast.

Angie did not allow me to cut off his head and place it on a stake on the yard as a warning to other rats. She also would not allow Bethany or me to make a photo (or video) of his struggling for this website. But he deserved it. Oreos are no laughing matter.

24

This weekend we finally finished watching season 1 of the show 24. Let me just say ... Dennis Hopper has the WORST east European accent I have ever heard. Other than that it was really good. We can see why folks get so addicted to it! now we just have to pace ourselves with season two.

What's for Supper?

So it is that time of night, when all the kids start asking the same question... What's for supper? Well, today we had a meeting at 3:30 and did not think it would last very long.. we were wrong about that, so no supper plans had been thought about. We got home around 5:30 and after thinking and discussing the situation, we decided we would take the ojeg ( motorcycle taxi) to a restaurant that is very close by because we did not want to be out very late. So off we go. Once we arrive at the resto, we find out they are closed. Now what? Take ojeg back to house and start again. ok this time let's take the car and go somewhere. After driving around and finally deciding which way to go we decide on a place to eat. A Thai restaurant. Pull into parking lot and get a call from friend who wants to eat with us. OK drive away from this place and go to another where they are waiting. Whew! Place order for everyone and wait. Food comes for everyone but Mom. Waiter comes over and we realize mom's order never got taken. OK now place order and wait again. Anyone who knows Angie knows she is the slowest eater of all. Food comes for Mom and finally everyone is ready to go. We arrive home around 8:30. So much for not staying out late huh?

Three others that I like:

Craig's Attempt at art

I took about 30 pictures of the sunset trying to be artsy. Turns out I am not. But I like this shot.

Back from the beach!

What do you get at the beach in rainy season? Any guesses? Yeah, rain. LOTS of rain. Everyday it rained. Some days it rained ALL day. But it was great anyway. We just swam and played right through it. Here are some pictures.

They had a great pool!

This is a back-to-the-beach-shot looking at the hotel. Each bungalow has its own little cabana thing so you can sit and look at the sea (and the rain) without getting burned (or wet).

These boats fish for all those great shrimp, lobster, mahi-mahi, snapper, etc.

This is what the boats look like up close.

Its been a while since we got to wear our shorts in public. We've got lots more but no one likes a vacation slideshow...

Food and People

One great thing about where we stayed was the cabin guy. He was sort of a housekeeper/shopper/cook all in one. And I didn't get a picture of him, sorry. Every morning he would go to the market for us and buy seafood and in the evening he would grill it out for us. These are some "medium" shrimp. Two pounds cost us about $7.50. They were unbelievable!


These are small lobsters! More work than the shrimp and probably not as good. We recommend the shrimp.


We stopped to buy something on the side of the road and I was making some landscape pictures. That is when these folks started saying, "Take our picture." Then we talked for a few minutes and he called over these kids. One went away screaming. I assume its because I look so much like a movie star or something. Don't ask why Bethany wraps her head, we don't know.

Fourteen

That is how many I can COUNT in the back of this truck we saw on the way back from the beach today. 113 miles took us a little over six hours to drive. Its amazing how little regard people have for their own lives ... as evidenced by their riding the bus here.