Self-Portraits

Everyone loves to get their hands on the camera!

Zombie Man!

Herein  we have well-documented the fact that people here come walking by selling all sorts of stuff.  They each have a distinctive ring, thing they hit or something they say.  This guy isone of the more interesting.  He comes by moaning for some reason.  We have no idea what he is selling/collecting/doing.

Angie was able to get this exclusive footage of him with his cart recently.  The "view" is from our master bedroom window, through our fence, and into the street.  Near the end you will see him "walking" (is he floating?!?) and giving it his best zombie moan!

Wahduh! Wendy's!

We have known there is a Wendy's in our town since we got here but we have never known where.  Sunday evening we set out to find it and to conquer some Frosties in the process! Some interesting notes: a "BIGGIE" here is a medium in the USA and the Frosty sizes went in this order 1) small 2) regular 3) medium.

With traffic, the trip took us about 30 minutes to a mall we had yet to visit. It seemed to have the same old mall stuff ... and a Wendy's! They have baked potatoes and the whole deal. Now to be honest we were not huge Wendy's fans in the US and actually could not remember our last trip to one when we tried. At least 6 months, maybe a year.

Of course they have rice for everyone! You can't get fries with a kids meal. Just rice. Every fast food restaurant (McDonald's, KFC, et al) has these amazingly similar balls of white rice. Usually people open them up and eat them like you would a sandwich, sort of, with the wrapper protecting your hand (or the food, depending on your perspective).

The instigator of this big excursion was Angie, who got Frosty on the brain yesterday and had been suffering from it for over 30 hours. Luckily she was happy and so we accomplished our mission. Here is a great idea: fast food right next door to a gym. Its the best location I've seen since Jewish Hospital had a Burger King about 5 floors below where they could do your heart bypass!!

Lowe's Delivers...but not like this

I love the guys who come by selling stuff!  Angie almost chased this guy down the street because we needed a new broom.  We didn't want to fork over the 50 cents they wanted at the store, so we held out for one that cost 22 cents.  Victory!  This price is just for the very small brush in the center of the photo.  One with a handle cost a dollar.   Of course we bought more stuff and our helper (the lady in the picture who is not Angie) said the man was charging us the "white skin" price.  Not much negotiating when you look like us--and take pictures.  Pictures tend to hurt your bargaining power since no one believes you are not a tourist if you take pictures.

Watching the Wheels Go By

Wednesday evening we made a trip to our local "Super Mall".  It takes us about 35 minutes or so to get there from our house depending on traffic and so its considered very far by most people around here.  I try to tell them before we were 45 minutes to the mall when we lived in KY but no one can grasp that concept.

The route we take to this mall takes us through a relatively high number of red lights.  And red lights mean people.  People selling maps and papers and water and light-up toys.  They also mean people playing guitar or rubbing your car with a feather duster for money.  

Each intersection kind of has its own identity.  Musicians or cleaners, maybe.  There are even a few that feature men dressed up like women who will dance and bat their eyes at you.  I have yet to figure out why I should give money to them, though, and so have yet to crack the window for those folks.  

There  are actually a few intersections that even have beggars (since none of the other folks are considered beggars). Mostly blind people or old folks.  Maybe some physically disabled person with flip flops on their hands and knees as they pull themselves through the streets.  Or folks with no fingers who receive your coins with their two palms.

On the way to the mall there is one intersection I hate to go through.  Its got these kids out there. Maybe with a stick and on the end of the stick a nail driven through a couple of bottle caps which they play for your change.  Or they just wander through the traffic while the light is red with their hands stuck out. 

"Don't give to her," I told Angie tonight.  The more money they get the more their parents will have them out in traffic.  Of course we gave anyway.  Some little kids carrying even littler kids on their hips are out there.  "Where are your parents?" we always ask.  "Over there," is the usual reply.  Over there.  Maybe in another lane, maybe on the side of the road, maybe at home--who knows?

On the way home we saw this guy--

To be honest this kid is doing pretty well. He had a little jacket and a hat. Millions don't have that. And this kid is no better off for having gotten a dime from me. He is probably still out there. Or getting ready to be back out there. I left the pictures big. Maybe you'd like to download it and put it on your desktop or get it printed out. It can help you remember the people "over there".

This post has become longer than it ought to be. But when you look at that little guy with his little guitar and see how close those cars go by. And realize you have something that can make a difference, then, I wonder, who is more to be pitied? The one who doesn't have or the one who has but doesn't do?

I am not trying to be preachy.  Just want to give you glimpses of two of my sides.  The two of these sides are perfectly summed up by my two favorite lines from A Christmas Carol:

"I wish to be LEFT ALONE; since you ask me what I wish."  Scrooge says this early in the story to the two who are asking him how much they can put him down for to help the poor.  "Oh you wish to remain anonymous?"  they ask.  "I wish to be left alone," he replies.  That is me quite often.

The second quote is from Marley not much later when Scrooge compliments him on always being a good man of business.  Marley replies, "Business?!?  Mankind was my business.  The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence were, all, my business!"  That is the other side.  DO SOMETHING!

Hey! There's a TOILET!

It's funny sometimes the things we take for granted without realizing it.  I, for one, have always taken the commode for granted.  I spent all my bathroom wondering time on the incomprehensible question of why McDonald's consistently has the dirtiest restrooms in the men's world.  Now its not McDonald's fault, because after cleaning there only needs to be one visitor before its a mess again.  I guess its a commentary on McDonald's clientele (you know who you are).

I have taken other restroom stuff for granted--like paper.  And wondered why some people would find it necessary to urinate on the roll or to throw the whole roll into the bowl.  "Where do these guys come from?" is usually what I think.  

But when you live in a place where there usually aren't commodes (or that you are as likely to find a "squatty" as a commode) you really start to appreciate these marvels.  Commentaries on restaurants here don't fall into the "star" categories.  Reviews from friends are like this, "It was good.  Cheap.  They have a great restroom with a toilet and they even have paper towels."  Paper towels?!?  That is too much to ask normally.  A restaurant is worth visiting just to dry your hands.

I was reminded of how much I take for granted when one day upon entering a restaurant restroom, Hudson cried, "Hey! There's a TOILET!"  What great news.  I think my nieces probably don't appreciate that kind of thing.  I know I wouldn't have at their ages.

I needed to experience one place in India where I literally had to hold my breath to be in there. I needed to experience always carrying my own "soft" (paper) in Ethiopia.  I needed to experience how those toilets at O'Hare airport have a revolving plastic cover that is always so fresh.  All those experiences help me realize the toilets at rest areas aren't that bad after all and I can laugh at people who exit refusing to go because its "SO DIRTY!"

Maybe Hudson's is a commentary about not expecting too much then being satisfied with what you get.  Its much easier to complain than to take what you get isn't it?

That one is a WHOPPER!

Funs in the Sun

We made it to the pool this afternoon.  Its about a 7 minute walk for us.  Swimming cost $3 per person.  You'll see Bethany on the high dive but she never actually went off it.  Of course it finally started raining and we were forced to retreat inside for lunch.  Forgive the photo quality--they are from my phone as we forgot the camera.

Celebration!

We decided to celebrate this week our successful completion of Unit 5 with something brand new.  We went to Tony Roma's.  We had heard so much about it but had never been so we tried it out.  

Let me just say, "WhoaNellie!"  That was some amazing eating!  When we saw the prices we decided we needed to be celebrating more stuff, so we added our sixth month anniversary here.  And the Wednesday award. And the fact that we found the place without asking directions.  And the fact that they had free refills on sweet tea.

I won't say what animal died to give up these ribs but I will say they were GOOD!  Ribs are not something you find here every day.  One guy told me about going to a "Steak and Rib" restaurant for Valentine's Day.  He searched and searched the menu for ribs and finally asked the waiter.  Then the two had a long discussion about the fact that "prime rib" was NOT in fact "ribs" but the waiter remained unconvinced.  

The hardest part, the prices are the same as the US, except for Angie's which was double US prices.  It was worth it, though!  I can still taste the BBQ sauce.

Eating Out ... REALLY out

This weekend we went to a traditional restaurant that gives you the chance to sit outside in a little hut on the ground and chow down.

This is Craig's meal.  Some white rice rolled up in a banana leaf, fried chicken, fried tofu (we are not fans of the whole tofu thing), some cold soup.

Not too bad for a couple of bucks but the place could use some cornbread for sure!!

Hanging in there

We have the great little lizards all over the place called cicaks.  Normally they are no problem but have caused us to completely scream like schoolgirls a few times.  Most notably in the morning when you put your bread in the toaster and pop it down and a cicak comes flying out as fast as he can!  

This little dude is hanging on a window inside and somehow he died; we didn't do an autopsy. He just hung there until he was dead.  Then Craig had to unstick him and throw him in the trash. He was sticky even in death.  Check out his cool toes!

Minta Maaf

Here is an apology for being "slow on the blog" this week.  I feel the only thing worse than no webpage is one that never gets updated!

Forgive me,

Craig

Jingle Bells

When folks go around selling door-to-door here they each have a distinctive sound.  This guy sells sate (or satay).  Its meat on a skewer and he grills it while you wait.  In his case VERY little meat but you get 10 sticks for 50 cents.  Not too shabby.

At any rate when he comes around he jingles these bells.  It sounds like Santa Claus is coming to town.  We actually were at a friend's house on Christmas night and the bells were ringing and the mom said, "I hear Santa!"  Which caused her kids to get almost frantic so she said, "Oh no. its just the sate guy.  Sorry." 

The funny thing was that we didn't have a sate guy in our neighborhood until about a week ago, then this guy bought a cart.  We were debating dinner on a Sunday evening when we heard him and so we had chicken-on-a-stick that night.  Then each night following he would come, bells aringing, and stand outside our door until we would go and say, "Not tonight, thanks!"

The interesting thing about sate is that the guy stands and fans his hardwood charcoal (yeah, Sam) the entire time.  I am not sure if the incredibly hot temperature does something besides get him on the road faster or not.

Finally in a real side note of what sellers are like here.  The first time we bought 20 sticks of meat. The guy kept asking, "Is that enough?" in an effort to sell us more.  The second time we bought 50 sticks and the whole time he was saying, "Wow, thats an awful lot."  Oddly, people want to sell but they don't want to sell too much and then not be able to work.  Even if they sold all they had. Some how its better to make your money over a longer period from more people but I haven't figured that out yet :-)

We Never Get Tired

of making bathroom photos.

This is a great one that says basically, "Boys use it like this. Boys AND girls can use it like this." And adds a helpful list of things not to put in the "closet" (aka commode); like a tea kettle apparently...

I never saw this at the Days Inn

While we traveled; this is one interesting thing we saw:

They had signs on the ceilings in the rooms to show which direction one should face while praying.  Methinks, though, some highjinks had been afoot because if you look closely it seems the thing has been pulled off the ceiling, turned slightly and reapplied.  Hmmm...a real mystery that I unfortunately couldn't solve as the free breakfast of rice and little bitty dried fish was calling me.

No need for words

All That TV Pays Off

As a kid I was always a fan of shows like EMERGENCY and Adam 12! Especially the cool eennn-ooohhh-aaahhh sound that would go off to signal the guys needed to get rolling. That of course was mixed up in my mind with Marcus Welby M.D. and Quincy M.E. and even the very bad E/R with George Clooney (not the one you are thinking of I have never actually watched the famous ER).

Anyway, all those reruns finally paid off today when we came across a real, live, bleeding guy laying in the street.  So now you are wondering ... which part of the "Good Samaritan" did Craig play?  The walk-on-by-kind or the help-him-out-and-pay-for-things-kind?   Well, neither actually.

We came across this crowd and said bleeding guy while the crowd was trying unsuccessfully to get him on his feet (they've never seen the shows so don't blame them for moving an injured victim, also there is no such thing here as liability so if they kill the guy its no skin off their nose for trying).  So they carried him a bit to a car seat which had been removed from the backseat of something and now serves as a bench of sorts.  All the while during the standing and carrying we had been trying to get the attention of folks to say we'd drive him to the hospital.

So finally we got that across and the guy was loaded into the car and I got to say, "eennn-ooohhh-aaahhh" in my mind.  It took all I had not to flash my lights and honk the horn.  When I got there the guy asked, "You want to park?"  "WHAT?!?  No!  I am a BIG time ambulance driver!"  So I parked and got inside and someone rolled me a gurney (seriously) and they followed me out so we could load the guy out of our backseat into the hospital.

Then, in the true spirit of benevolence I got out of there before people started asking me for money. Make no mistake racial profiling is a very real thing here and one look at my skin would put me in the wealthy bracket. 

I can still hear it in my head, "Adam 12, Adam 12, come in Adam 12."