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."

Ahoy Matey!

So we went and saw this huge boat. OK, really it was a remake of an old ship like the ones used by Europeans to come to SE Asia and pillage the area and steal its natural treasures and spices, etc. But this one is just a museum. No real pillaging here.

It was amazing to see the size of it and think of folks going so far in the 1500s. It made me thing of two things:

1)  The USA has very little history. 1776 is pretty new compared to the rest of the world
2) Pity for the people who have never been out of Temple Hill (as awesome as it is)
Some cheeky monkeys.  Very into posing.  It was our first real day of driving and they still had a sense of humor.
Hudson was not fond of how this guy looked.  The hair was especially weird.  Touching it seemed to help.  Him, not me.  It looked to nappy for me to touch.  I am not sure if the statue is supposed to look Portuguese or not.  He seems asleep at the wheel, though.

Hopelessly Devoted To You

Sudah Pulang

Well, we made it home from our trip.  As usual the worst part were the roads coming home!  But we are safe and sound and headed to bed!!!!!

Something stinky this way comes!

One great experience we had was eating with a local family.  After dinner we went to someone's house where they broke out a fruit that is a favorite in SE Asia.  It's called durian and it has a very distinct aroma.  Only once had Craig come close to trying it (an ice cream sample) but this night there was no getting around it.  Its actually so strong its not allowed in our hotel at all.

The word "enjoyment" just can't convey it!  Its actually not so bad if you can get it in your mouth quick enough.  The stuff smells like a person sauteed garlic and onions ... then put it in a garbage can.  Out in the sun.  For a month.  Check out Uncle's eyes.  He is TOTALLY digging it. "MMMMMMmmmmmmMMMMMmmmm, now THAT is good!"

Caleb even tried it!

The hardest sell, though, was Angie. We ALMOST had to resort to the "Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!" chant.  But in the end cultural expectations won out and she shoved it in and got it down! YEAH!!  Notice Hudson's reaction to his proximity.  Like his Daddy his face rarely hides his feelings.

Our friend said the problem for most people was the fruit's texture.  Angie disagreed.  She said it was the taste and the smell that made it so bad.  What a trooper.  Some other shots of the evening:

Incredibly awesome folks who know a lot more about hospitality than we do, (they couldn't believe we were staying at a hotel and not with them).  Man what a great opportunity we are having to do stuff we never dreamed of doing!

We're still out here

Just know many folks are wondering, we are still out here and OK!!  The hotel internet cost $4 an hour and many of you know how Craig is ;-).  We are at a restaurant with free Wi-Fi now.  Woo-Hoo!!

At any rate we are house hunting and the men spent 12 hours in the car yesterday cruising up and down streets.  Angie and the kids had slightly less but still a bunch.  

Angie got her first invitation to someone's house on Wednesday and we got to watch American Idol (although it was on from 10-11:30pm).  Tough stuff but sometimes people have to sacrifice for things they like (i.e. Angie and Caleb stayed up and the rest went to bed).

We'll update again when we can.  Tonight we'll be at a new hotel so maybe we'll have better access then.

Continuing Trip News

For those of you interested in small details...on Saturday Angie made it to IKEA (shout out to the Booth's and Abby) but unfortunately Craig and the kids had to miss it. They went to a mall close to where we are staying and hit the local TGIFridays. We were pretty blown away they had free refills (even of Diet Coke) and the kids ate free with an adult meal. Another shocker--McDonald's does free refills here, too. In our city you can't even get a free refill of water normally.

After we left TGIF we found a ToysRUs, which was pretty cool.

For Easter breakfast we had an egg and bread concoction with fish curry. YUMMY! Then after worship and lunch we rode a couple of trains into a nearby city and took the kids to a park.

It had fountains where kids were playing and a ton of playground stuff. As you can see Hudson was not allowed to get his pants wet.

This is a picture with some random strangers who wanted a picture with the girls. Angie was almost on some sort of TV program but the people didn't actually have permission to be taping so while they discussed it with security, we took off.

It was BLAZING hot, though, and so the playing was cut short for some ice cream instead. Hope your Easter is great!!

Eww...Honey I think there's a leech on me!

This is where we were standing the first time I ever heard my wife say those words. Right under that shelter. And you know what? She DID have a leech on her. Now had another person not already pulled one off her kid maybe we wouldn't have known right off what it was. But it was. And it was something ... squiggly like a worm and hard to catch and kill! Now there was some discussion about whether or not the same leech got ahold of two different people. I am undecided. I know this sounds cliche but all those leeches look alike to me.


This is a picture of our dear children in the leech-infested water. Don't worry this was taken AFTER the leech removing. This is safer than you think it is. Really. We don't think it was leech "infested" actually.

After the leech and lunch (then we moved to a new spot). Then we had the wading/swimming. THEN after some Good Friday reflection time we had an Easter Egg hunt with some eggs the kids had colored at a friend's house.


But you guessed it. A bunch of monkeys showed up and tried to make off with the eggs. One little guy actually DID find an egg and get ahold of it. It was one of the easy eggs, though, like for Hudson. I wasn't very impressed. What did you think I was going to say, "It started raining" or something?!?

I'm too sexy for my shirt...

Angie got a haircut on Friday. She was going to have her eyebrows waxed. That was the whole point of going to the overpriced salon we went to. They said, "We will cut your hair while the wax warms up." So the lady cuts her hair. Then the hairdresser explains that she is not comfortable putting that hot wax so close to Angie's eyes and offers to do it with a razor blade instead. A razor blade like you use in a box cutter Angie tells me. YOUCH! I'd rather have a unibrow than either of those treatments!

Anyway, all the while I was reading "The Nutcracker" which someone sent to us in a package. After the haircut I was explaining to her the differences between the book and the ballet and she explains to me how very UN-MASCULINE it is for me to be reading The Nutcracker. Seems she got a lot of freedom from that haircut. She was honest with herself ("it looks horrible") and honest with me ("its kind of fruity that you are reading The Nutcracker").

So, she has a new hairdo and I have started reading only BowHunter magazine (actually I just look at the pictures, I don't even read it)!

Thanks Cubbies!!

We got a great box this week from the AWANA cubbies at Calvary! You guys are AWESOME. THANK YOU so much!!!

Back up to 24

Good news--one bootleg movie store was back open today and they had the second season of 24 IN STOCK for just $6.

Even BETTER news--this is just one day after we finished downloading our four missing episodes from iTunes at a grand total of $8.

Oh well.

Language Helper

Now Hudson can watch TV with Mom and Dad and everyone is learning something. Notice at the end Hudson says, "Mickey speaks English." And he does. Just not on that show.

And the rain rain rain came down down down

This week we have learned the meaning of "rainy season" as it has rained everyday. Sometimes HARD, sometimes steady for hours. But it has rained. Everyday. Monday night we went out with our classmates to celebrate the end of Unit 4 (we all passed). When we got home we found the roof leaking and tik-tik-tik (that is the sound of drip-drip-drip here) right onto our bed. OUCH!



We pulled back the covers to find only the bedspread was wet. Then we yanked off the mattress, did this Laurel and Hardy thing trying to get it out our bedroom door and plopped it in the living room floor. However, Angie decided the mattress on the floor was a little too close to things that crawl around in the dark, so she chose to sleep on the couch. Later a friend helpfully reminded her that the roaches here can fly.

At any rate, Craig spent the night in the floor and Angie on the couch while the tik-tik-tiking continued on our box springs. Our new theme this week has been THANKFULNESS and so here is what we found to be thankful for as we missed our bed--At least it started leaking BEFORE we went to bed. How bad would it be if it started leaking 15 minutes after we got to sleep?



This action shots somewhat how Craig looked at 4:30 when the prayer call woke him up (you can't hear it in our bedroom).

On bugs and things

Today we asked a couple of people about using flour that had bugs in it. One lady said she would thrown the whole bag away--like many of you from the States recommended. Another said, "Throw it away. No wait! If you could sift it somehow and it's not expired, I'd use it." I told her how we sifted it with our spaghetti strainer and she agreed it was a fine idea. Throw away nothing if you can help it! Now you have raised some interesting questions about eggs that could have been in the flour and our eating them. Which I guess we answer the same way--throw NOTHING away if you can. And deworm your family every six months.

Kami sudah senang sekali!

Tadi pagi kami ada evaluasi untuk Unit empat di sekolah. Dulu, saya sedikit kuatir tetapi kami percaya mereka mau kami bilang dengan baik. Jadi, kami dievaluasi oleh para pelatih dan waktu kami selasai, mereka berkata kepada kami bahwa kami berdua boleh naik ke Unit lima. Pasti kami senang sekali dan kami pergi ke bioskop untuk traktir.

Translation: We passed our evaluations at school today and get to go to Unit 5 on Monday. We celebrated with a movie! WOOO-HOOO!