Super Bowl Action

We are getting the Super Bowl live here in SE Asia.  The bad part is we don't get to see any of the special US commercials.  

They did show a bit of Bruce Springsteen.  I was amazed at his versatility to change up Glory Days from "Throw that speed ball by ya" to "Throw hail Mary pass."   That is true artistry.  You don't get that from Nelson.

My favorite part has been that the game is called a "match" like its soccer or cricket or something.

Another Tough Saturday

There we were ... hard at it!  OK, actually we were getting foot massages while somewhere in the mall a store was BLARING Hotel California and I was trying to read my book on Benjamin Franklin.

I was stuck between laughing at the fact that you can hear Eagles (according to Steve Martin its Eagles and not The Eagles). 

 Anyway, while I'm trying not to laugh and trying to not cry out in pain while this woman  sought to pull off my toes I found it quite difficult to read about the Revolutionary War. Some.
Saturdays are just rough like that.
Afterward we went on a hunt.  Rumor had it that there was a McDonald's in our town that we had not yet visited. We thought there was no way but it turns out that there was one we had yet to grace with our tea time presence.  

In between all this work we took Caleb in for an immunization we ordered a few months ago and had neglected to get.  That is one of the things we love about living here.  On the spur of the moment you can decide to go to the doctor and be in and out all done and paid up in 15 minutes!!  That and its only $7 to have your feet rubbed for half an hour...

Still American

Today I went to do some business at a local shopping center and was reminded how American I still am.  What would cause such a reminder?  10:30am, that is what!

I got to the place early (9:45am) so I knew I needed to wait.  I got myself a lime tea and worked for a while on my computer waiting until well after 10 since people who open at "10" often don't show up til a quarter after or so.  Well at 10:30, I finally was reminded that at this particular shopping center most people don't even show up to start the opening process until at least 11am.

Finally I gave up and just left figuring I'd come back later.  When I did--at 12:30--there were so many people there I couldn't find anywhere to park.  Part of this because its Chinese New Year time.  That means the public schools are all closed for a week and half (or more) of the businesses are closed all week, too.   Some just says stuff like "We will be closed 25 January until 27 January for Chinese New Year" then they just stay closed on the 28th for good measure.

How do I know I'm still American?  Because stuff like that still bothers me :-)!!

Hey, where da meat is at?

Tonight for supper we had these frozen "chicken" nuggets and fries for supper.  I say "chicken" because that is what the bag called them but a goodly percentage of them, once opened with our sharp teeth, looked like this.  Empty as Scrooge's heart.

Its bad enough that I refuse to take my wife out to eat on a national holiday but to then be faced with hollow nuggets is a pretty shabby deal!!

I am not sure if these things never had any meat in them or if they have laid about for awhile and some ants got inside and carried away the chicken bit by bit over the course of time.

If you are curious about the taste I can only say it was Taste Number Two.  You see I have two tastes: coffee and hot sauce.  These worthless things were covered in so much sambal, I couldn't tell you if mine had any meat in them or not.

Another One??????

Yes I, Bethany lost another tooth!!!! And I pulled it! Daddy told me to push back on it. I did and it made a popping noise. Then I went to the kitchen and got a paper towel. I tried to pull it and it cooperated very well! Then I shouted I pulled it!!!

Happy New Year (Take Two)!!

Monday is Chinese (or Lunar) New Year, it will be the year of the Ox.  This is HUGE HUGE HUGE in Asia.  I mean HHHUUUGGGGEEEEE!!  People are even now beginning to travel and are heading home for some time with family.  Lots of people close their businesses for a whole week, most everything is closed Monday and Tuesday.  Which makes Hudson happy since he has no school :-)!

Some things are traditional with this holiday no matter where it is celebrated.  They decorate with red and orange since they are the colors representing luck and wealth.  People eat special food, get new clothes, and give gifts.  The kids especially love it since anyone not yet married get small red envelopes from friends and family.  Even in Glasgow, our little friend Reuben said he will get envelopes with $50 or $100. "Never a one dollar," he informed us.  Not too bad for a 10 year-old.

We seen this all over nowadays.  They are mandarin oranges.  As far as I can tell enough oranges are sold around now for every man, woman, and child to give and receive one box.  I have no idea what they are doing with all these oranges.  Every store and alongside the road you see stacks and stacks of them.

A neighbor gave us a few.  To prove they are authentically Chinese they include this delicious bit of English:   "Juicy, sweet and sour taste sweet, good taste alone at home and abroad, said the."  If you've got writing like that, you've got the real deal.  Enjoy said the.
Since everyone goes visiting from house to house people need to buy lots of drinks.  This is four baskets (or baskarts, or buggies depending on where you are from).  These are full of "100 Plus" is a kind of drink that tastes really bad but has the word isotonic in its name.  I'm not sure what that means but you can get it just about anywhere around here.  The groceries have set-up special outdoor sections to hold all the soft drinks, beer, and soy milk that is being sold.  I'm not sure who the bear-faced kid is...

We have this same set-up in about 5 malls.  They have done some Chinese dancing and stuff.  Also yesterday we saw one place that had been having "Drinking Coffee Contest" and "Eating Sushi Contest" which I'll bet were both interesting.

This is (if I'm not wrong) the god of prosperity.  One mall had a guy dressed up in a costume like Santa Claus giving out gold coin shaped chocolate candies.  I've seen small versions inside some temples around here but nothing like this huge guy.  

Prosperity is the main deal at least as far as advertising goes.  McDonald's has the Prosperity Burger, KFC has prosperity deals, all the signs say, "Wishing you a prosperous New Year."  Its the most important part of new year--money, health, good luck, etc.

So, want to participate?  Go out and buy some mandarin oranges or tangerines and drop them by your local Chinese buffet on Sunday night and tell the folks,"Happy New Year."  One year in Glasgow, we even got invited to the midnight bash with all the special food.   They couldn't wait for the folks to clear out that night!!

We've seen ads this week telling people which things to buy for the new year for good fung shei.  Like a tiger statue to scare away bad luck or a special kind of knife to cut away problems and bring you prosperity.  Maybe you know a secret about riches and glory that you'd like to share with some folks who have never heard it.  This is a great time of year, drop by and give it a shot!!

That Was No Threat!!

One thing we battle against while we live in Asia is people's perceptions of Americans.  A great deal of that is rolled up in culture.  Someone here might say, "I don't like Americans because they are rude."  I say, "Rude?  Have you been to America?"  "Yes," they respond "I went to New York."

"Well now hold on," I generally say, "New York?  I don't like them either.  They are rude."  Then I try to explain about the cultural differences between northerners and southerners.  One being direct (which is seen as rude but isn't necessarily and I am joking when I tell them people from the North are rude) other people are more indirect.  Now indirect people can be more difficult since they will often just flat-out lie in the name of being nice to you.  They will say with a smile, "Your new haircut looks great!!" Even when they think the opposite.

Well all of that to say as we watched the episode of American Idol taped in Louisville I was left a tad confused.  The first 30 minutes they promoted the goober who "threatens" the judges.  Only to find out the defeated dude doesn't say anything except, "Goodbye."

Technically he said, "Be careful."  In KY (maybe the whole South) that means "goodbye."  Only a Yankee or a bunch of Left Coasters could think that was a threat.  Here is an impromptu list of other ways to say goodbye in the Bluegrass and how they could be mistaken by people from the North or West.

• Ya'll Go With Us ---  What is that supposed to mean?  Am I under arrest???
• Well, I better get --- You better get what???  A gun???
• Ya'll take care --- Take care to do what?  Lock my house??
  

Also, I think most of those really weird people were from Ohio and not KY.  Don't get me wrong there were plenty of Kentuckians to be ashamed of but they weren't threatening anyone.

Got any other ideas?  Post 'em for me!!

January, O January!

Having one heart with our brethren in KY and the midwest who are suffering with freezing temps this week, we update you on our weather courtesy of the thermometer Angie got me for Christmas.  This was about what it looked like when the experiment started.  87, our start time was about 12:45, so this is actually an "after" shot ... just pretend with me.

So we put the outside transmitter dealie in the direct sunlight and waited.  After 3 minutes it was already 100!!
Fearing it would break, I put it back where it normally goes.  On a shelf outside and not in the direct sun.
I forgot to take a picture before I moved it.  The temp got up to 109!!!   By the time I got it in the shade and got inside to take the picture it was down to 102 and continued falling (even though the arrow says its going up).

Notice that inside it was 83.  I've yet to see it get below 81 in the house.  But each night its been getting to around 75 outside.  When we wake up the humidity is around 85% but falls pretty quickly.

Spectacular Spectacles

After some foot dragging by ole Dad Bethany finally got her eyeglasses on Saturday.  She had been tested here and again while we were in Glasgow (for good measure) but we waited to actually buy the glasses where they were cheaper ... er, I mean ... easier to get adjusted.

You can tell she looks awesome and since she can actually see with them its been no real problem getting them to be used.  

ABC = Refreshing

One great snack you can have when you visit here is A.B.C. which stands for air batu campur or translated 'mixed ice'.

This delicious concoction brings together some unusual flavors.  See how many you can spot in the photo.  You start with shaved ice, then add chocolate and strawberry syrup. Don't forget to add the peanuts and finally the creamed corn.  Getting refreshed already, aren't you?  But wait ... there's more!

You drink away the juice with the provided straw and eat some of the ice.  So cool and delicious you forget about the delicious surprised hidden below the shaved ice.  Only after eating for awhile do you find the pile of tiny jello cubes and the soft, delicious red beans.  Now that is a tea time dessert well worth the 70 cents you had to shell out for it!!

Prosperity and Richard Marx

Its Chinese New Year time which means everything has turned red (its somehow the official color of rich) and prosperity.  So I'm sitting at McDonalds and "working" while listening to Richard Marx and looking at signs for the Chicken Prosperity Burger.

Anything with prosperity in the name must be good, right?  I wonder though if I will be doubly rich if I eat the DOUBLE Chicken Prosperity Chicken Burger.  

Its so weird to be among such foreign stuff and hear cheesy music like Richard Marx.  I feel like he is sucking the prosperity out of the place...

Americans Love Their Dogs

Just thought you might like to know how the new president is playing in Asia.  You see America has elected its first African-American president and he will be going into office on Monday.  So what are Americans thinking about this historic occasion?

Why, of course, its what kind of dog Obama is buying for the White House.  Fancy dog or pound mutt?  The BBC loves to run audio from people who seem to have nothing more important to worry about than whether or not the Obamas save some dog from lethal injection.

Another guy was interviewed today about his cross country trip in a bus collecting signatures on a petition that would somehow force Obama to plant an organic garden on the south lawn of the White House.  Isn't the compost heap on Capital Hill enough (rim shot!)?

Here the local news is dominated by Palestine.  Every day the local papers have pictures of bloody children and stories about Israel's aggression.  News from the US?  Dogs and organic gardens and recycling.  I'm sure there is more going on, we just don't get to hear it.  

Off to School

Hudson started preschool today.  Around here something like that will get you the "Special Davis of the Day" plate.  Which was filled with dry cereal because that is how Hudson rolls.

He looks great in his new uniform. You can see why I thought he had suspenders (its actually a "vest" that is sewn as part of the shirt).  This is the traditional 'at the front door with your backpack on the first day of school' picture.  A staple at our house.

The actual drop-off was slightly traumatic and included a bit of crying.  Once inside the lady told him that if he stopped crying and got down she would call his mother, which he later found out was a big, fat lie but he did stop crying.  He even made some new friends.

We had fun playing the which-one-is-your-kid game at pick-up time since he is the only white kid there.  Its something we invented while watching Bethany at ballet.   After school he got to pick lunch and we ended up at Pizza Hut.  That means since coming back Saturday we have been to McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut ... the trifecta (or the hat trick if you are from up north).  

Home Sweat Home

Its so great to be back home.  Sweating.  For Christmas Angie got me a digital thermometer with the humidity reading, an outside sensor, weather forecast, et al.  So. I am going from room to room saying, "Whew...its 84.2 in here!"  And it is.  Right now at our dining room table at 8:53am, it is 84.2 with 69% humidity.  But you know what??  I am SO glad!  All those frigid KY days and nights can help a guy appreciate a little sweat on January 11th.  

So far we have been trying to unpack and get things put away.  Its a chore since we left with 2 suitcases and came home with 9!  The customs people looked, turned away, looked again, opened their mouths, closed them, took a step, stopped, then finally just let us go on.  Who wants to mess with a bunch of greasy-haired, exhausted white people at midnight?  We are not that interesting (except to TSA in Louisville who opened nearly every bag).

It seems there was some sort of debate in the neighborhood as to whether or not we were returning.  Our friends said people kept commenting, "They've been gone a long time.  They're not coming back."  And they would assure them we were coming home it was just a super long vacation.  So around here instead of people greeting us with, "You look good!"  They are saying, "Hey ... you came back!"

BTW, Sympathy to all you Titans fans.  Who can we pull for now: Eli or Big Ben?

Home Sweet Home

We made it back home today!  We are now sitting around trying to keep our eyes open until a reasonable bedtime.  We were able to eat some local food today (after finding ourselves at McDonalds at 3am this morning after our midnight airport arrival).  

Tomorrow we will try to put up some pictures and news about our trip but first we need some sleeeee......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hungry?

One thing that is incredible during our vacation in the States is the food.  Take today for example, we are trying to meet with some friends.  The easiest way to do that is at a restaurant.  So not only do we have all three meals planned with friends today, we have been eating in-between.  

Just recently we've been to Moose's BBQ, Steak N Shake, Panera Bread, Red Lobster, Rafferty's, Cracker Barrel, Zaxby's, Chuck E Cheese ... whew.  We've eaten (or will eat) Mexican, Indian, Chinese, and lots of Southern cooking (i.e. anything you can find, bread, and deep fry).

How in the world can people eat so much?  Happily is my only answer!!

A Vow Broken

Where we live we have KFC, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, and of course, McDonalds.  So when we were planning our trip to KY, I promised not to eat once at McDonalds.  Then today we needed to return a Christmas gift in what I always considered a pretentious part of town.  Being there I knew we'd be able to find a nice bagel place.  Or an a muffin place.  Or even a Chik-Fil-A.  But not a one was to be found--even after 30 minutes of searching.

This was how I found myself at McDonalds this morning.  I did at least try to do something different, getting the breakfast burrito and remembering why I made my vow.  Then I tried to make it better by opening it and eating all the guts out with my bare hands like I would at home.  No help at all.  I still tasted like a McDonalds burrito (possibly the lowest point in burritodom, lower even than frozen ones I would cook in the microwave as a teenager).

I wonder a few things about people around here after spending over a year in Asia.  Like why we have never adopted the habit of eating rice for breakfast.  I mean people in Georgia eat pig intestines and lots of folks eat nasty stuff like grits and hominy.  Can't we get some rice around here before lunchtime?  

Also I wonder how people live when its so cold.  I guess they make it in KY because they know the weather will always change soon.  Sunday we had single-digit temps here.  Tomorrow, less than a week later, its forecast to be in the 70s.  That is seriously crazy.

Attitude

One thing we are not prepared for as parents is having the attitude that comes with little girls.  Angie is a bit better equipped to deal with dramatic stuff (although not totally prepared).  Poor ole Dad just says stuff like, "Why are you crying? ... Well, are you ugly? ... Well then he's stupid so just ignore him."  Which it seems is not all that helpful.

But if you find a cool afro wig how can you not bring on some 'tude?

The Supper of Champions!

Nothing beats eating at Grandma's house. You can have delicious, nutritious suppers like Crunch Berries and Funyons. Yummy!!

Bethany Baptism

Sunday morning we baptized Bethany in Glasgow! The obvious highlight of the trip!!

Updating

Some update on what's been happening in KY:

--Bethany was baptized this morning (pictures/video ASAP)
--Its FREEZING!! Tonight its supposed to be 4 degrees F (-15C) with a lot of wind...
--Our new Macbook arrived and has been downloading updates all day...
--When asked yesterday if he liked the Wildcats Hudson said, "I don't like High School Musical at all."
--Yesterday Craig spent multiple hours in Barnes and Noble
--Angie has been to Wal-Mart 16 times
--We have eaten pork every day
--We've been here six days and Angie STILL hasn't made it to Cracker Barrel
--Santa Claus is coming to town

Guess that is all for now. We'll get some actual pictures up whenever the camera, USB cable, and computer all end up in the same room at the same time :-).

Christmas Story

This week we ordered a new Macbook and now I am like the Dad in "A Christmas Story" waiting for the Fed Ex man to arrive. Except I am not expecting a huge wooden crate and I know what's inside.

I probably will say, "Fra-gee-lay, must be Italian" like he does when it arrives, though. The sad thing is that we are about to leave for Glasgow and so it will likely sit here all weekend without my being able to play with it and ignore all my family and friends in the process...

The Macbook deserves better than that. People? Hmmm ... can I get back to you on that?

Has Anyone Seen My Sun?

Every parent knows the panic of losing a kid in a crowded shopping center. This Christmas season we have lost something almost as important in the midst of all our shopping: a big, blazing, hot star in the sky.

One thing about living in SE Asia is that we have great weather ... if you like 90 degrees and lots of humidity. Sure lots of days we talk about how normal, everyday things can induce an all-over body sweat. Things like washing dishes or hanging out clothes. You can't even imagine what vacuuming does to you!! But we have the sun almost every day. Lots of blazing-hot-beating-down-sun.

Since arriving in KY, we have yet to see our big friend in the sky. It has been cloudy and cold everyday. Well, except today when its warming up but raining. I remember one time a few years ago when we went a month in Glasgow with no sunshine at all. So when it finally appeared again, I skipped out of work and got Angie for a drive. It was just good to stand there and let it hit your face!

We are getting a good taste of why in the winter of '06 we kept telling ourselves, "This is our last winter for a few years." Wow! Its hard to remember people live like this all winter long. I think of friends we know in Russia and other places and think how glad we are we're not them :-).

Blah! Blah Blah!

We made our first Wal-Mart trip in 14 months today. Its pretty much the same. One thing that struck me (though its not different from last year) is everyone standing around talking on the cell phones. I must've heard snippets of 50 riveting conversations. "Oh, I'm at Wal-Mart...what are you doing?"

Since where we live almost everyone deals in the pre-paid cell phone world, we don't see so many people talking ... they just send text messages. So instead of hearing everyone blabbing away, every fifth or sixth person has their head buried and is click-click-clicking away.

Some other things interesting to us so far: driving on the "wrong" side of the road again, free refills, Big Red (the awesome drink not WKU's idiot mascot), cold toes, and almost everyone speaking a language we understand. I was looking out for Asians the whole time today.

Snowing!

The KY people did it up right and had a winter storm warning for our arrival. The kids have been having a great time running outside and Bethany felt the need to dump a bunch on her head. So bathtubs, snow, sausage and gravy, and White Castle have gotten off to a good start. We'll stick up some pictures s soon as we can.

Gone a Long Time

"You go to UK?"  the man asked me.  

"Uh, no.  We've been to such-and-such a country."  

"No.  To the University of KY," the man says pointing at my shirt.  "I'm a UK grad."

Which makes me think ... we've been gone a long time.  You see in our context UK is "THE UK" as in The United Kingdom not as in THE University of Kentucky.  
So here I am in my wildcat shirt in Korea and a UK grad is asking me how the new coach is going to do this year.  

And I am thinking that I don't even know what the new coach's name is and haven't watched a UK game in about three years.  I am glad we go through Immigration in Chicago since if someone read this about me not knowing the UK basketball coach's name, I could be denied entry into the country if Immigration was in Fountain Run or something.

The airport has Dunkin Donuts, too. We have these in our town, too, but we never go there. Here they have great CHristmas theme donuts. So we got to have a unique cultural moment. We were speaking English to the Korean girl behind the counter while listening to Feliz Navidad on their little radio. How great is that? Thats global, baby.

Badminton

Where we live badminton is a sport.  A real, live, get all sweaty, pay to watch it sport.

So we got a net for the yard, just to find out no one has a net.  They just play in the street.  Oh well.  We're weird like that.

Here are some action-less shots of the awesome sport being played recently at our house.

Notice we have a nice man who comes around with a weed eater and takes care of our "lawn".  

For him taking care of it is trimming off ALL the grass so that when it rains all day (like today) its a huge muddy mess.  Turns out when you mow your yard like this you do not need to do it as often, though, which is nice.

So badminton .... its not as compelling maybe as Jarts or that game when old me stand on boxes and throw washers into holes but its not just for family reunions anymore.

Transplanting

As part of Bethany's science she grew some plants from seeds and we finally got them stuck in the ground last week.  It seems a bit weird that its so cold in KY and we are still sweating every day, feeling the sun beat down, and working in the yard.  That is how we roll here.

Each of the kids actually had a pot: Bethany--cucumbers, Hudson--tomatoes, Caleb--chili peppers.  Selecting the spot was tough.  Most of the yard doesn't drain well and the soil is just like KY, a hard clay that actually bent my junky garden trowel!

The other big concern was the fence.  You see, I wanted the plants close to the fence to help with staking them but we use the fence to hang our clothes on (they dry much faster on the fence than our fancy drying rack).

Finally we settled on the corner since there is a "volunteer" tree just on the other side that has a bunch of thorns but not much in the way of leaves.  The tree inhibits laundry but not the sun.

Hope it makes you feel better about your cold weather to see us sweating in our shorts in December :-)!!

Sacrifice Day

On Monday our neighbors celebrated the Feast of the Sacrifice.  We were invited to watch and see what all the excitement was about.  Our neighborhood sacrificed six cows.  Hoping you are not to squeamish here are some photos.  The first being the most graphic ... sorry!

This guy was in charge of separating the head.  And he was doing so with a hatchet.  I tried to get a picture of him with the ax at the top of its swing but finally gave up.  He was too fast.  He was working at that particular job with a great degree of gusto all while wearing a motorcycle helmet.  Pretty cool.  Today a friend told me no one working there was a professional butcher, everyone was an amateur.  So I still don't know if professional butchers use hatchets or not.  I think I would.
The insides were cleaned out, then it was skinned and the head and legs were removed.  This is what you could call "preleather".  Its different from pleather.

This is a while into the process.  The separated parts were taken to other stations for further cleaning.

The leg bones go here when all meat possible has been removed.  They boil the bones for soup -- see I'm not crazy!! These big pots are full of rice.  If you remove the Hispanics and Orientals from Glasgow this pot would equal the amount of rice the whole city eats in a month I would guess.  They needed multiple pots just for lunch!
The end result.  The meat is taken, packaged, and distributed to the poor.  Now you feel kind of bad for thinking they were mean to the cows don't you?!?  Anyway as Bethany says, "I'm OK eating dead animals, I just don't want to see it."  Don't think of the hatchet, just keep your mind on the gravy!!

Birthday Girl Yang Kedua (or Number 2)

Now everyone in the household has had a 2008 birthday.   WHEW!  If we find any more reasons to take days off from school, someone will call the law on us.  I remember when the guy from the school board came to hound us for having a combo of 6 tardies/absences.  If he were here now, he'd be like that Principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off hanging out in our bushes with a court order.  But we are in a different place now and so I guess the guys at the District Office on the Square have to find other things to do :-P !!

Of course Barbie had to be represented.  Bethany said last year her b-day was a let-down because everyone who came to her party gave a Barbie doll.  I remember getting model cars during gift exchanges at school and wondering, "Who likes models?  YUCK!"  So I know how she felt.  But still ... an 8-year-old girl?  Barbie has to make the party.
Technically these are "Barbies" too in the way that all soft drinks in KY are "Cokes".  (As in this conversation, "Hey, you want a Coke?"  "Sure."  "What kind?"  "A Big Red.")  All spindly-leg, plastic dolls are Barbies to me.  But these special Barbies are Troy and Gabriella.  If you don't know who they are based on that description, you are officially out of it and beyond help.  Just don't bother.
The big deal was a bike with fringy things on the handlebars.  Awesome.
Then we went bowling.  And then on to see Bolt.  Yeah a pretty big day.  Everyone was worn out and so we are actually waiting on the cake and ice cream for tomorrow, can you believe that?!?