Day Three Photo Highlights!

Day Two

The day started pretty normal.  With a delicious breakfast!This stuff is great.  More people should eat more curry more often.  Especially at breakfast!!
What is not to love about this breakfast?  Rice, little salted, dried fish, peanuts, fried chicken, and hot sauce.  Just like Grandma used to make.  Well, not your grandma but somebody's!
Then we went to this big Hindu festival in our town.  Everyone was happy and dressed up nice.  They had free food and drinks!  We even bumped into someone we knew.  It was nice.
Then things got a bit ... um different.  You know, in a shirtless-guy-carrying-fire sort of way.
Then it got weirder still.  Here Wes is thinking, "What in the world has Craig gotten me in to?!?"  He is not shielding himself but rather they insisted he fan the smoke up by his face.  The crazy looking guy in the back is a statue.  In the center was the chairman of the festival who was a great host to us.
Pretty soon, a thousand people showed up all in yellow.  Most of them were carrying bowls of milk on their heads.  They had some drums and chanting and things began to feel a bit foreign, if you will.
You can't see this too well.  Click on the picture to enlarge and maybe it will help.  This young lady actually has two metal skewers poking through her face.  That was about as weird as things got.  We heard sometimes people put hooks in their flesh but we didn't see anything that bizarre.

Overall it didn't take us too long to figure we should go.  But it sure was interesting.  Everybody knows they've got to do something with their sin.  We're sure glad we've found a different way than this!!

Day One

We have finished up a tiring first day and have finally put people to bed.  Here is a look at some of what we did.  While Bethany was at ballet lessons we got to spend a few minutes in a hardware store.  Riveting, eh?  This was after we were having our second meal of the day--fried noodles.

Later, we introduced Wes and Kim to Pappa Roti and Chrysanthemum tea.  It seems the bread (Roti) was a bigger hit than the canned flower tea.  It tastes like your drinking a flower.  Isn't that amazing?  This was actually after our third meal of the day (i.e. lunch).
Before we broke down and had our supper/dinner at Hamids (we hadn't yet had enough bread on the day and needed some naan), we dug into their suitcases and found a bit of candy and a few other surprises.
These shoes are actually Wes' and not Caleb's.
This Ben 10 guy is actually Wes' too.  It seems he is a Ben fan.  Who knew?
Sunday we get to attend a huge Hindu festival.  Here's hoping we'll be able to hold off culture shock and some very weird stuff in order to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime chance.

We've Got Them!!

We got our weary travelers and made it back to our house just within the past few minutes.

All their bags made it OK.  This was greatly helped by the fact that they only brought one!!

Now we are off to sleep!

The Next Bob Vila

One thing you have to admit about me is that I totally rock as a handy man.  I am the next Bob Vila.  I mean just last week I bought a new flat head screwdriver to fix a commode.  I bought this new one because I broke my old one using it as a chisel.  I could hear my old Auto Mechanics teacher from vocational school (see note below) saying, "Use the right tool for the job," whilst I was doing just the opposite.

Well, today we were walking down the street and I actually bumped into someone I know.  This rarely happens because I look just like all the other white people around here and thus I am fairly inconspicuous.  Anyway, this familiar face belonged to the man who made our kitchen cabinets.

He asked how we were we asked how he was.  Then he said, "How are the cabinets?"  Since he has no visitation rights.  "Actually," I said "one had a handle fall off."  And it had.  A drawer handle fell right off and after replacing it a few times, I swapped it with another from a cabinet since it was obviously stripped out.  I put the extra handle and screws in the cabinet to be handled at a later date.  Then since the handle I stole was from above the fridge, I forgot about it.

"Well, when can I come and look at it?"  I informed him we'd be home in 30 minutes if he'd like to come by.  Then I forgot about him, too.  

Well, he showed up and I led him to the offending handle giving him all the spare parts.  He asked if I had a screwdriver.  Of course I do and a small ladder, too, for easy reaching above the fridge.  Then he quickly attached the handle and pulled on it.  Fine.  No ... more than fine.  Strong!  He looked at me like I was an idiot.  I felt like an idiot.  Heck, I am an idiot.  Then he just shook his head and walked away leaving me with my new screwdriver and my shame.

I went back and pulled the handle myself, expecting it to come off in my hand but it didn't.  Guess there goes my chance to be on HGTV....

(Now for the note:  Many of you may be shocked to know that I, said Handy Man, took not one but two years of Auto Mechanics in high school.  This decision was a deeply calculated move on my part.  I asked around what program had the highest co-op rate.  Turns out it was Auto Mechanics!  So I signed on and found various ways to slack off and get three hours credit in the mornings.  Its amazing how much you can sleep under a car if you can wedge your hand up in the engine and pretend to be working.

Well, finally my senior year rolled around when people get to co-op.  In the old days that meant you left school and went to work.  I think they scrapped that stuff nowadays since there is more of a focus on "learning" at schools.  The great thing was I had a job at G-Auto, an auto parts store where I worked evenings and weekends.  The trick was to work at least 20 hours a week to co-op but it seems it didn't matter when.

That meant each day my senior year I got to leave school at 10:30.  I could go and get a McDLT, which kept the hot side hot and the cool side cool.  Then go home and watch Geraldo! [this was after all 1987].   I could go co-op and work late in the afternoon because the school didn't need to know what time I was working now did they?

So that is the story of how I got out of school with neither an education nor the ability to change my own oil.  The moral of the story?  17 year-olds should not be allowed to make their own decisions.  End of note)

Peace Out Yo

Sometimes he does enjoy his picture being taken!!

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!!