Food and Fun

We've been celebrating with our buddies. They left the end of winter and plunged deep into summer around here. Friday saw us at TGIF ... how very fitting, eh?

Smiles are all around when the big burgers roll out and kids eat free.
After lunch we went to our local zoo. We'd never been before and with a great low price, I can honestly say its the best 55 cent zoos I have ever visited (adult price, kids were just 28 cents ... oddly enough a bottle of water cost more than a kid's admission).
The zoo was heavy on tigers which are indigenous here. Primates are also heavily represented. I am sparing you the photos of 20 different kinds of monkey-type creatures. This little dude was there and a guy was holding him. He put him down for me to take a picture. But he let another person actually hold the critter. I felt ripped off. He is kind of crazy looking, though, isn't he? I think he is a local, too.
There was a great collection of exotic animals, too, like raccoons, ponies, porcupines, cows, and house cats*. This poor dude was pacing like a tiger. Except he is just a old trash eater. When you come we'll hook you up with the zoo, too. But will pray for some cloud cover..
*We guess the house cats were there as crocodile food but that is just a guess.

Fun With Friends!

Some of our friends from another part of Asia rolled in last night to spend a couple of days with us. We tried to ease them into our town by showing them the wild monkeys and having a bit of pulled tea and sate (grilled meat on a stick) but haven't yet let them try any of our awesome breads!!

At the grilled meat restaurant Craig tried a new concoction. You can get this drink here that has a thing called rose syrup, milk, and maybe some other stuff. Then you take another drink that is basically like tonic water and some ice and mix them.

But when the drinks were ordered they had no canned drinks. How sad. So he just got the pink milk drink and an ice water. But then decided to go to a nearby store and buy the canned drink. Then he needed to bum some ice, too. In the end, he ended up with four drinks. Which everyone thought was a bit extreme. The verdict on the drink? Not worth all the effort...

OK, Marshell you win!

For those of us who needed a reason to start hating Tubby, I guess we have it now. That stinking old North Carolina wins another national championship.

Po Folks

Tonight we fired down cooking some chicken and dumplins. Just like Po Folks used to have except no mason jars.

Hudson was part of the rolling of the dough. Believe it or not, he liked that quite a bit.

Free Food and Lots of People May Be Better (than just free food)

On Saturday night our neighborhood had a big party with a guest speaker, tents, and the whole nine yards. Around here "the whole nine yards" means that people spring for some fancy imported rice, kill a few goats, and eat together. This is one of the pots of rice. They planned for about 1,000 people but felt like they came in more like 700-800. Its hard to count people in Asia since people sit much closer together--you can't go by the number of chairs you have!

The food was served up on these big trays. A bunch of rice, some curry with vegetables, and some fresh goat meat. Turns out these particular goats made the ultimate sacrifice right on the grounds some time Saturday afternoon. For them I am thankful ... and just normal full, too.
This is not very normal around here but to encourage fellowship, they took the trays and put them on some mats, then you circle up and dig in. A certain person learned today that some people were given silverware while others did the right thing and ate with their hands like everyone else. You can see the spread here: rice with meat cooked inside, some meaty/vegetably sauce, some pineapple, and some watermelon. This is seriously good food. How good? Given the choice between this and The Lighthouse in Sulphur Well, Craig would eat this, with his hands, on the ground. But the biscuits make it a close call. I have a feeling that is a day-to-day call, though.
Some friends who are actually skilled at this type of thing.
Some seriously skilled friends, notice their tray is about empty.
Finally, two funny things. One, it seems for some reason that we stick out. Our section of the neighborhood has about 300 households. Plus we have three other sections so its quite big. That means we met some new folks last night. We'd chit chat about a number of things and eventually ask, "So where do you live?" After they'd explain we'd say, "Oh we live on so-and-so street." Then they'd reply, "I know." This happened over and over. It seems everyone knows where we live.

The second was that our friends have this greeting that is basically, "Have you already eaten?" (Jaeetyet? in the South) So we got to hang around all night at this feast listening to people ask one another if they had already eaten like there was anyone there who hadn't!

Free Food is the Best!

Last week we got a call from a restaurant that is opening up a new outlet here in town.  They asked if we wanted to come and be part of their training day and have a free meal.

"Of course not!" I screamed and slammed down the phone.  OK, not really.  We'll generally move heaven and earth and even eat junk we don't like if its free.

So we made our way to the new restaurant and went through the entire process.  The meal was already picked for us but they still got to practice giving the menus, taking our order, repeating our order, etc.  They even gave us an envelope with some play money to "pay" with when we were finished.

The best part was that the food wasn't fake.  The worst part was that I was sharing the meal (they assigned us the "family meal") so I couldn't get the HOT, HOT but had to settle for Lemon and Herb.  I think that is restaurant code for 'Lowest Common Denominator'.  

The mall that houses the restaurant has a play place, which can only be used for about 15 minutes during the afternoon heat.  This week the high has been in the low 90s every day with almost no rain. We fear the rainy time has passed already.

Gimme a Break

OK, I'll be the first to admit I've been out of the UK Basketball loop the last couple of years. I admit I scanned the brackets a few times thinking I was missing something when I didn't see the Cats (obviously I missed the whole season).

I admit I decided I didn't like Billy G just from his photo (then my Dad said Billy wasn't a very nice guy with the players). And I'm not too sure I will like Coach Cal any better.

But one thing I have been reminded of while reading a bit of the coverage the past few days. Tubby was better than people gave him credit for being. Most reasonable people should be able to see Tubby eclipsed Billy.

Folks should finally get off the T-man's back. He was a much better guy to have on campus and on the court than where UK seems to be heading since he left. Its like they are constantly trying to date Rick Pitino's little sister. Hey, maybe they could convince Denny Crum to come out of retirement if Cal doesn't work out...

Thinking Man ... er .. People

Back in Glasgow there was a really nice guy who sometimes appeared as a columnist in the local paper. When his articles ran I always thought his photo was so artsy that it was funny.

Sort of an over-the-top serious picture of him where there was no need to be either serious or over-the-top for it was, after all the Glasgow Daily Times and maybe your photo and column would run next to some kid and his cow from the 4-H thing out at Temple Hill.

Well, since I am sometimes mean and make fun of people, I like to do that pose. "Real serious like," as Junie B would say.

Recently I got Bethany to try it. She really likes it. Her mom I am not so sure about.

The moral? Don't take yourself too seriously. Somewhere someone is making fun of you (and me)!

FUN NOTE--as if they are aware of my awesome blog, the GDT went out of their way to have a guy and some cattle on their home page when I accessed it to get the web link above. How awesome is that?!?

3 Days in 9 Pictures

We started at lunchtime on Friday at Burger King. This was the kids' choice and not the guests'.
Tasty!
This was Friday night at Chili's where it was ... you guessed it ... kind of cold. You thought I was going to say, "Chilly," didn't you? Chili's was mandated by the kids' parents. A trip to the capital goes better with chicken tacos and bottomless chips and salsa.
Mmmm ... chips and salsa.
Saturday in the capital. Not so cold out in the sun that is for sure. There was an endless craft thing we went to that just about did in Craig and the kids.
In another town on our way home from the capital. There were lots of people out since it was a Sunday.
This place was really old, so we took some pictures. Looking up the hill Judy had to be encouraged with the fact that Kim P made it up there while 7.5 months pregnant. BTW, we counted 140 steps to the top.
An awesome way to travel. If you don't mind inducing a heart attack in some guy.
Finally back home. So that was it. We mostly drove around and ate. We did go to the dentist but we don't have any pictures. Judy got her x-ray on a disk. Maybe I can post that!!

Apologies

I feel so bad that we haven't updated on our adventures the past couple of days.  Friday midday we took off for the capital and have been driving around like crazy.  

Amanda says not to tell James we went to Burger King and Chili's on Friday and to McDonald's tonight.  But when you are out of town, we like to grab some tasty stuff that is irregular for us--like those chicken tacos at Chili's!!! So don't tell him.  Caleb and Dad did have some great rice, lamb, and spicy chicken for lunch today.  Everyone else passed...

She has eaten some rice nearly every day.  Maybe my favorite was her calling tandoori chicken spicy.  "Don't you think its spicy?" she asked.  Our answer?  "Well, Bethany and Hudson are eating it."  These adjustments take time!!

The really sad news is that even though we brought our awesome camera on this trip we didn't bring the cord to connect it and download the pix.  Sorry about that.  We'll get the pix up after we get back home Sunday night!

The Second Day

We got out for a city tour today under the hot, hot sun. In our city there is a three or four block area where there are a number of different religious temples: Chinese, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Indian Muslim. Whew!

So we made the rounds. I think the ladies most liked grabbing scarves from a box and putting them on. Seriously, when was the last time anyone had something bad happen by sharing headwear with a bunch of strangers?

Bleary-Eyed

We took our guests out for some Chinese food tonight but got caught in some traffic, hence the 15 minute trip took an hour.  By the time we got there both ladies were getting a tad tired to say the least.  We loaded them up with some good food (at least we thought so) and finally got them back to their hotel about 8pm.  

Day One is in the books and they made it OK!  I think through their yawns the review on the day was, "Tomorrow we don't need to eat so much!"  

"Monkeys" and Monkeys

Morning finally came--after only about 4 hours--and we made it out for some 'Wes and Kim' special breakfast. Mmmm, curry for breakfast. Amanda has done great; eating rice and hot sauce for breakfast. A good entry! After breakfast we came to our house to open suitcases. Notice the look of joy that only High School Musical can bring...

Caleb found some games and books.
I think that is a great look on Hudson's face as he checks out his Ben 10 game.
After lunch we went to try to find some monkeys and we did! Success!! They seemed to have taken over this empty house like a gang of young toughs. You can see a few on the roof.
So the guests are doing better than the hosts today. No sleep is catching up with us this afternoon. I am thinking of a quick nap before we head out for some noodles.

We've Got Them!!

We got our road weary travelers with all their luggage with no problems. Except somehow they were just about the last people in line at immigration off a plane that held 500 people!

Then Craig either got lost going home or was trying to show Judy how the GPS works. Anyway, we finally jumped through all the necessary hoops and got them to their hotel.

More exciting news and photos tomorrow morning. Now the hour is bearing down on us!

Movie Day

We celebrated Angie's coming home by going out to see Race to Witch Mountain. Overall we thought it was pretty good. I especially liked how they changed it all up (they call them "reimaginings" now and not remakes) to give it a global warming message. I think they even credited Al Gore as a co-writer but maybe not.

Anyway, the witch turns out to be the government. I think that has been kind of movie evolution thing. In my short lifetime the villains in movies have usually been (this, of course, doesn't count Ass't Principals who are always villains):

a) Indians (I give this a pre-number-one ranking because most cowboy movies were made before I was born except Silverado and I think by then people had moved off Indians to the nebulous "rustler")

1. Russia (think Red Dawn and Rocky 3)

2. Vietnamese people (all the war movies)

3. China (who doesn't love to hate the Chinese mafia)

4. Arabs (example: the entire TV series "24")

But nowadays the enemy is either "man" the all damaging force that paves paradise and puts up a parking lot OR the other acceptable enemy is "The U.S. Government" excluding Barak but including Joe Biden. Barak is a no-go zone for another six months or so.

Anyway, the baddies in the government plot to do damage to the sweet, innocent kids who actually are good aliens. Maybe its just too much for me since aliens used to be in the enemy category. I have a high negative association with them. But it was cool and as I watched, I can almost forget The Rock was a wrestler. Wrestlers in movies kind of give me a Cyndi Lauper vibe :-)!!

For my complete list of awesome movies that includes classics like Red Dawn (plus other Patrick Swayze greats like Roadhouse and Youngblood), Silverado, Platoon, and everything Keanu Reeves has ever done (except Speed) write your address on the back of a $20 bill and send it to me.

Experimentation

Its funny that since we live in SE Asia one of the foods I miss from "home" is Mexican food. At this point I should mention that I do know that the Mexican food served in KY has nothing to do with real Mexican food in the same way that Chinese food on a buffet has nothing to do with real Chinese food (this is especially true for the Mexican food that is served in mall food courts--usually by Chinese people).

One thing we cannot obtain here is salsa. "The world's fastest growing condiment" (this is silly since most of the other condiments are pretty well established ... seriously where is there for mustard to go at this point?) cannot be obtained at most stores here and if it can its a bit on the pricey side. Chips are easier to find but not as convenient as in KY and no Doritos at all most months!!

So we've tried a few times to make our own stuff. We've made a couple of batches of Tommy Jackson's salsa (which seems to be officially called Vegetable Dip according to the recipe I got from them). The first time we chopped everything and it was good. You can't buy canned green chiles here but they have these great little peppers that people buy by the kilogram and so I substituted. Caleb found the salsa too hot to eat after they were added. So we decided to share it with some neighbors.

One guy took a bite. "Is it spicy?" his mother asked. "No," he answered munching away. That is one reason I love these people.

Another thing we've tried a time of two is our own tortilla chips. Technically I am not sure how those are made. I know its not with flour tortillas like we buy (we have potato tortillas here, too). These flour ones are a bit thick, too. But we give it a go anyway. I am very skimpy with the oil. It doesn't grow on trees you know. Well, I guess palm oil does ... but anyway ...

This time we made it we used our handy dandy new little blender we got. I decided I liked the chunky variety a bit better but its still OK. Although we had to tame it down so everyone could enjoy it. I think it could use another 3 or 4 Thai chilis!

Its still great but looks worse, I guess, after being through the blender. I especially like what the black olives bring to the mix. Although some cilantro is most likely in order. It could use a bit more of a bitter taste for me (but that is because I hate smooth tasting stuff--I'm the guy at the Mexican place trying to get across the point that I don't want ANY sour cream or guacamole--YUCK! Don't even bring it my table).
The proof is in the pudding. Man, when the kids are happy everything is OK, right?!?




**Truth in advertising disclaimer: Bethany wouldn't touch this salsa with a ten-foot pole.

A Night With Dad

A hot Friday night home with Dad is a great time for some refinement.  So we all watched Nacho Libre again!  Now I think Jack Black can be sort of like Jim Carrey in that once you see one movie of his you have seen them all.  He only has a certain number of voices, faces he makes, etc.  But this is still a movie that is funny if you find Napoleon Dynamite funny (sadly, we don't have a Napoleon DVD).  Just thinking of the guy attacking him over his chips can make me laugh.

I tell the kids if they had two parents like their Mom, we'd have colonized the moon by now.  Instead we have economic downturn which I feel in someway may be all my fault.  

So anyways ... sometime if you would like to join us in our quarters for some toast, we can watch this fine American film together.

**Special DVD owners note:  watch the scene where Nacho and Sister Whats-Her-Name get together to eat toast.  Notice Nacho's toast which is big, about to fall apart, small, then big again.  Awesome!!

**Side note, I think the Jack Black/Cloris Leachman thing on the "movie" during an episode of The Office may be the funniest thing he has ever done ... or maybe it was Kung Fu Panda.

Cultural Milieu

Last night we had indian food prepared by Bangladeshis and served by Pakistanis.  We drove our Toyota car to the SE Asian girl who was wearing blue contacts (those blue contacts over black eyes never cease to make me uncomfortable).  We spoke in a foreign language, loaded back into our car to drive on the left side of the road when all of the sudden Rhinestone Cowboy (!) came on the radio.  

The funniest part was the only thing that seemed out of place was Glen Campbell.  By the time he gets to Phoenix he might be a Wichita lineman but he'll always be out of place around here.  

On another note the kids refused to believe me that he used to be a huge deal ... even bigger than Guns N Roses.  And with more staying power. Right, Axl?

A New Sight!

Tonight we got to see something brand new.  We saw a guy get hit by a motorcycle.  BAM!!!  Not too far from our house we have a school crosswalk equipped with a stoplight.  The pedestrian pushes a button and waits.  The light turns red for traffic and they cross.  Easy.

Except that normally I am the ONLY one who stops for these red lights.  Tonight out of some amazing luck, lots of people were stopped.  Maybe its because walkers were on both sides of the street, I don't know.

I stopped.  The cab beside me stopped.  Two lanes of traffic going the other way stopped.  But as is the custom here, motorcycles keep on going.  Zooming between slow or stopped cars must be part of the motorcycle test because they all do it.  Well, tonight as this guy zoomed through all of us stopped cars--he plowed right into a pedestrian.

It was just like on TV.  Everything was slow motion as the cycle went by, the walker looked up and realized the inevitable.  BAM!!!  The cycle went skidding, helmet which was not fastened went flying, both guys went rolling.  Then the pedestrian jumped up (as I was getting out of the car) and went after the rider.  Angie told me to stay inside (sometimes these things turn crazy) and so we settled in to watch the fight.  

It wasn't much and mostly involved the pedestrian pushing the rider and yelling and pointing at the light.  We couldn't hear but I'm guessing it would've been mostly new vocabulary for us anyway.  Then while we were wondering and watching, the light turned green and everyone else started on their way.  We just left them there to duke it out, or trade some money, or however it is these things get settled.

We're Growing

Lately I've been trying to decide why I've been gaining weight.

Guess Who Is Getting Old

Overheard in our house tonight whilst someone was trying to access American Idol.

1.  Just turn on the satellite and the TV.

2.  No not that one, the satellite.

3.  No not that one, the other one.

4.  Here I can show you...

Ouch. We are getting up there.

Holiday!

Today people here have been commemorating the birth of The Prophet.  Its a national holiday and a big deal for our neighbors.  Craig was invited this morning as the men gathered at a nearby big mosque to march to a bigger mosque.  The road runs right past our house and so he elected to watch it from here.  After seeing all the excitement, he thought maybe he missed something very interesting around the parade staging ground.

The various neighborhoods get together and march with a banner while singing and playing drums.  Some guys elected to wear matching clothes which is cool.  These guys even have matching fake palm trees and some feathers on their hats.
The folks marched on for about 40 minutes.  We didn't take a picture of every group.  These guys are from Tennessee.  Just kidding.
One last look at a group with their shirts untucked.  With these outfits you have a shirt and pants from the same material and then you wear a sarong of sorts over top.  Then you can tuck your shirt in your skirt or leave it out.  These skirts are expensive usually so I think "Tuck It In" and show off that fancy skirt!!   The guys in the yellow have on a different type of traditional headwear.  Not a hat really but like a scarf and the front point sort of folds forward.  They are pretty cool.

Remember the ... uh ... what was it?

Its one of the most famous events in American history and yet our 12 year-old son can't write a four-page (or even a 3 page) double-spaced report on The Alamo.

This little episode did reveal that Dad can hardly tell the difference between Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett.  Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

Blast from the Past

A friend recently sent this great old time photo of Craig from early in his radio days!  If I'm not mistaken this was taken in front of what was the Junior's Department at Castner Knott in Greenwood Mall, Bowling Green.  Maybe I am wrong.  But I doubt it.  

Certainly many of you will say, "Wow.  He was much thinner back in those days."  But I think Paul wouldn't like you saying that about him!!  HAHA!  Yeah, I was quite a bit thinner and other times I was bigger.  Life is like that, isn't it?

I can still remember how excited I was about getting my orange jacket.  I think also this is at least version 2.0 of my jacket since it was the "updated logo" that came with frisbees.  Steve could tell you better about that, though.

Scenes like this are what I think of every time someone asks if I miss radio.  Well, almost what I think of.  What I actually think of is either throwing frisbee in a parking lot in Greensburg trying to explain to someone that we really were out of t-shirts ("streetfleeting" was the best).  Or I also think about standing on a hot car dealer parking lot on a sunny Saturday trying to convince people to stop having weekend fun and come buy a car they can't afford.

How could I do it you wonder?  Free hotdogs.  People LOVE free hotdogs.  And free rodeo tickets.  But nothing can draw out the people like free lottery tickets ... except maybe the sounds of Santa Claus and the Kokomo by the Beach Boys.  

**Apologies to everyone reading this who never got to listen to Hottest Hits.  You probably missed me in my prime.  But at least you weren't stuck in the same room with me for hours every morning like Paul.  Any wrinkles he has now he earned during those early shifts with me.**

Wrapping Up The Weekend

Been a fairly lazy weekend around here.  We wrote this really long blog post on Saturday night only to have no internet access because of some heavy rain and then it got lost.  It was hugely long and creative and when we got back to the draft we had about 3 sentences.  Kami merasa sangat sedih!!  But, oh well, kadang-kadang kehidupan begitulah, eh?!?  You know what I mean?

That last part is just a taste of how our neighbors like to speak.  Bahasa campur.  They say, "So hari ini you nak pergi mana?" And we answer, "Hari ini saya ada meeting sama satu kawan then maybe kami akan makan bersama-sama.  After that, I don't know.  You sudah makan?"

Oftentimes we drive away and look at each other asking, "What language was I speaking in that conversation?"  The answer, "All of them."

Hat tips to the few people we know who read our blog and understand every word this time--Kami fikir you totally rock!