Big Holiday Pictures

Here are some photos from the big holiday! This is a friend we went to visit in his real village house. That is kind of what he called it. I'm not sure if he was bragging or apologizing about the fact that he lived in a wooden house (not a concrete one) but it was a nice place. I like the little girl there peeking around the door frame.

This is inside his wood house. Two happy couples on the happy day!
These girls were so excited to meet Ann! Lots of people here tend to be very good at understanding English but they don't have a ton of practice speaking it. These girls seemed to fall into that category. Understanding a bunch but giggly about trying to speak it.
This is another house with a family that really put out the spread for us. We only knew one of their sons but they were so hospitable, we can't wait to go back.
Most folks who come see us we take out to look for monkeys. While we are out that way, we often stop by this lady's small shop to say hello and have a soda. She is really sweet, especially liking to kiss on Hudson! Look at that smile ... we didn't even have to pay him for it.
Bethany and the cutest little girl. People here can have these huge-looking dark eyes, like hers. It can be hard not to stare.
With an "uncle" and his five sons; plus some white folks!
Angie with Auntie and Ann. **Note Auntie Anne's is different but we have that here, too.
When its time to go, the kids walk around taking the hands of people older than them and touching the hand to their forehead (or sniffing the hand) as a sign of respect. On this holiday when the kids do that, they'll get a small envelope with some cash inside from the host! Its our kids' favorite part of the holiday. When we tell them we're going visiting they ask, "Will they give us money?" Just like their old Dad, I guess.

Cook-It-Yourself

For some reason around here its kind of a popular thing for you to have to cook your own food ... at a restaurant. No, its not a Seinfeld episode where people make their own pizza pie. In these places you cook you own steak, seafood, or chicken.

We found one such place all the travel books talk about and tried it out lately. Forgive the photo quality as they are snaps from Angie's new phone.

After you secure a table in this popular joint, you head to the meat cooler and pick out your favorite raw meat on a stick. They had pork, tofu, fish, hotdogs, shrimp, and more.

After you have your raw meat (20 cents per skewer), you head back to the table and wait for your stuff to start boiling.

Your "stuff" is a spicy peanut sauce that is dropped into a hole in the middle of your table. After it starts boiling, you put you sticks in and wait. If you are obviously new and confused looking, as we were, someone comes by and says, "Cook that one for 1 minute. That one for two minutes, and those for 3-5 minutes." Then they walk away.
Every few minutes a girl came by with a huge ladle and stirred all the peanuty goodness off the bottom of our pot. As you can see here, the pot hangs over a gas burner that has its own LPG tank.
Craig stirring the pot ... as usual.
Finally ready to cook! This shrimp, possibly of the jumbo variety, was ready to go in the pot. Just a couple of minutes later he came out all pink and delicious!
Sound like fun? Make sure you request it as part of your trip when you come see us!!

Very, Very Important

This is a great sign that reminds us that some important people are more important than other important people. We are in fact just such people (i.e. very, very important). People who are only very important need not apply. People who are just plain old important shouldn't even bother.
Bethany knows where her significance comes from!! Just like her Momma. ;-)

Dentist Again

We were back at the dentist recently and this time they got the pliers going on!

Bethany had a baby tooth that wasn't being pushed out because the new tooth was coming in behind, so the dentist ripped that sucker out! Bethany was quite proud of how she did, getting the shots and all. We were proud, too.
It was determined that Hudson's big cavity had to come out and so the dentist gave that one a yank! Lest you think the dentist was just having a bad day and was pulling everything in sight, it was actually two different dentists in the same office.

She prescribed Hudson some ice cream, I'm not sure if it was to help with bleeding or was just a treat for him. I suspect the latter. The teeth ended up all bagged and ready for the Tooth Fairy. That was nice since the kids obviously wanted to show everyone their prizes.

Field Trip

We went to this national park for a field trip on Friday. It was pretty cool but didn't dazzle us with wildlife like we hoped. It was still good, though, so here are some of the things we saw.

First these crazy walking fish. Ann said they were "Mexican walking fish" but how they got to SE Asia is unknown. Perhaps after they evolved walking fins, they just walked over here. What I do know is that I'm pretty sure they are illegal aliens.

Sorry they just lay there like normal fish. Pretend they are walking on those front fins and you will get nearly the same effect as you get in person. The fish alone were not worth the trip over.

Here is a big monitor lizard. We saw a bigger one but he was swimming and we were too busy taking monkey pictures at the time to catch it. He is cool but kind of common and can be found near our house. Verdict: not worth the trip over. Because of the distance from him the photo is misleading. He is actually on the side of the biggest mountain in our area. Um, next to the ocean and that tree is bigger than you can imagine. He is hundreds of feet long ... like a dinosaur (yeah, that's the ticket). Its a dinosaur!
Now this dude is called a Dusky Leaf Monkey. He was VERY cool and totally worth the trip. We see a goodly number of garbage-eating, bother-you monkeys as pictured below. This guy we had never seen before, though. We saw a picture of him on a sign that told about the wildlife in the park but he was called "shy and secretive" so we didn't expect to see him. But then he just walked right across the sidewalk in front of us, climbed a tree and started plucking, then eating those yellow flowers.
I like this action shot! When they saw we were around a troop of the garbage monkeys showed up and were chasing the Dusky Leaf away. Bad monkeys! Bad!
Below is the garbage-eating monkey. We see them a decent amount. Not too bad but the kids didn't like at all that this one decided to follow us to our car. That is why I had to grab the umbrella and go all Mary Poppins on him.
Not a lesson he will soon forget. I'm pretty sure we could hear him snickering from a nearby rooftop...

Monkey Lunch

Today we took a field trip to a park and asked a lady if there was a picnic area where we could have our lunch before going in. She said there was and pointed it out but warned, "There are lots of monkeys. Get a piece of wood in case you need to hit the monkeys and drive them away. Do not give them any food." And because she was a park employee and all park employees are just about the same she added, "And throw away your trash when you get done."

Well, with that exciting description we decided to have our picnic inside the car. The rest of the park was pretty interesting. We did end up seeing lots of monkeys and mosquitos. And we did have one monkey try to tail us to our car to see if he could carjack us but he was unsuccessful.

We'll put up some monkey pictures tomorrow. We didn't get any pictures of the mosquitos.

Design Flaw

One of my favorite philosophers once said, "A coffee mug has to be just right. Capacity, shape, handle design, pithy comment printed thereon . . ." Yep. That was the one and only Todd Belcher! I was thinking of him recently when Angie bought me a cup of coffee at Krispy Kreme.

At first I thought they had merely microwaved yesterdays coffee because the handle was so hot I couldn't lift the cup. After waiting a few minutes I found I still couldn't pick up the cup.

It turns out the handle of their cup was hollow and thus full of piping hot coffee. "Now," I said, "I'm no Eric Booth but I think this is a design flaw!"

Angie asked if they'd give us a to-go cup but I guess those are only for to-go coffee and not coffee to be consumed on the premises. We were able to secure another not-to-go cup and I could split the coffee thus allowing the handle to cool, so I could down all that black gold with my donuts before heading to the dentist*.

Here is the close-up, just so you know I'm not pulling 'yer leg. I'm not sure if all KK coffee cups are like that but if they are, someone should drop them a not and tell them to rework things!! Maybe Eric Booth could do that...

*Dentists won't tell you they like you to drink coffee right before you come to their office but I think secretly they love it!!

Ramadhan Ghost Town

One night last week we decided to have supper at KFC. Now during the fasting month you can sit anywhere you want at lunchtime. Supper, though, you better plan ahead. So ... anyways ... we headed for our nearest KFC to find people lined out the door a few minutes before fast-breaking time.

Fortunately we have 4 KFCs within 10 minutes of the house. We just passed that full one by and searched out another. We got to this one and people were already chowing down. The kids went table searching while the adults got in line and believe it or not we were able to find just enough space for us to sit down and eat.

But before we got finished eating, this was what we saw. Almost nobody! One other non-fasting family came in and finding NOT ONE table clean enough to eat, they tried elsewhere.

The tables stayed this way for a bit. You know why?? The staff were all in the back having some supper, too.
Eventually the folks came out and started cleaning and apologized for the mess. We told them we understood perfectly and that it was just a sign of the times!

Another Rubber Tree Plant

I remember Laverne and Shirley singing about rubber tree plants but never really thought about living where there really are rubber trees. We saw these guys in our area last week. A few decades ago vast areas of what used to be rainforest were hacked and/or burned away to make way for rubber plantations.

The trees are scored, many times in a V-shape and the sap runs down into a small metal piece almost like a straw thats been split down the middle. There is a better explanation here for you wiki fans.
When you come out for your vacation, we'll try to show you a rubber plantation and maybe some of the Hindu temples they build back on plantations for the workers!

What Ann Does...

Some folks want to know what Ann does while in SE Asia for 4 months. Well, lots of things including this stuff:

She teaches PE and makes everyone stretch...
And they walk a mile or so
She eats out sometimes
And works on totally cool school projects.

Sometimes she even finds an odd moment to grab a nap!!

Not pictured but also important: running outside to get laundry when it starts pouring rain all of the sudden, playing Wii, and getting Hudson to sing.

A Regular Robin Hood

A mall in our capital city has opened an indoor archery place. We were able to nab some coupons for a few free shots. After a couple of years of camp archery he was a fairly decent shot. Notice the awesome action shot of the flying arrow. What an awesome photographer!

What great form. I think he learned that at Centri-Kid-Georgetown!
At a real cost of around $1 US for each arrow its not a very good deal and so Caleb was quite thankful for the coupon! It sort of makes us scared to go to sleep while he's around...

Signs, Signs Everywhere Signs

Here are some signs we don't get to see just every ole day...

OK, "Don't Feed The Monkeys" are common but we don't see them every day. Never before have we seen the little banana with the slash through it for non-literary monkey feeders. There were lots of monkeys around sort of saying with their eyes, "Come on ... who cares?? Throw us some chips or something." But were obedient to the sign not the begging monkeys.
Only the second time we've seen an Elephant Crossing sign. We drove so slow through there trying to will an elephant from the trees. It didn't work, though. Some part of me is probably glad we didn't end up on "When Animals Attack: 7" or some similar show.

One time in Ethiopia I actually did see some wild boars and they actually crossed in front of us but there was no warning sign. Also, I've know some wildly boring people but I've never seen a Wild Boar Crossing sign.

Hungry Ghost Festival

We showed up for Bethany's ballet tonight and found some folks all prepared for their hungry ghost celebration. The food was all laid out, the beer was chilled, and the paper was rolled. So I started asking some questions and got permission to hang around a minute and watch the fire. I had to work hard at declining the beer which all the men were thoroughly enjoying.

After a few minutes of them joking around (they said I had to pray in order to make pictures) and talking about how I could be an American and not drink beer, things were ready to roll. All the guys started pouring the paper "money" into a wire barrel of sorts. People have been rolling this money into cones in their down time for a few weeks. This particular place had BIG bags full. They dumped a bunch in and added more flat cash and then dumped in some more rolled stuff as well. I think the rolling has to do with ease of burning.
Then they prayed a bit, took some money and carried to it some burning candles nearby, and set it ablaze. While this guy was lighting everyone else was moving back, which made me wonder just a bit. When it caught good I understood. I was on hot fire. The symbolism of it wasn't lost on me at all.
Stand back! It was a biggie but didn't last long.
After the fire and the dedication of the food I was told, "We're going to eat all this food." It was a bunch, too. I was sort of surprised that the food could be offered to the hungry ghosts and yet still eaten by people. Sort of like giving your cake and having it too. Maybe its more like inviting the ghosts to share your food than it really being offered to them. I didn't chance it though and left before all the eating got underway.

Leftovers

After lunch the other day our table was overrun by little birds who wanted a crack at Angie's leftover rice. There were about 10 on the table but most were camera shy, so you'll just have to use your imagination :-) !!

Milking it for all its worth

We went to the mall recently and saw these huge cows on display outside a restaurant. They reminded me of the painted horses displayed all around Louisville.

The kids couldn't resist a little bovine interaction.
I'm not sure what a real cow would do if you hugged his leg whilst milking but I do reckon kicking would figure in there somewhere...

Night Markets

One of the best things about living around here are the night food markets during Ramadan. You can go and buy a bunch of great local food for breaking your fast (or just for supper if you're not fasting). This was what Craig picked up: some fried tofu, rice, awesome salad (cucumbers, peppers, pineapple, onions), and some spicy sauce. Yum!

These are pretty popular. Its a grilled bread with egg and ground beef inside, this one served on a banana leaf. Yeah, that is a Jonas Brothers cup there--good spotting!
You can get tasty fresh juice drinks. Here we have pineapple, lychee, and watermelon. Ann's favorite thing is that you can order these fresh juices and its like eating fruit. Drinking watermelon juice tastes just like taking a bite out of one. Wonderful!
Whatever you buy at the market should be flooded with curry. That is how you make it delicious. Curry is the gravy of Asia. So the food is a lot like KY, "Fry it and then cover it in gravy."
There you go, one happy customer!
The final verdict? She didn't like it very much but she's been quite brave and tried a lot of new stuff. Including something she calls "atomic chicken" but I guess that is a story for her to tell.

Bagels!

One thing I really love is a good, soft, fresh bagel. It seems about 20 years ago but me and some young folks and I used to get together on Monday mornings and eat and pray before school. I always tried to apply an appropriate amount of pressure to get us to Main Street Bread and Bagel where I could tear into some strawberry bagels. AWESOME (at least as awesome as bagels get in Glasgow).

So there was a bit of excitement when we saw this new place had opened up. It advertises itself as the first bagel place in town. Very exciting. So after a few weeks of being open, we finally went in.

When we got in we saw what we see at every bakery around here. If you ever go to Chinese buffets, you can imagine what I mean. Delicious-looking treats that somehow when eaten are void of any taste....especially anything remotely sweet tasting.

So when we got inside we looked around and seeing no bagels, we asked a staff member. "Do you have bagels?" "What?" she asked.

"Bagels." I repeated. She repeated, too, "What?"

"Bagels. Baaayyyygguuhheeellssss." She left to get another staff member who came and asked what we wanted.

"Bagels," I replied. "Oh, we don't have bagels," was the answer. "They're all gone."

**Interesting cultural note "all gone" can mean:

1. We are currently out of stock

2. We do no carry those at all ... have never carried and will never carry

3. I wish you'd leave me alone and stop asking questions and making me feel bad**

"Oh," I say. "You only have them in the mornings and now (after lunch) they are all gone. So you'll have some tomorrow morning?"

"Maybe," she replies "if you'd like to leave me your phone number I can call you when we have bagels." That was not a reply that struck me as very affirmative.

It sort of struck me as a "Leave me your phone number and I'll promise to call you when we have some bagels but really I'll throw your number away as soon as you leave," kind of response.

Maybe the place is just a front for drugs or prostitution. One thing is for sure. It is not a front for a bagel-making place.