Merry Christmas!

We hope Santa is good to you but pray Jesus is even better this Christmas and in 2011, too!!

Highfalutin

Before the Louisville Orchestra ran out of money we got to hear some of them when we went to the Louisville Ballet's Nutcracker. It was as Dave C likes to say, "Swanky."

Angie and I had a small debate about whether "No Photography In The Theatre" meant NO photography or just none during the actual show. When lots of flash bulbs started going off, she allowed me the chance to snap a few photos. Nice sets and a good performance, they always do a fine job.
Here Bethany is explaining the finer points of ballet and walking on your toes to Caleb.
Before the show began I did let Caleb in on a little secret. "It gets a bit boring around the middle," I said. When he asked why I said that I replied, "Because its a ballet."

Holiday Baking

We had a great time baking and decorating cookies with the cousins. Only a Grandma would allow all those sprinkles in her living room.
It was serious work.
We did find a minute to try some of the goodies out as well!!

Good Friends

Did we say how awesome our friends in Glasgow have been. Not only have we been set up in an incredible fully-furnished house but they had a "pounding" for us. That is thankfully not a beat-down but a way to stock cabinets and bless folks.

We had a LOAD of stuff to carry home in the van they are allowing us to use as well. Amazing.
We can't tell you what a blessing everyone has been! Thanks so much!!!

Overdue Birthday Wishes

Wow, what a bad Dad. Bethany has been asking for the past few days why there has been no birthday blog post. What a shame!! She turned 10 on the 8th and we have dragged it out a bit with her party 10 days after the day.

Her gift-list included all things starting with the letter "S" like a snow globe.
This tree isn't really a snow globe but it looks like one.
She has been asking for a scooter for quite a while. We found this folding beauty that will fit in a suitcase in early June.
This had to be a Sony digital picture frame in order to fit the theme. Asked and answered!
And a cheesecake to top it all off.
After a haircut a few days ago, B was ready for her big party with the whole class invited ... all the boys kept playing leaving the present-watching to the girls.
She was not find of me continually saying, "Just come, no need to bring a gift." She thought maybe I was overstating the "no gift" thing. Maybe it wasn't required but sure was appreciated...
So her first birthday in KY in three years was a pretty big success. Forgive your lazy, old Dad Bethany for being so slow with the update!!

Angie's Birthday

We had a good time celebrating Angie over the weekend. She is the best wife and Mom in the world!!

We got her a new camera that has a feature that takes a picture when you wink or smile. Here we are trying to figure out how it works.
Eventually we had to break down and read the instructions but we got some good wink pictures before we gave up.
The smile thing is nice, you just wait and it clicks. I'm wondering how that will work when we go back and meet our non-smiling-in-photos neighbors. These two have it down pat.
The birthday supper was, of course, at Cracker Barrel. Yeah for free cake.This was even more exciting to watch than World Series of Poker. Some real bluffing and gambling going on with 2Grandmas!
Hard to believe Angie has now celebrated 22 birthdays with me. We've come a long way since I got her a Guns N Roses tape in 1989. Happy she still hangs with me even though I seem to have more wrinkles than hair nowadays!!

Family Pix

Thanks to Harry and Deb, our friends at Spillman Photography for these awesome photos. Use them!!

World Traveler

First Day of School

The kids finally went to SCHOOL on Monday. Not sure who was more excited: kids or Mom!!

So far so good. We're hoping the optimism turns into a plain ole good time with new friends!

Caleb's Dream Car

One of the things Caleb wanted to do back on his birthday was stop at a local car dealership to get his picture with this Lamborghini. After I explained what we wanted and that it was for Caleb's birthday, he was all about it ... til I got to the part about opening the car and us taking a picture in the driver's seat. His reply was a simple, "Uh, no." I at least wanted to see the doors open but nothing doing.

He was kind enough to allow us to stand near the car without touching it.
This was the closest we'd been though. We see these kind of cars sometimes but normally its when they are blowing our doors off on the highway.
The logo looks a bit cheesy to me. Sort of "made in shop class" it really reminded me of a knock-off.
So there you have it. The time we stood by a Lamborghini Diablo. Pretty cheap as far as birthday wishes go!!

Buddies

We got to sleep around 5 or 6 hours our first night here and now the fun is finally underway. Angie, Abby, and Misty are headed out for some shopping (and certainly some Cracker Barrel). Guess we can start gearing up for Christmas now.

One interesting note, when we finally got to immigration in Chicago we were met with a whole slew of eastern European folks whose heart language was something besides English. Nice that we go so long not speaking English and finally hit the USA only to hear people not speaking English. Bethany said she knew we were in America now since the signs were in English ... and Spanish.

Made it!!!

Well, its after 1am in Louisville and we are all safe and sound and stinky with all the bags and everything OK. More later...

Top 10 things we will miss

10. Tropical fruit available all the time. We don't want to knock peaches and apples and stuff but there is just someting special about duku, dragon fruit, mango, mangosteen, local pineapple, a hundred kinds of bananas, and always having watermelon in season. Its amazing and I fear my response when I see the fruit the first time at Wal-Mart. I'll try to go alone so no one is subjected to a 15-minute "The fruit we get at the market..." tirade.

9. Eating outside. Restaurants here start stealing parking places around 4pm and put out plastic tables and chairs so you can sit outside (basically in the street). If you have a deck you know its just something different to eat outside and since there is no winter we can do it all year long. If its not raining, we'll be eating outside 90% of the time at a restaurant.

8. No freezing temps. Speaking of it never being winter, people ask us sometimes what we like about living here and always among the first few things is that its always summer. Always. We thought it might get old and we do complain sometimes about sweating through so many shirts a day but given the choice--its no choice. We'll leave winter time to Santa and people in Canada.

7. The Indian head shaking thing (if you've visited us, you know what we mean). When we first got here we'd go out to eat and then ask if they had a certain thing, "Do you have fried rice?" And in response we'd get this head bob thing. I've really come to love (and adopt) it. I assume it means something along the lines of, "I'm following you, keep going." I was expecting a clear yes or no but this is pretty nice in its own way.

6. In-line water heater. Its not like we need a ton of hot water but when you want a bit of hot water in the shower, its nice that it never ends. We wanted an inline water heater when we built our house. That is until we heard the price and we forgot about it.

5. $3.00 movies and getting to pick your own seat. Harry Potter on the first day for $4.50 (the "blockbuster" price) and you buy your tickets online, on the phone, or through text message. And you pick your seats so you know you can all be together. And its cheaper than a movie Coke at home. Not to mention we got two drinks at the movie for $1.35 total! We keep trying to explain we can't see as many movies in America...

4. Political incorrectness. We are so uptight in America and afraid of offending everyone. No one can say anything anymore. Being immediately outraged about everything seems to be the new national pastime.

But not here, especially regarding race. Think back to when you first saw Paula Abdul or Tiger Woods or Mariah Carey and people asked, "What is she?" Well, of course, the indignant reply was, "She is a HUMAN BEING what difference does it make what color she is?"

I've learned that as we all became one thing in America, we gave up something special--our heritage. Ask me what I am and I'll just say American, press me and I'll say Kentuckian. Press harder and I'll say that I neither know nor care to know all the stuff regarding who grandfathered whom and whether or not he was a cowboy or an indian. "German? English? Italian? Where are your people from?" I dunno and don't care. But maybe I should.

So anyway, around here, race matters. Want a club card at the local Kroger? Be prepared to check the box on your race. If you are "other" like me, prepare to provide more info. Last time I wrote: white. Its not a race and I'm not actually white but we got through the form OK after that. Around the third question you ask someone is, "What are you?" They say, "My mom is Indian and my dad is Chinese. I was born in Indonesia but we lived in Singapore and Malaysia, I've never been to India or China!"

It matters for jobs, too. Nearly everyday you'll see signs that say: Help Wanted, Chinese female, 18-25, Single, must still live with parents. Pretty specific on the "What are you?" scale.

It matters, too, for your holidays. What you can eat, where you can (or can't) go. Matters for who you can marry. It matters that people don't forget who they are and where they came from. At least here it does.

3. Wearing flip flops all the time. This is more Angie and the kids, though I do wear sandals some part of every day. We just flip-flop. I wear mine if its raining, Angie wears shoes at that time. Know why its great? Because its never cold enough to freeze your toes if you can wear flip-flops all the time.

2. Cheap food. Breakfast for two sitting in a parking lot somewhere for $3 including drinks. That is still amazing for me. Yesterday I had lunch for $1.63. Depends on where you go and if you absolutely must have meat but you can get by pretty cheap if you're willing to try it.

1. Friends. We have some great friends who have helped us so much to know what to do and what not to do. The proper way to eat with your hands. Who to greet and how to greet them. When to go and when not to and how to plan everything around prayer times instead of the clock! People have been so open-hearted and friendly. We feel safer here than we ever have in Nashville.

The best part about being here has been the people. There is so much of us really excited about getting back to Kentucky but its still hard to go. One guy called last week and said, "Have a safe trip back," then he corrected himself. "Have a safe trip there, you're coming back here."

Top 10 things we are looking forward to...

With just over 60 hours to go until we leave our SE Asian home for six months, we've spent a lot of time talking about what we're looking forward to. So we made this non-exhaustive, off-the-top-of-our-heads Top Ten List:

10. Being able to drive on the right side of the road. Though being on the left feels pretty normal now, it will still be nice to be on the side we're more accustomed to being on. At least we hope we remember to be on it...

9. Hot and cold water from all faucets in the house. From washing hands this winter to dishes in the sink, it will be nice to have other options besides room temperature.

8. Our feet not hanging off the mattress when we get in bed. Though I'm not sure I look forward to becoming short again. Its nice being taller but there will be some advantages.

7. Not being the only white people whenever we go. We've come to know what people are saying when they do a double-take in a car or at a table as their mouths move and then all heads shoot our way. Its something along the lines of, "Hey, look, a car full of white people." We are endlessly entertaining.

6. The "other" white meat. Pizza is just not the same, no to ways about it.

5. Cracker Barrel, Moby Dick, Mooses, Moe's, Mexican food, Taco Bell (its not Mexican food). Restaurants that don't serve endless varieties of fried rice and fried noodles.

4. The NFL. We hear the Cowboys could go all the way this year but you'd never know it from the amount of football our ESPN shows. Want to see soccer, badminton, darts, or Formula 1 racing we can hook you up. Football, not so much.

3. The kids going to a school. Everyone is looking forward to this one. Everyone.

2. Being able to buy things and then return them if needed. Much of the fun of gift buying is lost if you can never return something 'cause its broken, or the wrong size, or a duplicate. Today we got Caleb some earbuds and had to try them endlessly since these came with "no warranty" which means if you leave, don't bother bringing them back for any reason. Better do a full inventory of the box and try every single piece before you hit the door.

1. Friends and family. Awww, surely you saw that one coming.

Going Away Party

Our neighbors threw us a going away party recently which was awfully cool. We had the chance to hang out with friends.

And they gave us this huge gift.
And then we took group photos...
Group photos...
Group...
Photos...
Group...
Photos....
With lots of people.
Plus we ate and hung around til after midnight talking.
One thing I like about the culture here is that you get to open presents away from the people who gave them. I'm normally a poor gift-receiver (meaning I do not display enough emotion to satisfy the giver) and so this way no one is bothered by how I react (or don't).
But look at Angie, almost crying as she opens it. That is money for the gift giver. I need to work on that. If I cry this Christmas, you should know its because I've been working hard and not because you have suddenly found the gift I've always wanted. I appreciate the stuff I get, I just don't show it well like some people ... like Angie.
It was a great gift, a cool sunburst mirror that all the families signed on the back. Its already proudly hanging in our living room. They told us to take it with us to KY but not sure yet if we'll be doing that.