Favorite Phone Snaps

I finally did the leg work to get all the pictures I've been saving off my phone. Some of these are so great, I've been saving them for two years. Maybe my favorite is this gem: "Negro Brand flour" complete with the sambo guy! Its offensive on so many levels! Sometimes in Asia you just stop and think, "Wow, if I didn't get killed for doing that in America, I would surely be arrested."

One time I was trying to explain to a neighbor that he shouldn't call people "Negroes" and he wanted to know what he should use instead. I replied, "Umm, I'm not really sure because I've been outside the US for 2.5 years and so I don't know what is in vogue right now but I do know negro is always a bad choice."
These kind of signs are so nice. Do people who urinate in stairwells obey signs? I think not.
Can you spot the problem in this reflexology sign?
An oldie. Its hard to believe how much the kids have grown since we moved.
For a long time we could only get mashed potatoes at Popeye's. They weren't great but they were mashed!
This Sunday morning Hudson was whispering so much, I had to sneak a shot. We're gonna be bad attention-payers when we get back to church in KY since we've become so accustomed to talking during services here.

Wacky Tacky Day

Friday we had Wacky Tacky Day. Not that it was homecoming week or anything, we just wanted to and so we did. That part of homeschool is pretty OK. If you'd like to do it, you can. No committee meetings to worry about!

Caleb went went the classic backward shirt and underwear as outerwear. Add a Sharpie mustache and mole then you're ready to roll!
Wacky and tacky is a bit easier for girls. Many more accessories to mismatch!
Hudson was a bit more subtle. Maybe so subtle many of our US readers won't get it. He mismatched a Chelsea jersey with Manchester United pants. Its unthinkable!! He added a face stamp, too. Nice touch.
Since we had such great participation we took everyone out for a McD's lunch! Fridays are always better, aren't they?

Movie Review

For some reason we are a week behind most of the world and just had our premier of Alice in Wonderland today. All in all we thought it was OK. We had intended not to see it since the adults have always thought it a pretty weird story and no one in the family has ever actually made it all the way through even the Disney cartoon version. Also its a Tim Burton movie, which is a turn-off for us, too, normally as he just makes weird films (i.e. We still don't know why Edward had scissors for hands ... we never watched that far).

So, at any rate, we thought it a pretty decent film and not as weird as we feared. There was a dragon-sort of creature but as the Belchers said, "No where near as bad as what we saw in Percy Jackson last month." And at least this movie doesn't have Pierce Brosnan (I've given up on him after Mamma Mia, Remington Steele is lost to me forever!)

Well, back to Alice, it was decent ... even if Caleb left saying, "I don't get it." That is mainly due to his parents lack of interest in the story as a general rule. So the grand question: Should you see it?? If:

• You are a movie person (and you know this time of the year is a horrible time for movies)
• You don't expect too, too much
• You can catch it pretty cheap (our tickets were $3.50)
• Homeschool knocks off early
• You are proud that Johnny Depp is a Kentuckian, even if he goes around acting like he is from France

Then you could probably do worse things with your time. Here is a more spiritual review of the movie and a ton of other reviews. Just don't listen to Ben Lyons even if he agrees with me, he is still a dweeb.

**If you are keeping track I was able to put 15 links into this post. Trying to see how many I could put in was probably more the point than the movie. Johnny Deep does slide a bit into Jack Sparrow (16!) at times, though. Now, though, I am tired and don't feel like chasing down any more links.

Some of them I did not read and so if you follow the link and find a cuss word, don't blame me. Also, many of them are on wikipedia and so they may not be true. But Johnny Deep IS from KY and he may want to act like he's not but he is and not in some wanna-be way like Tom Cruise (17) who just passed through and went to St. X (18) and maybe that is just one more knock on ole Tom.

Alright, I believe I have proven my point. On the internet a person can waste a lot of time...

Weather Update

Anyway, its not like you care but we woke up to rain this morning and we've been having it off and on 'til now. Pretty awesome. I may go out and stand in it...

One More Than Anyone Else!

We told you its hot here. Tonight we found a website that shows our UV Index.



Its "11" every day! Its EXTREME every single day. I'm not sure how high the scale goes but it reminded me of that scene from This Is Spinal Tap. Some other places may feel like they are hot but they are simply "10s" whilst we are 11s!!



P.S. The forecast is a big fat lie. It clouds up every afternoon but it never rains. We can't remember the last rain at our house. Over a month ago for sure.

P.P.S. Sorry the video doesn't fit so good, we decided it was OK to pass for now. Thanks for your understanding...

Its Just Not That Strange

One thing people tell you before you move overseas is you should take all you pictures in the first six weeks or so. In those first few weeks, everything is new, fresh, exciting. You look at burning trash and think, "Wow, that is so much easier than having a truck come collect it."

But after those few weeks are over you start to hate everything. Even the things that are better than back home seem just plain dumb. McDonald's delivers?? Well, that is just because people here are lazy or can't afford a car to drive there!!

At some point you settle in and you love some stuff and tolerate others. The problem for storytelling (and blogging) is that when you get settled in to those times of normalcy that the things that seemed so funny (or frustrating) before just seem normal. And no one takes a lot of pictures or relates a lot of stories about normal, everyday stuff.

Instead, things that were incredible are now commonplace:

• Four people on a motorcycle? HA! I saw six one time.
• A guy selling ice cream from a motorcycle? I saw one doing that from a bicycle.
• A kid unbuckled in the front seat? So ... I saw a one-year-old recently in the driver's lap.
• A guy driving his motorcycle and sending a text message? I saw a guy driving, texting, and lighting a cigarette.
• A person entering a bank wearing a face mask? Yawn.

Things that used to stand out just seem normal. Even tonight, we were 15 minutes from home and looking for a new gas tank (like you use for your gas grill). A guy said, "Hey, you live in so-and-so place. I was just through there at 6pm, why didn't you buy the gas off my truck then instead of carrying the tank here?"

At some point it occurred to me that a strange guy kind of far from our house recognized me and knew where I lived. And you know what? Its just not that strange anymore!

March is in like a Blowtorch

Its been warmer here the last week or so which an informed neighbor attributed to "El Nino" and I thought it was pretty cool for someone to throw down some Spanish here. I just answered, "Bueno."

Anyway, we did a short experiment that was motivated by washing dishes after supper. As you can see its nearly 7pm and so the sun is about to go down. The temperature is finally falling. By this time its down to a chilly 88.9 outside. Its a stuffy 87.1 in our living room which needs to be closed up in order to keep the mosquitos out as much as possible.

This is just a few minutes later in our bedroom, notice the temperature at the bottom. In there its even warmer at 87.4. This temperature does make it easy to consume all the water necessary for good health ... some days I can get in 2 liters before lunch!
This is what started it all, though. Our tap water coming from the street to our pipe clocks in at a cool 80ish degrees. Its like having hot water, even though we don't have hot water pipes at our sinks. This is a meat thermometer we brought from the USA so its 80F and not 80C (which is 176F).
But one thing that is great about the tropics: watermelon. You can buy watermelon all year long. At least if its got to feel like summer, you can eat like its summer, too!!

Got a meat thermometer at home? Let us know what your tap water temp is!!

Ground Control to Major Tom!

Last week Caleb's glasses were broken and so we were on the hunt for some new specs. One thing about medical care in Asia is that normally you just ask for what you want and you get it with no middle man. Want an antibiotic? Just go to the pharmacy, pony up the cash and say, "One Z-Pack, please."

When Craig needed new contacts, he just took the old box to the store and they asked, "How many boxes you want?" No need to worry about RXs! So we were a bit surprised when the eyeglass store that was just set up in the mall center court had a real eye doctor ("real" at least to some degree).

When Caleb sat down the doc broke out these cool glasses that did the job of the big machine and we got to watch him manually preform the "Which one is better ... A or B? A or B? A or B?" test. Pretty exciting. Plus Caleb looked awesome in the glasses.

I thought we should just buy those glasses. Sort of like how everyone wants a pair of bowling shoes after rolling a few games. Those glasses would be the talk of the town! Very space age and futuristic!!

Instead we just settled on these which look the same as his old glasses, really. Nothing too ground-breaking but I guess that is OK for now.

Its Gettin Hot in Here...

Its always pretty hot here but this week has seemed kind of intense. Its gotten into the upper 90s a few days and it hasn't rained at our house for a couple of weeks. So its not just hot but dry. Well the ground is dry anyway.

But Hudson is like his Dad and is nearly always sweaty. If he plays just a little bit, all his hair is soaking wet. For example, look at him while drinking a root beer float. Even the coolest treats can still make him overheated!

Odd Photo Mix

Todd loved these guys who were hanging out in a store playing soccer on PS3 or Wii or something. Its pretty normal here to have people sending text messages or playing PSP or something while working. They get so into it that they do not interact with the customers.

Peek-a-boo!

The happy couple in front of the home we picked out for them. Break it easy to them that most people here do not like dogs. That does not bode well for Paco.

The kids get their picture made every time we go to this place. Which is every time visitors come.
Hanging with some friends. It was nice to see this lady and hear her say, "Oh, I've been sick with a fever. Come on in and sit down!" Um, yes, a fever. nice.

Maria Fancies Herself a Foodie

Well, I guess I should welcome myself back to the blog after a lot of laziness. I'll try to make up for a week of no posting with a hugely long post that has lots of pictures in it. Hope that makes up for my absence...

People normally go one way or another when they come see us. Love the food or hate it. Nothing Western at all or nothing at all but Western food (that is what they call it here "Western food" its nothing from Tumbleweed, though).
This is our awesome breakfast. Its a flat bread that is generously dosed in ghee and cooked on a griddle. Its served with curry and is a family favorite around here. The first thing we normally give people.

Of course, we ate some ice cream while they were here. This is a Pakistani guy selling ice cream from his motorcycle. There is a picture on the "freezer" and when he stops he points at various things and says, "Don't have. Don't have. Don't have." for most things. Then he asks, "What do you want?"
The polar opposite of the motorcycle ice cream guy is Starbucks.

Maria got introduced to the Chocolate Cream Chip Frappucino. Its Angie's favorite thing there (has neither coffee nor fruit).

We ate some pizza from a new local joint. Our review: Don't Quit Your Day Job!
A waffle with some ice cream at A & W. Maybe the only thing worse than plain rootbeer is the rootbeer float. Why do that to ice cream?!?
Everyone diving into Ann's favorite ... something called "coffee bread" in the generic but Ann pronounced the brand name like "Papa Roady" which is just far enough from accurate that no local person would ever understand her!
McDonald's! You'll just have to take my word for it.

Subway is a treat for us since we don't actually have one in our town. Bethany and Hudson can each power through a 6 inch sub, even if sometimes they leave some of the bread.

This is a place we found that has great juice. These huge watermelon juices cost $1.75 each. This juice is ordered by asking for "the big one" because if you ask for a large, they'll just ask if you want "the big one." Its like taking a bite of fruit. Its wonderful to live somewhere that has watermelon all year long.
Just for scale, here is the juice with Bethany's head.
McDonald's again. Though this time we didn't buy anything we were jut sitting inside this one in a mall. Squatters, if you will.
Some wonderful Chinese food. On this table you can see the fish curry that didn't stay in my mom's mouth for one whole second and the awesome chap chai mixed vegetables that feature squid.
The very brave Todd hammering down some squid. His review: Not A Huge Fan.

The best? Seems their very favorite thing was mangoes. Not much to disagree with there, the fruit around here is pretty awesome.

Day trip with the Belchers

I still remember this comedy routine George Carlin used to do about people going on a trip and they pack some stuff. Then when they get there they take a side trip, so they just need stuff for three days. Then on that side trip they decide to go somewhere just overnight. After that maybe they even just go out for the day and each time they take less and less stuff.

I was going to put a link in to the bit if you'd never heard it but he cusses, so don't listen to it. Just take my word for it. Todd and Maria have a bunch of stuff and they whittled it down to what they had to have for two weeks here. Then they had to bring less for the short trip. Then even less to go out for a day climbing hundreds of stairs in the heat and humidity. Water is about the only stuff you need in that moment.

This is a huge statue of the god to whom the temple (inside the cave at the top of hundreds of stairs) is dedicated.
Some people inside the temple offering some incense.
Other flames representing prayers. Some people get these and then carry them around the temple. At some point I noticed we were going counter-clockwise around the temple which is a no-no but we didn't encounter any trouble.
After the temple we retreated to the "air con" as we call it. We were near IKEA but Craig and Todd were unable to enter for the negative energy Craig was giving off just being in the vicinity of the place.
This is a LION dance (even though Craig always pronounces its like "LINE dance"). Maybe if you click the photo you can see the guy inside one of them. Each lion has two guys that are awfully impressive. One lion did fall though, which seemed to please the NASCAR fans present since everyone knows NASCAR fans like a good wreck as much as they like seeing Jeff Gordan with a cold drink.
Always photogenic, Hudson hides from the camera.
We wrapped the night at Chili's which is the ultimate in "air con" comfort even if its more than a bit expensive.

Riveting

We gave them a riveting first day today playing some Backyard Football on the Wii (not in the backyard) and skipping a meal. By this time in their trip most people are begging us not to eat again, with Todd and Re we are trying something new: hunger.

Also they got to hang out while some guys cleaned our air conditioners. And we went to the grocery store. How much more exciting can a day be?

One thing we can say is they have had more energy with both of them making it til after 9pm before heading off to bed. Since we had about 5 hours of sleep last night, I think we'll follow!!

Road Weary

But not too bad for halfway 'round the world. We're heading to bed since its 3am...

Swings

Last month, inspired by a local friend, Angie bought a swing from IKEA. Hanging the swing fell to me. One thing Angie knows about her man is that its hard to actually get him to do some stuff. Especially like home-fix-it projects.

So at some point (OK it was January 25th) she started trying to make me feel guilty about the swing we still had in package. It worked, I suppose, as pretty soon (i.e. January 30th) I actually got to work on the project.

So I had to dig out the drill and all sorts of stuff yang saya jarang pakai ("that I rarely use") like a tape measure and the hammer I bent really bad by using it as a crowbar one day. One thing I hate about IKEA worldwide appeal is that you get two books with your purchase: a 20 page warning booklet in 20-odd languages and an picture instruction book in no language but with lots of arrows.
Look at this awesome face as I hammer-drill. Wait ... not just hammer-drill. I am hammer-drilling overhead! Whew sakit (I was really sore later)!
The tension was building after only a few minutes of work.
Finally it was up and the heaviest person gave it a test
Then a test flight. So far its been a huge success (i.e. people use it and the screws have not fallen out and dropped a kid to the ground).
Due to its popularity, a second swing was added as a compliment to the first. For this one I had to go into IKEA alone and buy the swing. Plus I brought it home and had it hung THE NEXT DAY! What a Dad!!

This one has also not fallen. Yet.