Happy Easter

L]: Hello friends!

Happy Belated Easter!

Sorry that it really has been so long since we've last posted. Don't worry, we are still alive and well! Besides the fact that we have bags under our eyes from not sleeping enough, we are doing okay. This month has whizzed by so quickly!

Some recent changes:

* The weather -- Ick! It's now hot and humid. Well, it can't seem to make up its mind. One day it's cold, and the next day it's hot. I think I've always been afraid of cold weather, but now, I am prefering cold than feeling like I am melting in class from the heat. I believe that there is no spring here. It's winter, and the next thing you know, it's hot. Wowsers.
* I am not so afraid of the butcher anymore. Well, not quite. The other day I was purchasing some meat and produce, and as I was paying on the counter in the little shop, lo and behold, there is an animal liver on counter next to the money box. The owner just casually pushed aside the liver, and plop down the rest of my change onto the counter. Ugh. What was I supposed to do, except cooly take my money and say thank you.
* I have new appreciation for automatic-flush squatty potties. I never knew squatties had automatic flushing capabilities. But now I know. Yeah! =P

One BIG highlight is that some of our beloved friends from home (PB, AR, GL) came here to this side of the world to visit and do some work here. It was so good to see them!!! Seeing them reminds us so much of home & I just started crying seeing them and thinking of everyone. Their visit brought us great memories and it was huge time of encouragement for us! And they brought with them so much love from home. =)

As we reflect on the family and friends we miss so much, other things started coming to mind about home too:

* I miss my pharmacy back at home!! Check out my "other" home where I spent most of my time at before I came here: http://www.bcpvetpharm.com/about_team_pharmacists.htm
* I miss Jason's Deli, Taco Cabana, Taco Bell... oooh, that's quality fast food right there....
* I miss microwave dinners. Lean Cuisine. Healthy Choice. Night Hawk. Kid's Cuisine. Yumm... I guess one good thing is that since there are no such things here, I actually have to go to the market and buy "real" food. And cook it.
* We miss driving our cars! There's something about driving on the freeway and listening to the radio to decompress after a hard day's work. I thought H-town traffic was bad and full of bad drivers... WELL, I stand corrected. The way that people drive HERE makes H-town traffic look so peaceful. I will devote another post about the way people drive here another day... or wait, did I already do that! =)

Anyhow, one funny sign I recently saw, and it made me laugh. I thought I'd post it to share my recent find with you. I blacked out the original native language "to protect the innocent", but I left the English there for you to ponder and reflect...

belated February updates

[L]: Hello friends!

Sorry it's been a while since we've been able to update. Compounded with slow internet (yay, it's getting better again!) and us being out of the country (we were in TL for a couple weeks)...internet time was a rare commodity. (Leave me a message here if you don't know what TL means, and if you want more details. I will gladly e-mail you!)

There's so much to share with you... where to begin? Well, here are some recent things in our "daily" life...

First off, there was the superbowl. As we live here, there are moments of sadness when we realize how many events we miss because we are not home in the States (such as a cousin's engagement, friends' babies being born, weddings). But not the SuperBowl. Why? Because they decided to broadcast the superbowl LIVE here on our regular network TV. (Yes, here in E.A, a place where people think "real" football is soccer, and American football is too violent.) Downside? Must wake up at 7:30am to watch it. No American commercials. No half-time show. Commentary in foreign language. And commentators didn't look too eager to comment. But you know what? We took what we got. We all woke up bright and early to catch the game, meanwhile trying to translate what the commentators are saying (the few words we know) -- "He's running. Look! Look!"

Oh yes, language classes. We ended our fall semester at the end of January with a final exam that our teacher assigned us: Write 300 word essay about a topic. (The good news? It's open book. Phew!) And we got to choose from ONE of the following topic: 1) Going to the store, 2) My Friend, 3) Studying, 4) My Day. And with our limited vocabulary, our essays had a variety of something like this (in order to fill the 300 word requirement): "I wake up in the morning. I put on my shirt. I put on my pants. I put on my socks. I put on my shoe. Then I put on my jacket..." Our poor teacher, who must endure our articulate literary attempts.

My English, where did it go? I wish I could say that because I live here, I have now proficiently mastered a new language. I WISH. Rather, it's another phenomenon: While I am slowly learning a new language, my English is disporportionately deteriorating. I find myself saying certain things as if it's normal (without even flinching): "Please have a sit." "You go here." "Thank you all the same." "What a pity that you make bad grade" [In trying to sympathize with a friend]. And the funny thing is, my American friends and I hardly notice bad spoken English anymore. Perhaps it's called desensitization...

Well, I've written enough for today. I'll save the rest of my other stories for another time, so I won't inundate you with too many words at once. Here are some random recent pics from my camera:

(Below: No one's shy about their laundry.)


(Below: Apparently, a great place to store dried meats is outside your window.)


(Below: While in TL... we trekked up a mountain, visited a tribal village, and slept in a straw hut. And the view on top of the mountain is breathtaking.)


Happy belated (Lunar) New Year! =)

fresh chicken anyone?

I try to test our internet from time to time. It seems to be slowly getting better every day. Yay. I even was able to upload a picture! whoa--haven't been able to do that in a long while! Here's a picture of the nearby corner shop near our apartment that sells everything from live chickens (usually all in the cage, except there's a white chicken sitting on top--?!?!) to fresh veggies. We pass by this shop every day on our way to class. Fresh chicken anyone? :)

hello world! It's been a while...

[L]: Hello world!! Whoaaa....it's so nice to finally get to be on our blog! We haven't had access to the regular internet websites for so long. There was an earthquake in the Pacific Ocean during Christmas that damaged a lot of internet routes from/to here. It wasn't until recently, that we could finally log on to the internet again and get some e-mails.... BUT things are still moving verrrrrrrry slowly. For example, I will look at the browser, walk away, come back an hour or two later, and there will be maybe 1 more tiny image that just got downloaded. And then it freezes. So doing anything over the internet has been quite literally painful... took me over a couple hours to download just a few e-mails yesterday! But we are thankful to have some sort of internet access to the outside world again!

Can't wait to write more, but for now, just wanted to let you know that we are still alive and well. =) Yes, it's cold here! Our lovely ditch outside our apartment with the nice greenish, brown color is frozen. Edwin and I threw rocks at the layer of ice and the rock bounced off the surface -- perhaps the ice is thicker than it looks?! =P (But our friends still claim that this winter is milder than most. haha!) Riding our bikes to class is still painfully hard every morning in the cold weather, but final exams are approaching, so it won't be long till our semester comes to an end.

Anyhow, we hope you all had a great Christmas and a great new year so far! Time flies so quickly, doesn't it. Christmas was a very busy season for us, with lots of stuff going on. We were exhausted, but it was worth it! Being here has made Christmas a truly meaningful season for us.

We hope the internet will be back to full-speed again soon, so we can catch up more with all of you!

Until then...

Happy Belated New Years!