The Price of Gas

I know many of you are watching the price of gas go up. I just read an article about how it is rising still but shouldn't hit $4 a gallon!!

For some perspective, let me relate my first experience at the gas station: I was at a BP station with a friend here filling up his station wagon. In US dollars, it cost $111.11 for 13.59 gallons. If you do the math, that is $8.18 a gallon! (Yes, I converted liters to gallons and local currency to dollars before dividing!) The irony is that we live much closer to the gas supply than you do!

Sooooo, as you fill up your car/van/suburban/SUV/moped/horse & buggy the next time, remember that it could cost alot more.

Comin' Clean on Goin' Green

I can't live with my guilty conscience any longer; I have a confession to make. Our furniture is not green. However, the green furniture is extremely popular, and it is the main color of choice in all furniture stores. Because it is so prevalent, we (ok...I) decided to take a picture to show you the styles here. Then I decided to post it on the blog. I enjoyed the thoughtful and sympathetic replies, but it was time to come clean. In all truthfulness, our furniture is tan (you should've known Mike and I are too boring for lime green). We ordered two couches and two chairs, but it will be another two weeks before it comes. The couches fold out to beds, and the chairs fold down as well (to make a twin bed). So, we'll have plenty of room for our American guests!!!

I wouldn't care

One of the fun things about living overseas is meeting other Americans here. Understanding folks from "other parts" of the US and their mannerisms and phrases can be a unique cultural experience in itself. One of our friends here is originally from California. He was needing to go somewhere without his kids. Upon this dilemma I responded, "I wouldn't care to watch them."

This friend got a big belly laugh over my response of "I wouldn't care." Evidently, saying "I wouldn't care" implies that you really do not want to watch them. "I would not care" says the opposite of caring to do something. Oh, brother! We need some KY folks here to straighten these guys out.

So now when there's something I really don't want to do, but I'm trying to be polite, I'll say, "I wouldn't care to do that" as a joke. But when I originally said it, I really didn't care to watch them. Oh no, I did it again, except this time I said didn't instead of wouldn't.

Have you ever used the phrase "I wouldn't care" meaning you'd be glad to do something? Am I the only hick who has ever used that phrase?

Moving in

It has taken us a while to get into our new apartment, but we are finally here! Once we finally found a place, here are the reasons it took a while to actually move in: First we had to shop for beds, dressers, sofas, mattresses, tables, irons, a dishwasher, a stove, a mixer, a toaster, bedspreads, clocks, towels, washcloths, dishrags, lamps, a microwave, cleaning supplies, ceiling fans, clothes hampers, a desk, bookshelves, a refigerator, and more appliances just to name a few. Super Wal-Mart does not exist here, and an interpreter has helped us purchase everything. Someone other than the delivery guys had to come and hook up all the major appliances. The warrantees on the major appliances aren't good unless they are hooked up by an expert. We also needed someone to come and inspect our hot water heater. It heats water for showers as well as for the radiators in the house. Someone came to inspect it on Friday, and he said that some of the pipes were connected wrong. Someone else came to switch the gas pipe and the water pipe. Our toilet tank had a crack in it, so it is still under repair (we have a second toilet, so there's no problem). We are glad to finally be setting up house, but the kids are sleeping with their mattresses on the floor because we have not found beds for them yet. It's like camping out, and they see it as an adventure. Piece by piece we'll get this place together, and I'll post a picture when we get to that point (which could be a year from now)!

Fountain Fiasco

A friend of mine recently bought a chocolate fountain, and we took it out for its maiden voyage at a get together on Sunday night. There were 21 people anticipating the flowing chocolate, and we had quite an array of foods to dip into it. We carefully assembled the bright orange fountain, and my friend created a culinary masterpiece of warm chocolate in her make-shift double boiler. When the big moment came to turn on the fountain, we had at least 16 little eyes anticipating the unending flow of chocolate. My friend poured in the chocolate and flipped the switch. There was a loud motor sound but no chocolate. The motor kept going. Still no chocolate. Smoke began to pour out of the bottom of the fountain, but my friend said, "Smoke is normal. The directions said smoke would happen the first time." As the smoke began to billow, we decided to turn off the non-fountain and check it. After rereading the manual and making some adjustments, we still continued to get smoke instead of chocolate (note the picture of the orange fountain and smoke). To my amazement, everyone was still in a chipper mood. Those who have lived overseas for any amount of time have learned the art of flexibility. We poured the chocolate into a separate bowl, and we used a spoon to make our own fountain. The adults lifting the spoon and dripping chocolate off of it served as our fountain. We all got plenty of chocolate; it just wasn't flowing from the orange fountain.

Freebies

Something I love about shopping here are the freebies. Those of you who know me know I'm a sucker for free things. Well, various products here have free things taped to them. Many of the Pepsi products have Pepsi glasses attached to them, so I plan on drinking Pepsi products until I have a set of glasses. This drink in the picture is a grapefruit carbonated pop drink. It tastes like Ruby Red Grapefruit Tropicana Twister on steroids, and we like it. This bag of laundry detergent came with free bleach, and the shampoo came with free soap (the soap is pomegranate, so I guess we'll smell like pomegranates). Groceries here are more expensive than in the states, so I am more than happy to get something free!

Goin' Green

We've been searching for furniture for our new apartment. The most popular colors here are lime green, bright orange, and magenta. There's no way we could go with the orange, so we chose this set. What do you think?

The Twister and other treats

Today we had a beautiful spring day, and the kids wanted a treat from the local market. They sell lots of ice cream and popscicle goodies. "The Twister" is the best one there. On the outside, it's like a lime sherbert and creamy ice cream twisted together. Then, on the inside is a rasberry sherbert center. That's the one I'm eating. The girls and their friend got the "Pop Star". It's a pink candy-coated star with strawberry ice cream inside. As they ate their ice cream, they searched for bottlecaps that were on the ground to add to their collection of trash. They say one man's trash is another man's treasure, and that's the case with the girls' "treasure box" that is full of rocks and bottlecaps. I'm drawing the line if they start to pick up cigarette butts. They are too numerous to count! Speaking of cigarettes, there was a guy working at a coffee shop the other day who was wearing a shirt that said, "Please Smoke." Mike and I chuckled and wondered how he'd fit in in Lexington with all the smoking bans.

Fast Food

I've had a number of people ask me about the food here, so I took some pictures when we went out to eat today. The food on the left has been my favorite dish (so far). It is chicken with tomato sauce that is served in a stone baking dish. It comes to the table sizzling. To me it tastes something like chicken cattiatore. It also comes with some flat bread, and I scoop some chicken yummy stuff onto my bread. There is always a long, green grilled pepper that is placed on top of the dish. I've not been brave enough to eat it yet.

The dish on top is like a pizza without pizza sauce. It comes in all varieties: cheese only, cheese and olives, cheese and chicken, etc. The kids' favorite is the hamburger one. They absolutely love it. If you look closely at the picture, there are three layers of this pizza-like dish, so one order can easily feed 3 children. Each of these dishes costs about $4.

Carb-o-licious

The bread here is carb-o-licious!!! Every time we go out to eat, this fabulous warm, flat bread is

brought before the meal. It is served with a bowl of something that tastes like thin salsa. This stuff is so awesome! It is my favorite food (so far). On the top picture, you can see Mike holding up this bread. This shows you how thin and long the bread is. It is longer than the length of Mike's shoulders. Mike and I put away the entire bread...and that was before our meal was served. Dr. Atkins, eat your heart out!

Swingin'

David and Annie played soccer on Saturday, and there is a great playground next to the soccer field. Emma has finally learned how to swing by herself, so I took a picture of this momentous occasion.

Comments

I am so happy you are reading our blog! I DO need to clarify something about the comments, though. When you post a comment, it will come to our email and we have to approve it before we put it on the blogspot. This is so you don't say crazy things about us or make fun of our hair or take the opportunity to plug your favorite political candidate or so on. Maybe we just like to feel like we have control over something. So if you post a comment 10 times, we will receive 10 emails. Be patient with us. We'll eventually post your comment. If we don't post it, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. Keep commenting...I love reading them!

Hippo Speak

I needed to buy school supplies for the kids. A friend took me to the city's version of Staples (about the size of a walk-in closet). Each kid needed a small notebook. Some covers of the notebooks were quite intriguing . I thought I'd let you see a picture of one cover to show you what I mean. The cover is written in English, but after reading it I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to understand English here or our new language. My friend and I tried to figure out what in the world the English meant; she said this was typical. There are English words on things, but they are not written well. Soooo, if you would like to interpret Abby's notebook, feel free to make a comment. This cover says "WON'T YOU BE MY FRIENS? I come from so far only you...because friendship is relation two people or more person are interaction."

Third First Day of School

The kids had their third first day of school on Monday. It was their third time this school year to have a "first day of school." They wear uniforms (which I love, the kids dislike), and they go to an international school. There are 14 children in Annie's class, and there are 12 different countries represented in that grade. So far Annie's closest friend in class is from Kazakhstan, Abby's closest friend in class is from Korea, and David's closest friend is from the United States (Texas). David also has friends from Australia, Korea, and Iran. All three kids go to language class daily to learn the national language.

First Official Purchase

There are vendors who sell yummy treats up and down the street. Annie really wanted this donut-thingy. I had no idea how to communicate with the vendor, but I did have a few coins in my pocket. Fortunately, Annie already knows how to count to ten, so she communicated enough to buy her a goody. This donut-syrupy-sweet thingy cost about 40 cents. It was our first official purchase without an interpreter. Annie will be highly motivated to learn the language if it means getting more of these!

I Will Survive

The first Friday night we were here, we went bowling with some friends. As we entered the bowling alley, the song I Will Survive was playing over the loud speaker. I found that hilarious yet fitting. I couldn't understand any signs around me or what people were saying, and I Will Survive was the blaring song in the bowling alley. The DJ interspersed English songs with songs in the national language.

While at the bowling alley, Abby and Emma went to the public restroom. This restroom had a western toilet, but the flushers are different than flushers in the states. Abby couldn't figure out how to flush the potty. In this country, the flusher is on the top of the toilet (and she knows how to push or pull the flusher), but this public toilet had the flusher on the wall. Abby saw a thing on the floor that looked like the flusher, so she pushed it. Emma was standing in front of the commode, and she got absolutely soaked!!! Abby pushed a button for the bidet. Emma got absolutely drenched, and she didn't see it coming!!! She screamed louder than I knew 4-yr. olds could scream; that needed no translation for anyone around. We had to strip her down and let her wear Mike's coat. Oh the joys of foreign toilets. I Will Survive is now Emma's theme song, too!

The City

One of the first things we did was look for an apartment. I took this picture of our city from the balcony of one of the apartments we looked at. It gives you a good idea of where we are living. This balcony was so high up for me that I got dizzy looking over the balcony. Needless to say, the balcony's not conducive to playing children. Quite different from suburbian Kentucky, eh? We are thrilled to live among the millions.

21 hours later

Our first international flight included 4 planes, 3 layovers, 19 bags checked in, 4 backpacks, 2 computer bags, 2 suitcases on wheels, 3 blankies, a teddy bear, and a tiger. The kids loved the airplanes, and all preferred the window seat. Their backpacks were full, and Annie only toppled over once in the airport from all the weight. We had breakfast at 1 a.m. because we were on Austrian Airlines, and it was breakfast time according to their clock. Then we had a layover at 3 a.m. We arrived with all four kids, all our luggage, and little sleep. The entire flying adventure lasted 21 hours.