2 Firsts in 1 Day!

Well, I was going to write a book but someone beat me to the title! There are days when it feels like we have been here for a long time. And then there are other days, like today, that remind me how new we are to our new home!! For example:

While at language school today, I needed to visit the necessary room. As I was walking through the door, a kind gentleman stopped me and pointed above my head. Alas, there was a sign saying this was the LADIES" restroom! It has been a men's restroom for 10+ months but no longer evidently - oops!!! Thankfully this gentleman saved me from any further embarrassment.

Then, after school I was hopping on my bus to come home. A man in front of me was waiting for his change. The man working on the bus said he had not given him any money yet. The passenger-to-be said he put $20 down. The worker said, "No you didn't!" Passenger-to-be replied, "Yes, I did!" Then, the worker started speaking at about 190 mph and I couldn't understand all he was saying. But, when he jumped out of his seat and came around to start pushing the passenger-to-be OFF the bus, it was a common universal language we could all understand. Then, they started yelling louder and continued with a mutual shoving contest. As they took turns seeing who could push whom harder, the passenger-to-be was getting shoved right off the bus. He tried to swing and kick the worker, who started saying things that I am pretty sure should not be said in any language while in public or anywhere else!

So, to sum up: I knew enough language to understand the fight on the bus but not enough to keep from walking into the ladies' restroom. Would anyone like to evaluate my language skills at this point in time?!?!?!

eggs au natural

PAAS doesn't export to Asia. Still wanting to color Easter eggs, I resorted to the au natural dyes. Pomegranates, purple cabbage, tea, spinach, carrots, and plums were a few of our dyes. I first boiled the items in water for 30-40 minutes and then added vinegar to the water. Then, we added the boiled eggs to the chosen colored water. The purple cabbage and pomegranates gave the best color. The spinach water left a nasty slimy film on the eggs. The carrot mixture was pretty slimy as well. Green tea did nothing to the eggs. We had to leave the eggs in the colored water overnight because they took so long to stain (definitely a downer for kids who want to see quick results). The nasty vinegar spinach water left a nice smell in the fridge. So that's about it for the egg experiment. I miss PAAS! Hello, egg salad!

To explain the eggs on the left: the ones in the back are nasty, slimy spinach and carrot eggs. The decent green/purple one in the middle is the one David brought home from school (made with PAAS). The purple and blue ones are cabbage and pomegranate. The brown eggs are from regular tea. The stripes on some of the eggs are our feeble attempt at rubberbands and a tie-dye egg. These eggs look nothing like the ones we saw on the internet...the beautiful pink, yellow, and blue ones made from the same ingredients we used. Ours have character, though.

Mike's Bracketology

Well, my favorite time of the sports year is here, though the Masters holds the 1-A slot. Since I have actually BEEN to see tournament games and a Final Four, it ranks ahead of the Masters for now. Estimated time until I see the Masters: FOREVER! In response to Lisa's comments below, here are some nuggets of wisdom from the old man in the house:

1) Even living on the other side of the world, I am trying to figure out how to avoid listening to Billy Packer at all costs! Give me Dickie V at the Final Four, please!!! In fact, I'd really prefer Tom Leach, who is the most biased "homer" calling games! He's great to listen to and we have enjoyed him numerous times this year on UK football and basketball broadcasts.

2) Even though you KNOW there will be upsets, it is almost impossible to make your pen write them down. So, of course, I have overreacted and picked too many upsets this year. Go Cinderella!!!

3) I still hope to see the day when a #16 beats a #1 seed (provided the #1 seed will not be UK).

4) When filling out a bracket, I always pick SEC teams and always pick against ACC teams.

5) I never thought I'd see the day when Drake (still don't know where it is or that they even HAD a basketball team), Davidson, Butler, Oregon, BYU, Purdue, Gonzaga, Miami, Texas A&M, Kent State, West Virginia and St. Mary's (isn't that a catholic girl's school?) would all be higher seeds than UK.

6) I never thought I'd see the day when UK football and UK baseball were ranked and UK basketball was not! (BTW: UK baseball was 19-0 and ranked #2 in the country this week!) And the football team will have a head coach named Joker in the near future.

Well, for what it's worth, my Final Four includes: UNC losing to Kansas and Memphis beating UCLA. In the final game, Memphis beats Kansas so we can all hear that horrible "One Shining Moment" song again!

Lisa's Bracketology

I am filling out my bracket, and as I was doing so I realized I follow a certain pattern every year. It struck me that I do it year after year. Here are a few things I do:

• No matter how bad UK is, they always make it to the Sweet Sixteen.
• No matter how good Duke is, I never put them in the Final Four.
• No matter how good Louisville is, I never put them in the Final Four.
• If EKU or WKU makes it to the dance, they always win their first round.

I don't care if I ever win the big pot or glory for having the winningest bracket. I have to be true to self.

We will be watching the UK game live tonight via the internet. Hooray for technology! I'm glad it's an early game in the U.S. so we don't have to stay up 'til 3 a.m. to see it. Sorry for those of you who will miss it due to school or work.

DISCLAIMER: To my Lousiville and Duke friends out there...I like you; it's your teams I don't like. I'm stealing that line from the people here who say, "I don't like Americans, but I like you."

technologically challenged

I've got a technological question for my computer gurus out there. I have been taking some video shots with my Kodak Easy Share camera. I want to put those videos on a DVD to watch on my tv. I use Pinnacle or Windows Movie Maker to make DVDs, but both say they won't accept a .mov file. The Kodak Easy Share only records video in a .mov / Quick Time file, so how in the world do I convert the file? Also, what do I convert the .mov file to in order to make it work? I tried some program called "Super" to convert it, but it's not working for me. I need to put these videos on a DVD for grandma, so could someone help me out?

P.S. There are probably two people who will solve this: Mike's great-grandfather or someone's 10-year old kid.

translating pranks

Note to self: If you share stories about pranks you did in high school (like toilet papering a house or putting a cracked toilet on someone's porch), it totally gets lost in translation.

philadendron

I have a new plan for learning this language. I recently aquired a list of some of the most common phrases used here. I'm going to choose a phrase off the list and keep it in the forefront of my mind and use it in a real-life situation that day. I'll have a "phrase of the day." Some of the phrases on the list include: "Is that your lowest price?" "How much is that all together?" "I am uncomfortable." "Are your parents living?" (and if the answer is no I respond with "May your life be spared"). So if I'm serious about this, and really want to use it in a real-life situation (which will help cement it in my brain), I thought that it may sometimes feel forced.

This reminded me of the John Candy movie Who's Harry Crumb? that was constantly rerun on TNT. There was a really funny scene that Mike and I still talk about. John Candy is a detective, and there's a lady in his office. After she explains her problem, John Candy wants to appear intelligent and competent, so he wants to use a big word. He has a word-of-the-day flip calendar on his desk, and that day's word was philadendron. So he says to the lady, "Your husband...he's quite the uh, philadendron."

So having my phrase-of-the-day reminded me of that scene. I wonder if I'll be thinking about my phrase and use it totally out of context. I'll let you know.

The Potter and the Clay

We recently went to a village and met a nice potter who let our kids try their hands at the wheel. As we watched them create, mess up, try to center the clay, listen to the master potter’s instructions, ignore the master potter’s instructions, smooth, and smile at the finished product, Mike and I were reminded of how much we are like the clay on the wheel. Some of the lessons Mike recently wrote about the clay and potter are as follows:

1) The potter knew exactly what he wanted BEFORE he started. He knew the right amount of clay he would need and wasted nothing. He knew the proper amount of water to use and put it on his hands to make them softer for the clay. He used only the tools required for what he was making. He used different speeds on the potter’s wheel, again knowing how fast was too fast and how slow was too slow. And most of all, he knew the amount of time the clay needed to be on the wheel. When finished, the clay came off the wheel.

2) At different times, more shaping of the clay was more visibly obvious. At times it looked like nothing was happening. But in reality, he was applying the finishing touches! At times, more pressure was needed and at times he gently held the clay to smooth away the rough spots.

3) He ALWAYS had his hands and eyes on the clay. He didn’t walk away. He wasn’t doing work on something else. He wasn’t thinking about his last piece of work or his next one. He simply saw he piece of clay he held in his hands. If he had left the wheel while it was still spinning, the clay would have been thrown off the wheel. But the potter would never let that happen.

4) The finished product looked NOTHING like the lump he started with! Everything he made was pottery, but he had things in every kind of shape and size.

Consider this: He is the potter and we are the clay. There is also the wheel. What is “the wheel” in life? It’s what the potter used to SHAPE the clay. For us, that’s our life and the experiences He allows into them so He might shape us into exactly what He wants. The wheel is our individual set of circumstances that He fashions. Nothing wasted. Everything with purpose. He knows exactly what He wants to make of you! At times, it may be more obvious for you to see than other times. But, fear not, because He never takes His hands or eyes off of you. And when you are “finished”, you will look nothing like you did when He started. Aren’t you glad?!?!?!? I know I am!!

Speed Bumps and Post-Its

While out walking this morning, I noticed something rather odd. The speed bump I stepped on was made by the same company who produced the post-it note I wrote on before leaving! Living in a new country where not much is familiar, things like the "3M" logo stands out more than usual. What is more strange was the thought running through my head: I wonder if the speed bumps are made out of the same things as the post-it notes or if the post-it notes are made from the same materials as the speed bump?!?!?!?

Arm-chair psychologist anyone?????????