Back in the US - a little bit of culture shock

Well, we made it back to the US without any problems. Although, I am still a little irked that the line at immigration at the airport was longer for US citizens than for foreigners. Speaking of, it is nice to be in a place where I am no longer a foreigner. I think that US citizens should have the shorter lines and then even less waiting time for those who have been out of the country the longest.

Jet lag is getting the best of us. It is 4:30am right now. My goal was to stay up until 10pm last night, but made it to only 8:15pm and then I woke up at 3:15am. Jerry's sleep schedule is even weirder. Not only did he stay up past 10pm, he did not go to bed until 4am! So, now he is sound asleep and I am wide awake.

It is weird being back here. So far, the strangest thing for me is seeing no people on the streets, but LOTS and LOTS of cars - big, new cars! And because of window tinting, I cannot really see the people inside. It's like I am in some kind of futuristic place, which compared to K, Houston IS futuristic. And driving around in my parents' neighborhood, it feels abandoned. There are not many people walking around and hardly any cars either, driving OR parked on the streets. And it is so quiet.

When Jerry and I are in the car together, all of this makes me feel like we are the only people around. Which is the strangest sensation after living in K, where there are zillions of people, animals and vehicles of all shapes and sizes crowding every street. And the noise - people screaming, horns honking, cars creaking/clunking and animals being herded.

We are also going through another bit of culture shock - the kind where you sort of romanticize your home country, only to go back and realize it has problems, too. Case in point - mailing a package at the FedEx/Kinko's in Rice Village.

One of my US friends in K asked us to mail her family's Christmas gifts. We were delighted to help her out. We go to FedEx and a woman comes to greet us and asks if she can help. Well, we tell her that we want to find out the cheapest way to ship a package that arrives before Christmas. Well, she replies that we have to fill out a shipping bill first. Well, there are several different shipping bills, so it would make more sense to ask the shipping clerk which way is best and THEN fill out the form. But the first lady was insistent so we made an educated guess and then asked the shipping clerk. Fortunately, we made the right choice. And you know what - all the shipping clerk needed to know was the zip code.

Anyway, we told the shipping lady we needed to buy a box. She said no problem and said that the boxes are really cheap. She then looked at gifts to be mailed and suggested a particular size. Well, that box was three times the size of the gifts! We found a much more suitable size and packed everything up. So, she rang up the cost of the shipping and as we were about to go, she said that she forgot to charge us for the box. She scanned the size and it came up $9.69. Golly!! I said, "Are you sure?" And she acted as if that was a really great price and even went so far as explaining that it was a good deal. I asked again, "$9.69 for THIS box?" (Remember, she said that the boxes were cheap, so I initially thought, well, I have not lived in the US for 15 months, maybe I just don't know what cheap is anymore.) Anyhow, she replied again that the price was correct and we paid for it. Meanwhile, Jerry found a placard near the shipping supplies with the price list and it showed $2.00. He showed it to her and we could see that she was not ready to concede that $9.69 was not the right price. Jerry pointed out the box, dimensions and price listed a few more times and then she said that she would give us a refund.

Well, guess what!? It took four employees and about 15 minutes for us to get our refund. I could have sworn we were in S Asia. If I told someone boxes were cheap and then a box rang up over 9 bucks, I would have said something like, "Hmmm.... that can't be right," and checked into it. Jerry says that what she did is what happens when people do not have critical thinking skills because "the computer cannot possibly be wrong!"

But, we are glad to be back. It's been nice to hang out with family and we have already eaten Chick-fil-A, Vietnamese noodle soup, sushi and steak. And Jerry has also gotten to eat a JUMBO beef hot dog and drink lots of Starbucks coffee.

If you are interested in either sharing a meal with us (we've got a list of things we want to eat) and/or taking semi-leisurely walks for exercise (me only - Jerry is training for the marathon and will be running), let me know!

Goodbye, worms!

Jerry and I went to the hospital yesterday to get our Hep A/B boosters and decided to go ahead and get blood tests to check for malaria since there has been an outbreak in our area. Because of some symptoms Jerry has, there is a chance that he has worms (gross!) and because of my proximity to him, there is a chance (albeit slighter) that I have them, too (double gross!).

So, the doctor said that we should go ahead and take a de-worming pill. If we have worms, they will get destroyed and if we don't have worms, the pill will not harm us. We went to the pharmacy and paid only 35 cents for each pill. You do not swallow these pills with water; instead you chew them down and then swallow - like candy.

Well, we ate our pills last night. Jerry opened his and marveled at how good the de-worming pill smelled. Then, he ate it and said it tasted like orange sherbet!

Today is Jerry's birthday. Last year on his birthday we found out we were invited to Thanksgiving dinner at the US Consulate. And for his birthday this year, he gets to be de-wormed by an orange sherbet-tasting wonder pill!

Beef - it's what's for dinner

We enjoyed our best steak in S Asia tonight and it was only $10. The tenderloin was cut like filet mignon and was cooked the way we wanted - RARE. We have had steaks a few times here, but they ALWAYS overcook it. Even when we ordered the steak rare tonight, the waiter wrote down well-done and I had to correct him and added that we wanted it red inside.

Since the steak was so well-cooked and tasty, I summoned the waiter to tell him that the beef was delicious and prepared really well and to please tell the chef. Right after he left, I remembered that we are in the land of "hit a cow on the street with your car and get attacked by a mob." So, maybe telling the staff that I loved eating the beef was not such a good idea.

food daydreams

One of our conversations 2 nights ago...

Mitzi: I love you, Honey.

Jerry: I love you, too, sweetie pie.... Mmmm... pumpkin pie

M: Ahh... apple pie

J: Fresh strawberry pie from House of Pies

M: Chocolate pie with bananas on the bottom

J: Mississippi Mud pie

M: Banana Cream Cake

We'll be home Dec 18 - Jan 27th. Who wants to go out for dessert with us?!

One is the loneliest number

There is only one gorilla in this entire sub-continent of a country. His name is Polo and he is 36 years old. He was a gift from the Dublin Zoo. The folks here are trying to find him a sweetheart, but none of the other zoos in the world want to part with their gorillas. He has been "alone" since 2000, the year his former gal pal, Sumathi, died.

From the article...

"He is not very happy. The few joys he enjoys are bathing and searching for food that his keeper hides in blocks of ice or in bamboo to keep him energized," Singh said.

For the prospective mate, Singh says Polo is good-natured and responds to commands in both the local Kannada language and English. (Polo is also 6 feet tall, dark-haired and bilingual.)

"He is in fine health, but lonely," Singh said. "After eight years, anyone would be."

Too bad there is no speed dating for gorillas. And guess where I read this? On the Houston Chronicle website!

Hair Fall

You remember how I told you that people said my hair would fall out here? Well, they were right. It has been frightening for me (and Jerry) to see all my hair on the bedroom floor, clogging up the bathroom drain and in my hairbrush. People also said that the hair fall would be very noticeable to me, but not to those around me, which has been the case.

The reason for the hair fall (the phrase used here) is the bad quality of water. There are lots of minerals and some arsenic in the water here. I have even heard of some expats using bottled water to shower/bathe. And it is not just expats who are affected. I see many commercials on TV for products to prevent hair fall all the time. And interestingly enough, I see product displays for these "solutions" in places like bookstores.

Last month I had an ayurvedic body massage, which is basically ayurvedic herbal oils massaged into your skin all over your body, including your scalp. Well, I noticed that my hair did not seem to fall out as much after that. Then, I learned that several of my co-workers massage oil into their scalps at least once a week and leave it in overnight. So, guess what? I am doing that now, too. And guess what? It is working! Here is a picture of the oil I am using. And Himalaya is pronounced "hi-MAH-lee-ah" here. The featured ingredients are bhringaraja, amalaki, methi, neem and bilva.

Zac Efron night at the Mak flat

It did not really start out that way and we not even fans of his, but we ended up watching two movies with him in them. So, here is the story of Zac Efron night and being cheered up by musicals.

One of my dear friends Lindsay was just cast in a production of High School Musical (HSM) in New Hampshire. We are so committed to seeing Lindsay in all her productions AND we love HSM, so we were trying to figure out a way we could go to New Hampshire during our furlough this winter to see her. However, we talked to her tonight and the show is in late November and we do not get to the US until Dec 18th. We did look on the web for things to do in the NH town and we could have also enjoyed brewery tours and Bingo games in addition to seeing Lin in the musical. (I guess we will have to settle for St. Arnold's Brewery and Family Bingo Hall in Houston.)

Anyhow, all the talk of HSM made me want to watch it, so watch it we did. We have the encore edition on DVD and watched the sing-along version. It is not the best of musicals, but it is so cute and entertaining. We even went to the concert tour in Houston at the Toyota Center! Sharpay is my favorite, followed by Ryan. And their rendition of It's Hard to Believe is my favorite song followed by Stick to the Status Quo. It was so fun watching a fun musical, that I thought of watching Hairspray afterwards. I love that movie. I remember going to the theater and from the first line of the opening song, my mouth turned into a big smile and I KNEW that I was going to enjoy the movie.

Well, I just finished watching Hairspray and felt so uplifted in my spirits. (Mimi - a big thanks for buying it for me!) The songs and dancing are great and the storyline is funny and inspiring. It made me feel like I could tackle the city of K. It reminded me of something I learned in a training on self-care. Of course, we all need to take care of ourselves, but this training was specifically for people in abnormally stressful situations and I think ours fits that scenario. One of the suggestions was to watch more comedies, to laugh more, because laughter reduces stress. Well, I think that fun musicals do that and even more for me. My heart literally felt lighter and more inspired by watching these two films, especially Hairspray because the plot and songs involve standing up and fighting for needed change.

So, thank you High School Musical and Hairspray!

Diarrhea

Yes, this is will be a little gross, so read at our your own peril.

I should be at church this morning, but instead I am at home and Jerry is at church. I had really bad diarrhea last night. I think it was because of a village trip we took and some food I ate, in particular a wedge of apple that I did think twice about, but decided to partake to be polite. (When we first got here, we did not eat fresh produce for 3-4 months.)

Well, I started thinking last night that this is not a good place to have diarrhea even though eating/drinking here gives me diarrhea quite often. I have it maybe 1-2 times a week. Anyhow, there are no places here to stop and run into the bathroom. In the US, there are fast food places galore that have at least decent bathrooms. Plus, even if you can find a bathroom here, it will probably be not very nice, especially if you have to poop.

So, my stomach this morning is feeling a little weird and it is a 10-20 minute drive to church AND the bathroom at church is literally right next to where people sit. In our church, we sit on the floor and people actually lean against the bathroom door for back support. And once you open the bathroom door, the squat toilet is right there. And I have enough trouble trying not to get pee on my feet or shoes... I have had only some success in that area so far!

Luxury Cars

As I was reading an article about the rise of the middle class, it featured an apartment complex for the upwardly mobile here in S Asia whose parking lot is filled with luxury cars like Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas.

And they ARE luxury cars here. We never thought we would look at a Civic and be in awe of its size and luxury.

And yes, I know I need to post pictures of the little car we bought. Uploading pictures from our Mac onto blogspot still intimidates me.

"Dollar" stores have infiltrated S Asia

There is a store here called Always 99Rs. This is a take on the American dollar or 99 Cents store. The decor is red, white and blue and the are slogan is, "The original American bargain store."

Here's the thing, though - 99Rs. translates into $2.50 and nothing in there is a great deal like you would get in a dollar store in the US - especially Super One Dollar Plus in Houston. In addition, most of the stock is more than 99Rs. and they have started becoming a place that imports stuff from the US and charges A LOT - way more than 99Rs.

However, one way this place is like the dollar stores back home is the one-off brands like Sporty Cow cheese instead of Laughing Cow. Lizol, instead of Lysol. Lizol is a few bucks, whereas a can of Lysol is $8. I know!

Here is a sample of other things that are available at "The original American bargain store" and how much they cost converted into US dollars:

Box of Mac N Cheese: $2.50
Can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle or Tomato Soup: $2.50
Jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce: $4.75
Bottle of Mrs. Butterworth's pancake syrup: $6.12
12 oz. box of Crispix cereal: $6.75
24 oz. bottle of Pert Plus shampoo: $10
24 oz. bottle of Pantene ProV shampoo: $17.50
(and yes, I double-checked for typos - those numbers are correct)

So, although we get excited by seeing these products, the sticker shock causes us to walk on by...

Gone are the days where we would stock up on Kroger peanut butter when it would go on sale for $1 a jar. Here, the same size jar of decent peanut butter would cost us upwards of $6.

So, to our favorite Kroger on Buffalo Speedway - We'll be back in December, ready to buy cheap peanut butter and rent $1 DVDs!

copycats and more on the Olympics

Is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery? If so, the West should be very flattered by Asia. I remember seeing stuff from China/Hong Kong that were knockoffs like Suseme Street clothes instead of Sesame Street or LV bags that had VT on them instead. Well, I could cite lots of copycat stuff here, but I came across these two this week:

1. A new movie entitled Hari Puttar
2. A new convenience store named 610. (If you do not get this one, think 7-11)

Olympics news - Michael Phelps has been dubbed The Aqua Gladiator here. Also, the local newspaper wrote that Phelps has more medals than this country has earned in the last 108 years of Olympic competition.

cows and the Olympics

I have seen several more healthy-looking cows this past week. I really believe that things are looking up here as evidenced by this country's first ever individual gold in Olympic history for the 10M Air Rifle competition.

It's interesting to watch the Olympics in a country that is not your own. If I were in Houston, I would probably watch a few events that I like, but being here, I want to watch everything and I check the internet every day to see the US medal count. It's cool b/c even the people here are rooting for Michael Phelps to win 8 gold medals.

Some differences between Olympic coverage here and in the US:

1. There are no background stories of the athletes here. You know how in the US there is always the media piece where the reporters go to the hometown of the athlete and interview the family, friends, coaches and community members and sometimes re-enact hardships the athletes had to overcome to get to the Olympics? None of that here.
2. It never occurred to me how many resources the US has in terms of sports experts. Pretty much, there is a US commentator for every single event in the Olympics, or at least those in which Americans participate. There is a UK company that sells broadcasting rights to about 50 different countries who cannot afford and/or do not have the personnel to cover each of the sports. So there is no banter between previous Olympians about the athletes and what they must be going through or what they need to get that medal.
3. The sports that are given more attention are different from those that get attention in the US. There is a lot of field hockey coverage here mostly because this country won several gold medals in this sport many years ago.
4. There is no schedule available of what events will be covered. At home, we could check the newspaper or internet to find out when an event we wanted to see would be on TV. No such thing here. We kinda get Olympics potluck. (We missed the opening ceremony because it took us a while to figure out what channel and what time it was going to be shown here. Which brings me to another topic - every once in a while, the channels randomly change. And so we have to spend time figuring out what networks are on what channels. For instance, "Hey! There is Bollywood MTV on the BBC station. Now we have to look for BBC again!" AND, we have another TV in the living room, whose channels do not match the channels we get in the bedroom. Insane, I know.)
5. Weird coverage glitches. The network that is covering the games here is called DD Sports. Well, tonight, in the middle of the 100M final, the programming suddenly switched to soccer on ESPN, and not even Olympics. We had to look for a news station to find out who won. (Jerry is channel surfing right now and just found DD Sports on a different channel! So, my auxiliary comment from #4 has just been proved again.)
   

fatter cows

We explored a new mall on Sunday afternoon. It is pretty western and quite big (by S Asian standards). Most of the stores are from the US or Europe with prices out of most peoples' reach, but the whole building has A/C. Plus, it has McDonald's and a KFC ripoff called Broaster - two things the mall closer to us does not have.

Anyway, this blog is not about malls, but about how things in K seem to be looking up, as evidenced by two western malls opening up within 6 months of each other. As I was thinking about this in our car ride, I saw two cows on the street and both were pretty healthy-looking, not the skinny cows I usually see. Are fatter cows a sign of better times for everyone?

Chong Family Photo

This is one of my favorite/funny photos of my family while we were in Portland.
(Jerry left a day early to spend time with his parents)

strike hits Frankfurt airport; Maks delayed in Houston

Some of you may be wondering... why are they still in the US anyway? Well, we were supposed to leave on June 23rd, but then I started having severe leg pain as a result of a hip issue. So, we delayed the flight by a week so I could get treated and recuperate before diving back into our crazy existence in S Asia. Our rescheduled flight was for today, BUT...

My dad checked our flight departure time and saw that it was delayed by 3 hours. We called the airline to figure out what happened and how that would affect our connecting flight to S Asia. The airline said that due to an airport workers' strike in Frankfurt (our connection/layover city), flights were being delayed and canceled. We could have taken the delayed flight, but then we would have been stuck in Frankfurt for 2 nights because Lufthansa flies to our city only every other day. Plus, because of all the cancellations and flight delays, all of the hotels in Frankfurt are booked and we'd have to nowhere to sleep. Or, we could have left tomorrow and caught a flight to another city in our area from Frankfurt, but go on another airline to K and we'd arrive who knows when and maybe with our without our luggage (which has many precious items from the US that we do not want to lose). The airline suggested that our best option was to stay in Houston if we could. Given this advice and our dealing with my leg pain, we are staying.

Remember how a taxi strike interrupted my travel in Madrid? And of course all of the strikes in S Asia, some of which I have yet to blog about. Oh well...

My family in Houston is sort of ready for us to leave because of all the weight they have been gaining since we got here. Jerry and I have been indulging in our favorite foods, gaining weight in the process and it is affecting my mom, dad and sister as well b/c they end up eating with us, especially when the folks who take us out to dinner include my family and we all go together. For instance, last night Uncle S and Aunt S took all of us to eat BBQ ribs and brisket at Luling City Market and then to Grand Luxe for dessert. YUM.

My sister moved back from Madrid six weeks ago and was going to wait until we left (on 6/23) to start job hunting. Well, we're still here and she has stuck to her timetable of waiting until we are gone. They all joke about wanting us to leave so they can get back on track with their healthy eating and day-to-day activities. My parents were waiting for us to clear out so they could start getting ready for their trip to Mexico with their church. As it stands now, they will be leaving before us.

Such is our life... So right now, Jerry is taking a much-needed nap since we stayed up all night packing and I am updating the blog. We'll enjoy some more A/C, eat some more Chick-fil-A and we'll be off on Thursday. Maybe. Who knows what could happen next...

in Houston

Howdy Folks! Well, I am in my favorite city in the world, enjoying A/C, family, friends and lots of great food. I think I am going to gain 5-10 pounds on this trip.

I never realized (until living in K) that Houston is a BEAUTIFUL city! It also has gorgeous blue skies, hardly any people and not much traffic. I love it here. And even though it is is in the low 90s and HUMID, it does not really bother us. However, there are not zillions of people milling around you, no stench of urine, no constant sound of horns honking, no cars about to run you over, no exhaust blowing in your face and no trash everywhere. That really makes a difference in how hot/uncomfortable you feel. So, I totally understand K's discomfort index of 150+ degrees in the summer.

Another thing that I did not realize I would appreciate about being back in the USA is air-conditioned bathrooms. In S Asia, residences do not have central A/C, so if you want A/C in your bathroom, you have to install a unit in there and that would be be sort of ridiculous. So, we end up sweating when we have to go potty or brush our teeth. Not so here! In fact, at my parents' house, the bathroom is the coolest place in the house in summer.

I had forgotten that my old room gets the hottest in summer, so our first night in Houston Jerry and I were sweating. I was thinking, "I did not come all the way to the US from K to sweat in my sleep!" But problem solved - my dad put in a fan the next day. And on a related note, we are back to sleeping in a twin bed for the duration our of time here.

One of our friends relocated to England for five years and is letting Jerry drive his Mini Cooper this week. Not only is the Mini one of Jerry's favorite cars, it is bigger than the car we drive in K!

More later...

in Frankfurt

I have always wanted to visit Germany and now I am here, but confined to the Frankfurt airport. However, it's been nice so far! We walked off the plane down the stairs to the airport buses and were greeted with cool, crisp, clean air as well as nice, clean, not-broken-down buses.

A little bit of reverse culture shock is setting in as I am having a hard time not staring at all the white people and pointing them out to Jerry. Speaking of Jerry, he feels that Germany is too sterile and the jury's still out on whether he prefers this kind of atmosphere to the more "colorful" one in S Asia.

Well, we will be back in S Asia soon enough, so for now, I will enjoy the German efficiency and delight I experience going into the bathrooms here. The one down side, we wanted to eat sausage and kraut during our layover, but alas...

I would also like to say, that so far, I recommend flying Lufthansa. The food is decent, the plane was MUCH nicer than British Airways and the inflight entertainment is the kind where you have a choice of lots of movies that you can start and stop at your leisure. We saw The Other Boleyn Girl, Dan in Real Life and Definitely Maybe. I liked TOBG the most. Juliette Binoche was miscast in DIRL (in my opinion, and therefore reduced my enjoyment of the film). I still have 15 minutes to go on DM. I will catch the rest on the flight from here to Houston - my favorite city in the world!!!

Rain Rain Rain

Monsoon season is here!!! Hooray!!!

Monsoon season in S Asia means cooler temps. The high this week is only 97 degrees!!

putting things in perspective

I have a kitchen infested with ants...
I have been waiting all day for an A/C repairman who did not come...
I have just discovered that most of the cards I got for my birthday were partially ruined...
I have sweat dripping down my face after just a couple of minutes in my kitchen, trying to kill the ants...

BUT

I have A/C in my bedroom that mostly works

AND

I am not a sex slave wondering if someone will ever rescue me

Our worst S. Asian night

I know I said my next post would be positive, but I have not uploaded my birthday pics, yet, so you get to read about our worst S. Asian night instead.

We moved to a new flat several days ago. More on that in another post... Our new bedroom has a king-sized bed, an A/C that mostly works and a ceiling fan. The night of my birthday I woke up around 3:30am sweating. The power had gone out and it seemed it had been out for about an hour. No A/C and no fan. I was miserable and could not get back to sleep. We decided to open a couple of windows to catch a breeze and all we got were two mosquitoes that ended up biting me. So, we closed the windows and tried sleeping in our sauna bedroom. Well, the mosquito bites were itchy and because of the heat and my sweat, my eczema started acting up and itching, too. It was horrible. I really needed the sleep b/c I had to get up at 6:30am to leave for a trip to a village. I could not take it anymore and after some more whining, "I'm hot! I'm itchy! I can't sleep!", at 4:30am we decided to pack some things and go back to our tiny flat and sleep there on our twin bed since we still have the key. The power might have come back any minute, but we did not want to risk it. Fortunately, there was power and A/C at our old flat and we slept for two hours until it was time to get up and start another day.

I commented to Jerry that I am not tough enough to live here. The next night that proved to be true when I tripped/slipped (but did not fall) and ended up with a bad bruise and big bump on my leg. It was so bad that it hurts to walk!! (Incidentally, even before all of this happened, Jerry and I had been tossing around ideas on how to make me tougher after watching Die Hard 4 where Bruce Willis keeps on getting up after repeatedly getting knocked down. If it were me, once I got knocked down, I would never get up. I would just wait for Jerry to pick me up and then nurse me back to health in A/C comfort.)

Back to the power outage... the power goes out here once or twice a day - even at the 5-star hotels - for usually 30 minutes to an hour. It is annoying, but not too too bad because the lingering A/C keeps things cool and once it gets really hot and we start really sweating, the power usually comes back on. Not so the night of my birthday. We talked to our neighbor and he said the power did not come back on until 6:15am! He also said that the building had not experienced a long power outage like that since the mid-80s!!!!

WHAT have we gotten ourselves into??

I just have to keep remembering, "His grace is sufficient for me."

Argh!

It took us 50 minutes to drive to a place that should take 5 minutes to get to. First, it was the rush hour traffic, then it was the vehicles who decided to make a two-way street a one way, then it was a huge crowd of marchers blocking all the streets we wanted to turn onto, and finally it was half of those marchers who then decided to SIT ON THE GROUND in the middle of the street, forcing all the cars to reverse and find alternate routes. Jerry commented that most of ground-sitters probably did not even know why they were marching/protesting/sitting in the first place. I must say that I agree. And what were the police doing? nothing.

I will try to write something positive next time.

weather report

So, it cooled down to 102 degrees today (one site said it was 105), down from 106 last weekend. And it should cool down even more to 98 by the beginning of next week. This heat is crazy.

From the local newspaper today:

Damned if you go out, damned if you stay in.

“You can’t get out because of the sweltering heat and it is difficult to stay indoors because of power cuts. It can’t get worse than this,” said 63-year-old Anima Banerjee...

The maximum temperature read 38.6 degrees Celsius and the discomfort index shot up to 66.4 degrees Celsius, 11 notches above normal, on Tuesday...

The discomfort index, calculated by taking into account factors like temperature, wind-flow pattern and humidity, bore evidence of the misery.

So, instead of heat index, we have the discomfort index, which is a pretty good moniker if you ask me. Anyhow, do you know what 66.4 Celsius means in Fahrenheit?? 151.52 !!!

Free Home Delivery

Both in Houston and here, whenever Jerry and I are out and see an interesting restaurant, we stop and ask for a menu to take home for future reference. We did just that tonight while on our way to a birthday party. Jerry got a menu from a modern-looking restaurant named Kalimpong. At the bottom of the menu were these words, just as they appeared:

Free Home

Delivery upto

walking distance

I am afraid this blog won't be quite as interesting/entertaining when we move back to the USA.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

It is getting HOT here.
Friday's high according to weather.com will be 106 degrees
accuweather.com projects 108 degrees
and it is not even May, yet.

This coupled with the pollution and power outages that occur 1-2 times a day lasting from 30 minutes to a few hours does not bode well for my eczema and allergies

PRAY for us!

alterations

There is a lady who sets up a sewing machine on the sidewalk a block from where we live and makes clothes and does alterations. Yesterday I picked up a pair of pants she had hemmed along with another pair of pants that she had not only hemmed but also replaced the zipper and button. My cost for alterations on BOTH pairs of pants: 87 cents. AND it was next-day service.

Something you would not see in the US

First, I do plan on blogging about Thailand and Cambodia and I did figure out how to post vertical pictures, BUT blogger is having technical difficulties with uploading pictures, so here is an anecdote that has no pictures...

Last night (around 10:30pm), as Jerry and I were walking home from a restaurant, we heard some loud talking/chanting. We turned to see where it was coming from and saw that it was coming from a group of young men in the distance walking in the street in the same direction we were going. (We were on the sidewalk)
As they got closer, we could see them carrying something.
Well, they were carrying a bed.
And do you know what was on the bed? A DEAD BODY!!!
We tried keeping up with them to take a picture, but they broke into a run, still carrying the bed with the dead body on it. After a little while they stopped, put the bed down in the street and started more chanting and throwing of flower petals. By this time we had caught up and I could see the body - a man - clothed in white with a white flower arrangement on top of him. I had already decided not to take a picture out of respect and just watched. It was surreal.

We "heart" Phnom Penh

First, Cambodia was WONDERFUL!!! It felt like being in rural Hawaii: ultra-laidback with lots of great Asian food.

I have discovered that because we live in K, going on vacation is awesome because it takes so little to please us elsewhere. It's kinda like when I went to Madrid and my sister's friends thought I was crazy because I kept saying how quiet and clean Madrid is.

Anyhow, Phnom Penh was very chill (I have been using this term b/c of my friend Ryan from New Zealand) compared to K. I guess when you go from a city of 18 million to a city of only 2 million... Uncrowded streets, not much traffic, and QUIET (in comparison to K)! During the taxi ride from the airport to our hotel, I felt like I was watching a movie on mute b/c of how quiet it was and we got in around 6pm! I have a feeling that if we had come from the US, we would not have enjoyed PP as much. Another great thing is that prices are almost always in dollars.

Why couldn't we have been sent to Cambodia instead of K? Well, we figured that out pretty quickly - God did not want us to gain weight. Jerry and I have each lost 20 pounds in six months (without trying). If we were living in Phnom Penh (PP), we would have each gained 20 pounds. The food is so good and so cheap. Another thing about living in K is that we were free to eat any and all of the street food in PP b/c our stomachs have already been trained to handle whatever. Here is what we ate in food stalls - fried chicken, hot dog, donut, grilled squid, roast pork (siu gee), spring rolls, and wonton. Asian food is probably our favorite and you can get it in abundance for very little money. We had Korean, Khmer, Vietnamese and Chinese, including 2 stops at a really good tapioca milk tea place. We also had great sangria and tapas at a Spanish place and a great bacon hamburger and pork loin stuffed with goat cheese! YUM!!

The markets were fun, too. They are organized by product and even have maps of the layout! I used my bargaining skills that I have been honing in K and we bought a few things, including a “North Face” laptop bag for $10. Actually, it is a real North Face bag. The factories for North Face, Columbia, Gap, etc are located here and th local markets sell the seconds and irregulars.

We really needed this vacation and I already feel better. I was on skype with a friend and she said that I sounded so much better than before. I could tell, too, b/c I could not stop chatting. And on video skype, another friend said I was glowing!

Here are some pictures:

Our transport - a tuk tuk

Another mode of transport - I saw 4 people on one of these!


Street Food - we got the roast pork: siu gee


YUM - bubble tea!

A Khmer (pronounced Khmai) restaurant with friends

Our guesthouse room - quite spacious compared to our flat in K, probably 3x the size!

Food court at Central Market

More street stall food - grilled seafood - the squid was deeelicious!


The Summer Palace

Yummy donuts - The guy on the right is Khmer and lived in California for 15 years and decided to make and sell donuts as well as import stuff from Sam's

Scales were everywhere - basically pay and weigh

North Korean restaurant

We were in the mood for Korean, so we ventured to a N Korean place. (Apparently, State Dept employees are not allowed to patronize this place.) It was a tasty and entertaining evening.

We walked in and there were tables and tables of Korean men. We also saw a stage and wondered what kind of entertainment there would be. The waitresses were all pretty Korean girls in traditional dress. Soon after we ordered, the waitresses started getting ready to entertain us. Because of all the men there drinking lots of alcohol, I asked Jerry,

“Honey, what if they start taking their clothes off ?!”

His reply, “That would be really funny.”

They did not take their clothes off, but instead treated us to some good singing, dancing and playing of instruments.

In Bangkok

After my last post, I thought I would post twice a week. And I see it has been over a month! Well, if you saw our last email update, you know why. I have even been keeping a list of things to blog about - right now it is up to 15. I hope to catch up on all those posts during our vacation to Cambodia and Thailand.

Why these places? Well, we have friends there and I prefer to visit places where I know someone. One of my friends I have not seen in over 10 years and she lives in Cambodia now.

Right now, we are in Bangkok, on a 9 hour layover on our way to Phnom Penh. We will be there until the 17th, then fly back to Bangkok and then over to Chiang Mai until the 22nd and then back to Bangkok, then on to K. Crazy schedule, eh? Well, it was half the cost to fly in and out of Bangkok instead of flying directly to Phnom Penh and Chiang Mai.

We really need this vacation and already it is proving to be a great one. As we left the Thai Airways plane, we got on a very nice, A/C shuttle to the terminal. Remember my shuttle ride when I landed in K, coming back from Madrid? 'Nuff said. Anyhow, I was marveling at how nice the Bangkok airport is and getting very excited about not having to bring my own toilet paper to use the airport bathroom.

We are hanging out at an airport hotel. It is a free 5 minute shuttle from the airport here and quite nice. We bought a half day's worth of wireless connectivity and after lounging in the lobby for a while talking to my dad on skype, Jerry suggested going to the business center where we could plug in and juice up the laptop. This business center is really nice. In addition to comfortable seating, there is a little library of books, magazines and newspapers to read.

We checked the weather for Phnom Penh and Chiang Mai. PP will be in the upper 80s and CM in the mid 90s, just like K. Oh well... We hear that CM is a great place for expats to rest and rejuvenate. I'll tell you all about it later!

ducks and chicks and cows better scurry...

Avian Bird Flu hit our area about 3 weeks ago and because it has not been contained, an announcement was made today that the "movement, sale and purchase of chickens, ducks, quails and their eggs have been banned for an indefinite period in K and all districts across Bengal." It was also announced that cows and goats have been dying of anthrax and TB.

GOLLY! We may become vegetarian, yet! I am really sad about the chicken and eggs. What are we going to eat with our ramen and soup?! And since beef is rarely available, we mostly eat chicken when we want meat. Plus, we have fallen in love with KFC here. (Popeye's is unavailable.) Not only do we both like fried chicken, the customer service at KFC is top-notch and we like that KFC employs mostly deaf-mutes at one of their restaurants here. Going to KFC is such a pleasant experience all the way around - even the bathrooms are very clean. One online restaurant reviewer said something along the lines of, "The KFC bathrooms are the only hygiene havens in the city."

P.S. The title of this blog is a nod to my friends who are fans of the musical Oklahoma!

Oh, another thing - the entire state was under a strike today - that's number 4 since we moved here.

Running Ks in K

This entry may be too detailed for the average person, but our running buddies will get several paragraphs of amusement. I dedicate this entry to my friend Jenny, who until today’s race had the most interesting race experience I ever heard.

This is what we participated in this morning!


We’d seen these signs around the city for some time and always kept thinking that “Run for your city” should be changed to “Run for your Life!” Jerry had thought about participating (even with no training) just for the experience, but it was really hard to find any information about it. There was no website or anything! Jerry called a number listed for info, but the guy who answered sounded like he was on or near a train, so nada there either. You know how the Houston Chronicle does all these articles leading up to the marathon with items like training strategies, course info, runner profiles, etc? Both newspapers here had nothing. On the day before the race a lady told me there was info in the Telegraph (one of the papers), but it was only a paid ad without much info.

So how did we end up running? Well, yesterday I was talking to a friend when another lady came up to her and asked if she was going to do the marathon… and she was kind enough to get Jerry and me registration coupons. The marathon consists of 3 races:
Men’s Marathon 42K, Women’s Marathon 10K, Fun Run 4.2K
Yes, you read that correctly – Women’s Marathon 10K. Even the fun run is referred to as the marathon. For instance,
“Are you going for the marathon tomorrow?”
“Yes, but I think I will walk the whole thing, it’ll take less than 45 minutes.”
(I am sure my running buddies are cringing – calling a 4K a marathon!)

Only about 25 men and 25 women participate in their respective long races with just a handful of finishers in each. However, last year, the men’s winner had a time of 2:23! After you finish reading this blog you’ll be even more amazed at this accomplishment given the running conditions.

ALL races are the same price: 75 cents. Yes, 75 CENTS! Students pay only 50 cents. And everyone gets a hat, shirt and refreshments (and a fun topic for your blog). But no race bib. Oh well…

We arrived at 7:10am for a 7am start, but no surprise, they were running late. We first went to redeem our shirt and hat coupons. There was a long row of numbered booths from 1-40. We had no idea what the numbers referred to and guessed it might be chest size? We decided to go to a booth with no line and turns out that everyone gets the same size shirt. The tags on the shirt literally say, “ONE SIZE.” It ended up being a size just a little bigger than a medium. It’s a good thing Jerry and I have lost weight since we got here! I felt sorry for those who were too big for their shirts.

At 7:30 the races began and then around 7:40 the gun went off for the fun run. There were thousands of people there to do the 4K and it was a young, fun crowd. This by far was the most positive experience I have had in K in a crowd. We really enjoyed the people-watching and the brief conversations initiated by fellow runners/walkers because of our being foreigners and taking lots of pictures.



The 4K ended up really being around 6K or so, which was kinda good because we were wondering why it was taking us so long to finish 2.5 miles. We discovered that the race organizers extended the fun run racecourse from last year, but did not want to spend the money to change the signs that said 4K. Golly.

Lots of people decided to take some short cuts…



I am proud to say that I ran most of the race. I surprised both Jerry and myself. Part of it (I’m sure) was that runner’s high you get when you are in a race. We have not run in a couple of years at least. Our bodies will be screaming in pain tomorrow. Ouch.

RACE CONDITIONS
K is experiencing unseasonably cold weather right now. When the race started, it was probably in the upper 50s. Not bad. Although the locals thought it was too cold.

We were surprised to see 2-3 water stations along the route. And bottled water to boot! However, the bottled water was put in plastic pitchers and everyone had to share and take turns. That’s one way of preventing paper cup litter!


The craziest part was that no roads were blocked. In K, this means that you have to dodge traffic from all sides and put up with breathing in exhaust. After the race I blew my nose and all my snot was grey with streaks of black. Gross. So, can you imagine 26 miles of this and finishing in 2:23?!



There was no finish line or time clock and as we neared the start, we just went back to the long row of booths and traded our refreshment coupons for bottled water and multi-grain cookies (or biscuits as they are called here).


We walked around for a few minutes while a rock band played and then went to eat breakfast. Afterwards, we went straight to church where several people greeted us with, “Oh, so you did the marathon today! I was there, too. I think it was longer than 4K.” Oh well. This is only the 4th year of the K Marathon, so people here are not used to the terminology. I am not going to correct anyone. Everyone does it for fun and has a good time. You have to admit that 75 cents definitely allows the masses to participate.

The way things work/don't work here

The pollution is literally killing us. We've been getting sick at least twice a month and it is quite discouraging. Our hometown of Houston is known for its "horrible" pollution that rivals L.A. each year for most polluted city in the U.S. However, you cannot even imagine the levels of pollution here. I would have to say that the pollution is THE #1 negative thing about being here. I had never seen black cobwebs indoors before coming here. Anything plastic develops this layer of oily dirt on it after a day of sitting anywhere inside. In the nicer stores, the clerks are constantly wiping down the merchandise with towels to get the grime off. I could go on and on and on and on about other pollution-related things, but I am straying from my original topic - the way things work/don't work here.

We decided that we desperately needed to get an air purifier for our place. I had been told by many people that they just are not available here; no one I asked had ever seen one. This past week we went to a brand new swanky mall and a store there had an air purifier for $500. Since that seemed too costly, I used my questioning skills to extract information from the salesman about other air purifiers in the city. I asked him, "So, how is your purifier better than the other ones on the market?" He proceeded to tell me about other brands!!

Jerry looked up one of these brands on the net and found that they have two models, one for $165 and another $250. Still pricey, but less than $500. And this is our health we are talking about here. I would be afraid to see what my lungs look like after I move back home. Anyhow, here is where the inspiration for this post comes in...

The products can only be purchased through direct marketing, meaning that stores do not carry them; you have to contact a licensed distributor and get it from him. The website said, "Click here for a free in-home demonstration!" We requested a demo and the next day we were told that a rep would be coming by sometime before 3pm. We hurried through our lunch to get back for the demo and the guy never showed up. We were then told that he would come sometime before 5:30pm. Still nothing.

The next day he finally comes WITHOUT the air purifiers and just some brochures. Jerry told him that he wanted to see a demonstration. The guy replies, "I bring these brochures. You like, you buy." WHAT??? So Jerry says, "I want to see it working. I want to hear how loud it is going to be. On your website it says, "Click here for a free in-home demonstration." The guy just sort of looks at Jerry with this annoying smile/head bobble. Jerry goes, "You need to change your website then." His response - another head bobble/blink. They start talking about specs and Jerry ends with, "You need to come back next week with both of the models." He responds with something like, "I will bring and then you will buy." As if he is going to bring two brand-new units that he expects us to purchase.

Do they even have demo units? Probably not. But Jerry did add that he came on a motorcyle. Whatever. This experience makes me more appreciate the Will Smith character in Pursuit of Happyness.

Christmas in Darjeeling

I had a devil of a time putting all these photos here (you'll see what I mean...) and since I still cannot figure out how to get the sideways pictures to look right, I did not include any. Anyhow...

First the train
The station was a bevy of activity; people coming and going in all directions. One of the first things we did was buy a chain.
I then saw a couple with two kids wearing these caps.

I decided to hang around them with our luggage while Jerry figured out where we were supposed to be. I figured that if people thought I was with them, noone would bother me. And it worked! The family spoke almost no English and of course, I speak even less Bengali, but we communicated enough to where I could ask to take their kids’ pictures and the mom could tell me that her older son thought I was pretty!

Sleeper class was not too bad. I was the first to use the toilet and then never had to use it again. We sat across from two folks from Manchester, UK and a guy from St. Louis, MO. It was fun talking with them and comparing our thoughts on living in K and sharing great finds and good restaurants. When it was time to sleep, I had the upper berth, Jerry had the lower and a Korean lady had the middle berth! We took care to secure all of our belongings and I am pleased to report, “Nothing stolen!”

Sleeping on a train is quite an experience and I highly recommend sleeping on the upper berth if possible. There is more privacy and less noise. The train noise ends up being quite calming, sort of like white noise that filters everything else out. This became apparent as we slowed at various stations. As we stopped, I could clearly hear all the snoring that was previously masked by the train rumbling on its tracks. Unfortunately, Jerry did not sleep well. We were sort of close to the bathroom and there seemed to be constant interruptions to prevent a nice sleep for Jerry.

We also had our first encounter with a transvestite, or eunuch, as they are called by the locals. This “person” came by begging for money, as did several others. For a split second I thought the eunuch was offering his/her “services” in exchange for money. For better or for worse, he/she just wanted free money. When the trains stop, vendors selling chai, coffee and snacks board as well as beggars. Fortunately, when the train leaves the station, they leave as well.

NJP – Siliguri
The train does not go all the way to Darjeeling; it stops at NJP, near a town called Siliguri. We did this thing called “shared jeep”. You go to the pre-paid taxi stand and are given a number of the car to hop into. If you want a cheaper ride, you can pay less fare and stand on the back of the car like the guy in this picture.We did make sure that we were the only ones in the front. This car could comfortably fit 7 people, but they cram in 11! The thing is, you have to wait until the car is “full” before the driver will leave. So, you end up witnessing this loud exchange between drivers and passengers similar to playing the game Pit. Instead of wheat, flax, oats, etc. you hear Siliguri, Gangtok, Darjeeling and other destinations. So, after an 11.5 hour train ride that was supposed to be 10 hours and another 2 hours figuring out the shared jeep thing and then waiting for a full car, we were off for Darjeeling.

The road to Darjeeling - Queen of the Hill Stations
The ride to Darjeeling was beautiful and treacherous. In fact, there were many times while in vehicles in and around Darjeeling that I started thinking things like, “Well, our passports are with us, they will be able to figure out who we are after they fetch our bodies from the side of the mountain. Who they will call first, our director, my parents? Will my parents come get our bodies and transport them to the US? Will we just get cremated? I have not showered in a couple of days. What will the headlines read in the newspaper?”

Suffice it to say that they are some pretty scary hairpin turns that had even the college-age guys in our car getting a little scared. I tried taking pictures, but they do not do justice to the terror we experienced.

It was things like this picture that made me think "OSHA!" I mean we were basically walking on the side of a mountain and there was no warning. Also, some parts had no rail, were REALLY steep AND slippery!




On the scenic side – Darjeeling reminds me a lot of Hawaii – lush foliage, houses perched in the mountains and beauty everywhere. But instead of ocean vistas, we were treated to snow-capped mountain views of the Himalayas. Gorgeous! We also saw lots of tea gardens on the mountainsides. I am in awe of the people who hand-pluck the tea leaves on these steep terraces.






Darjeeling
We stayed with a friend and her family the entire time we were in Darjeeling. It was great because we had locals to take us around as well as homecooked meals every day! We did lots of walking every day, mostly uphill and downhill. That added to the high altitude made for some pretty tiring walks. But the exhaustion was totally worth it to capture some breathtaking views and breathe clean, fresh air.

It was quite cold, getting into the 20s at night. Most of the homes are not heated. Instead, they might have one heater in one room (that is turned off at night) and lots of warm blankets for sleeping. Can you imagine taking a shower in a bathroom that is around 30 degrees! At least we got to shower – it was a nice break from our bucket baths.

We bought hats and a shawl for me (that will turn into a tablecloth when we get back to Houston). There were lots of vendors selling LOTS of things.

















One morning we woke up at 3:30am to take a car to Tiger Hill, to watch the sun rise and watch the rays hit Mt Kanchenjanga, India’s highest peak and the third highest in the world. It was FREEZING! (I am the one under the blanket.) But it was beautiful as well and kinda fun with all of the people around us going crazy at the first sight of the sun. A guy who works there kept shouting in Nepali, “The one who is coming is coming!”

We were even able to see a little bit of Mt. Everest. (It's the tiny peak to the left of the larger peak in this picture.)

Christmas was pretty laidback – a nice change from the frenetic pace in the US. We went to church, took some lovely walks and had a nice Christmas lunch! Although I would have loved to spend Christmas in Houston with my family, it was nice not to have to rush between family homes for meals and be bombarded by all the Christmas sales advertising.





Darjeeling has some of the cutest kids!!


















Some random pictures: coolies who can carry amazing amounts of luggage, a funny sign and monks in the main square.









AC 2
On the way back to K, we took a smoother, less terrifying road back down the mountain toward the train station near Siliguri. It was a lovely ride and we drove through several tea gardens. I forgot to mention earlier that since we stayed with a local family, we had the famous Darjeeling tea 3-4 times every day. People here take tea with sugar and milk. In fact, they steep the tea with the sugar and milk instead of adding afterwards. It has taken some getting used to and toward the end of our stay we asked if we could take it plain.

AC2 is very different from sleeper class. Here is a list of the main differences – AC2 has:
4 berths instead of 6 in each compartment
The compartments are separated by heavy curtains
Each berth is provided with 2 sheets, a blanket and a towel
There are cup/bottle holders, side pouches, hooks, etc to put/store stuff
Noone locks up their luggage in AC2 (although we did, just to be sure)
The berths are more comfortable
The bathrooms are nicer
It is quieter; Jerry got a much better sleep this time around
And contrary to what I read in several places on the internet, the view from AC2 is better than the view from sleeper class. However, the most common sight is men taking a pee near the railroad tracks. I see more public urinating in a week here than in my entire life before South Asia.

However, with all these amenities in AC2, you do pay more. One way on sleeper is $6 and one way on AC2 is $24.

So, we got back 4 hours later than scheduled (because of fog) are now in K with all of the noise and pollution that comes with it. I am definitely beginning to embrace this city, so much so that I could see us staying longer than planned. However, the pollution is a killer. I have found myself saying, “I wish I could be back in Houston with all that fresh air.” Houston! The city that trades places with LA for most polluted in the U.S.

Until next time…