Forecast

Well, we leave the US today. There is too much to say, so I will share just one thing of great concern to me - the weather when we arrive.

On Wednesday, the high in Houston will be 51.
In our city in S Asia, the high will be 93.

Thank God this did not happen in K

Well, now we have a recent picture of ME.

Just as we were about to get ready to go to the gym for an AquaPump class, Jerry wanted to show me something while we were lounging in bed. It happened to be this large, heavy acrylic thing that sits on a base. Well, he thought the piece was attached to the base. It wasn't and it dropped and fell on my forehead. It hurt like the dickens and I started crying really loud, almost wailing! My mom rushed over and I could hear her and Jerry exclaim about how much blood was coming out. I was in LOTS of pain. My mom called our doctor friend and we all went to his office to see if I needed stitches. No stitches needed, but I will be sporting this big bandage for the next 4-5 days.

This incident reminded me and my mom of the last time something like this happened, only I was elementary-school-age playing with my cousins in Hawaii when I cut my forehead on the edge of a glass table in the house. My grandmother promptly went outside to get some grass to chew and then put in on my forehead to stop the bleeding. It worked and at the hospital my mom had to explain to person after person why I had grass on my head even though the accident was in the house. By the time we got home, my grandmother had wrapped the edges of her table with old sewing rags.

Houston Marathon

Jerry finished the Houston Marathon 40 minutes faster than he had hoped! His time was 5:18 and he felt pretty good afterwards. He woke up at 3:45am to start preparing for the race. I woke up at 7:30am to start preparing to cheer him on around mile 8.

For you runners out there - Jerry only trained for a couple of weeks when we got back to Houston. Then he strained something in his calf and had to stop running. So, he spent the next two weeks on the elliptical. The day of race, Jerry inserted SuperFeet orthotics (suggested by Jason, our PT friend). He met up with our friend Susan, who was doing the Galloway training, and did run 2 min/walk 1 min for 5 miles until his other calf started hurting. He then did run 1/walk 1 for the next 21 miles! Surprisingly, he did not cramp up and instead felt pretty good throughout the race. Besides the normal soreness/stiffness, he has several blisters on his feet.

All in all, even with the hot weather, Jerry did great and I am so proud of him!!

P.S. Much thanks to Candy for Jerry's bib, Jenn for driving Jerry to the race and Arlene for spectator navigation

a little more reverse culture shock

This also has to do with cars. Here, I see dirty cars every where. In S Asia, there are hardly any dirty cars. It's kinda weird, right? Well, in S Asia, everyone's car is washed every day. The cars may be run down and falling apart, but they are for the most part clean! We have our car washed or rinsed down six days a week for what amounts to $5 a month. And many would say that we are being too generous.

Speaking of cars, we were riding around in Jerry's Suzuki Forenza the other day and I could not get over how nice it is! Mind you, this was a budget purchase and I usually balked at having to ride in it before we moved because I preferred riding around in my Subaru Forester. But now, the Forenza seems palatial!

Me to Jerry while in the car:
"This is so nice! I feel like we are riding around in luxury! There's so much room! These seats are really nice. I can't believe we had enough money to buy a car this nice. It even has a radio!"

So, I am thinking that all of this will work in our favor when we move back to Houston. By that time, my car will be almost nine years old, but I will be more than satisfied driving it. And the Forenza - maybe we'll still feel privileged to have it even when it turns 20!