Explaining Winter

Have you ever thought about how to explain an electric blanket to someone who has never seen one before? I mean, how absurd does putting electricity through a piece of cloth that you're going to put into contact with your body sound?! C'mon! That just sounds stupid! Especially to someone who has grown up in weather that I could probably safely say has rarely if ever gotten below say 65 or 70.

And slippers. Why would you put something warm and soft on your feet indoors? Your feet are in a constant state of sweat barefoot, let alone being inserted into the soft fuzziness that is "indoor shoes".

What about sweat pants? Thick cotton covering your legs?! Why would you put yourself through such misery? What are they used for? Sports? No, actually, just to keep warm when it's cold outside. Unfathomable to them.

These and other conversations keep me entertained as I teach English and talk to people in my neighborhood :) Oh the things that seem so everyday to us yet are so foreign to them. And vice versa!

Hiking, a Wedding, a Sunset (finally!!!), and Some Students

First time I got/had to wear my wedding outfit

I miss pretty sunrises and sunsets!!

Some of my beginner students :)

I think we need to teach them what "crazy picture" means!

Chinese New Year

Sorry, this is the only pic of decorations I have right now

How I spent Chinese New Year's Eve (for lack of a better English word):

• Heard lots of fireworks
• Had a sleepover with some friends and watched a movie and ate martabak (aka heaven on earth)
• Listened to my friends make up a dance and countdown to the new year
• Stayed up till almost one talking with them :) 

How I spent Chinese New Year:

• Went to mass with my teacher and her husband, heard 4 different languages in the span of an hour and a half, learned more about the ritualistic nature of Catholicism, was banned from participating in Communion, and ate an orange that had been sprinkled with holy water (don't think it helped me much!)
• After mass, we went to the store, where her husband (as always) taught me about all different kinds of foods here, how they're cooked/eaten, the health benefits, etc. He's so kind and teaches me so much!
• Exhausted, I came home to read a little and take a nap before lunch. However, a group of kids came over who had come over the day before, so no nap. We had so much fun talking, reading books, and sharing stories :) I miss kids!!
• Was supposed to go to a new friend's house for lunch, but she didn't get to our house until 3pm!! Needless to say, we finally ate at like 2:30 because we were starving, so she just came to our house to visit a little bit instead.
• Watched Pride and Prejudice disc 3 of I think 6 with the roomies while listening to the rain :)
• Finally took a nap
• Went to my supervisor's house for dinner (7 layer Mexican dip!!! that's more exciting than you might think seeing as all ingredients Mexican are very hard and expensive to come by here) and meeting

Pretty sure that was FAR from traditional for Chinese New Year, but I did learn about a lot of their traditions. I'm excited to go to Singapore in the next week or two because the celebrations will still be going on, so I'll get to be a little more up close and personal.

10 Reasons Why Not to Run in the Rain

Ok, so I could only come up with one. And it's not even a good enough reason to not run in the rain.

The Worst Thing

For those of you who think paper cuts or pickle juice is the worst thing, you have not tried durian. I finally got the nerve up enough to try it today (mainly because there were 4 other bulehs trying it with me!). The consensus said that durian tastes like a combination of onion, dirty socks, sewer water, and bananas. Heavy on the onion and dirty socks, light on the banana. We decided the texture was most like hocking a loogie. I will NEVER be trying it again! Once in a lifetime is plenty for me, thank you!

Before it stunk up the entire yard

As Jennifer says, the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden...I think she may be on to something!

Randomness

Can you tell who slept with me last night? I have 6-8 bites all in this one spot on my leg. This morning, I killed him, smashing my precious blood all over the wall.

On a less gross note, my feet are clean in this picture...thanks to Sarah Beth convincing me to make the best purchase I've probably ever made in my life, my feet now look like this. Thanks, chacos!

On Becoming a P...Kinda

So, living in SE Asia has really stretched me (in a lot of ways!!) but in one way in particular...breaking away from being so much a J to becoming a little more P. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, go look up Myers Briggs and read what it means to be a J and what it means to be a P. Anyway...

Here is what is written in my planner for today (yes, I still keep a planner, even though it's kind of pointless here):

8-10am Language
11am Meet with student for lunch and studying
2pm Skype with Sarah Beth for accountability
5pm Go running
6pm Dinner and meeting with team

Here is what my day actually looked like:

8-10am Language
10:30-11am Talk with team
11am-12pm Buy water, pick up around the house, prepare for accountability
12pm Find nasi uduk for lunch for my student and me
12:30pm Student finally got here
12:30-2:30pm Eat and study with student
2:45pm Electricity is still out (since at least 11am) so go to supervisor's house to use their internet and tell SB I'm not gonna be able to talk
2:50pm Internet at supervisor's house doesn't work
2:50-3:40pm Enjoy a good chat with supervisor
3:40pm Walk home, stopping to talk to a neighbor (who changed my plans for tomorrow, oh the irony)
4:00pm Talk to our house helper & read because electricity is still out
5:00pm Rain started, right when I was going to go running, so I decide to work out in my room
6:00pm No meeting because their daughter's ballet performance got changed from tomorrow night to tonight

Not sure what the rest of the evening will hold! Guess we'll see!