FALL BREAK IN PHUKET THAILAND

Saturday, October 11, 2008

SAWASDEE TO OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

We just returned home from a week in Thailand, staying at the JW Marriott Resort in Phuket which is heaven on earth. Now we know why Thailand is called "The Land of Smiles". I'd smile too if I lived there! The Thai people are gracious and kind, and we found ourselves bowing to them as they did to us. (called "wai" - it's their way of greeting one another by placing their hands together just below their chin, bowing their head slightly and smiling). Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country, as evidenced by their statues of Buddha everywhere!

The Thai people have a unique outlook on life, called "Sabai Sabai" - which translated means relaxed, easy-going and happy. We were certainly relaxed and happy while we were there! There were hammocks to nap in, day beds that invited you to lay back and read a book, even hydrotherapy beds in the swimming pools! At sunset the big cushioned chairs near the beach were a hotspot, as everyone wanted to see the beautiful sunset. We tried some Thai food which we liked for the most part. Wesley discovered a cinamon roll at the bakery which was as big as a dinner plate and got his daily dose of sugar. (In Singapore the bakeries use very little if any sugar so this was a real treat!) The highlight of our stay at the Marriott was seeing the two resident elephants that roamed the property - "Jumbo" and "Yum Yum". In the late afternoon, Yum Yum would head for the beach and swim in the ocean, accompanied by lots of kids and adults, too! Jumbo entertained us by playing the harmonica. I even got a massage by Yum Yum one day! (see the pic). Kasey and I had massages on the beach by local women. A one hour massage was only 400 Thai Bahts, which is roughly $12 US dollars! We rode Dune Buggies on the beach and also in the rural part of town, allowing us a glimpse of daily life for the locals. That was as close as Wesley will get to driving a car for the next few years...Speaking of Wesley, he saw his first topless sunbather on the beach (and there was a LOT to see!) Click on the pic of Wes and be sure to zoom in on the gal in the background. :) Shelby and Wes went on a fishing trip one day and caught mostly tuna, while Kasey and I went shopping in town. We found a 7-11 and came back with lots of chewing gum!!! Another fun day was spent sea kayaking in the caves (hongs). The kids' favorite part was jumping off the top of the boat in the water!

We would love to go back to Thailand again someday; it was an awesome experience and one that we will never forget.

WAYCHOFFS IN SINGAPORE

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Hello to all our friends and family!

NO massage stories this week! Yea! Hope this finds each of you doing well. First of all, let me say I really do appreciate the emails you send. Sometimes I feel like this computer is my lifeline to "the real world"! I love being able to stay in touch with what's going on back home. We've heard about Hurricane Ike, the threat of a recession, the price of gasoline, the OSU football team, Flower Mound Homecoming (including the banana and monkey running down the field; sorry we missed that!) and just love receiving your emails. Wesley and Kasey got lots of emails from friends this past week regarding homecoming at Flower Mound High School. They were happy to read the emails but sad they weren't there to experience it with their friends. Last week Wesley asked if we would send him to Dallas for his 16th birthday. That is so NOT going to happen! I guess we're all a little homesick. We've been here almost three months now and the realization has set in that this is permanent and not just a short vacation. One day this week we all named things that we miss - and that list got pretty long! It started out with friends, family, neighbors, Creekwood Christian Church, and went on to include food - LOTS of restaurants like Sonic, Wingstop, Olive Garden, Ihop, Chilis, Taco Bell, Cracker Barrel, anything Mexican (okay I'll stop already), not to mention - American radio stations and TV shows, and some college football wouldn't hurt either! We're even craving the cool mornings that remind you that fall is just around the corner. But we know that we are very blessed to have this incredible experience, that God is good, and we are here because we are supposed to be here for now. So keep those emails coming please! :)

Our highlight of the week last week was a visit from three U.S. Sailors on the destroyer USS MOMSEN, which was here in Singapore for several days. We hosted a barbecue at our house along with another family, and took the sailors to the high school football game afterwards. At halftime it was announced that we had special guests from the USS MOMSEN, and everyone clapped and the guys were embarassed - one of those "feel good" moments for sure. We really enjoyed getting to know them. They were deployed on March 15 and are on their way back home to the state of Washington. One of the guys has a four months old daughter whom he's never seen. Another is a newlywed. Another guy's nine year old son is meeting him in Honollu to ride the ship in with his dad the rest of the way home. Pretty cool! I've attached a photo.

Also attached are photos of some birds I saw at the Jurong Bird Park. My favorite part was when the parrot counted to ten in Mandarin and in English, then sang Happy Birthday! He sounded like a munchkin from the Wizard of Oz...The next photo is of our pizza delivery man. I know, how odd to take a photo of your pizza delivery man -but in Singapore they deliver pizzas on a motorcycle! So much to my son's embarassment, I took this photo. And by the way, the pizza here is definitely weird. I can't figure out why they want to put a fried egg on top of a pizza?

I did go see my first movie in Singapore this week. Finally! Those of you who know me, know that I love nothing more than watching a movie and having popcorn for lunch! I took Kasey and some of her friends to see "Mamma Mia" which I loved and they didn't. Chick flick musical, as my sister Susan called it. It had music from the group ABBA - remember ABBA? Well don't go see the movie unless you want those songs stuck in your head for days. The interesting thing is that in Singapore, when you buy your movie ticket you also select your seat in the theater. They have assigned seating in the movie theaters here!

This afternoon Kasey's volleyball team played the German International School. Last time the Germans beat us, but today we ruled. There was some conflict during the game about the rules - evidently the German rules allow the players to KICK the volleyball over the net! If their girls missed the ball and it bounced on the court, they would just kick it over to keep it in play! Something I've never seen until today...

Shelby is working in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, Malaysia for three days this week. While I'm not crazy about him traveling and being gone, it sure is nice when he comes home with gum for the kids and duty-free Baileys Irish Cream for me! He has also started playing on a mens softball league. They play double-headers on Sundays. I don't know how he does it in this heat and humidity! He left me his car to drive this week while he's gone. It makes me so anxious to have to think about driving on the left side of the road. I'd really rather take a taxi, which is what I do most of the time (when I'm not walking). The Singaporean military has a sticker on the back of their vehicles that says "Driver under Orientation". I'm thinking I need to get one of those stickers!

Going to bed now! And you're probably eating breakfast!

P.S. Oops! I forgot - the picture of Sugar! Today is her birthday and she is five years old! :)

FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL IN SINGAPORE

Friday, September 12, 2008

Hello to our friends and family!

Hope this letter finds each of you doing well. We are into the full swing of school now, and halfway throught the first quarter. Wesley and Kasey are doing great socially, and struggling a bit academically. They bring home so much homework every night it's not even funny. After checking their grades online, we took the computer away from Wes on Sun thru Thursday nights. The XBOX will be the next thing to go! The coursework is extremely challenging, and the teachers expectations are high. So are mine...


On a brighter note, we went to the first high school football game tonight. Let me just say, it is nothing at all like a Friday night football game in Texas! In Singapore, football means soccer. Soccer is big here, but American football is not. Because there are no local Singaporean schools who play American football, our high school has put together four teams who simply play each other every Friday night! How fun is that? Not to mention, they had to play on a field that is marked for soccer (with temporary markings for football) so that made it even more confusing. No drill team, no cheerleaders, no marching band. Kasey was excited that she was asked to be a water girl at the next game. Let's hope she's up for the challenge...ha!

I must tell you about my massage today. I did NOT go back to the Chinese medicine man. I went down to the local corner where I had a pedicure earlier in the week that went well, so I booked the same girl for a massage today. I was really looking forward to the massage because it had been such a busy week and I was treating myself. Let me just say I was robbed of any dignity I might have ever had! My first clue should have been when I saw the massage table with NO sheets and NO towels to cover up with. I proceeded to lay face down on the table after finding a small towel to cover myself up with. Now correct meif I'm wrong, but in the U.S., if you leave your underwear on for a massage that means you want it left ON, right? Well not here! This gal proceeded to hop up onto the table with me andbefore I could blink she had my underwear down and was pummeling away at my hiney with her fists. I thought I was going to die. It was a cheek-slapping good time alright! She then excused herself to go down the hall and speak to her coworkers in a language I could ot understand; but I'm sure it included the word cellulite. How humiliating! I was more than a little on edge after that. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, she massaged my stomach! I don't know about you but I have NEVER had a massage where they even go near the stomach. All I could think about was the sourdough bread dough that I had kneaded in my kitchen just this morning. She was kneading MY dough! Well alrighty then I'm sure I've given you more visual than you really wanted. Needless to say, I could barely make eye contact with her as I checked out. Next time, I'll just stick with the pedicure.

Wednesday I went on a guided walking tour of Chinatown which was very interesting. The American Womens Association has all sorts of local tours you can sign up for. The tour guide was born and raised in Singapore and told all about the history and culture. We walked down some of the back alleys and saw the old "shophouses" where the families used to live up above their shop. Stops included a tailor shop, a medicine man's shop, a bakery, an antique shop, and more. We tasted "mooncakes" which are very popular at this time b/c it is the eighth lunar month and time for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, or Lantern Festival. People were standing in long lines to purchase these pastries, which are filled with lotus seed paste and some contain salted duck yolks. I passed on the salted duck yolk because Shelby had warned me about them. The one I tried was filled with green bean curd. Yum-O, as Rachel Ray would say. NOT! I could never taste one again and be quite satisfied...

Thursday my Newcomers group at the church we're visiting went on a field trip to learn about rugs. Oriental rugs, Persian rugs, you name it. I've never seen so many rugs in my life as in this warehouse. The owner is Mohammed Ali (not the boxer) and he knows his stuff! He had some handmade rugs that took years to make. He showed us a rug that is worth $800,000! What makes a rug so expensive, you ask? Well the secret is in the wool. The wool from the sheep's neck is evidently the softest and best quality. Now you know. I promised Shelby that I wouldn't bring home a rug and I didn't. Mohammed gave me a small piece of a rug as a souvenir, which is making a great coaster for Shelby to use! If I can figure out how to get the photo off my cell phone, you will see my foot on the $800K rug...

Last but not least, my latest discovery at the local market - PIG'S FACE! That's what they call it and that's what it is. Oh, and if you are looking for some okra-it's not called okra-it's called "ladyfingers".

Hope each and every one of you has an awesome weekend. Get out and enjoy some REAL football for Shelby and I!

(attached are photos of Chinaown shophouses and a mooncake)

HAPPENINGS IN SINGAPORE

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Hello Everyone! I have attached some very random photos to this email which I will need to explain. First off, the Chinese torture chamber that I unknowingly subjected myself to...my friend Donna and I decided to walk down to the local market in search of a place to get a pedicure. It was a small shop and they could only take one of us at a time, so while she got her nails done I agreed to what I understood to be a 20 minute neck and shoulder massage by this little Chinese medicine man who was maybe 5 foot tall and weighed 80 pounds. Little did I know the pain he was going to inflict upon me! After I sat down on a stool he proceeded to hand me a small towel and asked me to wring the towel. I did as I was told, and he asked "Do you feel the power (pow-ah)? Do you feel the energy (en-ah-gee)? I told him no, not really, and then he began squeezing my arms from my wrists to my shoulders, pressing on every pressure point I have (and some I didn't even know I had). Again, I had to wring out the towel and he asked "Do you feel the pow-ah? Do you feel the en-ah-gee?" I nodded yes because I was afraid of what he would do if I said no. Then he karate-chopped me up and down my spine, ending with a final whack right between my shoulders which made my teeth rattle...I was kind of thinking to myself, "so when does the massage start?" then he grabbed that sensitive skin under my upper arm - you know, the flabby part that jiggles when you raise your hands in the air - and pushed and poked and I was like what in the world and I said OUCH, he kept on going, I said YOU'RE HURTING ME! at which point he bent his arm underneath my armpit and lifted me right off the stool! OK that really hurt and I didn't care about the massage any more, I just wanted out of there. The last time he asked me to wring out the towel and asked me the dreaded questions I shouted "YES! I FEEL THE POWER! I FEEL THE ENERGY! NOW LET ME GO!" And that is the end of that story. I learned not to underestimate the power and energy of a small Chinese man.....

The next photo was taken of a sign in our neighborhood, warning us all about Dengue Fever. Dengue Fever has become a very serious concern in our area. There are hotspots here and there in Singapore, and our neighborhood is one of them. Dengue Fever is an illness that comes from being bitten by certain mosquitos. It causes severe headaches, joint and muscle aches. Kasey's friend got it and missed an entire week of school. Our neighbor Don just got it too, and has to have his blood monitored on a daily basis. You can bet we are spraying ourselves with insect repellant every time we step outside. Kasey RUNS home from school (she thinks they can't bite her if she runs fast)> I honestly haven't even seen a mosquito, but we know they are there. The NEA came door-to-door last Saturday and inspected each house for standing water in which the mosquitos might breed. There is a big fine if you have standing water or clogged drains! They also fog the school campus every Sunday evening, and have fogged the neighborhood twice now. Residents tell us it's never been this big of a problem in the past. My favorite sign which was taken down before I could get a picture read "If they breed, you will bleed" with a big picture of a mosquito!

The last picture is probably a bit morbid. Yes, it is a dead chicken. I bought a whole chicken at the market, planning to boil it and make chicken and noodles. You can imagine my surprise when I brought it home and took it out of the package to find that its head and feet were still attached! So this was taken right before I whacked the head and feet off with my meat cleaver. I bet you didn't think I had it in me, did you? :)

I'm proud to report that I finally got behind the wheel of the Honda Civic and took it for a spin. Took Shelby and Kasey for a spin, too, and they were breathless. Kissed the ground when we finally made it home...Driving on the left side requires my undivided attention. The parking garages pose a big challenge to me, because not only are they crowded, but the spaces are teeny tiny and you are required to back into them. Well I don't do reverse very well. In Texas I would rather park way out in a parking lot and just walk, rather than inch my way into a tight spot. That is just not an option here! Will definitely need to practice my parking skills. Next time without Shelby and Kasey in the car. Tomorrow Shelby leaves for Manila for three days and is leaving me the car. I may drive around the block, but not much further. And that's only if the kids don't talk to me while I'm driving!

Wesley and Kasey are doing great. They have adjusted so well. Kasey said she loves it here and "why didn't we do this sooner"? And she was the one I was most worried about making the transition! She likes her classes and can count to ten in Mandarin. Her aquatics class is good except that she doesn't like wearing a one-piece tank suit! The first volleyball game is tomorrow after school. I hate that Shelby will miss it. Wesley started intramural basketball and that's been a good thing for him. He said he's the tallest kid on his team; ha! He is now 5'10 1/2 inches tall. Must be all that rice he's eating...He said the coursework is more challenging here, but for some reason he hardly ever has homework! Go figure! They take 7 classes over a 2-day period, with a "free period" every other day. That gives them time to get homework done at school, or just hang out with friends. Last Friday night was the Welcome Back dance, and both Wes and Kasey went. They didn't give me a lot of details but said it was fun.

We sure enjoyed watching the Olympics, and are sad that it's over and now we're back to regular TV. All of Singapore was so excited when they won a silver medal for table tennis. That was the first medal they have won in something like 46 years! I missed the American coverage of the games with all the human interest stories, but it was nice to watch it here without commercials! The first Youth Olympic Games will be held in Singapore in August 2010 so that will be exciting. I filled out an online application to see if maybe I can volunteer. It required that you speak a second language,and wouldn't accept my online application unless I picked one, so I picked Hawaiian. HA! I'm thinking I wouldn't have any trouble at all communicating with the Hawaiians. :)

Alrighty then, that's my summary of life here in Singapore. Feel free to write back and tell me what life is like in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and beyond!