September, a busy month

In September, we had all sorts of things going on...

My daughter Mati, had a Princess Tea Party, with 12 of her kindergarden friends coming over to play dress-up, put on makeup and jewelry, and then sit down to a grown up high tea, complete with scones, hot peach tea, and real tea cups. The party was a BIG HIT! With everyone, including me, having a great time. All my pictures are located in an album on facebook, but you can get the idea by the picture below:

While the girls stayed home for their Tea Party, the two Fernandos headed to Titi Huyan for a Boy Scout Campout. They spent 2 nights camping in the jungle, hiking, and swimming in the rivers. The scout's motto (printed on their T-Shirts) is "It's all fun & games until you get leached!" which is a minor inconvenience of camping in the equatorial jungle.

Then, Fernandito had Spiritual Emphasis Week at Dalat. They would have a retreat in the morning, and then the parents and kids were invited to come back to worship together at night. Pastor Frank, from Orlando, travelled to Dalat to provide a Revival style retreat for the Middle and High School students. He is a high energy, funny guy, who was much wiser and smarter than his former drug addict, inner city persona would lead you to believe. Since Dalat is an international school, not all students are Christian, and they were proud to have 20 kids turn their life over to Jesus this week. My faith was strengthened as well. I am so happy my kids are in such a great Christian environment. The evening sessions were tons of fun, with about 350 teenagers praying, but also jumping up and down, concert style singing songs like "One Way, Jesus!" Overall, it was a great experience for all of us. This is Pastor Frank:

Peggy & Dave, some collegues of ours from work, visited us from Chicago. We were able to show them around Penang, and among other things, took them up to Penang Hill. Since the cable car up the hill is not working, we took the jeep ride, which was something else! This is one of those "Only in Penang" stories.

First of all, why is the cable car not working? Simple, under the previous government, the cable car was closed for some maintenance work (should have taken about 3 weeks). Then, there was an election and the opposition government won. Since the earmarks for the cablecar maintenance was an agreement between the federal (UMNO Party) government, and the old (UMNO party) local government, it (along with all other turism related earmarks) was naturally cancelled when the opposition won. So, the cable car has been closed since the election (in March)!

Then, how to describe the jeep ride up the mountain??? So, there is only one road up the mountain, and it is very steep and very narrow in many places. The ride takes about 25 minutes, and the driver is constantly honking his horn along the winding road notifying the oncoming traffic, which can't see us, but can hopefully hear our horn, that we are speeding up the hill at about 45 miles an hour. There aren't many 4 wheel drive vehicles, so we had to ride in the bed of the truck, which was a beautiful view, of monkeys and scenic jungle... until half way into it, the driver, apparently feeling guilty, decided to inform us not to lean too much on the door of the truck, since it often opens !!!! He proceeded to tie us "securely" in with a rope. Note how "secure" the rope looks in the picture!

Once up the hill, we ate at a lovely old English Tea House, in a turn of the century Mansion, called David Brown's at Strawberry Hill. The views of Georgetown, and the Penang Bridge were breathtaking!

We finished the day off with dinner at the Mansion at 32. One of the nicer restaurants in Penang. It is also located inside an old Mansion from the turn of the century, and is all original inside. Just beautiful.

Finally, this is the rainy season, which has brought many mudslides, floods and road closures. Luckily, we haven't been effected. The one side benefit, is the heavy rains clear out all of the haze, and you can actually have a blue sky! Which I miss so much! Hear are some blue sky pictures from Dalat, Mati & Dito's school. This is the view from the PE field:

This "Seaside Cafe" (that's what the sign above the door says) is the school cafeteria!

Overall, a good month in Penang!

Typical Weekend

So I haven't posted in a while, thanks to Susan for egging me on...

This was a typical weekend for us.

Friday's I try to have an activity with the kids, since Dito doesn't have homework. This Friday while Dito stayed at Dalat playing with his friends, I went with Mati to my friend Anna's house. It was very nice and relaxed. I have made good friends with Mati's friends' moms. Anna is from the US, Christian and part of WY-WAM a Christian Missionary group here. Her daughter Abby is in Mati's class. Brandi is also American, although she lived several years in the Marshall islands before coming here. Her husband is the elementary principal at Dalat. She has 3 daughters, all blond and beautiful. Lydia, is Chinese-Malaysian, and one of my better friends. Her husband Poh is a business man who travels all of Asia to sell computers. Their daughter Rachel is a little China doll, and one of Mati's better friends. At the ripe age of 5, she takes tap, hip-hop, Math Monkeys, and violin classes! Jess, is from South Korea. So nice!, and the mother of two boys - Woo Jin -- Mati's first love, and a little baby who just started walking. Her husband works for Samsung, I think or Sanyo. Somehow, with our kids of every race and culture and nationality and religion, we really get along very nicely. I enjoyed my afternoon.



I didn't bring my camera with me to Anna's, but you can see some of the people in these pictures I took at Dalat. Anna is to my right, and Jess is on the end to my left, and Lydia is down left, hugging Rachel.

Saturday, we were up early, and headed for our favorite weekend breakfast spot -- Coffee Bean, the only place in Malaysia where you can get a bagel--one flavor, poppy seed. But, beggars can't be choosers, we eat there every weekend! I am addicted to the Caramel Ice Blended...similar to Starbucks Frapies, but better, IMO. Afterwards, Fernando & Dito headed for golf lessons, ...there is an indoor driving range on the 5th floor of the mall, while Mati & I had our nails done...what fun!

Then, we headed to another mall (almost everything is located in these two high rise Malls -- Island Plaza & Gurney Plaza) From weekly food shopping, to my hair salon & gym, to the book store, stationary store, movie theatre, Kid's Indoor Playground, coffee shops, restaurants, and even the Chili's, everything is located in the one mall. I sometimes go to the same mall 2 or 3 times in one day.

So at Gurney, they just opened one of the latest crazes... they call it Doctor Fish. This is where you go to a place that looks like a Japanese restaurant, where you sit on the floor. But rather than sitting cross legged, you actually dangle your bare feet into a fish aquarium, where these tiny little fish start nibbling away at the skin on the bottom of your feet. So the four of us sat at the table, and we ordered drinks, and for 30 minutes had our feet exfoliated by live fish. It was hilarious, and ticklish! They have another tank with larger fish (about 4 or 5 inches) that you can also use, but those made me feel like I was being eaten alive! It didn't hurt, but still, the fish were schooling around me.

Tomorrow we'll be up early since Fernando reads at 8:30 am Mass at Immaculate Conception Church and then we'll eat a local breakfast ... Roti Canai (pronounced Chanai). .. It is a delicious Indian bread (kinda a cross between a pita bread and a croissant) that you dip in yellow curry sauce and it is just DELICIOUS!

So that's a typical weekend for us ... Oh, I almost forgot, not so typical, last night we had a rat inside our house...well, my kids said it was a rat, but it looked more like a cross between a treeshrub squirrel and a little mouse. It was dark gray, with a pointed nose, about 5 inches long, with a 4 inch tail. It was low to the ground, and tiny ears, not big ears like a rat. At any rate, it was a rodent, and INSIDE our house. It obviously had gotten caught inside our house by accident, and was running back and forth trying to get out. Obviously, we have become quite accustomed to wild animals, because no one in our family paid it any attention whatsoever. When it ran towards the door, I was about to open the door for it to escape, when it easily slid under the closed door!!!! Obviously, there is a larger space there then we realized! This is particularly concerning as just last week we had a poisonous green pit viper snake coiled up on my son's bike, just outside that very same door. I think I'll be calling my landlord about that on Monday!

Perez's Come to Visit

So we just finished 2 weeks touring Asia with Jeanette, Rick and Jeanette Elyn. It was a great trip where we visited Singapore, Langkawi, Penang - including Jerejak Island, Kuala Lumpur, and Bali. On our way home we stopped by in Fraser Hill for jungle hike and some bird watching.

What a fantastic trip... come see pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cpaz1967

Just another normal day in Penang ....

April 27, 2008
Greetings from Penang … I was thinking, wow, its been a really long time since I write back home, but what am I going to write about? Life here is normal, just like back in the States. Then I was talking to a new family, and remembering what a shock it was to move here, and all the apparent differences, but, I thought, really they are minor, life here is just normal…I have nothing to write home about.

Then I was at home last Thursday night, Fernando was in India again, and I was on a conference call at 2am (OK, maybe not that normal, but still, you get used to it) and I noticed that there was a bug flying around, so I looked up, and actually there were hundreds, if not thousands, of bugs swarming inside my living room. And I remembered, “Oh, its that time of year again, Kanthi said I should turn off the lights and they’ll go away” So I turn off all the lights... working in the dark at 2am to avoid a swarm inside your living room... normal right???, and then all thousand bugs swarm towards me & the light of my computer screen. So, I’m adaptable, I turn the light on in the TV room to cause a distraction, and then I notice that millions of bugs are entering my house from under my front door. No problem… I quickly wet a towel; stuff it under the door, finish my conference call … just another normal night in Penang .

So the next day, I tell my friend (a more experienced expat) this story, and then she one ups me… Apparently that afternoon, she was alone in her bedroom (her husband is in Indonesia setting up an NGO) and saw a 9 inch long, 2 inch wide poisonous black centipede with bright orange legs crawling on the floor. She frantically calls her 12 year old son, who brings the bug spray, but this is no cock-a-roach and after 2 minutes of direct hits, the bug is only a little wobbly, and decides to make an escape up her curtain. At this point she is hysterical and drops the bug spray. Her fearless son, picks up the can and continues spraying… the bug is finally wet enough that he looses his grip an falls into a puddle of spray on the floor and starts convulsing… and squirms under her bed! She is now ready to move out of her house, but her brave 9 year old daughter grabs the broom and dustpan and scoops up the still convulsing poisonous bug.

Using logic that can only come from a mother, she tells the daughter not to throw the bug away in her yard because the birds will eat it and die. Instead they should walk down the street and toss the bug in the road, (Apparently dead birds down the street are not a problem for her.)

So her 3 kids proudly walk down the street with their half dead poisonous 9 inch centepede in a dustpan. And then, the 11 year old, who up to now had been silently watching, and thinking, mentions that bug spray is flammable! And since burning things in the middle of the road is quite common in Penang , they proceed to torch the bug!

Like I said, just another normal day in Penang … Nothing to write home about ;-)

NOTE: We saw one of these bugs on a hike... you can't tell in the picture but this thing is 9 inches long, it looks like this:

Thaipusam

January 31, 2008
Pues les mando saludos de Penang. Aunque todo lo que he visto desde que regrese han sido hospitales y medicos.

Los ninos estan bien felizes en la escuela. Mati empezo a leer su primer libro (Bob books) y ahorita cumple 5 anos..increible que grande esta! El tiempo muy lindo, caliente pero con cielos azules. Y yo, pues aprovechando el tiempo libre leiendo mucho, y descansando.

Oh! La semana pasada fue Thaipusam, el dia de los indios cuando se pinchan todos .. y como la "via dolorosa" es la calle principal de mi casa pude ver todo desde mi auto. Es muy lindo e interesante como arman kioskos decorado con arboles de platanos reales, y con musica altisima bailan y caminan hasia el templo cargando leche para hechar en sima de el estatua . Inmaginate que vimos una carosa enorme con una estatua de el dios en un chariot con dos caballos (estatuas) que fue jalado por un hombre real agarado por unos ganchos por la espalda! Se veia la piel del hombre estirado jalando esa carosa tan grande .. fue increible.

Pulmonary Embolism???

January 24 2008
When I was in Florida over the holidays, I wasn't feeling well, kind of down, with low energy, sleeping alot, and not very talkative or really wanting to see anyone... so sorry if I offended anyone, or seemed unfriendly...I attributed this to jet lag, and regular stress and being overtired.

On my flight from Miami to Denver (Jan 4), I fainted while in line for the restroom. I hit my head hard on the emergency door, and was going in and out of consciousness for then next 90 minutes until the airplane landed and the ambulence took me to the emergency room of U of CO medical center. After an EKG, blood tests, and basic neurological tests, etc they found nothing wrong other than a concussion from the fall, and again I attributed the fainting to dehydration, low blood pressure (which I've always had) etc...

After I returned to Penang, I continued to be very tired with low energy. Finally, last Monday I started having chest pains, and feeling worse. I went to the hospital, after a million tests that were all perfectly fine, they were ready to send me home. But the doctor thought better of it, and did an ECHO and found that I had an enlarged right ventrical and pulminonary artery ... a clear indication of having suffered a Pulmonary Embolism on one of my flights. In short, that is when blood clots that form most probably in the legs due to inactivity, travel up to the lungs, blocking the oxygen flow.

Thank God, they found it in time, and I am responding well to the blood thinning medication (heparin and warfarin). But, I'm still very tired, sleeping most of the day. The doctor says it will be 3-6 months until I'm off the medications ... I hope its not that long til I get my energy back!

So I'm just writing this note to let you all know that Thank God, I'm OK, and getting better. I'm sorry if I seemed out of sorts or didn't call or visit enough on my trip, but looking back I guess I really wasn't feeling well. I know many of you travel by air, and I just want to remind you to walk around and excercise your legs, and drink plenty of water especially if you are on a flight for more than 3 hours. Its my understanding that Pulmonary Embolisms are fatal in 30% of reported cases within 24 hours. So it is serious, so please take precautions.

Back in Miami for Christmas

December 21, 2007
Well, we made it! Fernando had to travel ahead to make a business meeting, so I travelled alone with the kids. It was a long trip, but Dito helped me so much, and Mati was a trouper so the trip was good.

Miami is beautiful! There is more construction everyday, but they have built beautiful roads, and buildings and everything with palm trees and landscaping. The weather is nice, just a little cooler and windier than Penang.

We are staying with Fernando's parents in Miami, and then heading to Keystone after New Years.

Merry Christmas from the Paz's - A year in review

December, 2007
Dear Family & Friends!

Merry Christmas from the equator! We are toasty warm hear all year long (translation: ITS HOT, LIKE AFRICA HOT!), but we are enjoying all the beautiful natural resources this country has to offer! I can’t believe our first year in Penang, Malaysia has gone by so quickly. There isn’t enough paper in the world to describe all the experiences we have had in this crazy, up-side-down, backwards, and inside-out wonderful paradise we now call home. But, I’ll try to give you the bird’s eye view from each of us…

Fernando… my wonderful husband! He is working, and working, and working, all hours of the night and day, traveling all over the world under a lot of stress and pressure. Motorola has had a bad year, with constant re-orgs, layoffs, consolidations, and plant closings. And in spite of the internal turmoil, they still have to deliver the products on time and with high quality. It’s been a rough year for him, and I am so proud of his dedication, resilience, and just overall good attitude, to come home in a good mood, and play with the kids and take me out dancing, and go explore the sites. I think his favorite part of Penang is the celebrity status that goes with being a “white, expat, MD” (MD = Managing Director as they call him here). For example, we went to a wedding for one of his employees of about 250 people, and of course we were late…and they waited for us to arrive before starting – 45 minutes! Another time we were standing in a buffet line and the hotel staff ran over and apologetically shuffled us out of the line and seated us in the air conditioned “VIP section” where they brought us a full gourmet spread. We have a chauffer, a live-in maid, and now also a cook. Our maid, Kanthi crushes fresh ginger root every night to make Fernando (“My Sir” as she calls him) his ginger tea for his midnight conference calls. Whether its at the coffee shop, or the supermarket, or the restaurants, people know us everywhere we go. For me it’s all a little embarrassing, but Fernando is thoroughly enjoying his 15 minutes of fame.

Fernandito,… at 10 and in 5th Grade is really starting to be his own person. He is funny, energetic, and non-stop. He is extremely social, making friends everywhere he goes. He loves DALAT, saying it’s his favorite school attended. His class is the largest in the school with 25 kids, from more than 10 different countries including South Africa, Taiwan, Australia, Korea, The Philippians, Malaysia, Canada and the US. He is getting good grades, but not enjoying the homework or the writing assignments AT ALL. He was on the Swim Team and won first place in the backstroke. He was also taking equestrian, and had his first job as a stable boy one afternoon each week. Recently, he was in a track and field event, and surprisingly won 4th place overall in the Javelin in the 10 through 14 year old division …. Go figure! Dito’s favorite part of Penang is the independence he feels at school. He rides the bus, and the school is a closed campus on the beach. They have dorms with about 80 students living on campus so there is a shop and plenty of after school activities. He is there on his own; making his own choices for which activities he will participate in, and is free to go around the campus after school with no supervision. Some after school activities he has chosen include Skits, Scrabble, and Bible Study.

Mati continues to be the princess of the house at age 4 going on 16!. She is such a big girl now, and using phrases like “Oh Pickles!” and “It just breaks my heart!” and “I can’t wait until I have a car so I can go wherever I want”. She is smarter than all of us, and I have to think in triplicate just to keep up with her. Mati is in Pre-K 4 at DALAT with 7 other students mostly from Korea and the US. She loves jewelry, especially earrings, and loves to paint her nails. She is not much into the dresses, preferring jeans … but always loves to wear her fancy princes high heal shoes! She started off the year by wanting to be a hairdresser… cutting off all of her hair almost to the scalp! Thank God it’s started to grow back again. Now she prefers cooking… when I came out of the shower the other day, she had taken tons of ingredients out of the refrigerator and had used all 12 eggs in her effort to “bake Mama cookies”… close supervision is required with this one! Mati’s favorite part of Penang is the Macaque monkeys. They come down from the mountain and into our backyard almost every day so we can see them from inside very closely. Each monkey has a role in the pack, we can identify the alpha male, the young males that get food, and the mothers with their babies hanging from their bellies. Mati also loves her pet hamster!

My mom has been staying with us on and off, and has been a great help with the kids. She loves it here, saying that it reminds her of Cuba. She is in good health, although getting older (aren’t we all?). My dad is also well, but hasn’t made the trek to come visit us yet, I’m still holding out hope!

Of all of us, I think I enjoy Penang the most. I’m still with Motorola, and my work schedule is a little crazy, since I mostly work with the people in the US. I normally put the kids to sleep by 8:30PM, and by 9PM I start my work day until about 2am, but sometimes have to set the alarm at 3 or 4 am to participate in conference calls. The benefit of this is I have my days free to be with the kids and explore the island. I’ve kept myself very busy as I was the co-secretary for the International Woman’s Association (IWA) and I am also volunteering teaching math and English to 4 local high school boys. I love to hike in the jungle, or go to the beach, or visit Little India or the fishing villages. I read that Malaysia is the country with the highest density of different species of animals and plants in the world. There are 17 different kinds of bananas here (literally) and every time I go out hiking I’ll see a different kind of insect, or crab, or bird, or mammal. But, my favorite part of Penang has to be the food. With the mix of spice savvy cultures here (Muslim, Indian and Chinese) along with the ample supply of fresh sea food and the close proximity of the fruit and vegetable plantations, the Penangites take pride in merging all the different spices and fresh foods into the most delicious cuisine I have ever had, anywhere in the world. (Certainly not the most appetizing to look at, but if you can ignore the way it looks and get the food into your mouth, you will never be disappointed!) The other thing I love are the people who are just so friendly. It is very common to meet a person on the street one day, and have them call you the next, and before you know it you are eating dinner or going on site seeing tours with them. We have made many friends both local and expat, and are growing in our understanding of different cultures.

But of course, we miss home, and we miss you all so much! Things I never thought would be significant, have real emotional meaning…When I first arrived, I almost went into shock when I realized there were no frozen waffles (they have them now) and I missed bagels so much, I almost threw a party when the first coffee shop got them in; for Halloween, I just had to have a real orange pumpkin so we could make a jack-o-lantern, and I miss pine cone decorations for Christmas and real Christmas trees that smell. I miss the crystal blue skies from South Florida and the beautiful blue oceans (its pretty polluted here) and there is really no concept of hygiene, all the bathrooms are wet, and you have to take your shoes off everywhere you go so that is pretty disgusting! The places we miss the most are Miami, Key West, Colorado, and of course, Disney World!

We thank God for the blessings he has bestowed on us this year! Our lives have been full of activity and adventure, but we are ever mindful that everything we do is in His service. May His grace & peace be with you at Christmas and may He bless & keep you close in 2008.

We continue to extend an open invitation to have you come stay with us on your next holiday so we can explore Asia together!

With all of our Love, Besitos,
Carmen, for the Paz’s

Rainy Season & Thanksgiving in Penang

November 11, 2007
We've been super busy. I work most nights until 2 or 3 am. I wake up at 6 to get the kids ready for school and off on the bus, and then back to sleep until about 10 or 11. I spend my days shuttling back and forth picking up the kids. Mati gets out at noon, and Dito gets out at 4, so by the time I go get Mati, feed her lunch and play a little while, its time to go get Dito. We come home do homework, eat dinner, put the kids to sleep and time to start my work day again. Fernando has been traveling a lot he's been back to the US, to India, and to China a few times. He is working 18-20 hours a day to cover work days on both sides of the globe, so for him it is really tough.

The weather here has been beautiful lately. It is the rainy season which I thought would be bad, but it is actually the best. It rains every night really hard, which clears out the haze and cools off the land. So we wake up every morning to clear blue skies and cool breezes. The trees and flowers are GREEN and blooming, and there are many birds now which we didn't have during the dry season. There are more monkeys now too, different kinds that come down from the mountain to eat the fruits from the trees in our neighborhood that are in bloom. I never tire of watching the monkeys. They have an entire organizational hierarchy, roles and responsibilities in the pack, and daily activities. I know where to go, at what time to find them. Its awesome.

Mati has more kids in her class this year which she is happy about. There are 3 new American girls ("yellow hair just like me") which is a welcomed addition to her and a relief to me. I'm already not big on chatting with moms during play dates, but trying to make conversation with Korean, Japanese and Chinese Malay is just torture!

Fernandito loves his school, and enjoys staying afterwards to play basketball and 4 square with the boarding school kids. They had a track and field day, and he placed 4th in the Javelin ... go figure!

November 19, 2007
We are getting ready for thanksgiving in Malaysia. It's been interesting to say the least! Carmen searched the entire island of Penang looking for a turkey. T'giving is basically unknown here and the few turkeys that are ordered arrive in December (for Christmas) - not in November. Fortunately, a friend who has a cousin who has a friend, knows somebody that raises turkeys - and Carmen was able to find one at the "wet market" - "wet" as in alive... should be interesting.

November 29, 2007
The turkey ended being about as big as a really skinny chicken... We needed to buy 2. I cooked everything, and for a person who never cooks, it came out pretty good! We had the traditional Cuban / American cuisine with Frijoles Negros and white rice, and Sweet Potatoe casserole, home made pies: apple, mango, & pecan. We had a formal sit down with Fernando & I and the kids, my mom, and Siva & Kanthi. I used my new plates from the Mikasa outlet on the mainland, and the table looked beautiful. It was a quite and nice time.We are looking forward to our home leave this December. I was playing Christmas songs at home this weekend as I was setting up our tree (the first artificial tree we have ever had, but of course, it wouldn't be easy to ship a live evergreen to the equator! We were thinking of First Baptist, the pageant and the great choir and awesome sounding Christmas carols and missing home.

Melaka & Kanthi's Mother's Funeral

September 17, 2007
We went to a city in Malaysia, called Melaka about 3 hours south of KL. It is an old Portuguese settlement but also a bustling city. On the way home we stopped in KL to visit Joe Drobnich our friend from Texas, and then made a stop at Kuala Selangor to see synchronous fireflies on the river.

Kanthi, my ahma, had to go back to Indonesia for 1 week because her mother died. This was a big financial problem for her because when Muslims die, their family (and the entire village) needs to pray for them for 40 days. This means that she needed to buy food for the entire village for 40 days, because if she doesn't give them food they won't go pray, and her mother won't go to heaven

Cameron Highlands & Life in Penang

September 2, 2007
We are doing great. We love it here, it is just adventure after adventure. We were visited by 5 Maquaque monkeys today, and I was feeding them bananas from my porch. They are really just amazing, wild creatures! They climb the coconut tree by our pool, hold on to a palm branch with their feet, pull the coconuts off the tree with their hands, and crack them open with their mouths. Then, holding this hugh coconut in their mouth, they scale the gutter up to the third story roof, and sit on the apex, drinking the coconut milk like if they were people!

We went on a 5 hour hike through the jungle in the mainland (3 hours up the mountain and 2 hours down) . We hiked up holding unto the roots of trees for balance with the guides yelling "Don't shake the trees, or snakes will fall!", we saw a Tiger scratching post, and crossed rivers walking make shift bridges (2 bamboo poles tied together). We saw the largest flower in the world the "Rafflesia" which grows on the floor and spans about 6 feet in diameter. It is the most physically challenging thing I have ever done, but just an awesome experience.

We have met so many friends here, both locals as well as expats, and there is a group of hispanics here that we go out with frequently. They are actually hosting the 2nd Annual World Congress of Salsa dancing in Penang next year, so there are a few places to go out dancing.

The kids are doing great, in Dalat a Christian / American school which they love. Dito is in 5th grade, and started off the year with an overnight retreat at an island resort off the coast of Penang called Jerejak. Mati's happy because she actually has another girl "with yellow hair" this year in her class ... last year she had 3 Korean kids only.

We think about Karen & Eric our friends in Colorado sometimes. Penang has a lot of mountains (hills really) and they have bike trails everywhere. Fernando wonders how they would like the trails.

We've taken up hiking in the mountains which is really amazing. We have seen 3 types of monkeys, monitor lizards (huge like alligators), and several unidentifiable mammals ... imagine a 30 pound black squirrel with a bushy fox tail about 3 feet long flying through the trees... just amazing! On a recent hike I found some frog eggs which I brought home and have successfully hatched into tadpoles in an aquarium ... we have about 65 of them at last count!

The people here are so nice, and SO different!!!!! Everyday is a surprise. Kanthi is our ahma, (nanny / housekeeper) who is live in and Muslim Indonesian, and a driver, Siva, who is Malaysian (Hindu / Indian) (Yes, he is holding up a whip viper snake that he caught in our driveway). Most of the people we work with at Motorola are Malaysian Chinese (Bhuddists). Each one has a different superstition, different holiday, different customs.... Penang is just alive with celebrations almost every day of the year. We are particularly enjoying our driver, Siva, and his stories.. his life is like your typical Indian Love Story movie, full of heart break, comedy of errors, and even demonic possessions ... Fernando said his life would make a great movie or novel! Seriously.

Fernando is doing really well at work. We just shipped our first product from Penang, and it shipped on time with high quality. So the GM from Florida came here last week for a big party. As for me, I work mostly nights so my days are free to explore Little India, the beaches, the jungle, and I volunteer teaching 4 local teenage boys math and English.

Our house is huge -- Its three stories, with a huge play room on the 3rd floor, all the bedrooms on the 2nd floor, and the living area on the first, and overlooks a beautiful golf course and the jungle / mountains. My ahma is a delicious cook, so we've hosted all kinds of parties and luncheons, so I am in hostess heaven!

No Shoes, Superstitions, Monkeys, and Bathrooms

August 27, 2007
Por aqui todo bien. Ya mas confortable en la vida de aqui, aunque todos los dias siguen las sorpresas y cosas incomprensibles. Por ejemplo me escojieron para narrar un comercial video para la Motorola.... me escojieron a mi por que no podian encontrar ningun otro empleado que podia pronunciar la palabra "Motorola". Cuando fui a el estudio professional de gravacion me obligaron quitarme los zapatos antes de entrar para no ensusiar la alfombra. Pero sin darme quenta pise un pedazo de crystal roto (parece que como no ensusian piensan que no es necesario limpiar tampoco??) y como es natural y no tenia zapatos puestos me corte el pie. Y sangre tanto que toda la alfombra se mancho de sangre!!! How do you process this scenario ???!??!!

Inmaginate, que digo, y que me van a decir??? llamaron a la farmasia abajo y en un instante un chinito me estaba poniendo una curita en el pie ... Mind you, I didn't notice I had cut my foot so I had been walking all over the entire studio, back and forth, back and forth, the entire WHITE carpet was filled with blood stains ... I didn't know if to be embarassed that I ruined the guy's carpet, or glad since he made me take my shoes off. I said to him "That's why in my country we don't have to take off our shoes!" I was soooooooooooooooo mad!

Otro caso es los ninos que hago tutoring.... como son Chinos tienen crias de pollos, pajaros y peces por toda la casa. Jason, que tiene 13 tiene una cria de "fighting fish" con como 30 bebitos en un tanque con agua verde, y me dijo que me hiba regalar uno cuando cresen. Ahora el chofer, que es Hindu, esta preocupadisimo porque en su religion dicen que un pes "fighting fish" adentro de la casa trai broncas.... igual que cuando pones dos escobas juntas!!!?!!!?! El no se puede inmaginar como puede ser que yo "siendo tan inteligente no conosco estas cosas tan basicas!".

Hemos discubierto mas especias de monos, unos (Silver Leaf) que son tan mancitos que les puede dar comida de las manos en la naturaleza. Y otros (Dusky Leaf) que son enormes y parecen a Tarzan brincando de arbol en arbol. Y ahora que es la temporada de los cocos los monos Macaques entran a donde esta mi picina (con los ninos ban~andose) y suben la palma de coco para comer. Es increible ver como un mono tan chiquito tiene tanta fuerza para agarase de las palmas con sus pies, quitar el coco con las manos y romperlo con la boca. Y despues cargando el coco enorme en la boca, sube el "gutter" con una facilidad al techo de el tercer piso y se sienta en la punta de el techo a tomarse la leche de coco como si fuera una persona -- mirando a los ninos en la picina! A veces llevo a los ninos al parque por las tardes y veo las madre Macaques con los bebitos en el parque tambien teniendo un "play date". Siempre un grupo de como 20 a 40 madres e hijos y solamente con un macho. Juegan 1 hora y despues se van todos juntos a la montan~a otra vez. Pero cuando salen a buscar comida el grupo es mucho mas pequen~o de como 5 a 10 y casi todos son machos o hembras grandes pero los bebitos no van.

Fuimos en una escursion a la jungla - nos demoramos 5 horas - 3 en subir la montana y 2 en bajar -- y fue la cosa mas dificil fisicamente que he hecho en mi vida. Cruzamos rios por puentes de bamboo, y vimos arran~asos de tigres, y la flor mas grande de el mundo (Rafflesia) que crece en el piso, se demora 5 anos en crecer y cuando es grande mide mas de 2 metros de ancho - si -- mas grande que yo! Fernando y Fernandito soplaron un "poison dart" por un "Blow pipe" de bamboo en un village de Orang Asli, los nativos de aqui. Las adventuras son espectaculares y nunca yo pense que yo hiba acer nada de esto. Siempre Fernando esta pensando en Moli y como le gustaria estar en todas estas adventuras!

And in case anyone was wondering ... los ban~os siguen sucios y mojados!!!!! I still don't understand what the hose is for, all I know is that sometimes I'm in the stall, and a WAVE of water comes flowing at me, and over my shoes from the person in the stall next to me. WHAT COULD THEY POSSIBLY BE DOING!!?!?!?!!?!? And hence, probably the reason they insist on taking off the shoes before entering anywhere!!!!!! (sigh!)

Siva's Sister, his Fiance & his Motorbike

July 25, 2007
Hoy, nuestro chofer fue al templo Hindú para bendecir su motoneta (un tipo de despojo) ya que tuvo dos accidentes en un mes. Nos invito pero tuve que apurarme por que según el calendario hindú, hoy era el ultimo día en el cual este tipo de despojo se podía hacer. No se cuando se podrá repetir? Lo acompañamos y lo pude sacar todo en video - así que ahí lo tengo para la prosperidad. Si sigo como voy, vamos a tener un documental de la vide sur oriental asiática - tipo National Geographic.

El chofer (Siva) sigue esperando para la novia Senu desidirse si se quiere casar o no ... La novia no se decide... Pero tampoco le dice que no...La mama de Senu lo llama y lo invita a la casa, pero Senu no quiere estar con el, y lo ignora. Yo lo veo muy mal pero Siva sigue con las esperanza.... But, I found out more chisme, ... The reason he feels so indebted to the family is because his sister (you remember the old ugly fat one) lived with Senu's family for 2 years. This is because (I promise this is the truth!) they all believe she is possessed by a Malay Muslim demon. They believe that this possession started when she was 12 and she used to eat Mangos from the Malay Muslim mango tree (everyone knows that the Malay demons live in the Mango trees). Since she was 12 she has gone to see I don't know how many doctors, and then even more Hindu priests. Apparently when she is possessed, she goes to the temple and throws herself on the floor doing the "snake dance" and asking for a Cow's bloody head (mind you, remember that to Hindus the cow is the most sacred animal). Finally, Senu's mother couldn't take it anymore, and they took her to a Malay witchdoctor, who although wasn't able to totally exercise the demon, he was able to "tie it up" enough so that they could find a proposer for her, and marry her off. Only now that she has been married for 6 months, the demon has "become loose" again, and the mother-in-law is threatening to send her back to the parents...the story couldn't get any more interesting if it was in a book.

Penang in Summary, first 6 months

July 2, 2007
We enjoy Penang very, very much. It is ever the adventure, ... Penang is an island on the equator about the size of Broward county with 1.5 million residents, so it is roughly the same as what we are used to in terms of weather, city size and population. However, what makes it totally different is that instead of being surrounded by a swamp (the Everglades ) we are surrounded by mountainous jungles. I live on a golf course, that is just at the foot of the jungle. We have monkeys in our back yard daily and monitor lizards about 3-4 feet long, and at night it is SO loud with jungle noises it was hard to get to sleep at first.

The nicest thing here are the people, who are so friendly and helpful, and go so out of their way to do favors that at first we were skeptical of their motives, but really they are just being nice.... to us ... we are treated almost like royalty. The strangest or most difficult thing to get used to is the people and the way they treat their servants. It is like going back in time 200 years, where maids and drivers are litterly treated like slaves, not allowed to leave the house, given the poorest living condition in huge mansions, and made to work 7 days a week. I really have never felt myself so Christian, our ahma (maid) and driver can't understand why we are so nice to them ("Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to Me!") It really makes it hard for me to be true friends with people here because although they are so nice, and we have made so many acquaintancs from the West, I can't believe how they can come here and then forget all people are God's children.

There are three main cultures here (Muslim, Chinese, and Indian). And every holiday is celebrated along with all the Christian ones, so there is always a party going on somewhere, with the strangest rituals, customs, and festivities you can imagine. From fireworks to sacrificial body piercings to holidays where they through colored sand/water on you as you go down the street -- we've seen it all.

The fashion though is for me the most interesting. You can go to the mall, and in the same store see a muslim man with a fez, followed by his 4 wives in full black burkas with only their eyes showing, standing in line right next to Chinese teenage girls with micro mini skirts and gogo boots, standing right next to an Indian lady in a saree, standing right next to some Australians in cargo shorts and flip flops. Then there are always the occassional Taoist monks who shave their heads and wear wrap around orange bedsheets or the men from bali in silk pajama pants covered by a floresent pink or lime green skirt... it is truely fascinating!

Oh, and as to the "Have we adjusted" question -- just when I think I've adjusted, something happens to through me for a loop... like the little black bat sleeping cozily in the office plant inside the Motorola building, or the cows happily grazing stopping traffic on the busiest streets, or the chicken comfortably resting on my front doorstep this morning -- always something to remind us that we are not really "home".