my new favorite blog

i have a dream to be the queen of do-it-yourself projects. not that i have all the skills or tools yet needed for many of these projects. but you have to start with a vision. next comes some determination. i've got those at least. maybe over the next decade everything else will fall into place.

the other day i stumbled upon this blog and it has been the inspiration of a lifetime for DIY projects. not that homeownership is in our near future, clearly. but i am still obsessed with this site. and one of the things that is so compelling about this site is not only because it gives SO many ideas for redoing tons of things in your house, but it also gives such simple directions that they make you believe that with a little money, time, and elbow grease, ANYONE can do it. check it out.

mark this my hope that jarred and i will one day buy a fixer-upper and tackle it one project at a time. check back in a decade.

Confused

Jarred here, with 4 things he is confused about or needs clarification on in life right now. Since we don't allow comments for security reasons, feel free to respond via email or facebook.

1. Chagrin: This word came into my mind the other day, and I realized that I have no idea what it means. To my chagrin... is this to my good or bad, blessing or curse? I want to start using it in everyday conversation, but it is one of those words that is one or the other, no gray area. It is either something really good, or really bad, so a misuse is sure to have consequences.

2. Global Warming: What is the truth? I feel like all I hear are two opposite equally stupid opinions. Am I to believe Al Gore's warnings that in 2 years the only thing that will save us from our own boiling blood is the fact that we'll be living under water anyways, or Republican congressional members who claim that the polar ice caps aren't actually melting and the whole thing is a hoax in the face of mounting evidence that they actually are melting? (Not because I can do anything to stop it, but just so I can be ready in case I want to buy cheap land in Tennessee that'll be prime beach-front a few years down the road. On a side note, I am not too concerned about the perishing polar bear population, because they are the only animal that actively hunts humans for food, and yet we aren't allowed to shoot them, gotta be the only time in history that man has legislated himself one step down on the food chain.)

3. Bang-up job. If someone does this, is it a good job or bad job? Much like chagrin. I don't intend to use it in daily life, but just for my own vocab.

4. Catholic monks: It is a ridiculous thing to me to suggest that there are levels of faith to be obtained, a serious follower and a casual follower, and that most followers should be content to leave the serious following to a select few. However, as I read more church history, these guys keep popping up as incredible heroes. So which taste should be left in my mouth?

the blessings of hong kong

Staples. bread tasted like normal bread. milk tasted like normal milk. the grocery store had deli meats. and cheeses. there were grocery stores at all. and then there were nonstaples but delicious surprises like sour cream that i didn't make myself, air conditioning in buildings, and an iced chai tea latte at starbucks.

Summer. this is the first summer i haven't been in nc or va at all and i was pretty sad to be missing all the things that go with summer there. but, hong kong surprisingly delivered a lot of things that summer inherently meant: the beach. a trip to the pool. boats. humidity. sunscreen. the ocean. sunglasses. i wore almost every skirt and dress that i own here and rarely have a chance to wear. and our last day there we got really good burgers. (the first time we had ever eaten grass-fed beef and while we couldn't taste the difference we were that much more satisfied that it was healthier for us.) hong kong is nothing like nc in the summer, but it felt eerily similar in the things that define summer to me. and it made my heart happy.

Timing. as we headed home and i looked back at the great week we had, i was so thankful ultimately that jarred recovered from his surgery so quickly that we got to relax and enjoy all that we did. it very easily could have been 3 days spent entirely in our hostel with him flat on his back recovering. what a blessing that he had no complications. it was also a blessing that the surgeon made him stay to have a post-surgery check-up on Tuesday (which went great, but jarred left the office and forgot the socket-swisher syringe that the doctor gave him, which left him devastated for like 30 minutes once he realized) because that morning i woke up with a rash that i had had a few weeks before and a dermatologist was able to fit me in that afternoon long enough to diagnose me with eczema. that's not fun, but i am thankful i was in a place that last day where i could get to a good dermatologist and not back here already. and it is also a blessing that apparently all over asia doctor offices stock all the medicine they might need in their own office and we didn't have to figure out a pharmacy system in hong kong. tuesday night jarred got really sick and was up most of the night with a fever. and when we woke wednesday morning it was pouring for the first time since we got there. it was a good time to leave. we pumped jarred full of enough motrin to clear customs' temperature controls and headed home. he spent the next 2 days getting over the flu, which i then came down with today. we were glad to be back in our own bed at least.

Culture. the last major thing that was a great blessing in hong kong was a complete surprise. jarred and i love where we live and wouldn't trade it for the world. but a couple of days into our stay in hong kong, i noticed that i was living differently, like my guard was down. because it was. there was this sense of freedom, peace, and calmness that i didn't realize we live without on a daily basis here. i wasn't constantly worried about being ripped off. i wasn't pointed at and laughed at, or talked about by people who think i can't understand them. as i lived in hong kong, so close to our home here but worlds away culturally, i realized that my daily stress level here in asia is leaps and bounds above where it is living in america or elsewhere. it was an interesting revelation, and one that made me so thankful for the blessing of this past week in hong kong and for a loving Father who knows what we need even when we don't.

so we are back home in our apartment. and there is one furry little black pup that is glad to have us back. and i'm sure he'll like us even better once we are both fully over the flu.

conversations in marriage

One reason why I love getting being is because when it is late at night, and you're laying in a hostel bed made for 1/2 a person with a-whole-nother person, you can have conversations like this:

Jarred: Now I know what its like to be a sardine in a can. Have you ever had sardines on your pizza? Are they called sardines because they come from Sardinia and thats why they put them on pizzas? Sardinia is in Italy right?

Shelley: No, its not sardines they put on pizzas, its, its...

Jarred: Anchovies. Yeah, not sardines, anchovies. Have you ever had anchovies on your pizza?

Shelley: No, but I think my dad has.

Jarred: I think he'll eat anything.

Shelley: Dads do that. When you're a dad, be prepared to eat anything. Like mixing the bottom of four boxes of cereal into one bowl to finish them off.

Jarred: Why does he mix them together?

Shelley: Because each box doesn't have enough left for one bowl and so we would just put them back in the pantry and they would never get eaten until Dad combined them into one bowl. Dads have to do stuff like that.

Jarred: Couldn't he just eat 4 small bowls of cereal and not mix them? I would do that. I eat the bottom of the box anyway, theres all that powder that sits on top of your milk. Its good.

Shelley: That's gross. Nobody likes that powder. And you also have to eat burnt stuff when you're a dad.

Jarred: Why? Do you mean because the kids try to cook for you and burn it or because once we have kids, you'll just start burning our food?

Shelley: Because burns happen in life sometimes and you have to eat them.

Jarred: But you have no precedent of overcooking food. Why would you just start burning food because we have kids?

Shelley: Look, all I'm saying is that if there is a burnt piece of toast, you have to eat it.

Jarred: Or I could just throw it away.

Shelley: No, you have to eat it or you'll teach our kids to waste food.

Jarred: But its burnt. Who likes burnt toast? And why would you just start burning toast after we...

Shelley: No, you eat it to teach your kids not to waste food.

Jarred: But nobody eats burnt toast. They wouldn't even ship burnt toast to Ethiopia. If a shipment of food aid arrives in Ethiopia and they open to discover it was burnt toast, they would pack it back up and

Shelley: Somalia! In Somalia they would eat it. They would eat it in Somalia because they are pirates there and they rob ships for money and food.

Jarred: I think they're pirates because Somalia is the most lawless country in the modern world. And if they pirated a ship and found out the food was burnt they would regret pirating that ship.

Shelley: What kind of burnt toast are you talking about? I am thinking like just a little burnt, not like black toast.

Jarred: Ohhhhh, ok. No I'll eat that. You can put jelly on that and not be able to tell its burnt.

Shelley: Yeah, that kind of burnt toast.

I woke up this morning and realized this is SERIOUSLY THE CONVERSATION WE HAD VERBATIM. And we were seriously have this dialogue laying side by side on our backs, unable to turn over because the bed was so small, talking to each other, but staring at the ceiling. How can something so ridiculous be considered serious conversation by 2 perfectly sober, college educated people?

Hiking in Hong Kong

Today Shelley and I woke up real early to get a head start out to the south of Hong Kong island to go hiking. It must have been 95 degrees and 90% humidity at 8am when we arrived at our hiking destination. Our hike started in a cemetery and involved climbing a thousand steps literally up the side of a mountain to the top. From then on, we just enjoyed the great scenery of Hong Kong. Who knew that a huge city could have such great natural space a subway ride away? here are some pictures of from the hike:The concrete wall to the left is actually hundreds of graves at this cemetery, and they go on up a lot further than what the picture shows.

Our destination: This is Sheko Beach. We were aiming to finish our sweat-drenched hike in these warm Pacific waters. And we made it!
After resting at the beach we caught a bus back to the subway station. The public transportation here is so convenient. Today we rode 3 forms: a subway, a bus, and then a ferry across the harbor to meet our friend Shannon for dinner. The best part of being across the harbor from Hong Kong Island at night is the great views of the Hong Kong Island skyline, one of the more impressive skylines in the world. We hadn't been across the harbor yet, so we hadn't had a chance to see it at night, which is quite a sight. here is a picture of us across the harbor before dinner:
And this is the skyline at night time (about a fourth of it, which is all my camera could catch):
One cool thing is that the buildings from across the harbor put on a light show to music on the other side of the harbor every night. We happened to be there for the Monday night show, which is the only time the show is in English. This turned out not to matter, since the only speaking during the whole show is to announce which buildings are participating in the show itself. The rest is just the buildings flashing lights to classical music from across the harbor. Tomorrow morning I go in for my post-surgical check up to make sure we are cleared to return home on Wednesday. We hope we're good to go.

HK Days 4 and 5 (Macau)

We left for Macau aboard this slick ferry on Friday morning.
It took us about an hour to get there, and we knew we had arrived because all around were gaudy, huge casinos and hotels. We were looking for more of a cultural experience, so we took a walking tour of historic Macau, the Portuguese side. It was like entering Europe.

This is the church of St. Paul, or what was left of it after a fire in the 1800s. Literally, this wall/edifice is all that is left of the church.
We went on a date that night to a Portuguese restaurant, both of our first Portuguese dining experiences, and Shelley ate sea bass while I chowed down on BBQ spare ribs using only my front teeth, a feat worth mentioning. Needless to say, Shelley had time to eat half the sea bass, digest for a little while, and finish the rest of the fish while she waited on me to nibble down spare ribs like a squirrel. However, our favorite part of Portuguese cuisine was not necessarily the entrees, but the dessert. This place:

is famous for these:
Those are Portuguese egg tarts, and they are delicious. Kind of like an egg/creme custard baked inside of a puff pastry. We headed back to Hong Kong the following afternoon. All in all, it was a great getaway, but the travel was not as convenient as Hong Kong. To get from one place to another involved either a really expensive cab ride, or a significant walk in the heat to the nearest bus stop, which happened to be the Venetian. The Venetian was probably less than 1km away, but because of all the fenced-off construction sights of new gaudy hotels and new roads which didn't appear named on any tourist maps, and the fact that neither of us brought any shoes except our Rainbows, we had to walk what felt like FOREVER to get to the bus stop. Nonetheless, we succeeded in conquering another public transportation system in a new place. If you're going to Macau, eat the egg tarts, take walking shoes, or a good bit of cash to blow on cabs (or craps if thats your fashion).

HK Days 2 and 3

We spent yesterday morning doing what we came here to do, have my wisdom teeth removed. I was relieved that I actually didn't have to go completely to sleep for the procedure, and it was really quick and easy. Shelley says I look a little like a chipmunk but not as much as she was expecting. I'm still icing and now swishing with salt water-Shelley has been a good nurse but is pretty stringent about making me follow the entire page of post-op instructions the surgeon gave me. Had I gotten the iv to go to sleep, I would have been out of commission for a lot longer, and after spending a day in Hong Kong, I wanted to have as much time as possible to explore. So after an afternoon of icing my cheeks, we ventured out to walk in the park right next to our hostel. It was really nice. I am not used to parks that have ample green space like in America. Where we live, every park is a maze of pathways between bushes, grass that you can't walk on, and tacky neon lights and signs.

Today we made way to Lantau island to go to the beach. I took pictures of the beach, but left my memory card out of my camera, and I didn't bring the USB cord to connect the camera directly, so I have no way to show on the blog. The beach we were at was in a bay, so there weren't really any open ocean or crashing waves, and the swimming area was bordered with shark nets, so it felt more like a public park than a beach, but Shelley was able to get a little sun nonetheless.

This has been the first summer she hasn't spent at least a week at the beach and she was craving the sun and water. It was a little different than the Outer Banks (they wouldn't let us even throw the frisbee) but we loved being at the beach nonetheless. And who would have thought you could come to Hong Kong and go to the beach?! This revelation has practically saved Shelley's view of the summertime in Asia. We came back this evening and went to Ruby Tuesdays for my first real solid meal post-op. It was still mushy- lobster bisque and potato skins (only the inside, not the skins themselves), but delicious. After dinner we went to a street stand selling crepes and had a great dessert.

My impressions of Hong Kong get better and better each day spent here. The city is really safe and clean, there are 3 or 4 ways to get to anywhere in less than 30 minutes, and it is so international. Today alone I heard French, American English, British English, Australian English, Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin, and Cantonese spoken at different times. When you look for restaurants, you are just as likely to find a French, Italian, Mexican, Organic hippie, Thai, Korean, or Japanese restaurant as you are to find Cantonese food. In fact, we have yet to eat Cantonese since we've been here. When you're used to eating noodles and rice all the time, even a different style of noodles and rice just doesn't seem that appetizing when there are all those other options. However, we have never had dim sum, so are planning on trying that Cantonese specialty before leaving the island. Along with being international, the city is also filthy rich. The roads are like a car show with cabs mixed between. Today at a red light the traffic line up went like this: Audi (cheapskate), cab, cab, Aston Martin, cab, big rig, bus, Maserati, Porsche, cab cab, Mercedes and so on and so forth. My doctor told us yesterday that the busiest Rolls Royce dealership in the world is in the Hong Kong financial district. Today I saw in a jewelry store window a $58,000(US) Rolex and a 4 carat diamond... on display in the window! People here actually buy this stuff! A common item on menus is 60 dollar abalone tapas, and Ruth Chris is rated a 3 out of 4 dollar signs in price of food on the Frommer's website.

Tomorrow, we are going to Macau to spend the night there for a little romantic getaway. Included in our hotel stay is a breakfast buffet and afternoon tea, so we are really excited about that. Also, we are excited to be in a hotel with an actual pool. These things sound pretty basic, but to us, they are rare treats! Macau was a Portuguese settlement until 1999, so the architecture and culture are very European. It will probably be the closest I have ever come to Europe other than Epcot Center in the 10th grade. It also just overtook Las Vegas as the casino capital of the world, but we don't have in our budget to be high-rollers, so we are just planning on sticking to viewing old Portuguese settlements and swimming in a pool. Should be fun!

HK Day 1

We started off our first full day in Hong Kong by going to the dentist's office for my consultation appointment. My oral surgeon is great. He happens to hail from Winston Salem, NC and got his degree in dentistry from UNC, so an obvious choice. How did I end up with an American oral surgeon in the middle of Hong Kong you might ask? As it turned out American health care is so screwed up that not only patients get ripped off, but doctors hate it too. I thought at least one part of the care-receiver/care-taker relationship was winning out, but apparently the doctors don't want to operate in the American health care system so much that they're willing to move halfway across the world to practice in another country.

After the consultation, Shelley and I went out exploring. After one day, I have to say that Hong Kong has to be the best big city I've ever visited. Shelley and I were trying to compare it to other large cities we've been to. I mentioned Bangkok when we were driving in, but Bangkok is a lot more spread out and the roads are wider. Shelley mentioned Seoul, but Seoul has a much more organized feel to it. Interesting enough, the closest thing this city comes to anywhere else we've ever been is New York City. Take away the dirty streets and rude people you've got Hong Kong. Actually, Hong Kong is more international than even New York. Walking down the street you're just as likely to see an Indian or European as you are to see a native. Equally as interesting is that at not once did we ever consider large cities in East Asia that we've visited in comparison, because Hong Kong is nothing like East Asia. Nothing. It is a different country altogether. It is more like New York City than it is anywhere else in East Asia. This is what a typical street looks like:

After walking around the financial district, we took the tram up to the Peak. This tram ran straight up the mountainside on the back of Hong Kong island to the top of Victoria peak. Literally straight up like a roller coaster. The tram has been running since 1830, and it is a must-experience when you are in Hong Kong. And when you get to the top, the view is worth every minute of the trip:

You can see both sides of Victoria Harbor. The city just goes on forever until you hit the mountains on the opposite side.
However, there was one point today when we thought "maybe East Asia is infiltrating this place":
There is a freedom here that doesn't exist in East Asia. In East Asia, this could never be hung up by a random crazy conspiracy theorist. Afterwards, we walked to Mid-levels which has a giant escalator that runs up the bottom gentle slope of the mountain and has shops on both sides. Supposedly it is the longest escalator in the world, but it is more like a series of airport walkways that you can hop off at each break. One great fact about Mid-levels is that it runs parallel to this thoroughfare:

We finished off the night with Josh and Danielle at Tony Romas. Since I'll be drinking my meals for the next 48 hours or so, I decided to go out with a half-rack of baby back ribs. We'll keep you updated as we check out new things over the upcoming days! Next up, wisdom teeth surgery.

HK Night 1

Well, we made it safely to Hong Kong today. We haven't taken any pictures yet, but we will be sure to take plenty tomorrow to post. Our first impression of Hong Kong is that it is North Carolina/Virginia hot and humid. We live at 6,000+ feet, so even when it gets above 80, which is rarely does, it is a dry heat. I forgot what it was like to choke on the thick air.

It took us a good while to get to our hostel. For one, we can't speak the dialect here. I thought that wouldn't matter since this place was British owned forever, but none of the cab drivers understood my English, so we ended up just taking the subway, which was probably quicker anyway. Our cell phones don't work here either, so we have yet to track down Josh and Danielle who came in on an earlier flight than us and we're staying in the same hostel!

Either way, we finally got checked in around 8:15 and went out looking for some dinner. The first thing you see when you walk out of our hostel is a giant Outback Steakhouse sign, but being so hot, I didn't want to melt into a pile of cow grease on the walk back to the hostel, so we went for lighter fare. Only we couldn't find any. We finally settled... actually settled isn't the right word, we went for a corn dog and cheese fries with a strawberry banana smoothie... which i was willing to melt into grease for. We followed that up with a trip to the grocery store. The following purchases were made with little thought: deli ham, deli cheese, sandwich bread, tropicana orange juice, fresh milk. Why am I telling you so much about our culinary choices in such detail... particularly boring culinary choices you might ask? BECAUSE WE CAN'T GET ANY OF THIS STUFF WHERE WE LIVE!!! Who would have thought that honey ham and kraft singles, a corn dog, or a strawberry banana smoothie would be blogworthy? They were certainly the highlight of my day.

Embarassing moment of the day- on the elevator in our hostel, two European guys got on. They stared at my shirt, and asked "I'm sorry, which team is that?" I was wearing my American soccer jersey. I told them "The US" to which they replied "like... the national team?" I said "yeah, out in the second round. But better than last time" to which they laughed and got off the elevator. Shelley claims they laughed because they didn't understand English. I think they laughed because I was actually wearing an American soccer jersey. It was awkward nonetheless, but I think I stood up for Donovan well.

goodbyes

jarred mentioned in his last post the goodbyes we've been saying. i've been thinking recently how strange a life it is here that i can name on one hand the people i know whose life here is their permanent, settled-down life. and then we think of our parents who have known the same people and had the same friends for years and we are reminded how abnormal the continual goodbyes are. i don't think i'll ever really get used to it, and then again i hope i never do because i never want to stop getting to know the people around me well out of fear that they are going to leave. but nonetheless, the last couple weeks have been marked by a lot of goodbyes. some were major and emotional and some not.

on the not-so-major-but-still-important were those other foreigners that came out to near where we live for a bit that we blogged about earlier. we got to know them a little bit and they came over for dinner a couple nights before they left. it was such a sweet time to hear all about their time and their experiences. and the sweetest part was that they really did love it here. after a rough first week, everything turned around- they were troopers in some really hard living conditions, they found some awesome new places out here, and they made some really cool friends. the first time i came to this side of the world i had no idea how much it would change the trajectory of my life, and i love watching new experiences do the same to others.

little update on life

When the school year finishes up, life gets super busy, and thus we haven't blogged in a good while. Shelley and I both finish up our class for the year this week, and then get a nice break. Here is an update on the last couple of weeks:

Right after we got cable, the US lost to Ghana, and now that the semifinals are here, all games are at 2:30 AM. Since we are not European or South American, we won't be watching anymore World Cup games. At least not live. I am not sure what to do with the remaining 11 months and 1.5 weeks of our digital cable. I could watch the ping pong and badminton channel...

I had an opportunity to teach some of our East Asian neighbors how to golf last week. We went to eat Thai food together, and then bought some buckets of balls at the driving range and I gave free lessons. The driver they rented to us was from the early 90s, so I spent a lot of the time offering free lessons to the rich guys around us in exchange for them letting me hit their 500 dollar drivers. It was a great time.

We have said goodbye to 2 of our neighbors in the past week. That has been really difficult for Shel and I. In all the time I have lived here, I have never been closer to an East Asian before. They are truly friends, and luckily we'll get to travel to see them from time to time. Maximus has lost 2 of his favorite uncles, though I don't think he realizes it.

We are getting ready to travel to the big city of Hong Kong! I am having my wisdom teeth pulled there. East Asia's dental offices aren't quite up to speed and skill, especially if it involves sticking an IV in me to go to sleep. Luckily, I can have my wisdom teeth pulled by an American oral surgeon in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, it will cost the same as in America, which will be true of everything in Hong Kong. We'll have to stay for 9 days for the follow up appointment afterwards, which means we'll get to see a lot of Hong Kong. That's okay with us. We've heard about organized streets, grocery stores, California Pizza Kitchen, hiking, and the beach all available to us. That will be a nice break, even if it does involved being stuck in bed with gauze in your mouth for a day or 2.

Shelley has a summer time to do list. I don't know what's on the list, I just know its there. When my wife gets in her mind to do something, I have learned to stay out of her way until asked for help. On that list I'm sure is replacing both bathroom doors in our apartment, which broke in a 2 week period. One was broken on purpose, when the knob quit working and Shelley was locked in the bathroom. After trying several different tricks, I ended up kicking the door in, which being a plastic door, meant destroying the door and frame at the same time. The other door was taken care of by Maximus, who scratched a huge chunk off of it out of excitement when we came in the door. He gets excited when he knows he is about to be let out of the guest bathroom/his room when we are gone.

That is a short update. We'll be sure to post lots of pictures when in Hong Kong. My camera has been out of battery for a while and I haven't taken the time to charge it. Now that the school year is ending, life will be a little less hectic and things like keeping the camera batteries charged and taking pictures will move up on the priority list.