Our Other Blog

Hi friends.  Most of you probably know by now, but we had to change over to blogspot since we can't access Xanga anymore from China.  Right now we're out of the country, so I thought I'd take the chance to post something here just in case somebody is still wondering.

Our new site is:  http://viewfromtherooftop.blogspot.com/

Tashideleg!

Students

We received a special Amdo treat from Gregory's tutor/my student.  Wrapped in a stomach and sewn together, it contains tsampa, Tibetan cheese, sugar, and we're sure something else.  He told us to cut it, pour hot water over it, and eat.   

At the end of Gregory's first week of full-time teaching, he co-taught a class of Tibetan students.  We like to get pics of the students to remember their names.  So he called five students at a time up to the blackboard, asked them to write their names up high, and turn around and face the camera.  The following is what happens everytime with a new group of Tibetan students (mostly the girls as you will see):

They would NOT turn around.

These ladies turned around at least, but still are doing the hand-on-the-head, head-down thing.  Surely there was an enormous amount of giggling going on, too. 

We get the same responses for the first while when we ask students to come to the front or to stand up and perform a dialogue with their partner.  There's almost nothing to be done about this except to keep trying.  We try to ease them into it.  Eventually, they feel comfortable enough to stand up in front of their classmates (at least most of the time).  What's funny is that a lot of these students will get up on a stage and sing and dance in front of the entire school!  But stand up in class?  No way!

Back to School

We've just wrapped up our first week back at school.  I have mostly the same students this term and all but a couple were ready to speak English again. 

Gregory is glad to be back in the classroom full-time.

When we came back, folks here were still celebrating Losar--lots of incense coming off Pumburi Mountain lately and plenty of firecrackers.  The decorations stay up in homes for 20 extra days this year, so we got to learn about those in D's home on Monday. 

We watched another great Chinese movie tonight:

Currently Watching Not One Less By Minzhi Wei, Huike Zhang, Zhenda Tian, Enman Gao, Zhimei Sun, Yuying Feng, Fanfan Li, Yichang Zhang, Xu Zhanqing, Hanzhi Liu, Ma Guolin, Wu Wanlu, Liu Ru, Wang Shulan, Fu Xinmin, Mei Bai, Zhang Mingshan, Jiao Jie, Rong Huimin, Sun Zhiwei see related

Thailand

Thailand is our third home.  It's a real joy to go back each year.  This year we decided to spend some time in Bangkok near the hospital we stayed at last year. 

We found a real gem of a hotel called The Atlanta which is right in the heart of new Bangkok--an area I would've hated just a couple years ago.  I've found plenty to enjoy on this side of town, though, and was happy to show Gregory around this year.  The Atlanta is quite an establishment--you should read about it on their website, especially if you ever go through Bangkok (like a lot of us teachers do!).  We payed a lot more than we usually pay for a room here ($15-$18), but we were happy to get away from backpacker land for a while. 

The Lobby

The Diner

The Atlanta has the first ever hotel pool in Thailand which we enjoyed in the middle of the blazing hot afternoons.  It's also close to the BTS (Skytrain) and some canal taxi stops are not too far away.  Here ends my advertisement.

A shrine (Buddhist) in downtown Bangkok

We had an afternoon at the Jim Thompson House, which my parents and I enjoyed last year at this time.

Pad Thai with shrimp at a sidewalk restaurant for lunch.  Thai tea, too!  Less than $2. 

We also got to visit with Christina and Gabriella in Bangkok.  We had (sort of) met Christina last year while Gregory was sick--we actually only talked on the phone once and never saw each other.  But we heard alot about her and communicated with her through some Christ Church folks.  We emailed some this past year.  Her home ended up being just a couple of blocks from where we stayed this year.  It was great to finally meet her.

The escalators at Siam Paragon Mall.  We enjoyed the bookstore here--wonderful selection of English books, especially Asian literature, travel, and stuff on SE Asia. 

And our most favorite dinner--beef shwarma for 50 Baht at a Lebanese restaurant in "Little Arabia".  We sang about these shwarmas, we liked them so much.  A lot of people would come and get big take-away orders for friends or coworkers--it's no wonder.  And the guy who worked here was always smiling even though it was terribly hot.  He got going about dinner time and would sell shwarmas until the meat was gone--about 3AM or 4AM.  He addressed Gregory as, "My friend", after he saw us the second, third...times.

And then we headed down to Koh Chang:

And Mama, these are some things we ate on Koh Chang:

Fish and asparagus, sticky rice, and Thai tea with lime

Red curry soup with seafood, sticky rice, and Thai tea with milk (about $2.50)

Back in Bangkok before heading to Myanmar:

Banana mataba and coffee for breakfast

G treated himself to a shave and a haircut

And he enjoyed some sushi for lunch

Gregory didn't take any pictures of me while we were in Thailand this year.  But I was there with him.

About Myanmar next time.  This is one book I read during our time in Thailand.  Watchman Nee is my favorite spiritual author--maybe partly because we live in China.

Currently Reading Balanced Christian Life By Watchman Nee see related

Nepal

 Well, I told you about our trip overland to Nepal already.  Here are some photos from that:

Pilgrims making offerings at the last pass before the border

Kasa (or Zhangmu)

The Border

Waiting in Drum, Nepal

Some of the TaTa trucks we admired

Lunch with fellow travelers

Simple dahl baat and masala tea 

Practicing Tibetan

Our first stop was Boudha, a Tibetan area outside of Kathmandu. 

We visited the brother (a monk) of a friend here last year, too.  This year they were working on a sand mandala at his monastery.

They use this colored sand in the mandala.  It would take three days to finish.

We noticed more Maoist posters in Kathmandu this year.  The owner of the Chinese hotel where we have stayed told us that some of the Maoist rebels came around demanding money from each of the hotels and restaurants in the city.  The owner said, "I'm not giving you any money!  I'm a Maoist, too!"  Instead, the rebels settled for bowls of noodles and that's all the owner has given them since.  Most businesses in Kathmandu have been badly affected from the unrest and the subsequent decrease in tourism in the past year.  Except for this man's hotel--it's full every night--all Chinese tourists and Chinese business people.

Coins are nailed onto this lump of wood in offering to the toothache god.  Lots of dentist offices are nearby.

Nepal is colorful:

Saris for sale 

Offerings for sale at Pashupatinath Temple--the most important Hindu temple in Nepal

Busy street in Kathmandu

A temple and a souvenir shop

I took a Nepali cooking class one day at the Via Via Cafe'.

I helped cook this dahl baat--mmmm!  The typical Nepali meal.  The veggies (and less often, meat) vary, but there are usually certain components:  vegetable (and/or meat) curry, pickle (achar), dahl (sometimes fried), a green vegetable, yogurt (dahi), and rice.

I didn't help with these fried momos.  It's a Nepali-style Tibetan dumpling made with veggies or "buff" (water buffalo, not beef, since cows are sacred.)  We love these things!  Buff or veg--with a special masala sauce.  Only 20 Nepali rupees!

We went to Pokhara intending to do a trek, but the weather was terrible.  So one afternoon we rode bikes out to the International Mountain Museum where we particularly enjoyed the section about the yeti.  

This Japanese man swims in a high altitude lake every New Year (if I remember correctly).  I really like this picture for some reason.

We returned to Kathmandu and ended up meeting some wonderful people.  First, a couple of our city teammates showed up and we shared some meals together and stayed at the same hotel.  Then we met some Chinese folks who took us out for hotpot.  Two of them had stayed in Lhasa for a while.  Another of them we had met last year at that Chinese hotel where we've stayed.  He's been studying English the past year and spoke to us almost completely in English this time.  This time last year he didn't know any.  One day I enjoyed a long talk with a shopkeeper and later, a talk with one of her employees.  We also got to see some other buddies (Nepali and Tibetan) we made last year.  One them came running up as we were getting into our taxi to go to the airport. 

From there we flew to Bangkok.  We had a great view of the Himalayas from the window.  In the middle of the window are snow-capped mountains, not clouds!

More to come. 

Here's one book I read during this part of the trip:

Currently Reading Love & Death in Kathmandu: A Strange Tale of Royal Murder By Amy Willesee, Mark Whittaker see related