Dining Out: Lunch with a Side of Karaoke

Do you remember the scene in "My Best Friend's Wedding" where Cameron Diaz's character sings to her fiance? The melody is ruined and yet the crowd still goes wild at the end or her awful performance. That scene played over and over through my mind this past week at a local Philippine restaurant. A friend and I wanted to try something new for lunch and she suggested the small establishment boasting the best Philippine cuisine in the city. Seeing as it was my first time to indulge in culinary treats from that country, I wouldn't be the best judge of the dishes. It tasted like most oriental food to me. Lots of veggies and chicken over rice or noodles with a good sauce. Of course you can't have oriental food without the token spring roll or cup of soup.

While we were waiting for our food, I took note of the TV screens in 2 corners of the small room. That's when I heard the music. It was off-key and the words didn't quite sound like the English words on the screen in front of me. Turning my head, I spotted the songster--I young Asian professional singing a tune while she and co-workers waited for their meal. It didn't stop there. I think 3 of the 4 at their table sang before passing the mic to the table beside ours. Each time the new performer would scroll through the songs I was surprised by some of the tunes available. Steven Curtis Chapman's, "I'll be right here waiting" was an option that came up several times. I should have paid for their lunch just to hear that song sung in a Middle Eastern country by an Asian man in a Philippine karaoke restaurant. Now that would be have been worth $5! I tried to record the performances on my mobile phone, but it wasn't clear enough to download for the blog. Next time I'll have to bring my camera for some quick party pics.

Rain Fall and C's First Kiss

RAIN! The smell, the look, the sound, the puddles--we have it all today! I have taken a few pictures for proof. In the first one you can actually make out the outline of a few clouds against the grey sky. Too bad for C, he is headed for the desert for an afternoon and evening with his fellow teachers. It's an end of the semester celebration of sorts and only the male teachers were invited. If you get this early in the morning, please say a few words for him as he travels and has conversations with his friends.

On C's first day back after winter break I heard him say something new and unusual. As I pulled up to the curb to pick him up, he threw his backpack in the back seat and climbed into the front while saying, "E, I got my first kiss today." Wow! Not something you would typically want your husband to say at the end of the work day. But seeing where we live, this is truly significant. Men, who are considered friends, will greet one another with a kiss on each cheek while shaking hands. C had not had the kiss greeting until the end of December. He was all grins while sharing with me how the teachers congregated in the halls before classes began and exchanged greetings, kisses, and handshakes. THANK YOU FATHER! (Note: the teaching staff is 99% male.)

We are approaching our six month mark of living overseas and eight months of marriage. Many of you have taken time out to write to us, call us, send us snail mail, and talk with our Father. For that we are grateful. The oppression in our land is more dense than that of where we came. On certain days are hearts are heavy with the darkness surrounding us. It is your words spoken directly to us or on our behalf that move us through those days. For me, fighting through a few bouts of oppressive depression has not been easy for me. Nor for C who quietly sits beside me as I share my heart or release more tears. Thankfully, I know that I serve the God of joy and therefore cling to His joy each morning as I begin another day.

Five times a day we are reminded how different our relationship is with our Father. As the cries ring out around the city, my heart cries out for the Light to dawn within their hearts. That His love would wash over this land as the rain is washing away the dust outside. We recognize that we do not struggle with that which we can see, but with the unseen. Although at times, the 'seen' gives us as much head and heartache as the unseen. Continue trudging with us on our journey. In the years to come, we will joyfully sing as we bring in the harvest our tears, thoughts, and love have cultivated. (ps-126) Imagine the glorious scene when you will stand next to a man or woman from this region and rejoice together as family. His heart is for all nations. His love was freely given for all nations. Our lives are to be a light to all nations and you are enabling our lights to be more brilliant with each word, letter, email, postcard, thought, and phone call. May His peace wash over you today. Our thoughts are with you.

What's coming up:
--C's desert trip today; 2nd week of finals begin on Sunday
--C's BIRTHDAY on Jan. 13th
--Glenda's arrival on the 19th
--meeting with sports reps soon; ask for favor with the few entities with whom we are meeting
--E-teaching at learning center will hopefully begin in February; (local women have inquired about the Conversation Class)

Tennis Open

Sitting in the cramped bleacher seats, I realized it was my first professional tournament. Wait a minute...it was my first tennis tournament to attend professional or not. Even though the seating was designed for smaller people and my knee caps were touching my chin, it was enjoyable to watch the pros show off their talents. No cell phones or talking were permitted during serves. At one point, a spectator's cell phone began ringing and the British tennis player stopped his serve and looked at the person in the stands until the phone was silenced. The only other interesting thing that happened during the match was that a Russian player's tennis shoes came apart somehow. He was escorted back to the locker room in order to lace up a new pair of sneakers.

The government desires for this country to become more involved with professional sports by being enthusiastic supports, players, and spectators. To ensure the involvement of the people, most major sporting events are FREE to the public. That's right. FREE. No charge for the tennis open, the golf masters, or other sporting events. Even when they held regional games, the tickets were sold for a fraction of the price compared to other international competitions in the region. One downfall of tickets being FREE is that they work like many airlines in that they give out more tickets for a match than will the stadium will hold. C and I did not know this as we gained tickets for a 2nd evening of tennis. Our friends were able to make it inside the stadium, but C and I were turned away along with nearly 100 other hopeful spectators at the entrance gates. I was completely bummed walking back to the car.

On a positive note, C encountered a group of his students in the sports complex on our way out. They swarmed around him and told him about playing between matches. His students are amazing! Any time we have seen them outside of the academy they make a bee-line to talk with Mr. C. I just stand in the background and say a phrase or two of thanks to our Father for the opportunities he is having with his students.

New Year's in the Desert

We welcomed 2008 with friends out at the dunes. It was a rather chilly night and the fire's heat warmed us all as well as cooked our hot dogs, s'mores, and boiled our tea. The kids enjoyed all of the sparklers as well as the bottle rockets shot off from another campsite.

What's coming up for us:
C-administering finals the next 2 weeks. One final per day for 10 days.
E-please ask that women will sign up for the Spring conversation class. I hope to begin teaching by February
C-going through his 6 month eval after finals
C-2 weeks off at the end of the month for a semester break
E/C-getting ready for Glenda's MidEast adventure! She is coming Jan18-Feb 2nd

Levi vs. Live

There are many aspects of being a wife that I still fail at miserably. One of which is buying C clothes. The only thing I've bought for men, and that's just family, are golf shirts or an occasional baseball cap. Jeans, pants, dress shirt, ties are all new to me and unfortunately sizes are much different here than they are in the states. I would give anything to have taken a picture of the absolutely hideous shirt I bought C for Christmas. The design and color is something I liked, but it was not C's true colors--but I thought "let's try some new colors in the closet." Bad idea. The browns were awful and the sizing was WAY too small even though it was the correct US size. He put it on and we laughed until we were sick. It reminded me of something from Tommy Boy. :)

The 2nd clothing disaster came when we decided to buy C a new pair of Levi jeans. No big deal right? WRONG! The price at the mall was ridiculous. But, a friend of mine took me shopping in the discount area of town. The stores were jam packed with products and I was elated to find Levi 501's for only $13. I was so proud of myself--that is until C tried on the jeans. His first comment was, "You know I stopped wearing 501's in High School. I prefer 505's" HUH? They looked more like blue leggins from Robin Hood than jeans from a Levi Strauss add. Once again we were doubled over with laughter. That's when he pointed out the tag. Instead of LeviStrauss, the tag read LiveStrauss. UGH! We are going to return the 501 Live's to see if we can find a pair of 505 LEVI's. I didn't even know there was anything other than 501's. I've got so much to learn as a wife!

Off to the Races!

What better way to celebrate Christmas than to go to the Camel Races! C had some shopping to do so I joined a family in driving out to 'camel city' and tried to catch one of the races. We missed it by a few minutes, but we had a great time. Here's what I noticed about Camel Racing:
--no human jockeys
--small robotic arms are attached to the camels and whips them as they run around the track
--no grand stands...you drive in a car around the race track honking for your favorite camel I admit that I had a good laugh about this one!
--mostly local men out at the race track

Now that we know our way out to the camel track, I can bring my mother-in-law, Glenda out here when she visits us later this month. I'm sure that's what she will want to see after flying in an airplane for almost 18 hours.

Happy New Year!

We celebrated the new year in true mid east style--we went to the desert for a bonfire and firecrackers. But before I get to 2008, let me recap what we experienced in the past 3 weeks.
--The cookie exchange brought women to our home from Europe, Middle East, and North America. All of the ladies enjoyed the new delicious delights and the goodie bags they were filled with treats for the year to come. For the ladies who were not able to attend, I was able to deliver goodie bags to their office. Their faces lit up and one lady was teary as I gave her the bag. Every step is a baby step in this region. Count that as baby step #1.


--A fabulous expat performer invited me to perform a few numbers at his Christmas concert held at the Ritz Carlton. This gave C and I a chance to dress it up a bit and an evening in a beautiful ballroom. This was my musical debut in our country and has hopefully opened the door for a few more concert opportunities for 2008. My favorite part of the evening was singing amazing songs with Mr. Man sitting at the front table. His support is an unexpected gift in my life.
--Curt had a week off from work and enjoyed down time at home. The week away gave him a chance to gear up for the upcoming finals and projects. One of his students turned in a paper. The first 2 pages were in English and the third page was in Spanish. The student doesn't know Spanish--he speaks Arabic and English. Oops! I guess someone copied a paper.
--Christmas week was a bit more emotional than I had thought it would be. I caught myself with watery eyes more times than I care to admit. Even though C&I are here together, we certainly missed all of our families back home. We spent time on Christmas Eve and Christmas day skyping with family so we could see their faces and hear from the nieces and nephews what Santa brought.
We spent our day relaxing around our home and then joined friends for a 'gift exchange'. C had his first taste of my family's traditional Christmas Coffee Cake. YUM! It was a hit and those we gave it to enjoyed it as well. Although we were not in the States with many of you, we were able to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas with each other and with many families living in our city.