Christmas in Penang

Well, it's been another couple of weeks since we've last written, and we've been staying pretty busy lately. Here's what we've been up to the last 2 weeks. We had a very different kind of Christmas this year, but still fun and special. We spent a few hours of Christmas Eve at the doctor's office, as I went in for my 20 week check-up. Doctor's visits are very different here. Even though we had an appointment for 4:00, we didn't actually see the doctor until about 5:15 (and that isn't the longest we've had to wait to see the doctor!). The baby is doing well. I've started to feel the baby kicking now, and my belly is growing enough so that people can actually realize that I'm pregnant! After our very long doctor's visit (she couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl, by the way!) we went back to the apartment building and up to our neighbor's for a Christmas Eve dinner. They were lucky enough to get an oven in their apartment, and nice enough to invite us over for a very yummy Christmas Eve dinner of lasagna, garlic bread, asparagus and broccoli (which made Glenn and I realize how much we missed having an oven!) After that is was off to bed for Evie to wait for Santa and Glenn's sister Emma to arrive. Emma came late that night and Evie and I didn't get to see her until the morning. Christmas day was a fun day filled with catching up with Emma, going to Christmas mass (Evie was the best dressed there with her cute Christmas dress), opening presents and skyping with the Johnson family. For dinner we went to the mall (strangely the mall was PACKED with people) and ate dinner there.  Glenn said it was a Christmas miracle that I was feeling good enough to eat at the mall (previous trips had not gone so well thanks to my super-sensitive nose).

We've had a lot of fun with Emma so far, playing cards, showing her around the island, and getting a free babysitter (Thank you, Emma!). Emma has enjoyed playing with Evelyn (and vice versa) and teaching Evelyn that Emma is her favorite aunt (right now she says her favorite uncle is Andrew!). Our favorite part so far was our trip to Phuket, Thailand. Glenn, Evie and I had been there earlier this year, but we decided to take Emma there for New Years. We stayed at a different beach this time which was a lot busier. We just got back and had a lot of fun! Glenn and Emma took a day trip to the Phi Phi (pronounced "Pee Pee") Islands to do some snorkeling and exploring, and we all had fun playing in the sand, swimming in the ocean and finding some good deals at the shops along the beach. We spent 5 days there and were all a little sad to leave. Emma will stay with us for 3 more days, and then she's back off to California.

We're down to just about 4 weeks left before Glenn, Evelyn and I will be heading back to Minnesota. We get to have my dad come and visit us next week, so we're looking forward to seeing him as we go through this last month of our trip. As we get nearer to our moving day, we're all looking forward to seeing friends and family again, but we're not so excited about the snow and the cold. We tried telling Evelyn the other day how she won't be able to wear shorts and tank tops anymore, but jeans, sweatshirts, and jackets, but I don't think she fully understood. Even though I know it's going to be SO cold when we get back, I told Glenn today that our first stop after the airport will have to be Dairy Queen!

Illegal Immigrants

One down, two to go! We just sent Lucy and Andrew off to Singapore and on to Minnesota! We've had a fun and busy two weeks since they got here, so we didn't have a lot of time to blog until now. Here's what we've been up to since we last blogged.

Lucy and Andrew arrived 2 weeks ago on Thursday. Evelyn and I went to the airport to pick them up. We were so excited to see them, and I couldn't believe how big Andrew has gotten!! He's almost as tall as me now, and that has me thinking that I won't be able to beat him in basketball for too much longer. We had a fun time catching up- Andrew thought that I was going to drive the taxi because I got into the left hand side of the front seat (where we would normally drive in the US, but it's the opposite here). We took the rest of that day to rest and get ready for our trip to Langkawi the next day.

Luckily for us, our trip to Langkawi was only 25 minutes by plane, and soon we were in our hotel room next to the ocean. We had a blast in Langkawi. Glenn rented a car and had a lot of fun driving around on the opposite side of the road (he actually did pretty well!). We got to play in the pool, swim in the ocean and dig in the sand. We enjoyed that even more knowing that back in Minnesota they were getting a foot and a half of snow! We also got to explore a bit of the busy part of town, and found a Mexican restaurant there (with no Mexicans working there!!). Needless to say, the food wasn't the greatest there, but we had to try it just to say that we ate Mexican food in Malaysia. We went to an aquarium, did some shopping, and visited Eagle Square (a popular place to see eagles in Langkawi). Glenn, Andrew, Lucy and Evelyn went on the cable cars that went between 2 mountains (I decided to skip it and took a nap instead). I heard later that they were stuck in a cable car with a woman who was so afraid of heights she spent the entire time breathing into a barf bag!

Our next trip the next weekend was to Bangkok. This city was totally different than Langkawi! There were times that you could look around you and forget that you were in Thailand! Andrew and Glenn enjoyed the fact that they could eat all the bacon they wanted for breakfast. In Bangkok Glenn, Lucy and Andrew enjoyed going to a floating market (Evie and I stayed back because it was a really far trip from our hotel and we wanted Evie to get a nap in that day!). It sounds like the floating market was really cool. You actually get in a boat and float down a canal to buy things from vendors who are selling things out of their boats or out of their houses (which were on stilts!). They had a lot of fun and came back with some great stories, one of which was about a lady who was ramming her boat into theirs because she was trying to sell them something! We also got a chance to see the Royal Palace, which is beautiful! The next day we saw the world's largest outdoor market (it's so big you can actually get lost in there if you don't know what you're doing!). I had to make sure that I went with Glenn and Lucy that time, because who knows what they would have bought if I had let them go on their own.

The rest of the time was spent showing Lucy and Andrew around Penang. I think Andrew's favorite part was seeing the monkeys! We had a lot of fun with them, but before we knew it, it was time for Lucy and Andrew to go home. As soon as they left, Evie was walking around the apartment asking for Andrew and Grandma. I told her they went home to see her Grandpa, aunts, and uncles but that we'll see them soon (only 6 weeks left!)  Now we're looking forward to seeing Auntie Emma, who is coming to see us on Christmas day! We have a fun trip planned for Phuket over New Years, and we're excited to catch up with Emma!

We now have a new appreciation for illegal immigrants. While getting through security at the airport trying to get to Bangkok, Glenn, Evelyn and I were stopped. Apparently, Evie and I have visas that are only good for 90 days at a time, which means that every 90 days we have to leave the country. We had been in the country for 92 days,  overstaying our visa by 2 days. We were stopped with about 10 minutes to go before our plane took off and told to wait for the head of security. Glenn told me that there was nothing wrong with his visa, so he could still go to Bangkok, and Evelyn and I could have a fun weekend in the airport sorting things out! Of course, that idea didn't get very far when Glenn saw the look on my face. Fortunately the head of security was very kind and told us not to let it happen again. But, we can always say that for 2 days, Evelyn and I were illegal immigrants!

We hope you are all enjoying the snow and enjoying the last few days before Christmas! We miss you all and wish that we could see you and celebrate with you! We have a little Christmas tree here with some presents wrapped sitting below (thanks to Grandma Lucy). I try to play Christmas music whenever I can. We're excited to have Emma with us for Christmas and we're hoping that we can make this holiday seem as normal as possible. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and have fun with family and friends. We're looking forward to seeing you all in 6 weeks (and counting!!)

Merry Christmas!

Is it really almost December already??

Wow! Glenn and I can hardly believe that it's almost December already! It definitely doesn't feel like December here. It's about 85 degrees out every day, and when we look out our window we don't see pine trees and snow, we see palm trees and swimming pools! We've been here for almost 17 weeks already, and we have only 10 weeks left (not that I'm counting or anything!) I am so excited to be nearing the end of our trip, but I think Glenn is a little overwhelmed by all of the work he still wants to get done here. Although I'm excited to get back to Minnesota, we watched the Gopher football game this afternoon (Thanks Joe for taping it for us!) and they said that the temperature was a whopping 20 degrees out! I have to admit that Glenn and I laughed when we heard that! Glenn was so excited that they finally won a trophy game and has been is already predicting an appearance at the Rose Bowl next year!

We definitely missed being home for Thanksgiving. Because they don't celebrate that in Malaysia, Glenn had to work, so it was just another normal day here for us. My Thanksgiving feast was a nice bowl of macaroni and cheese, while Glenn took Evie out with some coworkers to a noodle restaurant. Evelyn and I got to talk to both sides of the family that morning on Skype, and they were nice enough not to show us all the yummy foods that they got to eat.

We are so excited that Glenn's mom, Lucy and brother Andrew are coming in just a week and a half! Evelyn is very excited to see them. I think she wants to show Andrew all of her cool toys she has here. Once they get here, I know we're going to have a very busy December. We have trips planned to Langkawi (a small island in Malaysia) and Bangkok over the weekends, as well as a long list of things to see here in Penang. Once they leave, we have just a few days to wait until Glenn's sister Emma comes to visit! She's getting here on Christmas day, which will be a wonderful Christmas present for all of us. We've got a very fun trip to Phuket (in Thailand) planned over New Years, and Glenn and I are excited to take Emma up on her offer to babysit. Emma will be with us until January 9th, and then we only have a few days to wait until my dad, Bruce comes to visit. We were happily surprised to hear from him last week when he said he was thinking about coming over here. He got the "okay" from my mom to visit, because I think they realized that this might be his best opportunity to see this part of the world. My mom is a teacher, so unfortunately it is too hard to take time off of work to visit. My dad will be here for 2 weeks. We have been talking about taking a trip to Cambodia, although it might just be Glenn and Bruce that take that trip. Evelyn and I might have to sit that one out. Once my dad leaves, we only have about a week and a half to pack and prepare to leave, and then we'll be heading back to Minnesota. We will be very busy in December and January, but we're happy about it because we know it will help the time pass quickly.

Last weekend Glenn got the chance to run in a half marathon here in Penang. Marathons here are very interesting! Because it's so hot here, they had to run the race at night. Glenn started at 3:00 am (needless to say, Evelyn and I didn't watch him race). He had a few coworkers run the race with him, and he even ran into our neighbor, Zach, who was running the full marathon. They got to run the race over the bridge that connects Penang (an island) to the rest of Malaysia. Because it's run on a bridge, they had to overlap the half and full marathons a bit. Glenn got a very good time of just under 2 1/2 hours and he has a couple of t-shirts and a medal to show for it. He made the mistake of showing the medal to Evelyn, who now thinks that the medal is hers and likes to wear it around the apartment.

In an attempt to make it feel like it's actually Christmas time around here, Glenn and I went out yesterday and bought a little fake Christmas tree and some lights and decorations for the tree. We had a fun time listening to some Christmas music yesterday and decorating the tree. Evie also helped me make a few decorations for the apartment. Although it's not exactly like what we're used to in Minnesota, it's nice to feel a bit of Christmas. Sometime when I look at the lit tree, it almost feels like we're back in Minnesota.

In case you're wondering, the baby is great! I'm 15 weeks and my belly is finally starting to grow. I'm still feeling sick, but I'm getting more optimistic that the morning sickness will start to lessen soon and I will be able to really enjoy the last 2 months of this trip. I haven't felt any baby kicks yet, but I'm hoping that they will come soon!

We hope you all had a fun and safe Thanksgiving holiday! The next blog we create will have some fun new stories about our adventures with Lucy and Andrew! Have a great December!

Good News!

Hello again!

Well, we've been keeping pretty busy lately, but not exactly in the way we wanted to. Evelyn has been sick lately. She woke up Monday morning with a fever, and she was dealing with it all week. She's been throwing up and not wanting to eat, so it hasn't been very fun around here. Glenn was good enough to take off work on Wednesday morning so that we could take Evelyn to the doctor. The doctor gave us some medicine, and we'll be back next week for a check up. We've been cuddling, sleeping, and singing a lot to her and just trying to keep her comfortable. She enjoys watching Kung Fu Panda, so we've been watching it just about every day. It's very cute to hear her ask to watch it- "Panda?". Evelyn is finally getting back to normal now, it only took a whole week to get her there!

Besides dealing with a sick child, things have been going pretty well. Glenn took Evelyn last weekend (when she was still feeling well) on a hiking trip with the neighbors to Monkey Beach. Evelyn enjoyed watching the monkeys climbing trees above her and had fun trying to walk along the path with her buddy, Nash (although it sounds like Glenn was carrying her most of the way). I enjoyed the afternoon to myself, taking a well deserved nap while they were away.

Thanksgiving is just 2 weeks away now, and I would be lying if I said that I'm not a little homesick thinking about our families and all the yummy food that they get to eat. My wonderful father just sent out an email to my brothers and sisters (and of course had to include me and Glenn) talking about Thanksgiving and all of the wonderful food that they'll be eating. I made sure to tell them all that they had better save me some lefse and apple pie, which as my family knows, are my weaknesses. My mom assured me that she will save some for me when we get home in February. I think Glenn already knows that I will not be sharing much with him!

Okay, you're probably wondering why I titled this post "Good News". So far I've talked about Evelyn being sick and missing Thanksgiving, neither of which is good news. So here it is: I am very happy to announce that I'm pregnant! I am about 13 weeks pregnant right now. We went to the doctor today and got to hear the heartbeat and see an ultrasound of the little tike (the baby is about 6 cm). Glenn and I are very excited to welcome the newest member of our family next May. We've told Evelyn, and although I'm pretty sure she doesn't understand what's going on, she enjoys going around the apartment, lifting her shirt up and saying "baby" as she points to her belly. She also likes to ask to see my belly. I think she thinks that the baby is hiding in my belly button, because when she says "baby" she always pokes her fingers right into my belly button. Although I've been feeling pretty nauseous most of the time, I've been trying to rest as much as I can. Glenn is a wonderful help for me on weekends and nights when he gets home. The neighbors have also been wonderful. They always offer to pick up anything we need from the grocery store and have been hanging out with Evelyn and me more at the apartments so that we don't have to go out so much. I'm really hoping that the morning sickness (or all day sickness in my case) gets better before Lucy, Andrew and Emma get out here. I don't have much of a belly yet, but I'll be asking Lucy to bring some maternity clothes out for me, because I'm pretty sure I won't fit in to much of my clothes soon.

We hope all is well with everyone in Minnesota! Enjoy Thanksgiving and make sure to eat plenty of turkey and pie for us. Love you all!

Happy Halloween!

Hello again! Well, we've finally reached our halfway point! We've been here for 3 months now, which means only 3 more months to go until we'll be flying back home. We recently figured out that there is good possibility that the temperature when we touch down in Minnesota will be 100 degrees cooler than when we got on the plane. Despite that, I am looking forward to being home and yes, even excited for the cold weather.

The other day Evelyn and I were playing in our neighbor's apartment when Nash (the one year old) and Evelyn started 'fighting' over a toy.  When the dust settled, Nash had to give Evelyn a hug.  After giving her a hug, Nash snuck a kiss on her cheek.  It was very cute, but Glenn refuses to believe it happened.  Nonetheless, Glenn made sure he chaperoned Evelyn and Nash when they went trick-or-treating to make sure there were no more shenanigans.

Speaking of trick-or-treating, apparently Malaysians celebrate Halloween.  To be more accurate, the malls and hotels were decked out with spiderwebs and monsters and they even had a costume contest, but going door-to-door demanding candy is unfortunately unheard of.  Nash's 4 year old brother was so upset when he learned that he wasn't going to get candy that he threatened to go home.  Laura (their mom) talked to a few other families we met here and got them to agree to hand out candy.  Evelyn had two costumes:  she dressed up like a monkey when we were in our air-conditioned apartment and changed into her strawberry costume when it was time to go outside.  The kids had a blast putting on their costumes and going from room to room (they didn't even realize we had to double up on a few apartments).

We were very excited to hear last weekend that Glenn's mom booked tickets for herself and Glenn's little brother, Andrew to come out and visit us. They're coming at the beginning of December, and we're so happy to have them come and see us. We've also heard that Glenn's sister, Emma is planning on coming out here before Christmas and staying until the first week in January. We'll be planning some fun trips to Thailand and Lankawi (an island ~30 minutes away from Penang), and I've been coming up with a list of things we have to show them in Penang. Knowing that they'll be here in December helps us have something soon to look forward to, and will help time go quickly. Evelyn is very excited when we tell her about her grandma, aunt and uncle coming to visit.

Okay, it's getting late and I am tired.  We love and miss you all!

Laying Low

Sorry it has taken me so long to post another entry. I haven't been feeling the best this past week. Glenn thinks it's because my body is so used to catching a cold every Fall that it was only a matter of time before I came down with something. Not too much happened, but I'll do my best to hit the highlights.

Evelyn has begun driving. Well to be fair, Glenn is helping her. There is an area of the mall that has battery-powered cars for kids to drive. Evelyn hasn't been able to comprehend the fact that she has to steer and press the gas pedal at the same time, so she drives in a remote-controlled car that either Glenn or I control. The only problem is that once in a while she grabs the wheel and proceeds to steer herself into another car / supervising adult before we can react. She gets such a kick out of playing there and is always devastated to leave.

Glenn ran a 10k race last weekend in preparation for the half-marathon he signed up for in November. It only cost $3 to join and he got a t-shirt and medal for finishing. Evelyn and I decided to stay back and sleep in, but it sounds like a pretty crazy race. For one, they didn't close off the roads to local traffic. Glenn said he was constantly running on the shoulder and there were cars, buses, and mopeds passing him. Fortunately they did have a police officer present whenever the course turned across traffic, but even then it sounded like he had to weave between cars. The other thing Glenn wasn't too thrilled about was the lack of water on the course. He kept asking race officials if there was water ahead and they kept saying 'yes, just ahead'. Turns out the only water was at the finish line. Glenn claims he was the first American in his age category to cross the finish line, but I haven't been able to verify those results.

We knew that because of the diverse culture of Malaysia we would have the chance to partake in many, many festivals and celebrations. Never in a million years did we think we would be able to celebrate Halloween, but it turns out Malaysians love any excuse to dress up and get free candy. Not going to lie, it's pretty bazaar to see fake spider webs, decorations, and costumes next to the supermarket checkout lanes. Evelyn is going to dress up as a Monkey this year (thanks to a care-package from the Johnsons) and we might even enter her in the costume contest the nearby mall is putting on.
On a very positive note, we have amassed quite a bit of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese since our last post. We were able to find a few boxes at a grocery store on the north part of the island (we've gone back since then but haven't been able to find more) and Glenn's coworker was able to bring over 6 large boxes of the easy mac. Processes noodles never tasted so good! It's possible that we actually have too much Mac 'n Cheese now! Now all I have to do is find a place that sells tacos and I'm set.

The Gophers continue to lose, but it's cute to watch Evelyn sit with Glenn and watch the games on his computer. He keeps asking her if they are going to win, and she always says 'no'. I'll have to teach her to lie one of these day just to make him feel better. I read that they fired Brewster today. Not sure if that will help them win any more games this year but hopefully they hire someone who can turn the program around.
That's all I have for now. Hopefully you won't have to wait as long for our next post. We love and miss you all.

Missing Minnesota

We have now been in Malaysia for 8 weeks, which means we are one third of the way done with our trip!  We've really enjoyed our time here so far, but I definitely got struck with a bit of homesickness this past week.  I don't know if it's because Laura and I have explored most of the main tourist attractions on the island, or if I miss the beaches of Thailand, or if it's the hot weather (what can I say, I need my change in seasons).  We treated ourselves to a few dinners at TGIF, McDonalds, and KFC and that made me feel a little better.  Another one of Glenn's coworkers is coming over in a few weeks and has promised to bring some Kraft Mac 'n Cheese (one of the few items I can't find in the grocery stores here) for us.  I have a feeling everything will be back to 'normal' once Evie and I get to enjoy one of our favorite lunches again.

Apparently we arrived at a very busy time for local festivities.  So far, we have been able to witness Muslims observing Ramadan, the Malaysian Independence Day, and Chinese Ghost Month celebrations.  Last week was the conclusion to the Chinese Mooncake Festival, also known as the Harvest Moon Festival.  Both Glenn and Zach (Laura's husband) had coworkers telling them that on the last day of the Mooncake Festival, children would parade around the local parks with these really intricate hand-made lanterns.  So we bought each kid a lantern and decided to join in the festivities.  Not sure what happened, but I'm pretty sure we were the only people with lanterns at the park.  Needless to say, we lit the candles and proudly watched Evelyn and the boys (okay, Glenn and Zach) walk around with their lanterns.  A few people walking in the park paused to watch our mini-procession, but no one joined in.  Who knows, maybe we started a new tradition - watching white people make fools of themselves (at least the kids were cute)!

On Saturday we decided to head up to the North part of the island to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe and partake in some more shopping at the night market.  The hamburgers were amazing and afterward I had to stop by the gift shop and buy a HRC-Penang t-shirt.  I now have HRC shirts from four continents, only Australia, Africa, and Antarctica to go!  We didn't get too much at the night markets.  Evelyn found some sunglasses and a bubble gun, and I got some more DVDs (Season 1 of Glee and Season 6 of The Office).  Glenn spent a lot of time looking at some toy ships, but the smallest one he wanted was 18" long and 12" tall and I don't know where he'd put it (okay, I know where he would want to put it, but I don't want it in my house).  This won't be the last time we go to the night markets, so I know it won't be the last time I hear about these ships.

The Gopher football team is 1-3 and unfortunately Glenn has been able to watch every game.  He's been taking it much better than I would expect, but it would be nice if they won more games so he can stop moping around the apartment.  Maybe they'll fire Brewster and that will really make him happy.

Not that anyone is counting or anything, but only 130 days until we fly home!