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!

Thailand

As we mentioned a few times, Seagate was shut down for a few days last week and we took advantage of the time off to travel to Thailand.  After much research, we decided to visit Phuket, a popular tourist destination ~1 hour away from Penang.  The hotel we stayed at was right on the beach and the water, waves, and sand were absolutely beautiful.  We had such a great time and find it very hard to return to life in Penang.

Unlike past vacations, I got to be in charge of the agenda, which meant plenty of R&R!  The typical day started with breakfast and a dip in the hotel pool.  After Evelyn woke up from her morning nap, it was time for lunch and a dip in the ocean before Evelyn went down for her afternoon nap.  Then we would find a place for dinner, do a little shopping, and head back to hotel to tuck Evie in for the night.  Once in a while we would mix things up by reading beside the pool or playing in the sand (Glenn would spend all this time building elaborate sand castles and then Evelyn would destroy his work in a matter of seconds).  Needless to say, it was wonderful!

The food definitely deserves its own paragraph.  Not only did we try tons of Thai food (pad thai, curry soup, fried chicken with cashews, etc), but we had our choice of Indian, Italian, and Western food.  We even found one bar/restaurant that had American football on the TV; needless to say Glenn made us stop and watch for a while.  Glenn took a Thai cooking class at the hotel and has promised to continue cooking food for me when we get back to Minnesota (now I just have to get him to learn how to make naan and I am set).

We are already making plans to go back when Glenn's family comes to visit in December.  Next time, I think we are going to have to take advantage of some of the other things Thailand has to offer.  Gary, Glenn's co-worker, took one of the speedboat tours of the surrounding islands and came back raving about how wonderful the snorkeling and sights were.  There were also tour packages for Elephant rides and snake and monkey shows.  We also will have to take advantage of the massages (~$10 for 1 hour), something we didn't get around to on this trip.

I'll wrap this entry up by telling a quick story about Evelyn and an elephant.  Every night a Thai couple brought their pet elephant and set up shop at a restaurant near our hotel.  For 20 Baht (~70 cents) you could get some bananas and cucumbers and feed the elephant.  Evelyn loved pointing and looking at the elephant for a distance, but got very scared as soon as we got next to him.  We tried getting her to feed the animal on 3 different nights, but didn't have any success.  We would try to get her psyched up to feed the elephant during the day, but no matter how excited she was, the end result was always the same.  Who know, maybe she'll change her mind in a few months.

As hard as it was to leave, we are excited to get back to the apartment and return to a 'normal' schedule.  That being said, I can't wait to plan the next trip!

Off to Thailand!

So, this week turned out to be pretty non-eventful. It is the start of the rainy season here. It's not too bad- it usually just rains for an hour or two a day. We didn't do much this week because Laura and I kept looking for a good day to go back to Georgetown to play at the park with the kids. We didn't venture out Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday because the weather outside our windows looked threatening. Some days it really did rain and some days we had nothing but dark clouds. By Thursday, we were so sick of staying indoors that we decided to chance it. It turned out to be a great day to go to the park, with a nice little breeze to keep things cool. This week we met a little girl at the park. She was probably about 7 or 8 years old, and had a lot of fun following the kids around. We weren't sure she understood any English because she kept trying to pick up the kids (even the 4 year old) and we had to keep telling her to put them down. Towards the end, Evelyn was getting so upset that she started crying whenever the girl came near her.

Glenn mentioned that there was a good Indian restaurant nearby in Georgetown called Kashmir. We thought we'd be smart and Google map it before we left the apartment so we could easily find the place (Indian food is quickly becoming my new favorite cuisine on the island). After driving around Georgetown for at least 20 minutes (with very hungry kids in the car) we came to the realization that either this restaurant is impossible to find or Glenn made the whole thing up just to drive me crazy! We found a little "cafe" instead and were pleasently surprised to find sesame chicken on the menu (which just happens to be my favorite dish to order in Minnesota)! I've been looking for sesame chicken since we got here and hadn't had any luck. Glenn even asked some of his coworkers and they didn't know where to find any. Now our only problem is going to be seeing if we can ever find our way back to the "cafe" again!

On the way back to the apartment, I looked back in the car and saw a very cute sight. Evelyn (whose car seat is in the middle seat) was very sweetly holding hands with Nash (the 1 year old). They held hands for most of the ride back, and seemed very content just to sit there. Laura and I thought it was very cute, but Glenn wasn't so thrilled (surprise, surprise) when I told him about it. I think he's going to have a few questions for Nash the next time he sees him!

Tomorrow we are off to Thailand for the week. Glenn gets a few days off, so we're heading to Phuket, a tourist hot-spot on the beach. We're very excited for a few days of rest and relaxation on the beach. Although I'm loving the warm weather, I'm definitely missing the cool fall weather you are all experiencing now. What I wouldn't give to see some leaves changing color!

Evil Monkeys

Hi everyone! We've been staying pretty busy lately, so I'm sorry I'm not posting new blogs too often. We had a really fun week, and we stayed very busy. Evelyn and I went with our neighbors Laura, Maddox, and Nash to a new park and then to a part of the island known as Little India. We got a lot of stares at the park (as we always do) and I was even asked to pose with two random women and their kids in a group picture.  We got a little turned around in Little India, but eventually found a nice, quite place to eat lunch. I've started to love this food called naan (a flat bread usually served with butter and garlic) - so good!

On Saturday we went to the Botanical Gardens. We heard that you can see monkeys there, but we weren't sure if we'd actually be able to see any, or if they'd be hidden in the trees. Boy were we wrong! As soon as we walked into the garden, we saw monkeys everywhere! They were climbing trees, and running through the grass, playing with each other and sleeping. They must have been pretty used to seeing people around, because they let us get about 3 feet away from them. Evelyn loved seeing the monkeys, as long as they were far away from her. At one point one monkey took a few steps toward her, and she got pretty scared after that.  Towards the end of our trip to the park, Evelyn started to get hungry and we gave her a pretzel.  All of a sudden we were surrounded by 5 monkeys who suddenly seemed very interested in what Evelyn had.  They were getting a little too close for my comfort, so I tried to scare them away.  Have you ever been chased by angry monkeys?  If so, then you know they don't scare easily.  If they lived any closer, or climbed the walls in my kitchen, you'd better believe they'd be on my list!

Thanks to one of Glenn's Minnesota co-workers, he was able to watch the Gopher football game Friday night.  Their victory meant that Glenn was in a great mood the rest of the weekend (until he remembered the State Fair was ending, and then he sulked around the apartment).  Glenn has a few days off work next week (thanks to random Malaysian holidays) and we are taking the opportunity to try out the beaches of Thailand.  I'm looking forward to playing in the sand with Glenn and Evie (keeping one eye out for jellyfish).  I just hope Glenn doesn't try to schedule tons of side-trips!

Last Friday was our one month anniversary of being in Malaysia. I finally feel somewhat comfortable here, and it's nice to know I've got one month down. Only 5 more to go!

A new public enemy #1

I'm sorry that I've been bad about posting this week. We've been staying pretty busy, and haven't gotten around to it until tonight. Last weekend I wrote that we were going to Batu Feringgi, and area of Penang that is on the northern side of the island. On this part of the island you can find a lot of hotels, beaches, and tourists. We started out our adventure by going to a butterfly garden. Glenn seemed the most excited out of all of us to go there, but to my surprise, it was really fun. Not only are there beautiful butterflies everywhere, but they had some cool exhibits that included turtles (Evelyn's favorite animal), scorpions (my least favorite animal), and snakes. There were also plenty of tanks that had all sorts of creepy, crawly bugs in them. Evelyn had a blast taking it all in.

After the butterfly garden, we went looking for a beach. Evelyn had never been to the ocean before, so we were excited to see how she would like it. She loved playing in the sand (she even let us bury her up to her stomach), and enjoyed swimming in the water with Glenn and me. The beach spot wasn't perfect (there were some jet skiers, horse riders, and para sailors all around) but Evelyn seemed to have fun. The worst part of it all was that as I was getting out of the water, I brushed up against a jellyfish that had swam nearby. It only stung my leg a little bit, but it hurt a lot. Glenn was gracious enough to volunteer to pee on my leg to relieve the pain, but I opted out and just dealt with it for about an hour until it stopped hurting. Not a great experience for my first trip to the ocean in Malaysia, but we still had fun and I would definitely go back again.

After swimming we found some dinner and went to the night market. After about 7:00, the streets fill up with vendors selling anything you can imagine. We had a lot of fun looking at all they were selling, and buying a few things here and there (I got an "authentic" Gucci belt for only $5!). I am looking forward to going back to that part of the island another time. We saw more tourists there than we had seen the rest of our trip, and it was nice for a change not to get stared at where ever we go.

During the week, Laura, the kids, and I went to a Buddhist temple called Kek Lok Si. We have seen various temples around town, but most aren't much bigger than our apartment.  Kek Lok Si on the other hand sits on top of a hill and was much bigger than I ever expected it to be.  We had a lot of fun looking at all of the different rooms and statues, we only wished we knew more about the history of the Buddhist religion. We've already talked about going back with Glenn and Zach (Laura's husband) and taking a guided tour (Glenn says he could lead the tour, but I think he's full of it).  The temple was absolutely beautiful, and the view from the top of the pagoda (pictured on the left) was one of the most spectacular I've seen since arriving on the island.

You may be wondering about the title of this weeks blog: A new public enemy #1. If you can remember, my old nemesis was the rooster that lives outside of our building that insists on crowing all day long. I have somehow learned to sleep through the crowing, so although it's still annoying, I've found something else that is bugging me even more. The other day I found a gecko that has decided to inhabit our kitchen. Today was the second day that I saw it, and I was not happy to see that it found my counter top. Glenn thinks it's funny to watch me jump around and scream every time I see it, but I am not so amused by it.  Move over rooster, you're now #2.

New Public Enemy #1 (aka Spike)

Durian and other things...

Ever since Glenn first travelled to Malaysia, he's been obsessively talking about this strange fruit called durian. He would always tell me about how terrible it smelled, and that you couldn't drink alcohol after eating it (because supposedly you would die). Despite all of these downsides, he would still eat it, and seemed to enjoy it more and more every time. Since our arrival, Glenn has been insisting that Evelyn and I try it before the end of the durian season (end of August). He finally won the battle on Sunday by insisting that the smell was worse than the taste (the smell- to which I can attest - is so bad that it isn't allowed in most hotels and apartment buildings!). With an onlooking crowd of Malaysians, who looked amused at seeing 2 Americans who clearly didn't understand what they were doing, we ate the durian. Okay, I should say that Glenn ate the durian. I took one bite, and decided that that was plenty. Evelyn took 2 bites, and then spit it all out. By the way, Glenn was wrong, the taste is definitely worse than the smell! 

 

On a brighter note, Laura, our American neighbor, has been scouting out some local parks and playgrounds, and has been kind enough to take Evelyn and me along with them. We went to a great playground on Thursday that looked like a castle. Evelyn had a blast playing in it with her new friends. The only problem is, it's so hot in the day, that you can't play outside too long without being soaked in sweat. After playing there, our air conditioned apartment felt great!

Tomorrow we get to go to a butterfly garden (Glenn says it's for Evelyn, but I think that he's more excited to see it than she is). After the butterfly garden, we're heading off to find a beach and swim in the ocean for a few hours (we're excited to see what Evelyn thinks of the salt water) and then to a local night market. We'll make sure to post some pictures and stories about it next time.

Finally, Glenn wanted me to include one last picture that he took today when we were shopping for diapers.  He said Willy and Andrew would really appreciate it... 

The Apartment

Well our shipment finally arrived and the world is a brighter place.  While nothing can truly compare to home, at least our situation is manageable.  We thought we would share a little information about our living arrangements.

The apartment has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (so anyone who happens to be in the area is more than welcome to stay in the guest room).  Our kitchen has a microwave, refrigerator, and range top, but no oven.  I have to continually stop myself from wanting to bake cookies.  The only weird thing about the kitchen is that the door leading to a small balcony where the washing machine is doesn't close all the way.  We keep the kitchen door shut so as not to waste the cool air and pay the price for being eco-conscious by having to cook in a hot Malaysian room (but Al Gore would be proud).

We have tried cooking a few dinners, but there are several food stands within walking distance of our apartment and we have begun exploring the local flavor.  So far we have stuck to recognizable parts of the chicken and have been pleasantly surprised.  Glenn likes to pretend he knows what he is ordering, but I swear half the time he just points to the menu and says, 'that'.

We were lucky enough to meet another American couple living two floors above us.  They have two boys and will be living here for 1 year.  They seem like a very nice family and this will hopefully make the hours Glenn is at work pass quickly.

Public Enemy #1

We were finally able to download the pictures off our camera.  If you need more pictures of Evie, check my facebook page.  One last thing, we managed to set up our webcam and create a skype account.  Our user name is GlennKateEvie and the best time to try and chat with me would be your night (our morning).  I can't always promise I'll be signed into skype, but I'll try my best.  That's all I have for now.  Until we talk again...

Week 1 in Malaysia

Hello again everyone! We hope you're all doing well back in the states. We've been in our new apartment for a few days and are finally starting to get settled in.

Evelyn is finally back on track with her sleeping. She spent the last few nights waking up at 4:00 am and refusing to go back to sleep, even though she was exhausted. This morning she finally slept in until 7:30 am (yay!) and she'll hopefully continue that pattern. We still haven't received the rest of our luggage that was sent 3 weeks ago. The last we heard it was out of Thailand and now going through Malaysian customs. I'm not sure when we'll finally get it, but we're definitely looking forward to it. We each only have about 3 changes of clothing, so I've been doing lots of laundry. We have most of Evelyn's toys in the missing luggage, so for now she has 3 toys to play with during the day, one of them being a plastic water bottle that she carries around with her everywhere and takes turns putting on the cap and then taking off the cap.

The evil rooster is still waking us up every morning, and insists on crowing all day long.

It's pretty hot here in Malaysia, although we're lucky enough to have an air conditioned apartment and a big pool downstairs that we can use. We walked to a mall the other day (less than a mile away) and by the end of the trip we were dripping with sweat. We've been warned that in February it gets really hot, whatever that means.

Today is our 3 year anniversary. Glenn asked me the other day if I 3 years ago I would have imagined we would be living in Penang and I could honestly tell him 'no'. For dinner tonight, Glenn's treating me dinner at the... A&W Rootbeer restaurant (what can I say, I'm pretty easy to please).

Once our shipment comes in, we will get our webcam set up and then be able to get onto skype.  We can't wait to 'see' you guys soon.

We've arrived!

Hello everyone!
So after 20 hours flying halfway across the world, we arrive in Penang, Malaysia.  Okay, lets not kid ourselves, two thirds of you reading this thing are only interested in one thing, so let's give the people what they want:

Evelyn did pretty well on the flight.  She decided to stay up for the first 9 hours of the flight between Minneapolis and Japan, but then crashed, thanks in part to a small dose of Benedryl.  She did much better on the next leg (Japan to Singapore) and went right to bed in the Singaporean hotel.  We can't believe how many people smile and wave at her everywhere we go.  Of course she plays her part well and grins back playfully (totally a Geyer thing).  She seems to be back on a normal sleep schedule for the most part, which has helped make the transition that much more bearable.  The only problem is that she has been getting little bumps all over her body.  Glenn has convinced me it's not bed bugs, and the leading theory is hives (diagnosed via webmd).  I tried coloring all the dots with a blue sharpie so I could see if any new dots were appearing.  Glenn thought she looked even worse and that the locals would think she was contagious (his laughing did not help the matter).  I will post pictures of the bumps later and see if you have any better ideas on what could be causing them.

Glenn has to go to work tomorrow.  I'm not sure what Evie and I will do yet, maybe we'll go hunt down the rooster that woke me up this morning and make some chicken soup.  The weather is hot and humid.  Fortunately our apartment has air conditioning (I am wearing my MN sweatshirt right now because we have the air turned down so much) and they have a pool we can use.  We have already been to the nearby mall twice this weekend.  I felt much better after I ordered a Starbucks coffee and walked around the GAP store.  Glenn tells me the grocery store has Oreo cookies, but I have yet to find them.

The box containing our camera charger was accidentally shipped to Thailand, we we won't get it until later in the week.  Once that gets here I'll start posting lots of pictures.  We miss you all and hope to hear from you soon.