Soothing views of the city

 I live in a beautiful place.

 Ancient, quaint, beautiful, fascinating.

 Traditional homes are built along canals.

 These are not just for decoration; real people live in these homes.

What a beautiful piece of furniture. The arms have drawers in them, and the bodice has doors that open.  It was on display in a shop window.

Today is Chinese New Year. Of all the places I could have ended up, I am glad to have ended up in such a great place as this. I'm sure the world is full of fascinating places and people, but I certainly never get bored of my discoveries in this place.

Precious pebbles

I fly quite a lot. I don't love to, but I do.

In Asia, when it is time to board the plane, we just get on the plane and go. The flight attendants speak sweetly in low, pleasant tones, as if we were fellow human beings. They never roll their eyes when you ask for something to drink, and they are slim enough to walk down the aisles without brushing up against passengers in the aisle seats. The planes are clean and there is plenty of leg room. They give you something to eat and drink. They even answer the flight attendant call button! When the top ten airline rankings come out each year, you can bet that about half of them on the list are airlines out of Asia.

And then there are airlines in America. I usually fly American or United, so I can't speak to the condition of the other U.S.-based airlines. But no airline out of America even makes it into the top 20 airlines of the world. What a shame that we can't get it together in the airline industry. It's almost embarrassing considering the world expects us to be the best at everything.

I've found that while boarding in America, they have created quite an interesting and ridiculous class system, one that leaves me somewhat baffled.

The agent gets on the loudspeaker and spews out the priority of boarding.

"First class. Business class."

Several dozen men and women strut up to the ropes as if they were celebrities. Hate to tell them, but I don't recognize any of them. And I am dressed better than some of them.

"Advantage Elite passengers. Executive Platinum. Platinum. Gold."

Weaker people would have their self-esteem plummet about now as they watch more people file into the plane like they were our superiors. I am not used to all this nonsense, but everyone else seems to be used to it and thinks it is normal.

"Sapphire. Emerald. Ruby passengers can now board."

I start laughing. Out loud. Can this possibly get any more ridiculous? I feel like I am back in first grade lining up to go back into the classroom after recess. Teacher's pet gets to go first. That kind of thing.

"Pebble," I say. Another non-elite passenger waiting by my side looks at me with a curious glance, and I explain. If we all have to be some kind of rock to get on the plane, I am in the pebble class, I say. I get an encouraging snicker in reply. It's probably not good to encourage me when I am making snide remarks.

For a first-class round-trip ticket, first-class passengers paid $7000 more than I did (seriously) for my economy seat ticket. So yeah, let them go first, let them use real silverware (and cloth napkins!) and by all means stroke their egos. I feel smarter than them anyway for making my more frugal purchase. I spend at least half of our 15-hour flight thinking of things I could have bought for $7000 if I had it to blow, and a wider seat on a plane is not one of them.

But really, this class nonsense created by our sub-par airlines is comical. They are going to run out of rock names if they keep this up.

Somebody's birthday

Guess who turned 9-years-old today? Mimi, my adorable cuddly sidekick! She's still got the energy and sense of humor of a puppy. All that expensive food I feed her must do the trick. Most of you will want to stop right here, but the few of you who know and love my doggy will want to click below to see more photos of her.

Two-country jeans

It takes two countries to dress me properly.

I bought clothes in the U.S. recently. I wear jeans almost every single day of my life (lucky me!), so I bought quite a few jeans. They will be threadbare before I get back to the U.S. next time.

I am too tall for short/petite-length jeans, and I am too short for regular-length jeans. I have no clue how to sew, and I am waaaaaaay too cheap to pay to have them professionally altered in the U.S.

So today I took some of the jeans to have them altered in the men's department of a high-class department store. Three pairs of jeans were professionally altered for a grand total of $2.50. It took about ten minutes and they are perfect.

I feel so happy that I got them done for so cheap!

The burgundy coat

Xiao Wen's village, May 2013

My good friend in Bedrock, Xiao Wen (not her real name), lives in a village. Like many villagers, she works hard to make a good home life for her husband and children, taking on dirty jobs no one else will do and paying no attention to her own needs. They don't have much, but they seem happy and are always thankful for God's provision.

The other day, a professor at the university where I used to teach (I'll call her Jen, also not her real name) drove out to Xiao Wen's village, and told her that I had asked her to go to the village to pay her a visit. Jen gave her a beautiful warm, burgundy winter coat. I don't know if Jen told her the coat was from me, but Xiao Wen thought the coat was a gift from me since I was the excuse for the visit.

I wish I had thought to do so, but I had not asked Jen to go to the village, and I had not given Jen any money to buy Xiao Wen a coat. She had done it all on her own, out of the goodness of her heart.

The two women only know each other through me. Their lives are very different and they wouldn't normally associate with one another due to being in different social-economic levels.

Both are women of faith.

I love how they are looking out for each other though, even all these years after I, their common friend, has left. I love that Xiao Wen has a warm beautiful coat she would have never bought for herself, and I love that Jen went to some trouble to make sure Xiao Wen had something special to keep her warm through the bitter winter cold of Bedrock.

I feel weird knowing I got credit, but a third party, a woman who first made me aware of the situation, is going to clear up any misunderstandings in a culturally appropriate way. (For those who might know, D is the third party.)

Truthfully, I'm just thinking how this whole burgundy coat story has me feeling warm all over. :-)

The friendlies

While in the U.S. for vacation in December and early January, I got to see lots of friends, and here I'll introduce you to a few of them. Above is my childhood friend from Pecos, Kim. We were in the same grade in school, involved in many of the same activities, attended the same church and we both worked summers at the sulphur mine during college. When I was about 10, she helped save me from going under at a church swimming party, and in high school I paid her back for her kindness by hitting her in the head with a handbell and leaving a scar over her eyebrow. She is always a great encouragement to me despite the bodily damage I did to her, and I am so happy to have her as one of my lifelong friends.

I met Bruce when I was 16-years-old and my brother brought his HPU college roommate (Bruce) to a Pecos High School football game. I met Cindy two years later when we were both freshman at HPU. My brother and Bruce pretty much did everything together during college, and Cindy and I pretty much did everything together during college (with a group of other girls our age). And we ALL ran in the same social circle(s). Some years after college, Bruce and Cindy got married, and now they just live an hour away from my parents. I've probably done a better job of keeping up with Cindy than anyone else I know (especially before Facebook came along to make it easier for me to locate friends). These are lovely people with hearts of gold, and it's always great to see them and continue our long and beautiful friendship.

I love this lady. Meet Mrs. L, my parents' next-door neighbor. I'm sure we've lost count of how many times she has come to the rescue when we needed help (especially feeding the dogs -- INCLUDING MIMI that one time in 06-07 when she visited the U.S. -- and letting them out in the backyard when my parents were not home). She is SO NICE and humble, and I love her beautiful accent; she is originally from The Netherlands. I could visit with his 80-something lady every day. She is so very interesting. 

My mom had surgery just a few days before I got home from the hospital. The Pairs, who are in the same Sunday School class as my parents, came to visit one day. They are so kind and thoughtful -- and humorous too -- and we are always happy to be able to visit with them! I got to see them at church during my visit too.

The Richardsons are also in my parents' Sunday School class and we were thrilled to have a visit from them while I was home. Like the Pairs, they also check on my parents regularly, and are often sitting with my dad in the waiting room when my mom has surgery. Please stop and say a prayer for Martha who will be having knee replacement surgery on Tuesday (tomorrow)!

Christine and Evelyn also came for a visit while I was in the U.S. My mom met Christine, a physical therapist, after her knee replacement surgery several years ago; they have subsequently become friends. They don't live too far from us. East Texans may recognize the little blonde from local furniture commercials that she stars in.

Evelyn and Koko the poodle are apparently having afternoon tea while the adults visit. Koko, please just go ahead and wipe that festive look off your face. (She cheered up considerably when the red-colored party decorations were removed from around her neck.)

I regret not getting photos of the Dodsons and Wades whom I also visited while I was back. Fortunately, none of them look a day older than the last time I saw them, so as long as they keep up their youthful appearance, I'll get photos of them the next time around.

I was also glad to run into old friends and acquaintances at my parents' church while I was back.

There are so many others I'd love to catch up with. Right now the plan is for me to return to the U.S. for several months in the summer of 2015, so hopefully I can catch up with many of the rest of my American friends at that time. 

Australian friends, not sure when I'll get to catch up with you (sigh). 

Family

While in the U.S., my family and I (all of us who were in the same city that day) all went to an evening church service the first Sunday in January and had our photo taken together!

Mi Familia

I just returned to Asia around midnight last night. I'll try in the near future to post some of the photos from my trip. Today I will start by posting photos of family that I saw during this most recent trip. Above are my parents.

Above is my oldest brother CW, his wife and their 20-year-old son, the youngest of five kids.

And then there is my other older brother JW, his wife and their 16-year-old son, the youngest of three kids.

This is my mom's younger sister LW who lives about an hour away.

And here is me in my parents' backyard on Christmas Day. More photos coming soon!