KM Trip

After Thanksgiving, Logan and I, along w/ another friend, took a few days vacation to relax in KM.  We took a sleeper bus (which despite the bad rap it has gotten before, we thought it was the way to travel if you have to go by bus), and arrived around 8 am Sunday morning.  We spent Sunday eating Papa John's, exploring, and enjoying Charlie Brown Cafe--which provided free wireless and a strong americano.  Monday we enjoyed a trip to a fake IKEA...literally, it is like they robbed an IKEA truck and stocked their store.  Or maybe it is IKEA rejects, or maybe they just took a camera into an IKEA and took pictures and then copied it all.  I don't know.  Regardless, Logan did buy our bedspread from an IKEA, and we saw the same bedspread pattern at the fake IKEA.  It was an enjoyable experience, and we bought some fun stuff.  Don't you love this red couch, Mom?  (Unfortunately, we didn't buy it.)

That afternoon we met up w/ our friend Greg Lavo, who was making a trip through our part of the world and was able to swing a few days to hang out w/ us.  He and one of his friends traveling w/ him spent about a day and a half w/ us.  We drug them around to western food restaurants, the bookstores, and this park where you can feed the seagulls...did I mention we are pretty landlocked here?  I guess they imported seagulls.  We fed the birds and then later that day had some great Indian food.  Here's a picture of me and Greg at the park.

We headed back home to our city Wednesday evening, of course, not after about a 30 minute delay.  Which is actually not that bad.  It was good to hang out in a different city for a few days, buy a few things we can't get here, and see our friend.  One more picture of the four of us together...at 7 AM, not such a pretty sight.

--da

Happy Late Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving.  This post is late (naturally), but we do hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, and we wish you a Merry Christmas too!

--da

A face mask? Are you serious?

So, I am finally sick. Not serious sick, but just sinus infection sick. Which is abnormal for me...since I usually have one every month during winter. However, since it isn't really winter here...I've been good. Regardless, this is all background for my story:

After lunch, I went to the pharmacy close to our house and asked if they had amoxicillin. The pharmacist lady replied that they did, and handed me a box of 16 tablets. Great! She asked then if I had taken it before, or literally "before eaten?" Of course, I told her....in America. I asked her how often to take it, she told me, and then she asked what my sickness was. Not knowing the words for either sinus or infection, I told her I had a cold. She looked at me like I was crazy for taking an antibiotic for a cold. (Which surprised me b/c most people here will go get an IV for a backache...) I then looked up the word for infection and told her I had an infection in my nose. (I mean..that's pretty much right.) Her eyes got wide. At this point, another lady in the store asked if my throat hurt. Yes, a little I said, but not too bad. The pharmacist then pulled out a face mask and tried to sell it to me! Not wanting to be forced to buy a face mask and wear it, I played down my illness and insisted that I didn't have H1N1, it wasn't serious, just a cold. The other lady asked if I had a fever. Of course I don't, I replied. Having seemed to quiet their fears that I was going to spread some terrible disease all over the city, I paid for my antibiotic, and then was asked if I wanted Chinese medicine. No thanks, I replied. I thanked them for their help, and headed home.

--da

Market Time!

Enjoy!

The Heinrichs at Market from Nitro on Vimeo.

Pretty much everywhere.....

....its gonna be hot.

I love this youtube video.  It has been around for awhile, but it makes me laugh every time.  If it doesn't make you laugh, then watch it about 10 times in a row.  I promise (or I hope), it will eventually be hilarious to you as well.  What makes it greater for me...is that for us it is an accurate forecast...pretty close at least.

Enjoy.

--da

We glorify God by...

“We glorify God by working out our own salvation. God has twisted together his glory and our good. What an encouragement is this to the service of God, to think, while I am hearing and praying, I am glorifying God; while I am furthering my own glory in heaven, I am increasing God’s glory.

Would it not be an encouragement to a subject, to hear his prince say to him, You will honour and please me very much, if you will go to yonder mine of gold, and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away? So, for God to say, Go to the ordinances, get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can; and the more happiness you have, the more I shall count myself glorified.”

—Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1997), 13-14

A daily post from Of First Importance. 11.4.2009

The Biodiversity of XSBN

One of the cool things about where we are currently living is that most of the biodiversity within CHN is found in our prefecture (aka county). Most of the cash crops in this area are tropical in nature, mostly consisting of Banana and Rubber Trees.

If you knew me at all during my years in undergrad you might remember me throwing out a scientific plant name every once in a while, as a good portion of my education consisted in memorizing Latin plant names.

I was browsing the internet a few days ago and found a variety of passion flower that is named after our prefecture (Xishuangbanna). I though it was cool.

Meet Passiflora xishuangbannaensis

Stalagmites and Stalactites

Today Daryl-Ann was doing a little routine cleaning around the house and noticed the bathtub had brown, standing water in it. I looked around and found little droplets of water hanging from our ceiling tiles. I removed one tile so I could look up into the ceiling and see if I could find a leak. It does look like we have a leak, but I also found a science project waiting to happen.

We found stalagmites and stalactites suspended from our bathroom ceiling, and I think its pretty cool.

Dai BBQ... The Ultimate Eating Expierence

Here are some pictures of tonight's eating experience. Delicious. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Don't worry we didn't eat the brain. And yes that pineapple is a delicious phenomenon called pineapple rice. Sweet and delicious. In the picture above DA is munching on some beef kabobs.

Thank You Better Homes and Gardens......

I recently started checking out Better Homes and Gardens website.  They have got some great cookie recipes right now for the holidays.  I tried this one out tonight....yum!  Pretty tasty, and in the shape of TEXAS!  Try them out...

Pumpkin-Spiced Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
1 17.5-ounce package sugar cookie mix
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 egg
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Browned Butter Icing--below
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine dry cookie mix, butter, egg, pumpkin pie spice, and nutmeg. Stir with a wooden spoon until a stiff dough forms; if necessary, knead to combine.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 1-1/2- to 2-1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut out dough. Re-roll trimmings and repeat cutting dough. Arrange cutouts 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake in preheated oven about 8 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to a wire rack; cool. Drizzle with Brown Butter Icing. Makes 36 large cookies or 72 small cookies.

Brown Butter Icing: In a small saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons butter over low heat about 15 minutes or until browned (be careful not to burn). Remove from heat. Stir in 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Immediately drizzle over cooled cookies (icing will harden quickly).

TO STORE: Place cookies in a a single layer in an airtight container; cover. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.