A Koi Pond and Texas Feng Shui

The best sound ever this morning: a scratching scraping sound and the beep beep of a large truck backing up. Why? Because I peeked out the window, hoping against hope, and saw the trash men had hoisted our broken oven on top of all the trash piled in the dump truck and were carting it off. Yay for a great start to the day.THANK YOU TRASH MEN!

Those of you who have read Villa in the Hilla may recall some of my trash woes from Africa. The little village we lived in had no trash pick up service. The residents just dumped their trash in the dirt trench dug on either side of the one paved road that connected our village to the highway leading to town. Plastic bags, old clothes, rotten food, paper, you name it. When the trenches got full, someone lit them on fire. Trash. Even dead animals y'all. Gross. We dumped our trash there a couple of times because when-in-Rome. But I just couldn't do it more than once or twice. I started bagging up our trash (which was significantly more than any of the villagers ever had) and bringing it to town with me and then dumping it in the first dumpster I could find. It made for stinky rides to town.

Other times, when we heard there was, in fact, trash pick up, we tried putting our trash out to be hauled away by the supposed trash men. But the neighbors would get to it first and go through it, pulling out stuff they considered valuable. It's awkward to throw away something and a week later find it decorating your neighbor's house.

Fast forward to life here. We have a large oven that is broke. What to do with it? We dragged it out from where we had been storing it in our outside empty koi pond. (You know you are in Asia when your house comes standard with a built-in koi pond. Like good Texans, we store our broken junk in it. How's that for feng shui?)

What about when you have more junk than fits in your koi pond? Why, you gotta get rid of stuff. So we decided to say goodbye once and for all to the broken oven. But the metal worker guy we found didn't want it. Even after Kris and Aaron drug that thing out of the pond for him to see it. So they drug it to the sidewalk outside our house and we hoped for the best. Surely SOMEONE wants a broken oven, right?

One day passed and someone took the knobs off the oven. It's not really stealing since we wanted someone to take it. It's just that we wanted someone to take ALL of it. Who is gonna want a broken oven with no knobs?

Enter, the trash men. On Day Two, at about 6:30 in the morning I heard the beautiful scraping, scratching noise and the beep beep of the truck. I ran to the window and saw the oven in the back of the truck as it was whisked away to where ever broken ovens go.

Do you live in a place with trash pick-up service? It seems like a stinky and thankless job. But I've lived without it before and I can say that we all need our trash men. If you get a chance, give your trash man a big THANK YOU today!

Out of the Rut

Sunday Morning Breakfast!

My parents' recent visit reminded me to enjoy the things that are available here that I take for granted. I get stuck in a rut and am appeased by the easy rather than making just a little more effort to enjoy what's at my fingertips. Like tropical fruit. Why be satisfied with lengkeng only when I could enjoy lengkeng AND a few pieces of jackfruit? Or why not take the time to cut up some pomelo and mango?

Because of my parents we found tempe and dried shrimp chips. We discovered a market we hadn't been to before and watched a beach sunset we wouldn't have stopped long enough to enjoy. We played a lot of Scrabble. People should take the time to play a lot of Scrabble. I learned the word bivouac. I am ashamed to say that I didn't know that word. We played corn hole and frisbee and 42. We watched movies and laughed. We ate at the oldest restaurant building in Penang and I learned all about Hainanese food by reading the menu. We met a funny man who runs a Minang restaurant and we got up early to eat breakfast served at a neighborhood food stall. Who knew they served yummy breakfast? I picked out the cake I want for my birthday next May and I learned I could buy nuts at the nearby market from a lady who mistook me for a Chinese. Ha! That's a first.

Sometimes it takes fresh eyes to appreciate what is all around us. I loved living in Penang all along. But I think I love it just a bit more now.

If we take the time to try something new, see something different, consider something out of our usual routine, we just may find a treasure or two, right where we live!

Happy First Day of School!

credit www.maryrvogt.com

The other day I sat with three other moms at the lunch table. One mother who sat across from me lamented how long it took her clothes dryer to dry her laundry.

"I think the heating element is broken," she said. "It takes 90 minutes to dry one load!"

"That's nothing," I replied. "Mine takes an hour and a half!"

Awkward pause.

The mom beside me said, "I'm so glad you aren't homeschooling your kids anymore!"

No kidding. It's a wonder they pass their math classes at all. Obviously get their math skills from their dad, not their mom.

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!