Name that "food"

Time to play everyone's favorite game "Name that food!", the game where you attempt to identify food that we have encountered on the streets of Hong Kong for fabulous prizes! (Prizes to be determined based upon who you are and when we will actually see you next.) Post your answer for each numbered photo below in the comments section (see sample). Final answers to come in a few days. Let's see your best guesses!

P.S. Queenie Tong is automatically disqualified unless she can prove that she has never consumed any of the below mentioned "foods."

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On Writing

With traveling comes the inevitable travel journal. However, I've become frustrated with writing. I'm frustrated with it because of the many ways it continually fails to be what I want it to be. I want writing to be an organic, spontaneous, and almost sanctimonious process, one that is complete, real, and flawless from the moment I sit down to write.
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I want to sit down with my pen (pen even!) and produce flawless prose that stirs passion and argues clearly. I want my first draft to be my final draft; I want to write pure inspiration, and simply walk away feeling its perfection. But that is not how I write.

While I like to think that my best writing has moments of inspiration, my writing is often a long and arduous task, where I struggle with my inability to write like the authors I read. My texts are traditionally mishmash constructions, Frankensteinian creations that take pieces from multiple drafts in an attempt to bring an idea to life. I have always needed multiple drafts and major revisions in the attempt to purify my many scattered thoughts into a coherent idea. Picking the best parts from each individual idea and concept I try and fuse them together to make something that works, something better than any of the pieces individually(a process that is not always successful). But this way of writing, the way my mind works, isn't how I want it to... and that frustrates me.

Another major frustration of writing for me (specifically seen in my non-academic writing) is the amount of time it takes to write. I think that writing should be an inherently quick and simple process, an acknowledged falsehood but for some reason that is still my default thought. I have an idea in my head and I want its spontaneous generation on paper, in contrast to the lengthy birthing process it often takes. "And God(Josh) said, 'Let there be light(or a luminous text)' and there was light and it was good." But my creations are not so quick in their construction, instead I make ever collapsing sand castles of words until I find something that is finally able to stand up.

But I guess these frustrations should be taken in light of why I write. While I want writing to be something that is quick, beautiful, and perfect, I often end up writing as a way of creating meaning for the events in my life. One of my high school teachers once told me, "If you don't write it down it never happened." That idea has stuck with me for over a decade now, and I think there is a lot of truth in that simple phrase. If I don't take time to write about something, to process it, to evaluate it, then it is simply more water under the bridge...another event in a series of events that goes unnoticed. But if I take the time to write and describe the event, then it becomes distinct and meaningful. Writing in this way is less about the final product and more about the process of writing (which feels similar as to say, why most people run or perhaps do yoga). But alas, knowing that writing is an intentionally slow process doesn't alleviate the frustration I still feel when I write sometimes. For some reason understanding that if I wrote how I want to write I most likely wouldn't find writing a fruitful exercise doesn't alleviate the sense of jealousy I feel when I read an excellent book or article.

We've landed.

After a 3.5 hour flight, a 10 hour layover, a 13 hour flight, a 3 hour layover, a 3.5 hour flight, and a missing day (I still don't understand that), we have made it from Texas to Hong Kong!

Yes, there's more...
[Jetlag is making my head a little swimmy, so this post is going to be a bit travel journal-y. We'll try for more entertaining and/or thought-provoking in the future.]

Despite their length and number, the flights were uneventful. We were even screaming-baby-free over the ocean (the same cannot be said of three of our other flights). We found Korean Air to be extremely polite and accomodating. Even the food was surprisingly good (relatively speaking) and served with real silverware and china. Although, aren't metal forks more dangerous than the shampoo bottle I couldn't bring on board? One annoying thing they did that I don't remember on other trans-ocean flights was to insist that passengers eat when we were served, including raising our seats and putting up with ALL the lights back on. As for the layovers, we entertained ourselves in LAX by finding the closest LA post office using the rental car shuttles only and in Seoul by using the Internet. The Seoul airport offered free internet to transfer-ers like ourselves, something every civilized airport should consider!

HongKong itself has been great. We are staying with a friend of mine from grad school. She and her husband live in a very nice but tiny apartment in central Hong Kong, so the view is pretty impressive: We tried to stay up late last night to combat jetlag, but ended up going to bed at 7:45! We'll see how we do tonight. We had a great time exploring central HongKong today, but the full day of walking is already making the couch and TV more appealing than this computer. Stay tuned for a future Name-That-Food post with photos from today... the things we saw on Dried Food Street were something else! Oh, and Queenie, we went to that cheap, little noodle shop today for lunch! Fabulous!

(Oh, right, Texas. Let me sum up the weekend so the previous photos make sense. We stopped in Texas last weekend to help our friends Nate and Milli celebrate their wedding. We know them from All Angels Church in Manhattan and were excited at the chance to see some old friends. As Milli's family is Indian, the wedding was a bit different from the usual American fare. I, along with the other women, got my hands "painted" at the Mendhi ceremony on Friday night with beautiful designs that should last quite a few days. The party also included plenty of good food, music, and dancing, as all good parties should! The wedding on Saturday was a beautiful and colorful mix of American and Indian wedding traditions. Josh and I borrowed clothes from some of our friends from New York who had also flown out for the occasion (thank you Graham, Milind, and Bekah!). However, Josh was missing black socks, and thus the photo of his feet! Sunday we visited Fort Worth with some friends from England who were also attending the wedding. We got to see "real cowboys", just as they were hoping, and we even got in on a junior regional rodeo. I guess that's it. Congratulations to Nate and Milli!! And now we are in HongKong. Wierd...)

We are off... again!... and again!!

Ok, so a longer post is coming upon arriving in Hong Kong (talking a bit more about the trip to Dallas) but right now we have some packing to do and some sleep to get before traveling to the other side of the world. We decided that we should at least have an assortment of pictures from the last few days.

(A final photo before we left Grand Rapids.)

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(The crowd dancing at the Mendhi party. The colors during the whole event were so vibrant.)

(The henna on Megan's hands after the Mendhi party. I think she has pretty hands..(maybe I'll get brownie points for that...))

(Nate and Milli, you can see the relief on their faces that this is finally done. )

(Josh's feet at the above mentioned wedding. This is what happens when you dress for a wedding from the random assortment of items you have in a packpack.)

Who knew...

people need this kind of stuff... but apparently some do! Here are some of the high quality items that we could have ordered (we passed on them all unfortunately) from the Sky Mall catalogue on our flight to Texas yesterday.

Caption:Forest Faces Make You Smile (Note to self, demonic, scary forest faces don't make me smile.)

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I should note why several of these pictures are a little fuzzy. They are taken from the Sky Mall catalogue on our flight to Texas, and while I was willing to take pictures of them on the plane I was not willing to use a flash. It's one thing to discreetly say to those around you, "I know this is really dorky," but it is another thing to broadcast my dorkdom to the entire plane.

Caption: The "Keep Your Distance" Bug Vacuum

Caption: New! Mega remote has giant buttons (Someone buy me this remote when I turn 95. And just to point something out look at the remote in contrast to the hand that holds it.)

Caption: This person is able to sleep comfortably in any seat! Can you say the same? Probably not, unless you have SkyRest. (Ok, so I actually think this may work but when I first saw it I thought, "Hey look, they've invented airbags for planes!")

Caption: The Remote Controlled Robotic Hammerhead Shark ('nuff said. I still want one though.)

Packing

Here it all is... Yikes!

New York City

Sometimes I miss New York as if it were a person. It's as if the city has its own character and disposition and certain things (scenes/actions/encounters/events) remind me of this. It feels very unlike how I miss "home" home (Michigan). It is neither nostalgic nor wistful nor vague but a distinct sadness that I forget until I am reminded of it.

Who knew they made these things?

This weekend we were at my brother's wedding (congrats again) and drove up in one of my dad's cars and noticed something odd.
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It is an odd little pull tab on the inside latch of the trunk. Now, presumably this is to help a person stuck in a car (be it a four year old boy or the kidnapped rival mobster) escape and then scamper to their freedom. I understand the point of it, people do die in trunks after all but regardless the diagram strikes me as rather silly. If I were the one getting out of a trunk I would be doing less bounding and more running-for-my-life-before-Vito-notices-I'm-gone-ing.

P.S. I was standing for Adam in the wedding and was given the solemn responsibility of holding the rings. Adam (if you haven't met him) is quite big and I found it funny that I his ring fit over my thumb (with room to spare) while Lindsey's barely fit on my pinkie.

P.P.S. A real picture of the wedding (at Megan's request). And to justify the crooked nature of the photo the photographer said, "Now remember I had to lean out of the aisle to take this... that's why its crooked..."

Reminiscing about Winter Park: Part 2

Given that the last quote wasn't quite so uplifting, here are some quotes (and conversations) from our kids throughout the season...

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"Bumps are like salmon eggs; they're all stuck together."

#2
"My Mom doesn't ski; she's fat."

#3
Meg: Ok, everyone, what do we call the front of our skis?
James (age 4): James!
Meg: Alright...[attempting to ignore the out of place comment] What do we call the back of our skis?
James: [a bit more hesitant] James?
Another Kid: The tails!
Meg: [attempting to hide her laughter] Ok... so what shape do we make with our skis to slow down?
James: J-A-M-E-S!

And the answer to almost every other question for the rest of the day was "J-A-M-E-S" (said very proudly and with gusto no matter what the answer was supposed to be)!

#4
Josh: Ok, everyone, before we go back out I need you all to go to the bathroom.
[They all scuttle off into the bathroom, slowly a 4 year old english girl named Elsa remerges.]
Elsa: Uhmmm... Josh?
Josh: Yes Elsa?
Elsa: So you want me to go pee and poo in the bathroom?
Josh: Yes Elsa, please go pee and poo. That's what we do in the bathroom in the US.
Elsa: Oh, ok!

#5
[Megan on a first-time chair lift with a group of 5-6 year olds]
Girl: What happens if I drop a ski?
Meg: Well, we'll ask ski patrol to pick it up and give it to us.
Girl: Oh... [pause] Megan, are the ski patrol just really tall then?

#6
Josh: Ok, Timmy, now put your ski tips together.
Timmy: I have a dog!!
Josh: I know, you told me. Now I want you to put your ski tips together.
Timmy: His name is Buster and he's brown and he's really smart!
Maddie: My dad is really smart!
Josh: I know, Timmy, now put those tips together.
Timmy: And he likes to chase cats and birds, and eat grass! [pause] My grandma likes coffee.
[This is really a composition of about 6 different kids we each had and their random, unrequested information about their many pets.]

#7
[At the top of a lift, Megan turns to help a fallen kid and hears from behind...]
Alex: Megan... I just threw up a little bit...
Megan: Oh, Alex. Where did it go?
Alex: I buried it in the snow.
Megan: Good girl. Ok everyone, lets go.

#8
Josh: I have a pet, too. I have a baby T-Rex.
Kid: No you don't!
Josh: Yes I do, I keep it in my garage.
Kid: But I thought those were extinct. Where did you get it?
Josh: China. They still have them in China.
Kid: Oh. [pause] A lot of my stuff is from China.

#9
Kid 1: How do they make those bumps?
Megan: Well, when kids are bad in ski school, they just bury them down there under the snow.
Kid #2: That's a lot of kids.
Megan: A lot of kids are bad in ski school.
Kid #1: [after contemplation] But wouldn't the police find out?
Megan: Nah, they just do it at night.

Sign Seen Driving through Iowa today

"Hell was made for deadbeat moms."

I'll give a quarter to anyone that can explain this to me...

Reminiscing about Winter Park: Part 1

We have now left Winter Park but we still have some thoughts and pictures from our time there...

For all those times you really need to get hammered while watching your whites spin on delicate, there is the good ol' Buckets.

We are back, before we leave again!

Well we got back last night from our week long trip to the western part of the state and we thought it would be good to post some photos of the trip. It was a good time all in all, we ended up changing where we were going mid trip, which allowed us to visit some places we hadn't originally thought about. It was a good move though, especially since spontaneity is one of the best parts of traveling...
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So we started off skiing with a friend at Vail and had a great time there. From Vail we were going to drive down to Telluride and then ski Telluride, Crested Butte, and Monarch (a couple of days at each) and come back home. Instead, the morning we were going to head to Telluride we realized it wasn't far to drive to Arches National Park and Mesa Verde, which we had both wanted to see. So we changed course. In the end it changed the nature of the trip froma ski trip with some driving, we decided to go on a road trip with some skiing (a move we both liked). Here are some photos of the little escapade.

(Our drive on the way to Arches. We ended up taking a back road to get there which follows the Colorado River through this great little canyon. It was about 70 degrees in the canyon but you can see the snow capped mountains in the background)

(Don't know why but we got on a self-taken photo kick during this trip. Here is us in front of the Delicate arch... man do we look pretty or what?)

(The cliche photo from under Delicate Arch)

(Sunset on our first night. We ended up camping next to the river in the canyon, simply beautiful).

(Next up was Mesa Verde. These structures are over 800 years old and (obviously) built into the side of cliffs, quite cool. For those of you who don't know the little yellow figure in the lower left is Bird, a frequent tag along in Meg's travels. He ends up showing up rather often in photos, Meg actually has an entire album of "Bird in front of ____."

(Self-taken at Mesa Verde)

(Second night camping. It was just a field in the National Forest, but very isolated and quite fun. Also the massive thing on the fire is a stump that Meg found by a river, dragged back to camp, and then burned... I had nothing to do with this one.)

(The top of Telluride. Bird is in this picture somewhere, any gusses?)

(Self-taken at Telluride (didn't I say we had a fascination with self-taken photos?). It had an amazing view from the top).

(Sunset on our third night camping, in a National Recreation Area next to a lake. What was interesting about this trip is that we left the high mountains for the desert only to return to the mountains. But as we returned to the mountains the conditions still felt very desert-like, lots of sand, little vegetation etc... This place was a great example. We are at 7,500 feet and it was all sagebrush and shrubs. Its just such a different climate from where we have been for the last several months.)

(The town of Crested Butte. You can see the mountain from the town, as it rises out of the valley floor. Also if look at the mountain in the photo you can see that there isn't alot of snow, some but not an excessive amount.)

(A great example of the lack of snow at Crested Butte. If you notice this snow is a nice shade of brownish-grey, a far cry from the typical white snow that normally occurs.)

After our stay at Crested Butte, we headed off for one more ski area, Monarch, on our way back home. We only spent a bit of time there because it was in the upper 50s and the snow became a heavy slush by 1:00.

All in all it was a great trip. Now we have to pack to travel to Iowa, then Michigan, then Texas and finally we'll set foot down in Asia... scary!