Christmas 2014
Merry Christmas!!
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Category Archives: holidays
Christmas lights 2014
Christmas lights 2014
Christmas lights 2014
Christmas lights 2014
Thanksgiving 2014
It was a festive Thanksgiving holiday for us. To begin with, it was the first Thanksgiving experience for Yinan, our exchange student. I don’t know if she was amused or appalled by the amount of food served, but she discovered that she loves mashed potatoes (or, as she calls them, “smashed potatoes”).
We had 25 people in total for dinner. We could not have pulled out the dinner without Yinan’s help and the help of Jim’s nephew, Robert.
This was our Thanksgiving menu:
Thai pumpkin soup
Smoked organic free range turkey
smoked turkey
Roasted organic heritage turkey
roasted turkey
Fried organic free range turkey
deep fried turkey
Honey-baked ham
Roast duck (from Mark’s Duck House)
Roasted shrimp with rosemary
Stuffing
Sweet potatoes
Dinner rolls
Rice
Kimchi (no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without it!)
Gravy
Orange cranberry sauce
Roasted carrots
Mashed potatoes
Brussel sprouts with bacon
Chocolate pumpkin cheesecake
chocolate pumpkin cheesecake
Blackberry pie
blackberry pie
Apple pie
apple pie
I haven’t yet figured out whether we have this many people over for Thanksgiving so that Jim can cook 3 turkeys or whether Jim cooks 3 turkeys so that we can have this many people over.
Hope everyone had as fun a Thanksgiving holiday as we did!
Halloween 2014
Our 13 year old suffered childhood trauma (his words) upon being told he was too old to go trick-or-treating this year. And our Chinese was insufficient to explain the quintessentially American way of celebrating Halloween to our exchange student. (I’m not sure our English would have been sufficient, either—it is surprisingly difficult to give a coherent explanation of Halloween to someone who has never experienced it.)
Nonetheless, we celebrated Halloween, American-style. Jim dressed up as a man-eating shark:
Our 13 year old was Star Lord (from “Guardians of the Galaxy”), our almost-16 year old was a Tardis (from “Dr. Who”) [the Tardis on her head lights up, by the way], and our exchange student was Artemis (at least, I think that’s who she was).
We inflicted ourselves upon friends who have two little boys, so our 13 year old STILL got to go trick-or-treating, under the guise of taking the boys around and arrived back triumphantly with a huge bag of candy. It’s all about gaming the system…
Spring Break in the United Arab Emirates
The UAE might come across as a strange choice for a spring break destination, but we chose it for several reasons. First, it’s a warm climate destination and after the winter we’ve had, none of us had any desire to go somewhere cold. Second, we thought it would be a good experience for the kids. We go annually to Asia and the last several spring breaks, we’ve covered the major European cities. So, we thought this would be an excellent opportunity to experience a very different culture. (And, did I mention it would be warm?)
You can find out more about what we saw and did in the UAE Travel Tome (and in the Travel section of the page).
Our impressions of the UAE were uniformly positive. The residents are extremely friendly and helpful. They are intent on making sure you are enjoying yourself and that your needs have been met. It’s also a family-based culture, so kids are welcomed just about anywhere. And the UAE is very much an open and tolerant culture, not uniformly true across the Gulf. The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, in addition to being a stunningly beautiful mosque, is an extremely welcoming mosque, where the staff eagerly answers any questions you may have about Islam or the mosque.
Grand Mosque
Grand Mosque
And there really isn’t anything you can’t get in the UAE as an expat. Even pork products are available at certain grocery chains in a separate section that is clearly labeled for non-Muslims. 🙂
Pork products for sale!
There are a few drawbacks. While women wear the abaya (the head-to-toe covering) out of choice and not out of requirement, it is still a male-centric culture. An American expat we know—a divorced mother who is single parenting her two children—mentioned how difficult it is to get visas for her children because she is sponsoring them, not the father. There also is a clear division between the Emiratis and “the help.” The non-Emiratis—the Filipinos, Pakistanis, Malaysians, etc. who help make the country operate—are treated very much as second class citizens. We were clearly labeled Americans as we happily chatted with drivers, security guards, and any other friendly staff members. And there is the necessity of being the biggest, the largest, the tallest, the most over-the-top of everything. I understand the need to forge a national consciousness and national identity for a country that was formed in 1971. But it can be wearing, after a while, especially after chatting with a Filipino driver who hasn’t seen his two sons in over 2 years because he can’t afford to fly back to the Philippines to see them.
Overall, though, we had a fabulous trip, gained much in the way of new experiences, and had a wonderful time!
Burj Khalifa
swimming with the dolphins in Atlantis Dubai
Year of the Horse
The Chinese calendar is a lunar calendar and so Chinese New Year falls on a different day every year (calling it Chinese New Year is actually inaccurate as many Asian cultures celebrate the Lunar New Year). This is the Year of the Horse, which is supposed to be a year of high energy.
Different parts of China and Taiwan have different customs, although growing up in Kansas meant that our celebration was somewhat limited. But there were still certain dishes that had to be part of the New Year celebration. Noodles were required, as the length of the noodles represented long life. Oranges were also part of the meal, as the word for orange (or, rather, tangerine) sounds like the word for prosperity or good fortune in Chinese. We also often had dumplings (which are shaped like the gold coins from the Yuan Dynasty) and duck (because we like to eat duck).
We also lit incense to our ancestors, who had their pictures set out amongst bowls of oranges and other food. Children were given red envelopes containing money. Red is the color of celebration in China (traditionally, Chinese brides wore red as their wedding dress).
But, overall, New Year’s for us is what it is across many cultures. An opportunity for family and friends to get together and celebrate togetherness, good food, and family.
Happy New Year!!
Merry Christmas!!
Hallelujah Christmas by Cloverton
A beautiful adaptation for Christmas of “Hallelujah”
http://faithtap.com/2153/a-christmas-hallelujah/
Thanksgiving
We sat 25 people down for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. The extroverted half of the family was giddy with excitement. The introverted half of the family was delighted at the crowd and equally delighted when the evening ended.
Here’s the menu of what was served:
Thai Pumpkin Soup
Fried Turkey
Smoked Turkey
Roasted Turkey
Ham
Roasted Shrimp
Stuffing
Sweet Potatoes
Dinner Rolls
Rice
Gravy
Orange-Cranberry Sauce
Roasted Carrots
Mashed Potatoes
Acorn Squash
Lentil Quinoa Salad
Brussel Sprouts with Bacon
Tossed Salad
Kimchi
Chocolate-Pumpkin Cheesecake
Blackberry Pie
Apple Pie
Blueberry Pie
We had a lot of leftovers. 🙂
We have a Thanksgiving tradition where each family member says what they are thankful for. I am thankful for my family and friends and the blessings of good health that we enjoy. As we often say in our family, we have inconveniences, not problems. (This stems from a story from a friend of ours who attended a dinner party where people were complaining about various things. Then, one elderly woman announced, “I don’t have problems.” She rolled up her sleeve to reveal a tattooed number on her forearm and said, “When I got this, I had problems. Now, I only have inconveniences.”)
I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season, filled with only inconveniences!
Asia-Lite Summer Vacation
What we did on our summer vacation: we visited Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Honolulu—what I laughingly call our Asia-lite trip (anytime you go to Asia and you can drink the tap water, it’s not a true Asia trip).
The weather was hot and humid in both Hong Kong and Tokyo, but they were really fun trips. Here’s a view from our hotel in Hotel Kong:
view from the Island Shangri-la Hotel
Hong Kong Disney was a blast, and we were fortunate the day we went because there was some cloud cover and a slight breeze. Then, in true Hong Kong fashion, it poured during one of the parades where the characters spray you with water guns. As the kids said, “We didn’t get wet from the water guns at all!”
Hong Kong Disney parade
We also discovered the Museum of Coastal Defence in Hong Kong. (I know, the British spelling can be most disconcerting.) They used one of the actual bunkers to create the museum, which is very well done. Once again, the only quibble I have is the commentary about modern times. (“Reunification has brought about a new solidarity and brotherhood of common defence.” Or something along those lines.)
Tokyo was just a brief stop in order to participate in the US-Japan Leadership Program’s weekend activities. It was lovely to see a lot of people whom we hadn’t seen in a while and catch up. It was also nice to meet the new delegates and discover what an impressive group they are. We had a tour of the Diet (the Japanese Parliament building), walked around the fish market, and toured the Nezo Museum, which has a small but excellent collection of Chinese antique bronzes. (They have several other items of interest, but we love Chinese bronzes.)
Our final stop was Honolulu where we stayed at the Halekulani, our favorite hotel there.
Waikiki
The kids took surfing lessons every day; we visited the Bishop Museum, the Honolulu Art Museum, and the Plantation Life Museum. For a bit of kitsch, we went to the Dole Plantation, where we went through the maze and, most importantly, ate some Dole Whip. (I mean, yes, you can get fresh pineapple there, too, but what would be the fun in that?) We had some fabulous dinners at Alan Wong’s, Morimoto, Town, and Sushi Sasabune. More about the meals later. Their magnificence deserves their own blog entries. We also weathered Tropical Storm Flossie, which fortunately for us, only lightly touched Oahu. I’ve included some photos showing the imminent arrival of the storm (and the view from our hotel room).
view upon arrival
Tropical Storm Flossie approaching
Tropical Storm Flossie
after Tropical Storm Flossie
It was a relaxing and fun break, and we look forward to our next trip there!