David came home from a friend’s house last week telling me about how good their homemade pickles were. So I asked for the recipe. Sun Pickles, they are called. Hannah helped me drop the cucumbers into the huge mouth of the jar and add the vinegar to the pot to boil. She did some hammering on the lid with markers when we were done, so that will probably help some, too. My helper went with me to get the jar and the right kind of pickles; there is no “foreigner tax” when she bargains (white faces get higher prices). We had a good time exploring the market together.

6 dozen pickling cucumbers
1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup pickling spices *
1 dried red hot pepper, crushed
2-3 bunches fresh dill/ dill seed
1 qt vinegar
1 qt water
2/3 cup salt
2 T sugar

Loosely pack pickles into a wide-mouth, 2 gallon jug, add onion, garlic, pickling spices and dried red hot pepper. Top with a layer of fresh dill. Bring vinegar, water, salt and sugar to a boil in a sauce pan; pour over pickles. Seal with a lid; set in the sun for 2-3 days or up to a week. The longer the pickles remain in the sun, the stronger the taste. When desired taste is achieved, bring to room temperature and refrigerate (or the juice and pickles get cloudy if put straight from the sun to the refrigerator). Makes 2 gallons.

*Combine in a shaker and mix well:
2 T mustard seed
2 t all spice (cloes, cinnamon, nutmeg mixed in a 1:1:1ratio)
2 t black peppercorn
2 t dill seed/fresh dill
2 t coriander seed/ fresh cilantro
6 dried bay leaves, crumbled
2 1-1/2 inch whole dried red chilies, coarsely broken
(you may also substitute these for Ball pre-prepared pickling spices)

Hannah and Joshua began school this week. Joshua at an English speaking, international school and Hannah at a nearby preschool in the majority language. Both were very excited to start the new year (Hannah packed her bag gleefully). Hannah’s school provides three meals a day and Joshua’s school has us make luches and provide snacks. Hannah’s school is completely in the majority language here, but has English classes and Joshua’s school is in English but provides classes in the majority language. Hannah’s school is 3 blocks away, Joshua’s school is a 30 minute van ride. At Hannah’s school I visit to see what she is doing during the day and I have teacher’s notes home translated. At Joshua’s school he has homework 3 times a week and parents are encouraged to volunteer in the classroom. Hannah’s school is ages 2-7 for 10 hours a day, Joshua’s school is ages 4-17 for 7 hours a day. Hannah’s classmates are all nationals and Joshua’s classmates are all internationals. We are so grateful for the opportunity for our children to attend schools that are meeting their specific Third Culture Kid needs and giving them the niches they need to find friendship and belonging.

My trips to Hannah’s school are usually quite different than I expect. Like the day I packed sunscreen and snacks for a “parent’s event” and it turned out to be parent teacher conferences. Or the time I was invited to Hannah’s class and all the parents stood around and watched their children eat breakfast, take turns going potty, and basically cry for their parents who were standing off to the side, because it was ‘observation day’. Monday was Hannah’s first day back to school and her teacher came up to me and said there would be a trip on Tuesday and I was invited to go. She told me the name of the place, but I couldn’t understand her. So I packed water and a camera and Hannah and I set off the next day. Hannah usually comes home for the day after lunch, and I pretty much planned on doing so. Other students stay at the school until 6pm after dinner has been served. I was greatly shocked to see that chartered busses were waiting for us and we embarked on an hour and a half ride to a dinosaur park. Needless to say, I was not returning home early from this parents’ outing! This park was so new that all of the trees had been brought in, including the largest banyan tree I had ever seen moved. Many of the dinosaur skeletons were dated as having been excavated just 13 months ago! One building housed almost a hundred complete dinosaur skeletons and had glassed floors so we could watch current archeological excavations. One building displayed a life-sized, motorized T-Rex (Hannah was terrified and clung to my leg), a surround movie with a moving floor, and a gift shop where we bought Hannah a stuffed stegosaurus. Hannah’s friend Pao Pao (“Pow Pow”) who spent the day with us got a green brontosaurus. We learned the word for “moon cake” when our friends shared a little meat cake wrapped in paper famous for its September holiday. We returned home after our 10 hour field trip, David encouraged me that this was the field trip I had been waiting for all this time. And he was right!

We have been in our beautiful country for about seven months now, but we are continually amazed at the new sights to see and the amazing people to meet. On Saturday we had a trip to horticultural exhibit that filled my senses with the wonder of creation. Our kids had a blast running around, playing on an inflatable climbing wall, and meeting an old man with a professional kite who reminded me of Grandpa Bart. David especially liked the alpine plant display that was air conditioned! Hannah got to feed some birds in an aviary.

David had been raving about this place near our house where he goes to get a haircut for only 2 dollars. He gets a wash, a cut, another wash, and then a 45 minute massage. My hair was so heavy and up in a pony tail every day, so I decided it was time for a cut. I didn’t know the word for haircut, but I figured it would be self-explanatory. I took in a picture, can you guess the show? I didn’t realise until I got there, though, that my photo had highlights! Whoops! I almost came home with those! I quickly pointed to something yellow in the salon and said “don’t want!” I took Hannah with me and she got a trim as well. She was the life of the salon, one person put one side of her hair in a pony tail, another person put the other side (they were not even, but hey). She happily sucked the lolly pop I had brought for her and jabbered on in complete nonsense to the adoring salon staff. Some were hair washers, some were there to give massages, only a few actually cut hair. When it was time to pay, the man wanted to charge me full price for Hannah, which I questioned. Also, I had no massage! Then I learned that haircuts, like everything else, are negotiable. I don’t thingk you can tell in this photo, but I have a bit of a tail. The man cutting my hair insisted I needed it and some wax in order to have my hair flip right. I look like almost every other person in this country who has had their hair cut recently (including Hannah and Joshua- see their rat tail pages). Tails are in.

The Olympics are on! McDonalds has Olympics toys. Street vendors sell Olympics t-shirts. Children are named Olympics. And while we watch everything live, we only understand the announcer say “beautiful!” or “that’s right” in agreement with the other announcer. Often we make up our own commentaries, mostly prentending that we are the players themselves (with deep voices and accents). There are more than five channels on general cable that show Olympics. So we have been watching a lot of ping pong here. And badminton. And doubles ping pong. And doubles badminton. One of my ex-pat friends said before the Olympics came on, she didn’t know that badminton even had a court. The kids usually have to read for the amount of time they want to spend watching t.v. But Olympics are a freebee.

Our day started out with a two hour bus ride to a nearby city where a friend grew up. We arrived at the beautiful center of town and were overwhelmed at the natural mountainscape juxtaposed with the manmade fountain. We walked to our friend’s home, I snapping photos all the way (see album entitled An Outing under pictures). I gave myself permission to be a “tourist” for the day. We had been transported to an older day, and we gained a different perspective on our country! These homes are scheduled for demolition, our friend’s family had just been informed. The entire family would lose the home they grew up in. The grandparents, the first of four generations, who lived with together, were furious to leave the only home they had ever known. It did seem to be a shame. But when I needed to use the bathroom, I was walked down the street to a locked trash collection area with two boards balanced over a deep hole for squatting. I realized there were some things this old home left to be desired. Still, we were fascinated by cooking over a fire stove. One person fed the fire through the wall while another person cooked in the oversized wok.
Kindling sat ready outside the kitchen door. When lunch was ready, everything was delicious. Mushrooms, whole duck, cabbage with hot peppers, flavorful bean dishes, pork slices with seasonings, stewed zucchini in a broth, spicy zucchini, seasoned peeled (unidentified) vegetables, corn, rice and rice soup. After we ate, they showed us the city, but wouldn’t lead us to the town center the way our friend had led us from it. “That is too old and dirty”, they said. Perhaps it was scheduled for demolition as well. Along the way, we saw rice drying on the sidewalk, corn on a pagoda walkway drying, grass growing on a beautiful old roof, and garbage collectors with three wheel bicycles or baskets on their backs. Instead of taxis, there were three-wheeled motorcycles with green covers on them. Six people could (and we did) fit in the back. As we walked the relatives kept offering me their umbrellas to keep off the sun. I politely declined, as I don’t mind a tan, and they do. But after the fourth offer, I asked my friend, if I looked red. Yes, she said, your face is completely red from the heat and your arms are getting burned. It was a very hot day! When we arrived at the town center, there were thousands of people out for the “soldier’s day” celebration. There are no resident foreigners in this town. So the main attraction of the crowds quickly became... us. I joked with my friend that the reason everyone was here was to welcome him home, but we both knew two foreigner kids were stealing the show.

Joshua saw a statue of a man with a long braid down his back playing an ancient instrument. This man quickly became Joshua’s new hair mentor. Joshua’s rat tail is now to his collar. He spent quite some time examining this ancient hair style. We walked to a series of waterfalls where children were playing, mostly naked. Although the water was not anything I would get in, I let the kids play in it (in their clothes) to cool off in the hot day. I was really glad they hadn’t “gone native” when everyone began snapping photos of them playing. That evening we took the bus home and both kids fell asleep on the way. Joshua hasn’t done that in about a year. It was a wonderful outing.

Joshua spends about an hour each day buried deep in legos. Some of his creations are quite elaborate and most can fly. They are symmetrical and contain intricate plans for battle and destruction. Some models are surprising, othersrs penetrate lost regions...