Returning Home

I am sorting through pictures of our fab, fab, fabulous trip! What to say about the most perfect trip a mother/daugther could experience? I could not recommend it enough.

It was a little tough to return. I am not sure why but the airport waiting area for Kathmandu always smells like mold and pee. Be it Thailand, Malaysia or UAE, it is always the same.

Ahhhh, a strong sense of home.

In Malaysia

Heavah and I just arrived in Kuala Lumpur. We are here for some girly time together for the heck of it. Axel is wonderful.

The flight was uneventful-just the way I like it. In fact, I was quickly reminded that only a few short years ago travelling with Heavah involved bringing 10 kg of equiptment, sippy cups, diapers, snacks, games, dollar store junk, and a DVD machine. Now, a Game Boy and a roll of candy keeps my girl perfectly behaved on a plane. Having a grown up daughter is awesome.

Summer Wardrobe

A much needed tailored outfit. White? What was I thinking?

All my kids need new clothing. The life of a child's shirt or pant is short in Nepal. There are very few options for cute clothing here. It is almost impossible to find something cute. I have resorted to using my tailor to make everything for my kids. The only downfall is the machines they use here cannot handle stretch cottons or jerseys. My machine can, but I am too lazy to make play clothing for my kids. The cute factor must be very high for me to spend time with my machine.

The risk in making clothing from a tailor is that you never know how it is going to look when it comes back. Between the language barrier and my poor drawing skills, it is always a surprise. Yesterday I got an outfit back that I designed for Sedona:

It is cute, it is fun, it is colorful...it is UP SIDE DOWN:

It cost me 2.00 and totally worth the laugh.

Pirates

Coming to a channel near you

When Axel and I first moved Dubai I had no idea how popular piracy was internationally.  We would consistently receive knocks on the door from Chinese people who only knew two phrases: "You want DVD?" and "Good copy, bad copy".  I didn't take them too seriously until I realized that Axel and I would completely miss out on American cinema if I didn't succom.  We often got stung with movies that were dubbed over in Russian with ridiculously poor English subtitles.  I still don't understand how you can get the subtitles wrong when the original is in English.  Or worse, when the copy is so poorly taken that you can see cinema viewer's heads and can hear their cell phones ring during the movie.  I suppose for 3 bucks a movie, what could I expect?

When we arrived to Nepal, I was shocked to not only see piracy going in full force, but the DVDs were sold in the stores.  Hun?  Is it illegal if you pay money at a cash register?   Furthermore, if you want to find a legitimate DVD in Nepal, you can't.  If you are buying a DVD, you are buying a pirated copy (at mere .50 cents a copy).   

Just when I thought it couldn't get much worse, I was working out at the gym and happened upon a sweet channel - THE PIRATED MOVIE CHANNEL (or also known as Channel 8).  Sure enough, they were playing Wolverine before it had even been released in theaters.  The copy wasn't even great.  In fact, the film was incomplete.  I have since watched this channel and you often must wait for someone on the other end to press 'Play'.  It is commonly frozen on the main menu whist the channel DJ takes a bathroom break.  The other perk to this ever-so-illegal-channel is it skips all the credits and shows 'Open', 'Close' and 'Loading'  indicating another movie is about to begin.  

Bad movie, good copy

Piracy is such a way of life for us we rate movies not necessarily on the content, but instead on the quality of the copy.  I can often convince Axel to watch a girly movie simply by telling him that it is a good copy.  Almost anything is worth watching if it is a good copy, which is proven by the fact that I saw this movie last night on TV:

Only a good, clear copy could make me sit through an hour and a half of Mike Tyson.  

Strawberry Fields & Bombs

Sedona's love of strawberries inspired me to make this dress. It was a fun one that I designed myself. Yeah, cause my girls need more dresses.

In other news: While we were at church today we were told that a bombing took place at the Catholic church in Kathmandu. Apparently some Hindu extremists placed a bomb inside the chapel area. Two people killed, a dozen injured. To be honest, I am in shock. I never felt that I, as a Christian, could be a target for violence in Nepal. This is a first. There are very few Christians in Nepal and we aren't sure why the Catholic church was specifically targeted.

So, if it isn't a King being murdered, a Prime Minister resigning, or a lack of water, electricity or petrol, it is a terrorist attack.

Never a dull moment.

Billy Vanilli?

This is Axel.

William Shakespeare:  Business man and Actor.  Milli Vanilli??

Who is this man?  Did he write all those plays and sonnets or was he a cover for someone or some group?

Billy Shakspar or Milli Vanilli?

 I just read the book The Shakespeare Secret by J. L. Carrell.  It was mostly a Da Vinci Code wannabe, but the subject matter was intriguing.  It got me doing some internet searches and this article seemed to be the best. 

You will have to judge for yourself what you think, but I grew up in a house where Shakespeare was regarded in the same breathe with any biblical prophet and I must admit that I am somewhat taken a back with my shaken faith in the man.

Does it matter if he didn’t write those plays?  Ultimately a rose by any other name is still as sweet, but still, there is something in knowing the truth.  Honestly I still sing “Blame it on the rain” but for some reason it isn’t as sweet knowing who actually sung it.

 

Vero nihil verius!

 

 Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.

Bunny Love

I really don't have anything to say, I just needed to put something else on my blog instead of Ross Noble's gigantic melon. No so flattering.

Lately, the kids have spent a lot of time outside with the animals. It isn't such a bad pastime, but policing my children around these animals can be tiring. I am not so worried about the chickens cause if we lost one along the way--voila, dinner! Our goat seems to hold his own pretty well and the pheasants are caged like the Alcatraz prisoners for fear that they would ever escape. Axel is a wee bit protective of his prized birds.

When Sarita (our maid) brought over two bunnies Axel and I were both apprehensive. A bunny, really? My only recollection of owning a bunny when I was a child was getting bit and scratched, and feeling ever so guilting for making it climb walls. It never ended well, every time.

I knew with this bunny not only would it involve all of the above, but maybe even worse as the bunny gods are ready and willing to make me pay. Our first attempt with a bunny didn't end well, just as I expected. I thought my bunny days were finally over. Then, only days after, Sarita brought a replacement-not one, but two-and so it began again.

The ever-so-strong baby monster

This time, the bunnies became 7. It happened quickly and I am assuming this happened so fast just because they realized their gene pool would be soon coming to an end. Not so. In fact, we now have over 12 bunnies and we are all smitten. In fact, we have one bunny that slightly resembles a Capybara and its cuteness is so strong that there is no way of leaving it alone. One must kiss it and blow warm air on its furry little body. There seems to be no choice. He is favored like a child at our home.

Our bunnies have now multiplied every month regardless of the grossness of incestual relations. We have reached our max. I am pawning some of these guys off to any takers. I am sure people will be apprehensive, but I must say, bunny love is grand.

Shylock staring down his competition