Seriously, the weather has been really nice for the last month, but had a chance to break out that old joke (first heard about Seattle) as we suffered through really crappy weather at Paul's baseball games last Saturday and told it at dinner with the family later that night. It took the kids a bit to get the awesomeness that is that joke, but to their credit, they finally appreciated it. I know they did as later in the meal, we were reflecting on a meal that Betty cooked years ago where she put a new ingredient in one of the kids favorite meals and "ruined" it for them. After rehashing that traumatic incident, I say to Paul, "If you don't like the food that your Mom cooks for you...", he said without skipping a beat, "I'll wait 5 minutes and shoot myself in the face."
Back to baseball, it was the second part of their tournament and they had to win two games to get the trophy and they were victorious in both with scores of 6-1 and 8-3. The second game was tied 3-3 going into the last inning when they busted it open with 5 runs. Paul is still holding his own against the older competition going 3-7 with a walk and a couple of stolen bases on the day.
We lost the Grandma at Chinese class...she hasn't been for a while and the teacher thinks she went back home. She was struggling with the culture shock and wasn't too surprised. I hope she didn't stop coming when I laughed out loud at her when she claimed that the only legitimate news outlet was Fox News..."The only one that's fair and balanced." she said. I do think I pissed off the other lady in my class lat Monday. We were learning country names and she wanted to know the country name for Wales. The teacher has taught Chinese in many countries (including Europe) and she was confused as Wales is a part of the UK, but lady was adamant about being Welsh and not British. The conversation went like this:
Teacher: Is the Queen still the head of state?
Wales: Yes, but we are our own nation.
Me: Does Wales field their own Olympic team?
Wales: No, put my (British) passport says my nationality is Welsh.
Teacher: Do you have your own currency?
Wales: No...you just don't understand, we are our own country.
Me: Does Wales have their own seat at the UN?
Wales: (looking more agitated) No...we are our own country and it is insulting when people say that we aren't.
Me: Sounds like you're a POME (Prisoner Of Mother England) to me.
That's when I got the stinkiest of eyes and we all decided it was time to move on. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it. Kind of sounds like it's the crackpot segment of their society, no? Perhaps I'm being my usual unsympathetic self, but it seems awfully provincial...like the butt-heads that want to secede from the Union since the last election. I can understand a group like the Armenians or Kurds striving for autonomy after centuries of persecution, but the Welsh? And perhaps it's my love of the Star Trek dream of a future where we all speak the same tongue and consider ourselves part of a single race, rather than finding comfort by putting up walls to our own little worlds. Regardless...don't let them free England!
We've been here roughly 4 months, and can already see some major changes in the kids. Carolyn had attended Catholic school since Kindergarten, and she had always been the "religious" one in our family because of it. She would always call me on using the Lords name in vain for instance. The other day as we were driving to school and people were walking in the middle of the street without moving to the side, I had to give 'em a little toot of the horn. Carolyn pipes up from the back seat and says, "Jesus, these people walk worse than they drive!"
Kinda caught me off guard and didn't have a reply ready other than laughing. Oh well, am not in the running for Father of the Year anyway.
In an never ending thirst for all that is Chinese superstition, heard a couple of new ones lately that were too good not to pass along.
First, if you point at the moon, your ears will rot. My hearing is starting to go but always thought it was from years of pummeling them with way too loud rock and roll.
Second, men that are ticklish are afraid of their wives. Not sure about this one either as I am certainly not ticklish, but am definitely afraid of my wife.
Finally, from previous experiences in living overseas, one of the realities was that you miss out on certain pop culture trends. I remember coming back from Argentina wondering what the whole Twin Peaks thing was about. With the advancement of technology and being able to watch TV and listen to any radio station live wherever we are, am going to be able to keep up with such important trends like Honey Boo Boo. Am wondering if it also goes both ways. The biggest thing here (rivaling the heat of The Macaraina back in the day) is this artist called PSY and his song Gangnam Style. The song and video truly are pure genius and the kids and I do the dance moves to perfection. They have TV stations dedicated to the K-Pop genre (phenomenon?). With the exception of PSY, it's all total crap, but the locals are totally in. Pictures of the K-Pop stars on their notebooks, the hip kids sporting retro Flock of Seagull haircuts, etc.
Oh yeah...twenty days into Mo-vember and am feelin' like one of ZZ Tops illegitimate children.
Howdy
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