We are Home

I’m out of pictures from our Malaysia trip, so it is back to talking about Doha life.  We had a great vacation, but when we were at the airport in KL we were ready to come home.  Then it hit us, it took six months but we now feel like Doha is our home.  This is a big deal people.  We aren’t orphans!   

We just earned our desert camping badge.  We went camping at the singing dunes last weekend and are still cleaning sand out of our ears.  The dunes are in a pretty random location.  Most of the ground is hard in this area except for a couple enormous sand dunes.  They are called the singing dunes because they make a humming noise when you slide down them.  Of course we had to test this, so we hauled ourselves to the top of the sand dunes.  (My muscles are still burning.) 

 

   

   

 

 

  

 

We got to watch the sunset and we ate smores (kind of).  I wasn’t using my brain and thought that when our British friends said they would bring smore stuff that I would be enjoying graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallow goodness.  I’m not sure if the word cracker even exists in British English, and biscuit means different things to Brits and Americans.

Anyway, I pretty much ate a marshmallow on a chocolate chip cookie and you know I’m never going to complain about eating a cookie, but still not a smore.   

British English and American English can get pretty confusing.  Our office has a little cafeteria in it where we eat lunch most days.  Walking back from the cafeteria, my coworker asked me what the queue looked like.  I thought he was asking how the letter Q was shaped, but he knows English so I was super confused.  I ended up just stopping and staring at him.  After confusing jabber, I learned that queue means line in British English.
 

Here are some more vocabulary differences between American and British English:

American English	British English
Apartment	Flat
Cookie, cracker	Biscuit
Elevator	Lift
First floor, second floor	Ground floor, first floor
Flashlight	Torch
French fries	Chips
Garbage, trash	Rubbish
Garbage can, trashcan	Dustbin, rubbish bin
Gas, gasoline	Petrol
Hood	Bonnet
Mail	Post
Pants	Trousers
Potato chips	Crisps
Stand in line	Queue
Trunk	Boot (of a car)
Stand in line	Queue
Two weeks	Fortnight
Underwear	Pants (I know confusing)
Vacation	Holiday(s)
Stand in line	Queue

Source:http://www.perfectyourenglish.com/writing/american-english-vocabulary.htm

 I am happy because peanut butter is back in my life.  It has been missing for about a month.  A really long, rough month.  I can only buy my peanut butter at one store in Doha and it isn’t the place we usually grocery shop.  The other stores have “peanut butter” but I don’t think peanuts are an ingredient.  I don’t even know how you forget peanut butter, but we were at the store with peanut butter and I completely forgot to get some.  I remembered right when we got home and started unpacking the groceries.  I thought we should jump in the car and head straight back, but Jonathon thought differently.  We were finally headed back to the peanut butter store, but there was a fire at the gas station next door, so the store was closed. (Pretty valid reason) Now I’m conflicted.  Should I eat everything with peanut butter to make up for lost time, or should I ration the peanut butter so I’m not in this predicament again anytime soon. 

 

I’m thinking about all the family running or cheering in Oklahoma City this weekend.  We are with you in spirit.  Big congratulations to Julie’s crew for welcoming a beautiful baby girl into the world.  Please send me some pictures. 

Langkawi

My heart was heavy this week with the bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line.  For me, finish lines are empowering and inspiring.  They are where the impossible becomes reality.  I'm beyond heartbroken that I will not be joining all the family running in Oklahoma City next weekend, but you better believe I will be running with you all in mind.

It is easy to focus on the negative when bad things happens, so I'm making extra effort to count my blessings.  One of those blessings is the opportunity we have to travel.  Our trip to Malaysia was just scratching the travel surface.  Our final vacation destination in Malaysia was the island of Langkawi to enjoy the beach and wildlife.  We tend to underestimate the size of islands.  We first realized this problem after a three hour trek across Key West dragging our luggage.  Thankfully, this time we were smart enough to hop in a cab when we landed in Langkawi.  It was a 45 minute ride to the remote location of our hotel.  It was right on the beach, but also surround by trees.  We had many fury and slimy visitors.  We saw a flying squirrel next to the pool.  And you better believe that I screamed when I turned the corner in the staircase to see a monkey on the handrail five feet from me.  The hotel windows and doors had special locks because these monkeys had mastered door handles.

 

We took a boat ride to investigate what Langkawi has to offer. 

On the boat tour we did completely normal things, like:

 

Cave hopping 

 

 

Petting sting rays (When I say “we” here, I mean Jonathon made physical contact and I took pictures.  There was no way I was touching that evil force.)

Feeding eagles

We rode a gondola to get above the rainforest canopy and were able to see some of the 100 islands surrounding Langkawi.  The island count changes throughout the day as the tide swallows or exposes them. 

You can even test your fear of heights by walking on the Sky Bridge.

We had a great trip and wonderful introduction to Asia.  Thanks for checking up on us, and know we are sending extra love this week.

Cameron Highlands

The Malaysian adventure continued with a two day journey to Cameron Highlands.  Translated in Texan, Cameron Highlands would be the hill country but much greener.  The pace in Cameron Highlands was nice and slow.  Many native people wait for cars to pass by their roadside stands and purchase goods.  Others gather insects or plants from the rainforest to sell to collectors.  They live in simple homes, children run around barefoot, and they wear big smiles.  It is easy to make a fast judgment and feel the people live in poverty, but they are happy.  Proof that you don’t need video games, i-phones, and satellite dishes to be happy. 

  

Our quest included:

1. Discovering waterfalls. 

2. Taking in a tea plantation.  

3. Eating strawberries.  I excelled in this category.

 

 

 

4. Meeting new friends

 

 

5. Visiting Buddha

 

6. Cruising the rainforest in style

 

Have a great week.  We are thinking about you all lots.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We had a wonderful trip, but this was one sweaty vacation.  Malaysia was humid.  And don't you Kansas and Texas people think that you know what I'm taking about, because this was crazy humidity.  With that being said, I'm not apologizing for my hair in any photos.  Just focus on the smile.

You thought you were coming to the blog to simply look at photos of Malaysia, but I'm pulling a fast one on you and slipping in a history lesson. (Or you are outsmarting me and skipping to the next paragraph.)  The Malay peninsula was first settled by traders from India and China.  In the 18th century, the British Empire began ruling the area.  On December 1941 an hour and a half before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded Malaysia and took control of the region.  After World War II, the British regained command until 1957 when multiple territories came together to form what we know today as Malaysia.

Malaysia is a Muslim country, but there aren't wardrobe restrictions because only 60% of the population is Islamic.  Meaning 2.3 minutes after we landed I bolted for the bathroom and changed into some shorts.  Hello knees.

Our trip was spent at three different locations.  Kuala Lumpur (KL) acted as our home base throughout the vacation.

I’m obviously a pro on all topics regarding KL now, so I have provided you with some lifesaving tips to enjoy the capital city: 

1. First, relax with some exfoliation.  These fishes nibble off your dead skin.

2. Roam at the Bird Park (in shorts).

3. Purchase some counterfeit purses and sunglasses.  If this is illegal than I just borrowed them for the photo.  Here we are waiting to ride one of the many forms of public transportation. This would have been Meghan Vaglio's favorite part of the trip.

 

 

4. Go to Batu Caves (which is a Hindi cave temple) and dodge bats in a respectful manner.

 

  

5. Marvel at the Petronas Twin Towers.

 

6. Use phonetics to decipher your way through the streets of KL.

 

Study these tips.  There might be a pop quiz later.  Check back soon for photos from our other stops in Malaysia at Cameron Highlands and Langkawi.  Happy belated birthday to Madelyn and Greg.