Wednesday and Thursday

So my Wednesdays are now really busy, and thankfully Roxanne has used the day as a work from home day, this coming week though the struggle of getting Brenna from school and getting to the Soccer Experience by 12:45 begins. I took the bike out again today and that did not go well...The Activities with the kids is going great and it looks like it may turn into a viable summer program...I have some fliers out for the parents and for the schools around and I have to sit down with Martin and see when I could do it and the cost. May turn out to be a pretty big deal, since there are few if any summer programs available for kids here, most of them go home anyway, but the ones who are left behind are out of luck. I am having fun playing as well and soccer goalie seems to have come easy...not that I was a very good Hockey goalie, but I guess I was good enough skill wise to understand at least the concept of angles and positioning. Beyond all that, which took up most of my day, the rest was all just down time and family time, good stuff though! Thursday is a fairly light day and again there was no Rita (sick) she was supposed to cook, and we were looking forward to that, but I guess we will have to wait until next week. I also had to cancel my client for tonight as my elbow has taken a crap (it hurts) I needed another full day to rest it or it would have meant no client on Friday. So it was a very routine day for us, Rox to work, Brenna to school, and me waiting for Rita, then doing some laundry so she does not dry the things that need to be hung up to dry. So It has been a good week so far...Rox has a girls night out Friday night and that means Brenna and I get to do our own thing!!Fun for both!! Loving Penang!! Goodnight!!

Review of Monday and Tuesday.

So I promised not to bore you with rather routine days, hence a post like this where I will cover two relatively routine days and just bring you the high and low lights. Brenna has been fully initiated into the world of pet death...Her last remaining fish, Mr. fins who was doing so well, despite all the other fish taking a powder...he just suddenly dies on Monday..I mean literally, on minute swimming around the tank happy as a...fish, and the next minuet dead on the bottom of the tank in full rigor!! I just don't get it...Mr. fins was a tough one for her to take, he was the last fish left overall and the last remaining fish from the first batch of fish we bought...he actually looked good...Brenna cried for the first time, and we will have to look into what we are doing wrong. I have never owned fish so I don't have a clue, but i never thought they were this hard to keep. I had my usual Monday client, that was most of our Monday. Tuesday, had me headed to the wet market, always an enjoyable trip and the interesting thing about this trip was the plethora of Frogs, yep that's right Frogs...not pet frogs either, cut em up and fry em up frogs...there were three different stalls selling frogs today...usually there is just one and he does not often have many. I have heard that frog legs are good, I would have a tough time preparing them though, so that may be a meat choice that we will have to wait on. the red snapper looked awesome today, huge fish, but we decided to do something different this week...not sure that was a good plan though...The fish here has been awesome!! (the eating kind not the swimming in Brenna's tank till they die kind).Tuesday was another client day, a Rita day (always interesting to see when or if she will show...we are getting some consistency) and a guided reading day. All three things went well, Client went well, Rita showed up and promised to cook for us on Thursday (not holding my breath), and guided reading was fun as always!! So the week has begun well and it has been two good days in Penang

A Great weekend in Penang...other than the dead fish!

So the plan for Saturday was to locate the Aquarium store on Jalan Burma. We slept in a bit later than we wanted, and then the cable installer came, This is the same cable installation we have been waiting for since the end of April, and we had to pay them $199RM to wait that long...THEN the total job took about 5 min to complete...there has to be some trick to this so that in case we want another TV hooked up...it doesn't take 2 months, cost $200RM and take 5 min. The thing is, that cable is not like in the states, unless it is like this if you live in a high rise. If we want all the TV's in the house to watch the same programing at the same time, that is easy, one time installation....If you want each TV to watch programing independent of each other, it is a separate installation, a separate billing...everything is separate...Is good to know however that the cable installation service is pretty much crap everywhere! So after the cable guy and lady left, we headed out to find the aquarium place. It was no problem to find, with the GPS helping us out, the problem was parking! We ended up having to park in the New World Park complex. New World Park is a big restaurant spot, there is also some shopping and at the time that we were there it was pretty crowded, kinda like the food court at the mall. We walked down a block to the Aquarium place, which was HUGE, it had a huge indoor pond with koi and other fish in it. We picked up a light for Brenna's tank, a thermometer, some new food, and 4 more fish, two more guppies, and two red sword tails. The place was really fun to walk around in and see all the neat stuff they had for sale. They had little rays, eels, turtles...it was cool! so back in the car and headed for home, We let the fish adjust to the water temp, and then set them free in the tank. Within minuets the two guppies were dead, and one of the sword tails died not long after that. Brenna now has one sword tail and the original Mr. Fins, who has outlived every fish we have had thus far...we are not doing well with the fish, and are thinking we need to get someone from one of these aquarium stores to come by and help us out...we cant keep killing fish, and Brenna said this morning..."i am tired of having fish funerals and flushing them down the toilet!". Saturday night was movie night and we all sat down to watch Fantasia 2000, with some popcorn. Despite the tragedy of the day we still had a nice Saturday.
Sunday broke with me going for a run...not so good...see the other blog. We also had the Soccer Experience, and Rox was headed to the gym, (GOOD FOR HER!!). the Soccer experience was fun today, Brenna got in a good sweat, and we had a simple lunch at Subway (better than Chili's or McDonald's) We headed home, and we are still at this point a 2 fish family, that is a good thing!! We decided it was time to get our guest bedroom ready for company...we are going with the "Field of Dreams" plan for the guest room...make it nice and they will come! We know that we are not expecting to see friends or family, it is so far and so expensive to get here, we are still hanging onto hope though...I mean Kevin Costner build a baseball field in an Iowa cornfield, and James Earl Jones showed up...I think its ok for us to hope!! So we bought new sheets, pillows and blankets for the room, hung our lighthouse pictures in there and are hoping that it creates some good karma!! We had some lunch in the mall at our favorite Dim sum place, and then did some grocery shopping. The rest of our Sunday should be relaxing and low key. I was supposed to have a client today also, but work caused a cancellation...it happens. Anyway, a great weekend here in Penang!! Until tomorrow, Goodnight all!!

Fireflies!!

So It was a very different Friday around the Neilson household, other than Brenna going to school, Rox was home, i had another massage client and we had a big trip planned for the evening. Massage client went well and i may have gotten so further referrals from it...we will see. rox had a ton of phone calls and work to do. The highlight of the day though was our trip to Nibong Tebal, to see fireflies. This area is known for its Eco farming, Octopus farms, and Fireflies (I think). So off we went with the Spiral Synergy group. The plan was to head off the island and down to Nibong. Dinner was up first and we went to a Restaurant called...

Which specializes in seafood, they are known for their crab porridge and octopus (Roxanne wants me to tell you they were "crunchy not chewy")...We had an excellent meal that included some braised tofu (not my cup of tea) and two different kinds of veggies, a celery like veggie with bok choy, and a leafy veggie that was like collard greens but not as bitter. The highlights of the meal, were the curried prawns, steamed octopus, braised fish, seafood fried rice, and the crab porridge, that included the whole crab, shell and all.

Braised fish

steamed octopus

crab porridge

Following the meal we took a short ride on the bus down to the launch site for our Firefly trip.

Here in Malaysia fireflies are called Kelip-kelip, which I heard means "blink blink, or flash flash". the trip takes you out on the river, brackish water, about 20 feet deep in most places, that is surrounded on both sides by stands of mangrove...the people in the area have worked hard to preserve the mangrove, however they are often fighting a losing battle against the land owners who often cut it down to make money in the "charcoal" trade, big business. The fireflies remain particular to specific types of mangrove and a family of fireflies will remain together on one tree or one stand of trees, from egg to full grown adult they only live for 14 days, so the time to see them is short. There could be thousands of them in any one stand and they all flash together.

When you come upon a stand of mangrove with a family on them, it looks like a well lit Christmas tree with thousands of yellow/white lights flashing all in unison...it was really quite a site. there were times along the river that we could go for a few 100 feet and they would be covering the trees for that distance, the reflection of them flashing off the water made it quite magical. It was very difficult to photograph, as the boat was floating by them, it was very dark, and although you can see them, the light that they cast is not very bright. Roxanne tried to take some shots, but all they were was black. The Boat trip was great and we totally enjoyed the fireflies and will be back with guests (if we ever get any) for sure, a worthwhile trip!! We got home quite late, so there was not much to do except get everyone off to bed...Goodnight all!!

Thursday

I promised not to post days that were just routine days, so this will be the last post on those lines...This was one of those routines days. Rox off to work, Brenna off to school, I got in my morning run and other than the fact that my evening massage client cancelled (re-scheduled for next week) it was a rather routine day. I did meet Martin (Soccer Experience owner) on my way down to the post office to pay bills (I love the convenience of that...yes, ok its not as convenient as throwing a check in an envelope and dropping it in the mailbox, but come on people...work with me here!!) who let me know that he had another client for me, and I got a phone call from another client, so I am now up to 7 clients 6 actively scheduled with one pending. I had no idea this could grow like this...I am hoping to get to a point where I can see 1-2 clients a day, some days may be more...although that might just depend on demand...the way this is going i may have to change my visa status to working and find out what it would take to get a business started here...not sure if it is worth it, but could not hurt to find out. So It indeed was a routine day, but it had a bit of spice thrown in...enough that I felt it was worth a quick note!! Have a great day!! goodnight!!

Wednesday

Ok I LOVE the roast duck from the Pulau Tikas Market!! I know its probably cooked for the expats, I don't care its really good!! I noticed yesterday that my duck lady also has spare ribs that looked really good, so next week I am in for the ribs...I need to get there early again though!! Ok so today is Brenna's short day and with Roxanne being unable to stay home today, it was going to be a scramble to get to the soccer experience on time....Thankfully Rox needed to get some sleep and that made my life a ton easier today! I also am late on our phone and Internet bill so the plan was to get out of the house around noon, walk up to the POS office, and pay the bill, then walk down to the soccer experience. I ran out of time...it was raining and that meant I could not walk as fast as usual...bu the time I got to Kelawi, it was already 20 till 1, and that did not leave me enough time...I will have to pay it tomorrow...no problem. So the time with the kids today was great, I mean really great, especially the little ones, there was a nice big group, and we had some fun...I spoke to some of the moms afterwards, and they seem very interested in doing a summer program, at least the ones that were here today, so that is awesome. The bigger kid turnout was bad again...only two and the original two that had always been there were sick. so with only two kids it changes things a bit...we tried Frisbee golf, and that went over like a lead balloon...then we tried Frisbee football, no luck there either...they both wanted some soccer stuff, so i set up some soccer drills, and they could hardly kick a ball?? I like the Frisbee games because it involves a new hand eye skill that many of them may not have ...the problem is that they are 6-7 years old and have never even seen a Frisbee before...I am going to have to try some new games with the big kids...they are really behind in their eye hand skills and behind on their general coordination skills...next week I will come better prepared with some stuff that will align with kids with different skills. The pickup game was good fun as always and I found out that my friend Mahesh (spelling?) is going away for medical school and this was his last game, he promised that after the game he would take me out for some real Malaysian food!! I was good with that for sure!! So we went down off of little penang road, and got some Cendol from a very famous Cendol stall. This is considered one of the best places for Cendol in Penang. Cendol is (well the version we had anyway) crushed ice,coconut milk, a noodle that has a tapioca base, so it is green in color, crushed ice, brown sugar and kidney beans...now I have to tell you that combination, especially the green noodles and the kidney beans...did not sound appetizing...I was wrong, not only was it good, it was awesome!! What I found so wonderful about it is the combination of the textures and the flavors...the brown sugar and coconut milk offer two very different types of sweetness, to mushy noodles and the firm beans add a different flavor and texture, and then the crushed ice...my friend Mahesh said that it is even better on a hot day, very refreshing...now right next to the cart is a small place to sit and eat it, Mahesh said that to sit in there is .50...you can go just a bit further down the street and sit in the dining area that is controlled by the cart...it has pictures of all the celebrities that have frequented the show since it opened. it is also a two generation shop, with the father having begun the business, and the son now taking it over. Mahesh got me two servings as takeout for Roxanne and Brenna to try...great guy, he is the one leaving and I get treated! I cannot thank him enough as this was a great meal and a great experience!

So back home, and Rox and Brenna are both enjoying their time, we had a simple dinner and both wanted to wait to try the Cendol ( If it were me I would not be waiting!!). Brenna is again struggling with going to bed because she took a nap this afternoon...I am not sure why this works this way, she is exhausted because she does not get enough sleep at night, getting up 2 or three times...she gets a 1 hour nap in the afternoon, is still exhausted and stays up until midnight...then brags about that at the bus stop....I don't get it!! anyway...another great day in Penang!! goodnight you guys

Tuesday and the duck lady is back!!

So since I did not make it to Pulau Tikas wet market on Monday morning, I went today...the mission was fish, but I did notice that my roast duck lady was back and she had duck to sell, so I stopped off at her first and secured my duck, then went onto the rest of the shopping. So fish...the red snapper was so good the last time that I figured that that was what I was going to get. I tried a different stall this time, as it was surrounded by people, and the mantra has always been "look for the crowds!" So they had a nice fresh looking red snapper, I asked the guy at the stall to fillet it, he said he would but then passed it onto his two cutters, who's English was not that good, so with a little hand gesturing and finally having to walk around and show them, I got two really nice fillets. I also got the fish head and a fish steak from right behind the head...not sure what I am going to do with them...may be some fish head curry!! Anyway, so for fruit is was mango, and banana, I was looking for blueberries, no such luck, but they did have some nice strawberries, got some grapes as well as some more mangosteen. For veggies, some more corn, some sweet potatoes, some lettuce, and more baking potatoes...The veggies is where things fall off, they have some really nice cauliflower, but the rest of the veggies I have no idea about so maybe some research is in order!! So back home from the market and then our domestic help Rita was here, and she really cleaned allot today...it still makes me uncomfortable that there is someones else doing things I am capable of doing, in my home...So I also had another therapeutic massage client tonight, that is now my 4th client...this is really exciting...I am thinking that with a little effort on my part i may be able to build a thriving practice here...that would be good from the perspective of experience, but bad in a sense also, because I could not take them with me when I left. it would be good from the sense that it would help me to learn what it takes to build a practice, but bad, because I may not have such easy access, like I do here (no Martin, no soccer experience). At this point though, I am just going to be happy that I have clients and that I am getting experience!! So we cooked the red snapper that I bought today, not the head, and it was really good, i mean really good...is there anything better than eating fish that was caught the day you eat it!! So it was a really good day in Penang, goodnight all!!

Monday

Well Mondays are never fun, not even in Penang. today I had another scheduled therapeutic massage client, I am steadily building a practice and hopefully a positive following...they continue to come back so that must mean something! Anyway, so despite that this was a pretty basic day, I did not do a morning run today but an evening run, and got the bike out for the first time this afternoon, good times!! The traffic on a bike is a whole new kettle of fish, I mean they are just insane on the road...I don't think they are used to bicyclists as of yet either.Anyway, not much to tell about today. tomorrow will be the wet market, another client and domestic help day, so it will be more interesting!! Good day in Penang!! Goodnight!!

My New bike.

So Today began as a Saturday of running and running around, I tried a long run this morning and more can be read about that on the other blog (afloridianrunnerinpenang.blogspot.com). The running around we needed to do was to get a package from the main post office that we had missed delivery on, so we went via cab down to the main post, only because the later in the day that it gets the harder it is to find parking, and we ere not sure if it was the right post office that were intending on going to. Well we got it right on the post office and got Brenna's package, another one from the nanster, Brenna does love getting her care packages from home!! This one had dome clothes, some hair things, and some "flossers"...yes it is very difficult to find "flossers" in Penang. Well since we were down in Georgetown, I asked my loving bride if she would not mind stopping by the bike shop, I wanted to see what they had in stock and see if I might possibly be able to afford a decent road bike. The shop was very cool, not a great selection, but a decent selection, and they were a Trek dealer, which is what i wanted. I found a nice, lower end (price wise) no real bells and whistles, street bike, and the sales guy gave me a great deal on it, and a helmet and shoes...I just could not pass it up! Brenna and Roxanne got to pet the kitty cats that they had in the back of the store, there were a few that were very cute, one that even had the same coat as CiCi...That was perfect for Brenna as getting the bike did take some time, with the fitting adjustments and such...The one thing i never thought about as we neared the end of the sale was...how in the heck we were going to get it home?? We took a cab down, and he was not waiting for us, and there was no way that Rox could get back here tomorrow with her photo tour, and the week, was a burn. So we asked if they could deliver it and they were willing to do it...Awesome!!

So we departed the bike shop, and went into a small antique shop that was close by, It had some cool stuff in it, but I would imagine there are antique shops here that have much better. We got some lunch (pizza hut, good thing i ran this morning), and then got a cab back home. It was pretty late by that time, and we were all pretty beat from the heat. Brenna had been promised a trip to the 7th floor of the mall so she could spend some of her money on gum machine figures, and we were a bit hungry for dinner as well, so we went to "Winter Warmers" cafe, mostly just tea, but has some other food, Rox and i both got chicken and Brenna got a tuna sandwich, it was good, accept for the fact that the lime mint tea, came with little wine glasses that were rim dipped in salt...ewwwww, man it did not make the tea taste very good, so Rox and I had to wipe it off to enjoy our mint lime tea. back home and bedtime for us all a long day and Rox had to get up on Sunday morning to go on her photo tour. Until tomorrow!! goodnight!!

The "Star Badge"...and the "tude".

So a plain old Friday, Brenna off to School and Rox off to work, I was going to run, then didn't, my foot is happier for the decision. I cleaned up a bit and worked some on the computer, trying to come up with a summer sports camp program for the little kids, which I am going to try and pitch to any of the parents that might be staying around penang for the Summer. Rox got home early as she had an interview with a prospective employee today at the coffee bean next door, it was nice having her home (she really is working too much, but don't tell her I told you that). Brenna was home not long after that and told me that today she was given the "Star Badge", she explained that she had done very well on her English assignment and that had earned her the badge, she further explained that she had a partner for the assignment, and felt that she should have the badge too, but the teacher "gave it to me." the significance of the "Star Badge" is that all of the students who get them, get to stand up at the end of the day assembly, and tell the whole school what they did to get the badge, they get to wear the badge for the whole week following their getting it, and it scores them points for their house. (we will take a picture of her with her badge on Monday). We were very proud of her and could not be happier that she has really come around in school, she really is a great kid!! the struggle however began when she found out there was no distinct "prize" from mom and dad for getting the badge, Dad had told her that we could go up the the 7th floor of the mall (where all the gum machines are with the cool toys), this was not however for getting the "Star Badge". the intention was that Brenna would be spending her own money there as she had talked during the week about doing that. Well Brenna approached Roxanne right before we left for dinner and asked "so when do I get something for getting the star badge" I'm sure you can guess Rox's response...The reply from our loving child was, of course "Well Katie and bla bla, and bla bla all got gifts when they got the star badge, I am not even proud that i got it now." goodness me, so it seems that our child has somehow gotten the message that doing well earns you gifts, this is not a message we have ever sent, at least i don't think so...In the past when she has done very well we have rewarded her, but not necessarily with toys, most of the time, a special dinner, or ice cream after dinner, something that we all can celebrate the accomplishment with...I guess we need to switch gears a bit and try to allow the praise to be what has meaning...don't know where we went wrong with this...Anyway, so that kinds sucked, Brenna took our being proud of her and praising her as being an in for some good schwag...interesting. Parenting can be tough sometimes, in case you all did not know this!! Anyway. so we took the now grumpy Brenna out to the Hawkers, to get some Char Koay Teow, at our favorite spot. it was very good, as always, and we ended the night with some min banana pancakes for Rox and I and some gellato for Brenna.

 When we got home, we talked to Cousins Kyle and Emily and Grandma as well. glad they had a good trip to Washington DC. Another good day in Penang!!

Thursday

So today was a bit of a weird day, first off, it was another day of wondering if our domestic help was going to show up...Brenna got off to school, Roxanne off to work, I got in a run, then it was back to home, to begin the waiting...Well low and behold Rita did show up, she had texted to let me know she would not be there until 2:30pm it ended up being 3:30pm, and she did so without any concern it seems, so we had a little talk, first of all we changed Tuesday to a morning shift, so I could get off to school and do the guided reading. then we talked about her being there when she said she would be, otherwise we are waiting and then she never comes. she seemed to understand...I'm not sure though. Anyway she stayed till well after 7pm and did bring some supplies for cooking, and did Brenna's hair very pretty (Brenna liked that, interesting...get the kids to like you and then the parents are over a barrel if you screw up...that is an old game). I had my regular Thursday massage client. that seems to be going well, and has generated 1 other referral and another one after that. so in a few weeks I may be up to 3 clients...not bad!! We got to talk to mom Mary on Skype and mom Pat as well for a little bit. so things went ok today...a good day in Penang!! until tomorrow, goodnight!!

And then there were two...

Well we woke to another fish tragedy...it seems that leaving the cover off the tank helped to clear the water but it also allowed Gup gup to commit fishy hari kari. i guess sometime in the night he leaped out of the tank and was stiff by the time we got up...2nd fish funeral of the week...not good, and gup gup was such a cool name...Rox asked Brenna if she was sure it was gup gup...she said YES! Today was my sports day at the Soccer Experience, my wife again graciously decided to stay and work from home, thereby making it easier for me to get to the sports stuff with the kids, on time...not sure if she will always be able to do that, but it is appreciated when she does. my only pre-kids sports fun at the soccer experience was to go and get this guy some football goalie gloves, I really love playing goal in football, it is a challenge unlike hockey goal tending, you are really never at an advantage, you are always at the will of the player, so it plays to my love of a challenge indeed. Anyway, off to the mall. upon arriving at my favorite sports shop, they also had a nice pair of boots on sale, so I picked them up + another pair of soccer socks. so gloves, boots and socks all for $70 US...not bad!! Back home, packed up, and off to the Experience for my time with the kids...it was pouring...not fun...the walk was not that bad though. I had some fun with the little ones today, we tried some new things, and even the parents seemed to enjoy watching the games we played which is good. The bigger kids though, we were again short by quite a few, but we had fun anyway. I spoke to Martin today, after the friendly and I am going to hand out some fliers, not only about the Wednesday classes, but also about doing a summer camp, just to see what the response will be...most people go home for a period of time in the summer and there are not a great deal of family's left around. I also have to do a flier for my massage stuff. I have 3 clients now, one that is a regular Thursday appointment, one that will be starting next Tuesday, and another that will be a regular once he is done traveling. I am also going to head down to the Experience on Wednesday nights as that is when the "older" guys play, and Martin feels that there is a market there that can be tapped...he has yet to steer me wrong!! So the friendly was fun, this afternoon, I did not do badly between the pipes, I just don't know the position at all, I remember some of what i learned as a kid in camps, but that was like 30 years ago, 25 at least. I just have fun with it and sometimes I make a save or two. So I arrived home...via Martin and his son, who were nice enough to give me a ride. Brenna was finishing up a play date with Katie, and we still had to get to the market for some supplies for tonight's meal (french bread pizza). Good dinner, and relaxing evening...

Tuesday

So Tuesday is my day to volunteer at Brenna's school, I do "guided reading"...I am sure I have explained this before, but for arguments sake I will again...i meet at school with a group of kids from Brenna's class. always the same group, and Brenna cant be a part of it, you never instruct your own kids. they are presented with a book, usually a short story or a collection of short stories, and they read it and I facilitate a discussion...well the discussion part goes well sometimes and poorly others, today's book was about people who survived challenging situations...I asked to the kids after the book, if they had ever been in a situation that was scary or if they knew of someone...well the creativity was flowing, friend of theirs had run from volcano's, they had been trapped in the rain forest and eaten by ants, one girl told a scary story about a ghost wearing a mans head, and she is usually the quietest one in the group!! So it would be fair to say that the book generated some discussion. I walked back home after the class and stopped by a little street shop that had some fresh mango's, I had gotten some at the wet market, but those would not be ready till Friday...I was having a mango craving, the lady who owned the shop seemed scared...I am not sure if it was that she does not get much traffic in there that is of the ex-pat variety, or what, anyway...off to home to get my mango on. There is another thing about my walk home i need to mention that there is a hawker stall on Jalan Cantonment, between Jalan Burma and Jalan Kelawi, its right next to the organic market I went to one time and across from the post office, it smells so good and advertises itself as vegetarian. I will be going there one of these mornings...I need to see what I should get there, time to sens an SOS out to the Penang food experts, they have never steered me wrong!! So the rest of the day was spent waiting for boo and getting her homework done and then cooking dinner. We are still a 3 fish family, so that is a good thing!! another great day in Penang!! until tomorrow, goodnight all!!

The Death of "Fish Face"

So we mentioned in previous bog posts that Brenna had wanted a pet and we were going to try and avoid the Hamster trap. (where would we put it when we were away, what to do with it when we leave in two years). So we had gotten Brenna some fish, just Guppies and a small tank. Well tragedy has struck, and "fish face" one of the 4 that we had gotten her has died. I don't know if there is anything more difficult than watching your child lose his/her first pet. I took it out of the tank, put it in another bowl and decided not to do anything till Brenna got home from school. I remember every pet I had, and I also remember how I felt when they died...it was terrible!! Brenna is overly dramatic about brushing her teeth, so I was envisioning a horror show of emotion over the fish. So she got home from school and I broke the news to her, she sighed and said "so, I guess that means fish funeral" and she made the flushing sound...she then drew a picture of a tomb stone and wrote "fish face funeral" on it and taped it to her bathroom door...we had our small service over the bowl and in he went...that was it!! I was astounded, she talked for a bit about why he died, that may be he had lived in the tank at the pet store for a long time, and he was just ready to die, possibly he was sick before, or may be the other fish did not like him and beat him up...we decided on the first reason, and left it at that. When Roxanne got home later, she cried...I think our little girl has us figured out, although i am usually the no nonsense one and Rox is more sensitive, I was ready to play the sensitive role when Brenna got home from school, knowing that the death of a pet was a tough go...She saved it for Roxanne though. Not easy watching your child lose a pet though, even if it is a guppy!! Today was a rest day for me in every way, I rested most of the day ,except for the wet market trip in the morning, and some cleaning before Brenna got home. I learned a lesson today though you cannot come home from the wet market and just put the fruit out, you have to wash it, because the bugs will be everywhere if you don't. i bought some rambutan, and did not rinse them, put them out and by 5:00pm there were big black ants everywhere on the table, so I rinsed them, killed the ants and problem solved, I will rinse fruit next time for sure!! Well guided reading at school tomorrow, and a run in the morning. NHL playoffs also....Good day in penang!! Fish face we hardly knew ye!! Goodnight!!

Sunday in Penang.

So I was up early today to join the running group at the youth park for their 15K run today. When I got home the house was still quiet, which is good as Rox has been so tired lately. rox and Boo eventually got moving, and we headed off to the soccer experience and the Gym, Brenna and i to the experience and Rox to the gym. Brenna was struggling with the experience today, being her usual dramatic self! Eventually she got out there after much grumbling from both Daddy and Brenna. My little girl is so funny, she dramas up the lack of desire to play, but when she finally gets out there, she has a big smile on her face and seems to enjoy it! she got another assist today, so she is getting better at it as well...she is a Brenna Boo!! so once the experience was over and Rox was done at the gym, we headed home for some lunch. Relaxed a bit and then went to cold storage for our dry goods and drinks for the week. Tomorrow i will be headed to the wet market for veggies, fruit and meat. The rest of the night was relaxing, other than the usual battle with Brenna over her homework...I think both Roxanne and I have decided that the battles are now over...Brenna will be told to do her homework, If she doesn't, its on her, not into the battle anymore, and neither is Rox. Brenna, seems to enjoy it, so we need to remove the attention from the negative behavior. Anyway enough of the psychobabble crap. Good Day in Penang today was. Oh I almost forgot, I have another massage client...so that's 2, and it only took me three months to start to get them...not bad considering. Well until tomorrow, Goodnight all!!

Dragon boat races and Guppies

Ok, so the day began with some serious sleeping in, for Rox and I anyway, Brenna was up at 6AM ready to get her fish. We had planned to do two things for sure today, the Dragon Boat races and head down to Air Itam to see about a fish. We had a chance to Skype with Uncle Jim, Aunt Angie and Kirstin.It is really great to see family hooking into the Skype video calling!! So we saddled up and got off to the Dam. Roxanne has become a very confident and proficient driver here, she loves the Batu Ferrengi road, its so twisty and turny!! The Dam was beautiful, and the Dragon boat races were exciting and fun, we wish we could have gotten just a bit closer, but i am sure for safety reasons they kept the public at a safe distance.

We spent a few hours taking pictures and watching the races, and then headed out to get some lunch, we were going to go by the Hard Rock Cafe, however, we missed the turn and ended up at the Spice market Cafe at the Rasa Sayang Resort (beautiful). We had a great lunch, and i tried some Nasi Lemak, loved the beef , chicken and prawns (the prawns were very spicy but good), the Ikan Bilis which was little dried salted fish...those have to be an acquired taste, because I just could not stomach them! I am sure this version was cooked for the tourist, but it was very good!! We headed home, and got in a quick power nap...the sun and the heat just takes everything out of you!! Then we got out and tried, with a substantial amount of success, to find the pet store that carried the fish. It was huge, and Brenna was at a loss to decide what she wanted to get. So she settled on some guppies, and she got 4 of them, we also got a small tank and  some stones to put in the bottom and some plants (plastic) to dress it up a bit. She is very happy and so are we, fish don't live that long so we don't need to face having to give up another pet in two years when we leave here. I have to admit though, the little robo-hamsters were cute!! So it was back home for us, and settling in for the night, neither of us wanted to cook, so we did the leftovers and sandwiches thing, which was fine, Roxanne was sporting a terrible headache and I was needing to do my core workout stuff, and Brenna well she was perfectly happy with a PB&J and some grapes. So another great day in Penang, i really do love it here, and already am finding myself seeing it as tough to leave when the time comes!!
Anyway, goodnight all!! until tomorrow!!

Update for Friday.

So Friday has actually become kind of a rest day for me, since the rest of the week for me is actually busy, although, Monday has not been filled up yet, It is more of a shopping day, with the morning spent at the wet market. So today began like any other Friday, Brenna off to school, and Roxanne off to work, Brenna has had some testing this week, i think it is much like the placement and abilities teats that kids do in Florida schools. I have heard though that some parents feel quite pressured by this and spend months beforehand preparing their children and sending them to special courses. We did not take it that seriously...Anyway, I got in a run this morning, that was good, got in some time at the pool before the clouds rolled in, the infamous La Nube, came rolling over the mountains and the sky's opened up. I do love the rain here, everything gets so quiet, and in actually cools down a little. Roxanne got home early today, since she had spent most of the week up until midnight or later dealing with business back in the states. This was a good thing, because I was supposed to walk down and pay the cable bill today, and forgot, so she reminded me and off I went. As I have said before, having a central location like the POS Malaysia to pay most of the bills is a blessing. With that done, we waited for Brenna and the bus together. She was one of the only kids on the bus this afternoon. She continues to talk about the turtle pond at school, and how they go down to visit the turtles and feed the turtles...Brenna can be so dramatic about things, i am curious that 1, its actually a pond, 2 that there are turtles or if it is turtle. She says that there are lots and it is a big pond, so I have committed on Tuesday next when i am at school to see the turtles. We went out for our usual Friday dinner to Dragon I, a good Chinese restaurant in Gurney, there is a bigger one in Queensbay, but the food was very good, seemed very fresh and well prepared. I am sure it is more tourist than local, but it was good!! the night was relaxing, and we are looking forward to tomorrow, each for our own reasons. Rox and I because we will be going to the Dragon Boat races, up at Penang Dam, and Brenna because we will be looking at fish tomorrow, she so badly wants a pet, and may be it will be her closer to being more comfortable here. Well that's it for today!! Good night all!!

A Busy Wednesday and The Therapist is in!!

Wednesday began with Roxanne again agreeing to stay home, so I could make it down to the soccer experience on time to work with the kids. I also had to get over to Toys R Us to get some stuff for the activities I wanted to do. I know that Sarah the woman who bag this program had a routine, but I had some ideas of my own, and I also have a decent network of therapists and teachers back in the sates that I thought I could add some new stuff to the program, no insult against what she had built! so after about $200RM at Toys R Us I felt ready for my 1st day with the kids. I headed down, got there early talked to my assistant Rhama, who was with Sarah and I wanted her to stick with it! We got the plan together for the day and went to it. The little kids were a good group, lots of kids to play and they seemed to have a good time. There were only two bigger kids, so we introduced "Frisbee football" to Pennag, and they really seemed to like it. It turned out to be a good class, and with a bit more marketing work, we may just be able to really grow the program, and Martin is very supportive, so that helps!! well following the work with the kids was our friendly match with the wine Bar folks, always a good time, even though today we got whooped. a good run though and I am reliving my high school and junior high days as a goalie. not the same as ice hockey at all...it is fun though. I think I am a bit small to be a soccer goalie! following the match everyone usually hangs around for a bit, and today it was well worth it. one of the guys that we play with, Mahesh ( I think that is correct?), who is a good player on the pitch is also quite the Bagpiper as well, I was extremely impressed...i am telling you Penang never fails in its effort to surprise and astound me with the variety of its cultures and the variety of their abilities and talents. I would bet if i found a way to throw down a sheet of ice and get some skates and equipment, they would be able to play hockey in a few weeks!!

Mahesh on the pipes!!

Well another great day in Pennag, in the future I will try not to account for two days in one blog, i got a bit behind, so now we are caught up!!


Thursday began as a routine day, with Roxanne off to work and Brenna off to school. I found out an interesting fact at the bus stop, we should have been paying Mr. Heng the bus driver, monthly from the beginning...we have not...so today I made sure that when I saw him, I paid him. I figure if we never paid him he might drop Brenna off somewhere on the mainland...so it was a good thing I asked about that!! The rest of the day I relaxed, unexpectedly...I came home from the bus stop with the intention of running, instead I fell asleep!! not good, but that is covered on another blog. I was also hoping that Rita showed up, and well...she did not...I did get a text massage at 2:00pm (3 hours after she was supposed to be here) that she was in KL and would not be back till tomorrow, well thanks for letting us know. Next week will be the week of the discussion...not going to be fun. So after that Brenna was home from school, and a bit of a pill if I don't mind saying...you know the homework and stuff goes great for a few days then it all goes bad, and she goes back to being obnoxious and standoffish!! today was I cant do maths, I'm a girl and girls are no good at maths...we worked through it, she finished her homework and we got on with the night. Now the good part about today was not just all the other stuff, but also that I had my first massage client today, an Aussie gentleman, who had some calf (gastroc and soleus) and hamstring problems...I think it went pretty well, he wants to come back next week, so that bodes well. We will see, pretty exciting that it only took me 2 months to get this going...wish it would have been sooner, but "beggars cant be choosy". So despite the difficulty with Rita, and Brenna's homework meltdown, it was another good day in Penang!! Until tomorrow!! goodnight!!

Tuesday

Well Rita our help was supposed to be here today, but since she just no showed on Thursday, I am not prepared to wait around for her anymore, and I have a responsibility that I have agreed to with Brenna's school. I volunteered to do guided reading on Tuesdays, and i don't want that to suffer, especially when Rita showing up when she is supposed to is hit or miss (I will be discussing this with her on Thursday). So I Ran this morning, and then went to Brenna's school (by Taxi). guided reading is always fun, they are great kids and although they are still kids, the genuinely seem to appreciate you being there and giving your time. I walked home from school, despite it being a bit drizzly (the rain sometimes makes it cooler). Got home, and had may be an hour before Brenna was home, so I cleaned a bit. Went down to the street to get Brenna from the bus, and she was able to get her homework done. Rox got home a bit later, so we got a quick dinner, and then relaxed the rest of the night. We are really finding that the days are becoming more routine...so not much to write about. tomorrow will be an interesting day, as I take over a youth sports program at the Soccer Experience...not sure how it will go, I hope well, but I have not worked with kids like this in some time. After that is over, I have my regular Wednesday pick up game, so it will be a busy day for me... Until tomorrow!!

Monday.

Today was cool, because Rox had off from work, public holiday in celebration of the Kings birthday...no not Elvis..King Agong. He is the head of state for Malaysia. After getting Brenna on the bus, we got ourselves off to the wet market... a light shopping trip to there this time, we still have some fruit left
(bought so much last time) and the veggies seem to last longer when they are fresh (who knew??). I really do love the wet market, we explored a bit more today, and there are so many undiscovered corners, with new things to see, and to smell. I also discovered that if you don't get there right at opening you wont get any roast duck, especially when it is a holiday that calls for food celebration. This time I got the phone # for the seller and I can call him around 7:00am, secure my bird and then pick it up when I get down there, Awesome!! We decided on the way back to walk a bit, so we went down Jalan Burma, back towards the house. We passed a Hawker on our way that was packed and smelled awesome, there was a guy right out in front that was making pancakes, and had a line waiting...they really looked good, I had not eaten yet, so I figured, what the hell!! Well we waited almost 1/2 hour (he cooks it to order right in front of you), we were told though, by others in the line that it was well worth the wait! So the batter is very thin, almost like a crepe batter, then he covers that with fresh banana (cut right in front of you), and raisins...he lets that cook a while, and then adds 3-4 eggs over the top of it, and folds in the edges, then he chops it all up, flips it a few times, and adds sesame seeds to it just before it is served. Oh my god, like one of the top 5 best things i have ever eaten...the guy in line with me said the batter is a secret recipe that has been passed down, and he can remember when the father ran the stall. I will be back for this for sure..it may have to be a Hawker we come to again. It was packed, if it is busy with locals you know its good!! We headed home, and rox went to the gym, I was going to go also , but i was a bit sore from Sundays beach run and decided to take a real rest day. Brenna was home by 3:00, got her homework done, and we had some Pasta for dinner, relaxing the rest of the night. Until tomorrow!!

Sunday...

Well big race day for me...covered in the "other blog" www.afloridianrunnerinpenang.blogspot.com. As for the family, it was a relaxing Sunday, not much going on...rox was feeling a bit under the weather, Brenna was not wanting to leave her side, So I headed to Soccer Experience on my own, love going down there! I am looking forward to Wednesday and taking over the kids program. I also talked to Martin about some "clients"  he was mentioning, and he let me talk to one of the guys, and i will be seeing him on Thursday night. My first massage client, exciting!! The rest of the day was spent with some grocery's, and then we rolled the dice and went down to the Hawker stalls for dinner, Brenna can be so hot and cold about food in general and Hawker food specifically. She actually ate an entire plate of Char Koy Teow all be herself, Rox and i got some lime/ cane juice, and then on the way out, got some awesome banana pancakes...a lazy but productive day today. the race was the biggest part of the day for me. We got to talk to pop and Diane tonight, which was good, we were missing talking to them. Ok so that catches things up till today, which I will post in the morning, I am exhausted, and I have to run in the morning. Good night you guys!!

Saturday at the Rasa!

Sorry gang I am a day behind...so I will catch up!! So today we had plans to go to the Rasa Sayang, i had to get my bib and stuff for the race tomorrow. So we headed out, really easy to get to, but i am so impressed with how confident my loving bride is getting on the road, I only wish i could get more time behind the wheel, I am still terrified of the driving!! The Rasa is so nice, 5 star hotel right on the beach in Batu Ferringhi. Picked up my stuff, and we headed back home. We had promised Brenna that we would go over to the mall as they were having a Beta and Guppy show...we thought they might also be selling some fish, Brenna is missing a pet so badly right now, but we are concerned that if we were to get a hamster here it would be just as hard to leave it behind when we went home as it was to leave buddy boy behind when we came to Penang. When we got to the mall though, we found that it was a competition and there were prizes to be won...no fish for sale...they did have hamsters, Guinea pigs, bunnies and sugar gliders...the tears started when we said no...I feel bad for the Boo, i really do...We just cant be cruel to an animal buy taking it in, knowing that we will only be able to care for it for 2 years, well less than two years now. We did find out where the store was that has fish for sale and next weekend we will head out to there and see if we cant get Brenna some kind of pet (fish). We also stopped by a small craft fair at Straits Quay, not too far from the house...Brenna got a little paint by numbers of her Pokemon characters...I would write who they are, but I cant spell it, and they scare me! We  had a really nice Red Snapper for dinner, got it at the wet market on Monday...it was GOOD!! A nice day here in Penang, another good one!! well I will get to Sunday, and then to Monday, sorry I am behind!!

Friday June 4th.

Brenna was home from school again, and I promised her a day at the pool, so we got some breakfast in us, and the headed down...It was a pretty day today, blue skies, nice breeze...I actually got chills coming out of the water...that was weird. So we had a good time, It is however very difficult to swim with Brenna, as she consistently wants to cling to you like an over grown remora. I tried to do some laps, every time though there was a giggling 8 year old grabbing my feet, trying to get on my back...in some way just not allowing the whole lap process to occur...just another thing to put on the list of "things you can no longer do once you have kids"...laps in the pool. So I quit even trying and we spent the rest of the time doing Brenna things. Rox was home early as Monday is a holiday and the roads were going to be a mess with people trying to get home. We relaxed a bit and Brenna got some Katie time...then it was off to dinner...Friday has turned into western food night which does not make me happy at all, but we will eventually have to get more adventurous as a group, or the two lovely ladies in my life can do the western thing, while I hit the local food spots. The evening was spent booking some trips to a few places for the Summer, with Brenna off for 2 moths and little to do around here, we need to get stuff together to keep us busy. so we booked a trip to Langkawi and another to Krabi...here are the links to the wikipedia stuff on the two areas, and you HAVE to see the hotel we are staying in in Krabi, and the one in Langkawi...We are really looking forward to some great snorkeling, and jungle trekking!!I have included the link for that as well! Awesome!!
http://www.railaybayresort.com/railayphoto/railay-gallery.php
http://www.berjayahotel.com/langkawi/index.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langkawi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krabi
Well another great day in Penang!! goodnight all!!

A day of waiting...

So Brenna had off from school today, The problem was that Rita, our domestic help would be here around 12:30-13:00, so we decided to sleep in a bit, then have some breakfast. I needed to "top up" on my phone...I really wish we could have done a month to month plan now, this topping up is getting annoying, but the service is good, so I guess I cant complain, and $30US a month for 3G and mobile Internet is not bad. We got back in plenty of time to meet Rita, I wanted to make sure that we were here, when she was supposed to be here, I am just not ready to turn over keys and leave here here on her own yet. So 12:30 passes, then 13:00, 13:30, 14:00...you get the picture...no Rita, and no phone call to tell us she was not coming. I think this is a done deal...time to move on and try someone else, part of me though would rather continue to take care of the place on my own...I was looking forward to the cooking part though...may be insted of paying out the money for someone to cook for us, and then hope that they show up...I can just take a cooking class someplace local, and do it myself...Just another skill to add to my already full resume... I could counsel people on their problems, give them a massage to help with stress, then cook them a healthy meal and send them on their way...I see this working out for me...the first Addictions/massage/food therapy center in the US...it could work!? right?? Anyway, so no Rita...well I am not going to dwell on it, too much of this experience, for me anyway has been very positive, so I wont let this one negative experience linger...moving on!! Brenna was a champ today, she waited inside with me the whole day...played with Katie a bit in the evening, but then it was dinner and Rox was home (she is exhausted). So it will be an early night to bed, and I promised Brenna some pool time tomorrow. another great day here in Penang...Until tomorrow, goodnight!!

A very busy day...special thanks to my Wife!

Today was a very busy day for me, a run this morning, then Roxanne agreed to come home early from work and work from home a half day.Today is Brenna's early day from school, and i have made a commitment to one of the local folks, to take over a little after school sports program that she does for younger kids, at the Soccer Experience. I had to try and get over there by 1:00pm, to just get a feel for what she does and see if it is something I would be interested in. I am not sure how I am going to work out everything!! Brenna is not off the bus till at least 1:00, and I have no one else to meet her...I cant be in two places at once. For today Rox was home, I thought that I would talk to the people at the program and see what we could work out, everyone here is always so helpful!! I arrived and of course the moms who are there are more than willing to help by picking up Brenna, they have kids at St. Christopher's, so it should not be a problem, I just have to firm it up. Now, about the program, it is indeed organized chaos!! I worked for The Children's Home, in Tampa a few years back, in the recreation department, and even that was calm by comparison!! It was crazy...I don't know if I can handle it, but I am going to give it a shot, mostly because I gave my word that I would and secondarily, because I think as difficult as some of the children are, they need something like this. I will be needing a trip to Toys 'r' Us though, as the equipment will be going with Sarah, when she goes. So from 1:00pm till 2:45pm...it was about the kids...Then it was time for my usual 3:00pm adult fun match...Today it was going to have to be fun indeed, as we only had 4 adults, our 5th tweaked a hamstring, so we recruited some of the kids and had some fun...until I tried to kill myself. I need to explain the setup that Martin has here (its really great by the way) it is a small pitch, about the size of a hockey rink, it is covered in AstroTurf that sits on a recycled rubber base. the whole thing is surrounded by netting, even the entrances onto and off of the pitch are net...and it is covered, which is GREAT for Penang, no blistering sun, and no problem when it rains. Anyway, I was going for a ball along the netting, played it back into the pitch, and figured I would just bounce into the netting, no problem...WRONG!! I was actually right at one of the entrances onto or off of the pitch and went right through it, I caught onto the netting luckily, and fell but fell softly and on my ass, so no problem...I guess it looked worse than it was, the whole time, people were asking if I was alright...No problem!! So after 6miles this morning, another mile running down to the experience at 1:00pm, and another 1 mile run back home, plus all the running on the pitch, I think I have had my exercises for this day...I spent the rest of the day, watching the world go by on the porch and an episode of Law and Order SVU, one of my favorite Law and Orders, thank you Itunes! Rox took Brenna to the pool for about an hour and half, then had a work call, we ate dinner and the night is winding down...early to bed tonight for this old dog...oh did i tell you about the dog...yes you told them about the dog...oh yeah in the other blog....ha ha I am so silly (can you tell I am tired). Another great day here in Penang...Until tomorrow...Goodnight all!!