Gong Xi Fa Cai (Happy New Year)!!

The past week has been full of interesting events as we experience our first Lunar (a/k/a Chinese) New Year in Penang.  With Penang's population being ~60% Chinese descent, this festival is celebrated here like nowhere else in Malaysia!  We will provide more details later (after a few outings we have planned this week), but we at least wanted to share a few photos and quick descriptions to whet your appetite...

Cookies given to us by our friend Chun How Lee, baked by his sister and not only adorable, but very yummy!  Might have to add these to our Christmas cookie exchange next year..

Oranges.... the humble orange is a common gift during this festival as the golden orange flesh resembles a pot of gold!  We bought a box and have been enjoying our golden treasures every day.  In Penang, there is also a custom (Chap Goh Meh) at the end of the Chinese New Year celebration where single ladies seeking partners toss an orange into the sea as an offering.  We may not be here for that event this year...

Lion dances!!  We found this small lion head at the trusty Tesco and just couldn't pass it up.  Lion dances are common throughout the year as when a new business or home is opened, a ceremony to fighten away any evil spirits is held.  The lions are accompanied by drums and crashing cymbals and can be quite loud.  Many businesses wait until the New Year festival to hold their official opening, so we have seen (and heard) many lion dances in the past week.  This particular lion was none other than our own Brenna Boo (if you look closely, you will see pink nightgown peeking out at the bottom).  We are hoping it frightens away the bad electronic spirits that visited while we were home, disabling two aircon units, our clothes washer, one hot water heater and finally... our refrigerator all within a two week period.  All is fixed now and we are keeping our fingers crossed!

Some photos of a real lion dance at the opening of the Gurney Paragon complex next door to our building (the two towers reflected in the lion's mirror above).  We now have another Coffee Bean, TGI Friday's, an Italian restaurant and a noodle shop to add to our restaurant choices.  Will share more a bit later this week...

Happy Chinese New Year (summary of our first two weeks back in Penang)

So the Neilsons have returned to Penang, much like the Swallows to Capistrano...well not really but I was waxing...oh hell you get the drift!! Anyway, it has been two weeks now and I have to tell you, for me this is my first period of real frustration here. i think it comes more from the fact that I can often deal with those things that are outside of my control, but broken DIY problems frustrate me because i know that if i were home a quick trip to Home Depot or Lowe's, and the problem is solved, like changing out a defective switch. The broken washing machine, AC unit and refrigerator, all which occurred upon our return...That was way too much out of my control!! I have to say though, a quick email or text message to the owner and someone is on it. admittedly its like waiting for the cable guy in the US...oh "they will be there in the morning", morning turns out to be 1:30 in the afternoon, and the whole day is shot. Frustration aside, we now have a new AC unit in the mater bedroom, (we have decided that it is nicer sleeping without it though, so we run it a bit during the day to cool it off). the water heater in the guest room has a new switch (i could have done that!!), the washing machine has been replaced, and the refrigerator is fixed, three days without a fridge sucks, we are glad though that we just got back from 3 weeks away and it was not stock full. Good times!!
So we have started to plan for our trips, now that I can walk again (and run, just saying). This is where being married to an accountant comes in really handy, and where I can recommend accountants as spouses (sometimes its...well...difficult...lets just say). Don't get me wrong Roxanne is a wonderful wife and the best really but when everything you do has to be meticulously planned it can be a bit much...anyway back to my point...why accountants as spouses rock reason #23...Because everything is meticulously planned....ok, ok I know i just said that was frustrating, but when you are vacation planning it is awesome, i mean there is an entire spreadsheet set up in Excel that accounts for our flights, hotel rooms, transportation, meal expenses, etc, etc. for every place we want to visit!! I mean it is awesome! Unless I want that really cool angry bird hat from the Beijing tourist trap...then i have to dip into "daddy's hidden stash"...oh come on you all know you have a hidden stash, especially if you are married to an accountant...that's all I'm saying. So we have planned a trip to Phuket Thailand, where i will live out a dream and get to pet and elephant, may be even ride one (depending on eco and care factors). That will be in February. Before that though we will be celebrating Chinese New year with the I-Run folks. That should be alot of fun!  Hopefully we will also be going with friends to some of the events held locally, i am sure we will, and will be blogging extensively on these experiences, so stay tuned!! So rox back to work and Brenna back to school, which means the homework battle has begun again, ugg this is not a fun part of being a parent...every day its a struggle since we got back. i think we finally have a handle on it but it does not make it easier. Adding to the homework difficulty is the fact that Brenna has begun her FOBISSEA training, for the international competition to be held in Beijing. This is an international schools of south east Asia sports competition held every year, and the children compete in 4 sports, football, track/field, T-Ball, and swimming, so Brenna is running and kicking and throwing and swimming after school now and she comes home wiped out, so that makes the homework battle worse! i think that she can handle it though and this is such a good experience for her, hopefully she makes the team and we will be spending June in Beijing! That's about it for our first few weeks back, we seem to have gotten back to our routines, and today was a good day in Penang!!

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Neilson Christmas Vacation

So we are wrapping up our first visit back to the US, and I figured that a short synopsis of our trip and some observations of our return, after 8 months in Penang. December 16th found us leaving Penang, on our way to Hong Kong, which by the way was awesome!! We had almost a full day to walk around the city and although the air quality was not good enough to really see the skyline, we had a great time anyway.

December 17th found us off to beautiful Newark NJ...Ok, no matter what class you fly in, 14 hours on a plane is a long time, period! We landed in Newark, had a short layover, and were onto Orlando, it was late on the 17th by the time we got in and we were all VERY tired. Roxanne's step mom Diane picked us up and we were off to her Dad's house. Pop and Diane's home is very relaxing and our cat CiCi was there and very happy. Our first night in the states was not very restful, but we did wake up to the sound of a barn owl and sandhill cranes, nice!! We also had the opportunity to stop at Publix supermarket which was AWESOME!! We all missed Publix. The Next day found us in the car (I drove) back to St. Petersburg so rox could spend a few days working, kinda sucked for her...no...it really sucked for her, but at least she was able to save some vacation days. Being back in the "burg" was so nice, Brenna and i took a walk on my old running route in Coffee pot bayou.

I got to get some "GT Daves" Kohmbucha at "Rollin' Oats" market (we also at lunch there one afternoon...awesome). Brenna got to see her best friend Sadie for two consecutive days, with one of those days being a play date and the other to the movies to see "Arthur Christmas" (good movie by the way). We ate at all three of our favorite restaurants "The Moon Under Water", "Cafe Chibo" and "California Chicio". We also got to get some lunch at "El Cap" the BEST hamburger joint,

with my good friend Mark and Roxanne's good friend Sydney and her daughter Julia, good times!!
We also met some of the "Hockey Ladies" and their hubbies/kids...Jen and Dan, Lucianne and Christina, and Netta and Mike. they thought it was strange to go to P F Chang's, but its good food so it fits!! Brenna also got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus, because she did not want to sit with the Westshore mall Santa...she was too old in her opinion.

Leaving the burg was sad, but we knew we would be back at the end of our stay, so we said goodbye to our house and hoped that when we got back in two weeks, Brenna would be able to (maybe) see some of her Grace Lutheran friends.
So it was back to Pop and Diane's for Christmas eve, and part of Christmas day. Christmas Eve was fun and Diane works so hard to make it perfect, and it was. Roxanne's brother was in from Las Vegas, and our friends Marc and Nele, brought their daughter Jilene, she had recently turned one and joined Roxanne's step sisters daughter River, and her Nephews daughter Sophia. It was good to see family and see everyone in such good spirits. We were also able to get a good full family picture, Rox's family anyway.

After that it was onto Roxanne's moms, for the rest of Christmas day, we would stay there till Thursday the 29th. then we would be off to my parents. While we were at Roxanne's mom's we had a chance to go to a Tampa Bay Lightning game, they were playing the Flyers, so we were not expecting a good game, but they played great, ok strike that, they did not play well, but got great goaltending. It was fun to go to a game, it did not make me miss playing though (I want to run!!).

We also got a Greek salad, which despite the great food we can get in Penang, there is not much in the way of good Greek food and both rox and I love a good Greek salad!!

We said goodbye to Central and West Coast Florida, and headed out to South Florida to see my parents and my brother, sister-in-law and their two kids. On our way down we stopped at Bok Tower Gardens, in Lake Wales Florida, and met Roxanne's Step sister and her husband (Rachelle and Ben) and their little girl River. We walked around the gardens and also got some lunch, its a nice way to break up a long trip to my parents house.

We had a great New years with my family, Brian and Noreen we gracious hosts for new Years eve and our final meal with  my family. Brenna had a great time with her cousin Emily, they laughed, giggled, danced and ran around like crazy kids, they also got to go in the pool one of the warmer days, but it has been unseasonable cold on and off. We also took some family pictures with my family at a park in Deerfield Beach, Brian and Noreen have a close friend who is a professional photographer who gave us a break on her fees to get the pictures done for my mom and dad for Christmas. We had a great time doing the photos and it will be a nice memory that we will have in pictures. Today we headed out of South Florida and back to lakeland and Roxanne's mom's house. Tomorrow its back to St. Pete, to take care of dental and doctors appointments. Then back to Roxanne's dad's house, and the Thursday the 5th, back to the airport for our trip home to Penang.

A few last thoughts on this trip home...

First, as much as i love the wet market in Penang, and as used to the cold storage market we have become, there is nothing like the selection and variety of a Publix supermarket, and the ease and convenience of a Target. I think we all have missed that, despite how much we can appreciate a more local approach. Mega grocery stores like Publix and Mega stores like Target, do make things much easier.

Second, Our home in Penang is beautiful, and convenient. I miss our little house in St. Pete though, I would not have said that when we left, in fact i could not wait to get back from our time in Penang and look for a bigger house. I have discovered that i miss the cozy-ness of our house and its familiar nooks and crannies. I also like that if i don't like the color of the wall i can change it, and when the toilet breaks, i know (generally) what to do. Renting is convenient, but I like being a homeowner, and I like my little house!

Third, St petersburg...Penang is beautiful, the culture, the history and the beaches and jungles, its just a tropical paradise, pure and simple!! St. Pete though, pretty damn nice!! I love the coffee pot and snell island areas, i like the area around the pier, we live in a nice neighborhood, and well as much as i love Penang, i think St. Pete just feels like home...Although I have run in some amazing locals (and will run in even more) in Penang, at this point the coffee pot/snell island/St. Pete pier is still the nicest run I have done.

Lastly....If I could put a Target and Publix in Pulau Tikas, Get Heat Miser to let Cold Miser have like 1 month of cooler weather come to penang, get Running warehouse.com and Brooks running.com to ship to Malaysia, and get some NASA rocket scientist to release the Star Trek Transporter retail, so family and friends would not have to mortgage their homes and spend almost a full day flying to come see us, and win the US power ball so I could afford a home.....I would never leave!!

Peace out USA...Penang...see you soon!!