365 Project Day 5: A little thing called LOVE

The newlywed getaway car in Kstan

365 Project Day 4: I like to move it, move it

My travel last month took me to Hong Kong. One of the most densely populated areas in the world (according to Wikipedia), Hong Kong is an interesting mix of capitalism/western culture and traditional conservative Asian culture. The city was impressively clean and well-run. There were signs posted on business doors assuring customers how many times a day door handles were sanitized as well as signs about hand hygiene and how to properly cover coughs and sneezes. Sometimes I would forget I was in Asia until I would see people wearing avian-flu masks. A foreigner that I met who lived there for a while likened Hong Kong to London. Wouldn't know because I've never been there, but it's not surprising since Hong Kong was once a British colony. I like that this photo displays the orderly traffic lanes and three different modes of transportation: the red taxis, the yellow double-decker bus, and the pedestrian footbridge above the road. Can't you almost hear the rush of millions of people getting to work to make a buck?

365 Project Day 3: Blackout

Tonight we had the entertaining task of watching several men try to fix our electricity for a couple of hours. Our house was the only one that lost power - apparently due to bad wires. Amidst the protests of my roomies, I covertly snapped a picture of one of the men perched precariously atop a ladder. I didn't want to use flash and draw attention so it's dark, but anyway here 'tis.

365 Project Day 2: Lamb Chops

Just a regular day driving around Kstan and BAM you see someone's dinner riding in the back of the truck next to you.

365 Project Day 1: Mom's Chicken Enchilada's

I'm plagiarizing an idea for my blog. The 365 Project. A photo-a-day for a year. Since I love photography and I need blog material that's fast and easy to post...I thought I would give it a shot.

My roomies and I made lunch for friends today. Based on the fact that we miss Mexican food and there have been an abundance of imported tortillas in stores around town for a few months, we had decided earlier this week that we would make enchiladas. Wouldn't you know it, when we went to purchase said tortillas, they were all gone! Instead we substituted some really thin pastry bread "tortilla-equivalent" product. Surprisingly, they turned out better than the last time we made this recipe using real flour tortillas :-)

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

1) I walk, down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost…I am hopeless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place. But it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in…it’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.

Copyright Portia Nelson, 1980

T.I.K. #2 The Propane Man

Our stove is a gas stove, but unlike in the states, the gas doesn't magically appear from underground pipes. Nope, we have to purchase individual 20 pound propane canisters like people use for camping or grilling (check out exibit A on the right - our newly installed full propane canister that I successfully purchased last week). We purchase them from a couple of guys who drive a truck full of them through our neighborhood at least twice a day playing a repeating cheesy song like the ice-cream trucks in the states (but more melodramatic). When someone wants propane, they just come out their door as the truck drives by. One guy drives the truck and the other gets out into the back of the truck and slings the canisters over the side of the truck onto the ground. That part is the craziest part to me. When the tank hits the ground it sounds like the cement is breaking and I'm always afraid that the tank will burst. Usually my roomie takes care of buying the propane for our house. When I first moved in I couldn't figure out why sometimes she would just drop everything and run for the door. Now that she's been gone for the past 3 weeks and I've had to listen for the truck to come by, I understand. EVERY time I heard the song I wouldn't make it out of the house until the truck was already down the street. One time I called my neighbors to get them to make the truck turn around, but I didn't know the Kurdish word for propane. They will probably be giving me a hard time about that for a while :-) Here's a video of the truck and its song. I didn't catch them actually slinging the propane tanks off the truck, but you get the idea. Also, please enjoy my first try at video editing with my new Adobe Premier Elements program. More to come hopefully!