Wednesday 2 February 2011

Goodbye Tiger - Heeeellllloooooooo Bunny!!!!

Family,

And a good evening to you from across the globe after another GREAT DAY in the Lion City. Okay, so first off - ANNOUNCEMENT (you know you've been waiting for this) - there will be NO BLOG after tonight until Tuesday evening (Sing Time) on 8 February. Why, you ask? Because Team Taylor is off to wrestle 600 pound catfish, eat food hotter than a nuclear reactor, find out how trim I am by running around Vietcong tunnels, and risk life and limb by crossing the street amidst about 20 BILLION SCOOTERS in Saigon, baby!!!! Oh yeah - let the travel begin!

So it's Chinese New Year's Eve tonight, which means that, at midnight, this place is going to BLOW UP. We are talking fireworks, screaming, parties - the whole 9 yards. Normally that would be wicked awesome. However, given that Team Taylor has to be up at 4 AM to catch their taxi, it's less than ideal for us.

In case anyone's curious - we just ended the year of the Tiger and are now entering the year of the Rabbit. That feels appropriate, as I feel someone needs to hook me up to a perpetual supply of Energizer batteries if I'm going to continue on my current pace for the next 11 months. I am LOVING the job and LOVING the work, but the pace of business coupled with 1/2 marathon training doesn't leave a lot of time for sleeping. But hey - details. And speaking of sleeping, apparently the legend on New Year's eve states that the longer you stay awake, the longer your parents will live. Mom, Dad, Tacy's - we really, really, really LOVE you guys - but we're just gonna put our faith in genetics and history and hope for the best. :-)

I will say that, with hopefully at least a LITTLE karma coming my way, I arrived home tonight to find a package from the condo mgmt company. What kind of package, do you ask? Well, it wasn't exactly a red envelope, but it did bring CNY goodies, was called "a red envelope for you" (but where' the damn CASH?!?!?!?), and came with oranges (they symbolize good luck apparently). And what was inside this little box of goodness, you ask? About 600 little cakes filled with an odd green goo. But hey, it's the holidays in the tropics, so I'm not complaining...

Oh, and Miller - in case you're curious, guess who's now the owner of all those fine "lead based toys" that you refused to take back to your children. You're just plain WEAK if you ask me. Dinger - to quote the Dude: "Tell me this doesn't tie the room together."

Dinner tonight was actually IN our building, as we rolled over to Hog's Breath (I mean, it's better than no breath at all...) for cheap pints and "American-Australian" fare (VERY CNY, I know).

It's truly a novel experience for us, and I can't WAIT to see what the Vietnamese equivalent (Tet, which some of you will of course know because of the offensive in '68) will bring in a city of 11 million people with no discernible traffic grid.

Lastly, it should be noted that, after a VERY frumpy week, 2 beers and 2 days off work has FINALLY brought back my Muffin Puffin's good spirits. I am happy to report that Funny Cackle Jenny (FCJ) is back!

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Great stories and culture clashes ahead! Chat on Tuesday!

Love,

Sam and Jenny

No comments:

Post a Comment