As Michele mentioned, we found a food stall at the local mall called "Balut Eggspress." You might have heard of Balut on Fear Factor, but it's a Filipino delicacy involving a fertilized duck or chicken egg. When the chick is still developing, it's boiled and eaten. You suck out the 'juice,' then eat the contents -- bone, feather sprouts and all.
It doesn't bother me so much that we found a balut place. What bothers me more is that it's a FAST FOOD balut place. Like McBalut.
We haven't had balut yet, and seeing as we've got only several months left here, I thought I might regret it if I didn't try. However, we already had lunch. ("I'd really like to suck down that duck fetus juice, but really, I'm stuffed.")
Like any good food court, they had free samples. It's like Chick-Fil-A, but without the fundamentalist Christian overtones... and mature poultry. Sadly, they had no balut samples. It's either whole balut egg, or nothin'. But they did have other samples: quail egg innards, which looked like little orange dumplings, and pieces of what the employees called "one-day-old-chick."
This was not cute furry Chicken Little. This was a skinny dead naked chicken corpse about four inches long. It had no feathers nor signs of feathers, and its eyes were bulging and bluish, rather fetus-like. It was fried without breading. They had a plate full of about 30 of them, all piled up like a mass grave. I don't see how they could be really "one day old," they looked like they weren't born yet.
Nevertheless, they were free samples. Well, not all of one. They cut them in thirds, lengthwise. I picked one up with a toothpick -- the head and upper ribcage.
Wisely, I bought an iced tea.
Michele and the kids wimped out. So I popped it into my mouth. For about a tenth of a second, I thought, "Kinda tastes like fried chicken." Then I bit down, and crushed its skull.
Then it was all bone fragments and squishy parts, mostly the former. The beak was particularly hard to get down. One shouldn't have cranial pieces stuck in one's teeth. Finger-Lickin' Good it ain't. I was queasy the rest of the day.
So I did it. And now you don't have to.
Wednesday, September 8, 2004
Monday, September 6, 2004
Mine Eyes.
Today is Labor Day and a holiday for us just like the rest of you.
The housekeeper came to watch the kids while I went to a doctor appointment. Ian took me because if all had gone as planned I wouldn't have been able to drive home.
Unfortunately, I went through the preliminary steps and was deemed currently unqualified. Arg. They said to come back and we'll see how things are after a course of minor medication. Ian will have to take a day off from work to do this trip again, and that frustrated both of us.
So what were the issues. #1: My eyes are too dry. I have steroid drops and imitation tears drops to use. Yuck to both. But maybe this is why my eyes are perpetually tired? #2: My pupils are dilated too much in normal daytime light. Eyes are dilated unnaturally to 8.5mm to have a surgery site of 5mm. Mine are naturally at 6.5mm, meaning that if I were to have the surgery, I could have a glare halo for several months. That explains why I have terrible twilight and night vision, especially while driving. I always knew I saw halos. #3: The image of my cornea came back "abnormal". A typical scan is centered with a figure 8 image on the screen. One of my eyes had the 8 but below the center. The other had no 8 at all and was below the center as well. I had to assure the optometrist that I haven't worn contacts in 10 years, so that couldn't be the cause of these malformations, could it?
I didn't make it to the dilation step. Though it could have been done today, it would have taken 2 hours to complete and next time I'll just have to do it again. I'm not looking forward to having dilated eyes in the least. Yuck. That and the LASIK just give me the heebie jeebies. She explained how they have a tool for holding your eyes open during the 15-20 minutes it takes and I can't help but shudder.
Considering how poorly I've slept for the past week because of anxiety over this, I'm surprised I'm still considering the procedure now that it has been delayed.
I just don't know.
The housekeeper came to watch the kids while I went to a doctor appointment. Ian took me because if all had gone as planned I wouldn't have been able to drive home.
Unfortunately, I went through the preliminary steps and was deemed currently unqualified. Arg. They said to come back and we'll see how things are after a course of minor medication. Ian will have to take a day off from work to do this trip again, and that frustrated both of us.
So what were the issues. #1: My eyes are too dry. I have steroid drops and imitation tears drops to use. Yuck to both. But maybe this is why my eyes are perpetually tired? #2: My pupils are dilated too much in normal daytime light. Eyes are dilated unnaturally to 8.5mm to have a surgery site of 5mm. Mine are naturally at 6.5mm, meaning that if I were to have the surgery, I could have a glare halo for several months. That explains why I have terrible twilight and night vision, especially while driving. I always knew I saw halos. #3: The image of my cornea came back "abnormal". A typical scan is centered with a figure 8 image on the screen. One of my eyes had the 8 but below the center. The other had no 8 at all and was below the center as well. I had to assure the optometrist that I haven't worn contacts in 10 years, so that couldn't be the cause of these malformations, could it?
I didn't make it to the dilation step. Though it could have been done today, it would have taken 2 hours to complete and next time I'll just have to do it again. I'm not looking forward to having dilated eyes in the least. Yuck. That and the LASIK just give me the heebie jeebies. She explained how they have a tool for holding your eyes open during the 15-20 minutes it takes and I can't help but shudder.
Considering how poorly I've slept for the past week because of anxiety over this, I'm surprised I'm still considering the procedure now that it has been delayed.
I just don't know.
Saturday, September 4, 2004
Labor Day Weekend
Nothing much is going on this weekend. I've been sleeping a lot the past week, last night I fell asleep while Ian was putting the girls to bed. The middle of the night was some dozing time, but I didn't actually get up until 6:30 this morning.
I wanted to write up a few things that have gone on the past week:
For one, I can't believe I haven't mentioned yet that Nicholas can tie his shoes! I know some prefer to stay with velcro shoes for the first 5 or 6 years but we've always used tie shoes as well and each of the kids has learned to tie their own laces right around 4 1/2 years old. He's proud of himself, as he should be.
Right after Nicholas's birthday he told me that he said he'd wait until he was 5 to learn. And no, I didn't push, nor did we have intense sessions of shoe tying lessons. We took it slow with learning one step at a time. First I'd ask him to just make and X with the laces and I would finish the rest. Then we added in the twist. Later, I'd ask him to make the first bunny ear, and so on. Easy, and now the only thing I do is double knot.
We bought Rebecca her leotard and ballet shoes at SM. If you're in the market for them, you don't need to go to the dance schools. SM has a section near the inside doors of the children's section. The shoe floor has ballet shoes as well. I bought 3 pairs there first (in different sizes), but they are not good quality. I didn't mind though as they will most likely be used as play shoes at home. For $2/pair it wasn't a waste. In the dance supplies section, I bought a much more durable pair for P499/$9 and the leotard for P459/$8. She's all set for Tuesday.
Katherine has been doing well with organization in school. She's only forgotten to bring home her PE uniform once and her spelling book once. She says she's regularly using her glasses and is being responsible for them, to the point of using them for computer, keeping them safe in a locker during PE and then missing the bus to retrieve them from the locker after PE, where she's forgotten them.
I had a talk with another 3rd grade mom on Friday and she was concerned with the class. I admit I looked a little lost. She said that the homework is difficult to follow and I agreed that it seems much of the detail of their homework is left up to the kids to remember from being told in school. Katherine seems to be doing OK with that, so I wasn't worried about it. Then she said that they were reading _Charlotte's Web_ and I completely blanked. She said her daughter was having a little trouble keeping up with the night time reading. I didn't even know they were reading _Charlott's Web_, Katherine has never brought the book home. Then there was the question of the spelling words and where they were coming from. There's a list of about 30 words that come home on Monday and there doesn't seem to be a method to the chosen words.
I told her I'd ask Katherine about it.
Well, about the book, they are indeed reading _Charlotte's Web_, but Katherine has never brought the book home because she reads in her spare time and is well ahead of where they should be in class. The spelling words were explained in the 3rd grade Friday report I just read through. Words are chosen from a 3rd grade list but also from the work done in class. So it seems that all is well.
Jonathon is doing well and enjoying preschool. Everyone loves him, he's the Smiling Boy. Of course not all is roses, he made it to the Red Chair timeout for fighting on Friday. It's his first timeout for the year and it was a doozy. His brother shared the timeout with him for fighting with the same boy.
Yesterday we had lunch at the SM foodcourt. Wendy's, Jollibee, Tokyo Tokyo, so many of the same places as right outside the door. But we did see one that was unexpected: Balut Eggspress. I think I'll let Ian tell about that little adventure.
Today is the CCD Mass at church. CCD starts 15 September, we do the Wednesday classes because otherwise Sunday mornings are a mess with the classes partially overlapping Mass.
Then this afternoon we'll play some tennis and the kids will have their swim lesson. I don't like this timing at all for the swimming but since we don't live at Seafront it's the only timing that works moderatly well for everyone Only 6 more weeks to go and then we'll take a break.
I wanted to write up a few things that have gone on the past week:
For one, I can't believe I haven't mentioned yet that Nicholas can tie his shoes! I know some prefer to stay with velcro shoes for the first 5 or 6 years but we've always used tie shoes as well and each of the kids has learned to tie their own laces right around 4 1/2 years old. He's proud of himself, as he should be.
Right after Nicholas's birthday he told me that he said he'd wait until he was 5 to learn. And no, I didn't push, nor did we have intense sessions of shoe tying lessons. We took it slow with learning one step at a time. First I'd ask him to just make and X with the laces and I would finish the rest. Then we added in the twist. Later, I'd ask him to make the first bunny ear, and so on. Easy, and now the only thing I do is double knot.
We bought Rebecca her leotard and ballet shoes at SM. If you're in the market for them, you don't need to go to the dance schools. SM has a section near the inside doors of the children's section. The shoe floor has ballet shoes as well. I bought 3 pairs there first (in different sizes), but they are not good quality. I didn't mind though as they will most likely be used as play shoes at home. For $2/pair it wasn't a waste. In the dance supplies section, I bought a much more durable pair for P499/$9 and the leotard for P459/$8. She's all set for Tuesday.
Katherine has been doing well with organization in school. She's only forgotten to bring home her PE uniform once and her spelling book once. She says she's regularly using her glasses and is being responsible for them, to the point of using them for computer, keeping them safe in a locker during PE and then missing the bus to retrieve them from the locker after PE, where she's forgotten them.
I had a talk with another 3rd grade mom on Friday and she was concerned with the class. I admit I looked a little lost. She said that the homework is difficult to follow and I agreed that it seems much of the detail of their homework is left up to the kids to remember from being told in school. Katherine seems to be doing OK with that, so I wasn't worried about it. Then she said that they were reading _Charlotte's Web_ and I completely blanked. She said her daughter was having a little trouble keeping up with the night time reading. I didn't even know they were reading _Charlott's Web_, Katherine has never brought the book home. Then there was the question of the spelling words and where they were coming from. There's a list of about 30 words that come home on Monday and there doesn't seem to be a method to the chosen words.
I told her I'd ask Katherine about it.
Well, about the book, they are indeed reading _Charlotte's Web_, but Katherine has never brought the book home because she reads in her spare time and is well ahead of where they should be in class. The spelling words were explained in the 3rd grade Friday report I just read through. Words are chosen from a 3rd grade list but also from the work done in class. So it seems that all is well.
Jonathon is doing well and enjoying preschool. Everyone loves him, he's the Smiling Boy. Of course not all is roses, he made it to the Red Chair timeout for fighting on Friday. It's his first timeout for the year and it was a doozy. His brother shared the timeout with him for fighting with the same boy.
Yesterday we had lunch at the SM foodcourt. Wendy's, Jollibee, Tokyo Tokyo, so many of the same places as right outside the door. But we did see one that was unexpected: Balut Eggspress. I think I'll let Ian tell about that little adventure.
Today is the CCD Mass at church. CCD starts 15 September, we do the Wednesday classes because otherwise Sunday mornings are a mess with the classes partially overlapping Mass.
Then this afternoon we'll play some tennis and the kids will have their swim lesson. I don't like this timing at all for the swimming but since we don't live at Seafront it's the only timing that works moderatly well for everyone Only 6 more weeks to go and then we'll take a break.
Friday, September 3, 2004
Prayers
Prayers for the stopping of the heartache and misery and loss in Russia today.
Three days ago hundreds of children with their parents and teachers were taken hostage in a Russian school. It was the first day of school, a group of radical Chechnyans stormed in and took over.
Earlier, a group of about 25 infants and adults were released.
Today when the terrorists agreed to release the dead, children began to escape and when the militants noticed them they opened fire on the escapees. This drew return fire from the soldiers surrounding the school and a spur of the moment siege. It's been 3 hours of a firefight now, many hostages have escaped, several have died. There are still hostages in the school, but the Chechnyans have set off blasts, part of the school roof has collapsed, and in the gymnasium where the children had been gathered there appears to be a pile of bodies.
No one knows anything for certain. Who are these people? How many were there? What do they want? How did the initial group of hostages escape? How many hostages were there initially? How many are dead? How many militants remain? Why are the children practically stripped of clothing?
Watching the children return to their families has me in tears. What heartache. What misery. What sadness.
And what joy for the miracle of safe return.
Three days ago hundreds of children with their parents and teachers were taken hostage in a Russian school. It was the first day of school, a group of radical Chechnyans stormed in and took over.
Earlier, a group of about 25 infants and adults were released.
Today when the terrorists agreed to release the dead, children began to escape and when the militants noticed them they opened fire on the escapees. This drew return fire from the soldiers surrounding the school and a spur of the moment siege. It's been 3 hours of a firefight now, many hostages have escaped, several have died. There are still hostages in the school, but the Chechnyans have set off blasts, part of the school roof has collapsed, and in the gymnasium where the children had been gathered there appears to be a pile of bodies.
No one knows anything for certain. Who are these people? How many were there? What do they want? How did the initial group of hostages escape? How many hostages were there initially? How many are dead? How many militants remain? Why are the children practically stripped of clothing?
Watching the children return to their families has me in tears. What heartache. What misery. What sadness.
And what joy for the miracle of safe return.
It's September
This year the girls both have Filipino teachers. Rebecca says school is OK, Katherine said the first day that she had all the best teachers. Neither one of them has any homework worth commenting on (Katherine has spelling words and some math worksheets, Rebecca has some reading and lots of parent involved "work")
Afterschool activities are in full-swing as well. Rebecca had her first ballet class on Tuesday and while she had fun she was also very serious when following her teacher's directions. I'm glad to see her apply herself to something. She should though, she's been asking to take ballet for a year now. Thursday she had her first Sculpture class and she thoroughly enjoyed playing with clay and making a picture with it.
Katherine is still doing swim team. I hope to get over there about once a week to watch her progress. She loves it and it has radically affected her calorie intake. She's much like Helen from "The Miracle Worker", wandering around the table and finishing off what everyone has left behind after dinner.
The boys had Water Fun Day at AmeriKids and then played at Katie's house. Nicholas proclaimed Sean, her big brother, the coolest big brother ever.
Afterschool activities are in full-swing as well. Rebecca had her first ballet class on Tuesday and while she had fun she was also very serious when following her teacher's directions. I'm glad to see her apply herself to something. She should though, she's been asking to take ballet for a year now. Thursday she had her first Sculpture class and she thoroughly enjoyed playing with clay and making a picture with it.
Katherine is still doing swim team. I hope to get over there about once a week to watch her progress. She loves it and it has radically affected her calorie intake. She's much like Helen from "The Miracle Worker", wandering around the table and finishing off what everyone has left behind after dinner.
The boys had Water Fun Day at AmeriKids and then played at Katie's house. Nicholas proclaimed Sean, her big brother, the coolest big brother ever.
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Merry Christmas. It's September 1st.
The Christmas season begins in September in the Philippines.
Halloween is celebrated here as well, but while you cannot find a single pumpkin the stores are already decorating for December 25th with trees and lightbulb reindeer with rotating heads. Soon, Christmas music will hit the airwaves. Earlier this week the nurses at Med asked if I was getting ready. Ian has had visa applicants wish him a Merry Christmas.
While I do Christmas shopping throughout the year, I still like to enjoy my holidays in order. I accept that Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here (duh), but since they do Halloween, couldn't Christmas wait until November 1st?
This will be our last holiday season in Manila so we will enjoy it and perhaps even purchase a blinking parole for memory's sake.
Halloween is celebrated here as well, but while you cannot find a single pumpkin the stores are already decorating for December 25th with trees and lightbulb reindeer with rotating heads. Soon, Christmas music will hit the airwaves. Earlier this week the nurses at Med asked if I was getting ready. Ian has had visa applicants wish him a Merry Christmas.
While I do Christmas shopping throughout the year, I still like to enjoy my holidays in order. I accept that Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here (duh), but since they do Halloween, couldn't Christmas wait until November 1st?
This will be our last holiday season in Manila so we will enjoy it and perhaps even purchase a blinking parole for memory's sake.
My time with Jeff
I too had a great time with Jeff visiting. Though I worked most of that time, and just saw him in the evening, we did have a couple jaunts to ourselves: A long weekend in Korea, and a flight above Luzon Island.
Korea was Jeff's idea, and a darn good one. We hadn't taken a travel adventure together in a long while, so we went to Seoul for a long weekend, as he would be flying through Seoul on the way here. We did some planning, but not a great deal -- just enough to know the areas we wanted to get to.
We spent the first day in central Seoul. We went to Gyeongbokgung Palace, a collection of beautiful buildings, temples and courtyards. This palace was the seat of the Joseon dynasty, which lasted over 500 years, until 1910. Then we went to the National Museum, next door. National Museums are either good, or not good. This one was more of the latter -- too many pots, coins, pieces of buildings. Interesting, but they start to run together after the first few rooms. Far better was the War Memorial Museum. Now this was cool. It tells the story from Korea's inception right up until now. Fitting, since Korea's existence is defined by war. Whether that's war against barbarian tribes, Japan, China, the British, the French, assorted other Asian nations, or, most recently, itself, you can track the history and development of Korea by its wars. The War Memorial Museum does a wonderful job of this, through artifacts, videos, even little Chuck E Cheese-esque animatronic exhibits of naval battles. The most gripping story, of course, is the war between the North and South. It's amazing how much we didn't know: how the North advanced all the way to Busan in the southeastern corner of the country, and was days from total victory, how the North grossly outmatched and yet surprised the South, how the South were forced to toss everyone, including Seoul students and military cadets, into battle. We spent over 3 hours there, and could have easily spent more.
On Saturday, we went to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea. No, really. Thanks to a friend at our Embassy in Seoul, we scored tickets to the USO tour of the DMZ and "peace village" of Panmunjom. Panmunjom actually means "Joint Security Area," which doesn't sound very peace-y at all. There, we went into one of the infiltration tunnels dug by the North into South Korea in the 1970s. We got a great view of the "Propaganda Village" in North Korea, which until very recently was deserted and existed only to blast propaganda broadcasts southward. Now, thanks to an agreement this year, it has a few workers in it, and the propaganda is blasted back north. In Panmunjom, we went into the Conference Room, where summit meetings are held and duty officers from both sides meet daily. A line goes through the room, representing the control border between both sides of the DMZ. Hence, we went over to the North. It didn't feel so strange. What felt strange was the creepy DPRK soldier that kept poking his head next to the outside of the glass windows on their side and staring at us. He didn't seem to mind all the pictures taken of him, either.
The DMZ is full of great and harrowing stories, many of which we learned on the trip. Here's one: Why were B-52 bombers, 27 helicopters and a platoon of soldiers needed to trim an overgrown tree?
Seoul is great for stories, as well as souvenirs, but we also took a roadtrip to Gyeongju in southeastern Korea. It took about 4 hours to drive there, more if the map you're using has all the street numbers wrong. Sometime between the printing of our map and when we went, all the highway numbers changed! Lonely Planet Korea doesn't even have a section for driving around, and we discovered that people just don't. Why? Here's three reasons:
1) Traffic in Seoul sucks.
2) It cost over US$100 to fill up our rental car, a Samsung. (Yeah, they make cars. But Samsung cars drive as well as Samsung TVs.)
3) Their road food. They have tons of highway rest stops, like the ones on I-95 in the mid-Atlantic. But the food! Jeff had a fried thing that had a label in Hangul characters that sounded like "Pee Zaa Hot Do Gee." Pizza Hotdoggee. It was neither Pizza nor Hotdoggee. I had something that looked identical to a bratwurst on a stick, complete with grill marks. When I bit it into it, the conversation went like this:
Jeff: What is it?
Ian: It's not bratwurst. It's... I think it's fish.
Jeff: Fish? It's on a stick.
Ian: True, but it really is fish. And squishy.
I was right. It was grilled fish paste on a stick. Who came up with this? "Stupid round-eye Americans won't eat fish paste. Let's put it on a stick!" Ugh.
But Gyongju was worth it. It truly is a museum without walls. It's the seat of the Shilla dynasty, which ruled for about a thousand years. We saw two UNESCO heritage sites, and burial mounds of its kings scattered throughout the city.
Our second adventure together was back in the Philippines. Jeff went up with me in a Beech Musketeer as we flew over Batangas, Lake Taal, Cavite, and Corregidor. He had fun, and only had a tiny panic as I took a steep turn for a closer look at a grass airstrip. Now I need to take Michele and the kids for a flight.
Jeff and I did have another short adventure together, which Michele alluded to. But we decided that we'll keep that one in our pockets for the next time someone accuses us of not being adventurous enough.
Thanks, Jeff, for a great visit. We'll see you when we return.
Korea was Jeff's idea, and a darn good one. We hadn't taken a travel adventure together in a long while, so we went to Seoul for a long weekend, as he would be flying through Seoul on the way here. We did some planning, but not a great deal -- just enough to know the areas we wanted to get to.
We spent the first day in central Seoul. We went to Gyeongbokgung Palace, a collection of beautiful buildings, temples and courtyards. This palace was the seat of the Joseon dynasty, which lasted over 500 years, until 1910. Then we went to the National Museum, next door. National Museums are either good, or not good. This one was more of the latter -- too many pots, coins, pieces of buildings. Interesting, but they start to run together after the first few rooms. Far better was the War Memorial Museum. Now this was cool. It tells the story from Korea's inception right up until now. Fitting, since Korea's existence is defined by war. Whether that's war against barbarian tribes, Japan, China, the British, the French, assorted other Asian nations, or, most recently, itself, you can track the history and development of Korea by its wars. The War Memorial Museum does a wonderful job of this, through artifacts, videos, even little Chuck E Cheese-esque animatronic exhibits of naval battles. The most gripping story, of course, is the war between the North and South. It's amazing how much we didn't know: how the North advanced all the way to Busan in the southeastern corner of the country, and was days from total victory, how the North grossly outmatched and yet surprised the South, how the South were forced to toss everyone, including Seoul students and military cadets, into battle. We spent over 3 hours there, and could have easily spent more.
On Saturday, we went to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea. No, really. Thanks to a friend at our Embassy in Seoul, we scored tickets to the USO tour of the DMZ and "peace village" of Panmunjom. Panmunjom actually means "Joint Security Area," which doesn't sound very peace-y at all. There, we went into one of the infiltration tunnels dug by the North into South Korea in the 1970s. We got a great view of the "Propaganda Village" in North Korea, which until very recently was deserted and existed only to blast propaganda broadcasts southward. Now, thanks to an agreement this year, it has a few workers in it, and the propaganda is blasted back north. In Panmunjom, we went into the Conference Room, where summit meetings are held and duty officers from both sides meet daily. A line goes through the room, representing the control border between both sides of the DMZ. Hence, we went over to the North. It didn't feel so strange. What felt strange was the creepy DPRK soldier that kept poking his head next to the outside of the glass windows on their side and staring at us. He didn't seem to mind all the pictures taken of him, either.
The DMZ is full of great and harrowing stories, many of which we learned on the trip. Here's one: Why were B-52 bombers, 27 helicopters and a platoon of soldiers needed to trim an overgrown tree?
Seoul is great for stories, as well as souvenirs, but we also took a roadtrip to Gyeongju in southeastern Korea. It took about 4 hours to drive there, more if the map you're using has all the street numbers wrong. Sometime between the printing of our map and when we went, all the highway numbers changed! Lonely Planet Korea doesn't even have a section for driving around, and we discovered that people just don't. Why? Here's three reasons:
1) Traffic in Seoul sucks.
2) It cost over US$100 to fill up our rental car, a Samsung. (Yeah, they make cars. But Samsung cars drive as well as Samsung TVs.)
3) Their road food. They have tons of highway rest stops, like the ones on I-95 in the mid-Atlantic. But the food! Jeff had a fried thing that had a label in Hangul characters that sounded like "Pee Zaa Hot Do Gee." Pizza Hotdoggee. It was neither Pizza nor Hotdoggee. I had something that looked identical to a bratwurst on a stick, complete with grill marks. When I bit it into it, the conversation went like this:
Jeff: What is it?
Ian: It's not bratwurst. It's... I think it's fish.
Jeff: Fish? It's on a stick.
Ian: True, but it really is fish. And squishy.
I was right. It was grilled fish paste on a stick. Who came up with this? "Stupid round-eye Americans won't eat fish paste. Let's put it on a stick!" Ugh.
But Gyongju was worth it. It truly is a museum without walls. It's the seat of the Shilla dynasty, which ruled for about a thousand years. We saw two UNESCO heritage sites, and burial mounds of its kings scattered throughout the city.
Our second adventure together was back in the Philippines. Jeff went up with me in a Beech Musketeer as we flew over Batangas, Lake Taal, Cavite, and Corregidor. He had fun, and only had a tiny panic as I took a steep turn for a closer look at a grass airstrip. Now I need to take Michele and the kids for a flight.
Jeff and I did have another short adventure together, which Michele alluded to. But we decided that we'll keep that one in our pockets for the next time someone accuses us of not being adventurous enough.
Thanks, Jeff, for a great visit. We'll see you when we return.
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