Miscellaneous Photos and Information...

Well, the end of November and the first part of December hasn't been that exciting. Honestly, I feel like we've been on hold waiting for the kids to arrive for the Christmas Holidays. Our plan is to go to Bali, Indonesia, so there will be quite the blog piece after that trip I'm sure. Until then, here are just a couple of photos about our life in Malaysia and some fun stories to get you by.

Since we brought you the Fook Yew restaurant earlier, we've found another name that is equally as funny. Fook Hing Coffins, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I don't know about you, but I ain't buying no "Fook Hing Coffin" from this establishment. Would you?

Seri Hening Residence (where we live) had a Christmas Party for all the residents this last Saturday evening. Below is the view from our patio of the festivities. Van and I elected not to go. We found a butcher shop that actually had good looking steaks and we decided to BBQ for the first time. Now, those of you who know us well know that we love to grill. Can you believe, we have been here for almost 4 months and have not grilled once? It's mostly because the meat looks so different. But another reason is we were told by the management that we "could not" BBQ on our patio. So, in typical Briggs fashion, I accepted it, and Van did not because other people have BBQ's and BBQ'd on their patios, he'd seem them, so he was going BBQ, too. Now, BBQ's in Malaysia are REALLY expensive, much higher than BBQ's in the USA. So, we have been putting off buying one thinking maybe we'd get one on our next trip back to the States. In the meantime, we found a $65 Ringett (approximately $20 US) charcoal BBQ. Van bought it before the steaks and was excited to use it. So, picture all those residents out by the pool for the Christmas party and Van very stealthily sneaking out to light the charcoal. I looked out as flames shot up 4 feet in the air! He added lighter fluid to the "Match Light" (already doused in accelerant) charcoal and it was an inferno!! We haven't gotten a letter from management yet, but I can't see any way 100 some people missed the pyrotechnics at the Briggs' condo that evening. I laughed until I cried when I saw the look of "oops" on Van's face as he ducked behind the bushes by the patio until the flames died down.

This is our Malaysian Christmas Tree. We went with a tropical theme this year. IKEA had real Christmas Trees for sale for $165 Ringett, but they didn't smell like the Christmas trees you get in the Pacific Northwest, so we passed. Another deterrent was the fact that I didn't bring any ornaments, stand, or decorations with me and would have had to buy everything new. I guess I thought that they didn't really celebrate Christmas here, but they do in the respect of all the stores being decorated, Christmas Carrolls playing, lights around town, etc. The have the tallest fake Christmas tree in the mall I have ever seen. It must be 7 stories high!!We celebrate the Malaysian holidays (which there are lots more than we have in the US) here and as a result, didn't have Thanksgiving or the day after off. On the Saturday following T-Day, we had a traditional feast in the Hall where we live with most of Van's co-workers from Battelle Malaysia. It was great. Everyone brought something and I even found a turkey! The largest one I could find was 6395 grams (14 pounds - thank God for those online conversion tools). If it was any larger, it wouldn't have fit into the small ovens they have here, that's for sure. Anyway, it was a great celebration and fun was had by all. The food was incredibly wonderful and took care of that comfort food fix that plagues you when you are in another country.

A typical plate of wonderful totally American Thanksgiving fare in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The buffet line. Back left: Jaime, Carlo, Jill, Jerad, bending over white shirt, Nancy, moving forward, Glenn, John and Reinhold.

It was not quite the same as being home surrounded by family, but the Battelle family is a great group of people and fun to share the holiday with.