No longer in China

Obviously we're back home, but we've got the repatriation blues. It's a very minor case I think, and it was anticipated. What is really translates to is that some days, we just like to reminesce about our past two years, that's all.

Time to change this blog to Josh and Mai Kao in Minnesota!

new post

hi guys! josh downloaded a VIRUS in our computer last week, and we've been out of commission since then. got an anti virus, brought it to our chinese IT peeps, but it's still not working.

so... maybe you'll get more of an update from us once we're in Australia. we're leaving this saturday. we're been really busy since then. we'll try to call home before we go, in case as bee says, we get bit by kangeroos and don't make it back.

Question of the day: Is the ark of the covenant in Ethiopia? Josh believes it is with all his heart.

Learning

Sometimes I wish I had Kakashi's copy-cat ninja powers. Or like that girl on Heroes that watched Ipod videos and could instantly do what we just saw.

I've concluded that it takes a lot of time to learn. People might be thinking, "Duh! Everyone knows that." But really, grasping what that means puts the past few years of my life in to a little more perspective.

I haven't learned too much.

I mean, considering that a kid spends ages 5-18 strictly on learning is pretty intense. And what they're expected to learn makes it even more amazing! Even if not much is retained by the end of all those years, hopefully most have got the gist of things.

After high school you really have to be committed in order to keep on learning. That means time, effort, and/or experience. Most people aren't willing to do that or they're not able to keep it up.

There are a few people that I know that really inspire me all the time to try my best and keep learning. Someday, I'll let you know who you are!

Coming Home!

We are getting ready to move back home (meaning the United States.) We're packing things, looking at plane tickets, and just mentally preparing ourselves. We're both in agreement on this-- that it is time to come home. We're anxious and eager and ready!

Though there are lots of places to go, we will live in MN for the short near future. What does that mean? It's important for us to spend some time with family and friends that are living there. We also don't intend to be there for a significantly long time. Of course, you'll say everyone who moves to live there never intends to stay there long, but ends up being there forever.

Trust us on this one, though. Minnesota is really not where we want to make ourselves "permanant." My very shallow reason is this: It's to freakin' cold there. Josh's shallow reason is this: Too many Hmong people. I'll take these words with a grain of salt-- who knows until we live there if we'll like it there, right?

Our bigger dream is for all of our friends and family to move here and live in China with us!!! Now that would be great.

But really, Josh wants to be with this brothers and sisters and I want to live with his parents. I can't fight him on this one, and it's a win-win, lose-lose situation. He really wants to re-establish his relationships with them, in the way that I want to live around my in-laws and try to be there for them. It's a hard call.

Here's the only place where we'll draw the line: We won't live in Milwaukee. (No offense to Nhia and Linda and Sohpia!) That's where my in-laws hope to live next.

So... we'll be seeing you soon.

Youth Group Retreat

Next weekend we will be going on a youth group retreat. We're so used to working with Hmong kids in the church, it will be an awesome experience to work with lwm haiv tuabneeg and just other youth kids. That's how we'll be spending our Easter.

Yay! New post

Hi Blogger. Keeping with tradition it seems now, we only post once in a full moon. Well, me anyway, since Josh is a lazy poster unless you're in the special "Brothers Forum" or whatever it's called. He posts there. But he's struggling everyday anyway, and telling me how far behind he is with Laug Vern in the number of posts he has. He says he is onlya genin. too bad.

I'm not a brother. So I don't post there.

What are we doing right now? It's 9:17 pm on Tuesday night. Josh is practicing guitar, putting together songs he wants to lead next time it's his turn. Here we go:

1. Just ruled out "All For Love" (hillsongs). He can't sing it.


2. Practicing around a little: "Devotion" (hillsongs)


3. "Fire Fall Down" Probably won't sing it either.


4. For sures: Happy Day and


5. All I Am (reuben morgan- have you listened to this song lately? it's awesome)


6. Another older school Reuban Morgan song: Still (I'll admit, when Josh sings it, it's reallybeatiful and makes you automatically want to sing with him. I don't think this is too biased of an opinion, even coming from his wife and all.)


7. Always wanted to do this one but doesn't have a band here good enough to back him: Counting on God by Desperation Band


8. He's always just wanted to sing this song at church... True Love (Phil Wickham)


9. SPECIAL REPORT you heard here first: Here's a combo his little heart has been playing around with: Playing "Beautiful One" (chris tomlin) and then going into and few lines of "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt. I think it's funny, but you know what? It could work if you hear him play it.
   
10. Adding to set list: "I'm Coming your way" (jared anderson/desperation band)

OK. Enough of that. He'll play another 30 songs before he's done. So you'll be tired of reading my play-by-play by then.

As he's playing, I'm cooking applesauce. Applesauce is quite expensive here. So I've decided that I'll just start making my own. It's quite easy. I also make my own (from scratch or the substitute) for corn syrup, cake flour, buttermilk, and biscuits. I've been researching making fruit leather and other stuff lately, too.

We will go to bed soon. That's because we're feeling hungry. (I'm doing a gallstone cleansing and Josh is fasting. But don't tell him I told you so.) We battle feeling cold all the time and less energy makes you sleepier sooner. It will be a long next rest of the week!

Peace!

Question

Sometimes I think to myself, is Jesus really the real deal? I have no doubt about the existence of God. None whatsoever. Not a blip. But sometimes I think about faith and how crazy Christianity really is. Jesus, son of God, virgin birth, sinless, dead and raised again. Doesn't that sound like a wacko?

Josh and I had a nice talk the other day. He asked me, Is this what Jesus really wants? I think he was mainly refering to the modern church. I like to call it, 'playing church.' I think the term can be offensive, so I don't ever say it alot. But sometimes, I think a lot of us Christians play church. Like playing house when you were little, only now we are all adults at church.

The disciples were just people, too. And they helped build up the church. But when Jesus was around, there wasn't a church. So that goes back to Josh's question, Is this what Jesus really wants?

What comes to my mind is this: Mother Teresa. She was not a perfect woman by any means, and I definitely don't know what she really thought or felt or believed in her heart, but she lived a life loving and living a life after Christ. When I think about what the church should be, I think about her.

That's what we think about these days. The purpose of the church. The purpose of our lives. Heavy stuff, huh?

Chinese New Year

The stores are packed. Red is everywhere. It's 12:30 in the afternoon and fireworks are going off like crazy. We've woken up to firecrackers at 7 in the morning, too. They sell boxes of fireworks that are, like, probably bigger than Tubter. How do you even go about lighting such a thing?

Winter here, and food, too.

I think winter is almost over here. These few days, it's been coolish and rainy. Perfect weather Sarah would enjoy. But thankfully, almost the three weeks she was here it never rained! Yes!

And on to food. The other day I went out to dinner with my co-workers . We went to an all you can eat Japanese restaurant. So the rest of this post is devoted to food. Enjoy!

Sea urchin: I liken this stuff to "butter of the sea." It's like butter, very rich and savory tasting? Very fragile. But I can't do too much of it.

Mackerel sashimi: This stuff if the BOMB! Well, I don't like sashimi too much, but if there is a favoite, I would choose mackerel for it's perfect flavor and texture. (Other assessments: salmon and snapper are OK. Tuna is too pwerful a flavor, scallops too soft, octopus to chewy..)

Sauteed froglegs: See that spread eagle? Like they're ready to jump off the griddle. Sick, huh?

Sarah eating duck tongue. Yeah! I told her I don't like to eat it cause it feels like you're making out with a duck.

3 orders of ramen, please!

Scorpion tea: This was sold at a tea shop, not a medicine shop. These suckers were alive and snapping! There was a huge jar full of scorpions right next to it... but I wanted to be discreet in my picture taking. (fyi: people don't really drink scorpion tea.)

Mmm.... two yummy things, put into one... Ice cream + Burgers

Finally, these are my cookies that I baked for my Christmas cookie exchange. Did I tell you I won 1st place!??? I got a pastry bag/baking set. There were some things in it I don't own, so I was very happy. On the left is a Snowman sugar cookie and on the right are peppermint cookies. (I couldn't stop eating them... But butter is a fickle thing. Butter in China is... not what I'm used to.)

Bye!

Reflections on Tokyo

Overall...

1. How clean it is! No Joke. Everybody says it whenever they visit there, and that’s because it’s remarkable, and it’s true!
2. They also say the Tokyo subway system is like a bowl of spaghetti that’s been dumped on the floor. That’s also true. We were quite confused at the start there. There are also so many stops! Like, sometimes we would have 17 stops before we got to our destination! YIKES!
3. If Koreans are good-looking, the Japanese definitely trump them in style. It seems like EVERYONE is stylish- even little babies, old grandmas, students wearing their school uniforms. All the guys have hair styles that are infinitely better than mine, great clothes… Japan’s definitely where it’s at.
   

So, some top memories in Tokyo (in no particular order):

1. The Ghibli Museum: It’s in a suburb outside Tokyo. A little out of the way to go there, but I guarantee it’s worth the trip. It’s one of my most favorite museums IN THE WORLD. I actually had low expectation going there, but was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the town the museum is in. And some of the exhibits there were so amazing and moving, Josh even cried. (Well, in his heart anyway.)
2. Eating natto. Do you know what natto is? Hope you never, ever have to. It was in a sushi roll, and it looked like mushrooms, sort of. So I gave it a try. It is fermented [aka ROTTEN] tofu. Even the thought of it now makes me want to gag. Ask Sarah. She tried it, too.
3. Sleeping at the ryokan (inn/hotel.) We shared a traditional-style Japanese room, sleeping in tatami mats on the floor. Personally, Josh and I LOVED it.
4. We went to Uniqlo. The fitting rooms are on a raised floor, lined with carpet. You’re supposed to take off your shoes before entering any carpeted/or home-like place. (Even at the hotel, you take your shoes off before entering!) OOPS, I stepped on it with my boots. IT wasn’t a big deal, but all the staff kind of jumped as I did it… and kindly told me no shoes… use the slippers! I was mortified! It was a dodo head thing to do!
5. Taxis: They’re really, really expensive. Like they start at $7 USD. BUT, they’re so nice a clean…
6. Magician street performer at Ueno Park: This guy was so entertaining, really good, and spending the some 20 minutes watching him was thoroughly enjoyable.
7. Also at Ueno Park, we watched some guys play baseball. Josh was teaching me about Japanese baseball stances and pitching. It was quite interesting.
8. Vending machines: The first meal we ate was ordered at a vending machine. Put your money in, press the button of what you want, bring your ticket to the counter, pick up your food! It was efficient, easy, and the food was good and cheap. There are vending machines EVERYWHERE in Tokyo. On the street, in alleys, and restaurants… it’s crazy.
9. Japanese money… it’s very confusing. The smallest bill is 1000. So you’ve got tons and tons of coins cause normal things cost like… 520.
10. All that walking. We did A LOT and A LOT of walking. I feel a little bad because at times, it was probably killing Sarah and Josh. But Tokyo is a great city for wandering and exploring. The lights, the people, the food… I would like to visit Japan again sometime.