and this is why we did not do christmas cards this year...

this year, the holidays have caught us WAY off guard and with a long list of presents that remain to be purchased – talk about last minute! i tried to convince my family to do a “green” christmas and give each other “handmade, re-gifted or recycled” gifts, in light of the dire economic situation that our country is experiencing, but they didn’t buy it :( even our christmas tree, which languishes in the middle of our living room without a single glittering light or multicolored globe hung on it, is a sad reminder of our neglect (i’ve managed to make some good progress on it last weekend, though).

the recipe for holiday disaster began cooking early on, more precisely, in late november, when, after three weeks of unadulterated vacation bliss, we got stranded in cambodia, unable to return to bangkok to catch our return flight to the u.s. it turns out, a group of thai protesters had picked the exact day of our departure from cambodia to occupy all of bangkok’s airports in an effort to force their prime minister out of office. this single act of defiance effectively paralyzed all air traffic in and out of the country, marooning thousands of tourists and business folk alike. tension could be cut with a butter knife at the bangkok airways counter in siem reap, cambodia, as western tourists attempted to “reason” with timid thai airline employees (in a very un-thai way, should I say) by frantically waving arms overhead and screaming expletives at the top of their lungs.

by the third day of the coup, and after several hours of overseas phone calls to continental airlines and countless more hours spent in internet cafés looking for fares online, we were able to get a regional flight out of phnom penh to hong kong, where continental had rerouted our return home – at no additional cost! i never thought i’d say this, but god bless continental airlines! and god bless my dear juan for cleverly maneuveriing through layers of bureaucracy at the local travel agency to get us back home in one piece.

on 3rd of december we landed back in houston and with our bags still packed and barely over (or not really over) the jet lag, launched right into a another crazy-busy week. it all went downhill after that. the bags never got unpacked, the christmas decorations sat idle on our living room floor for weeks, and a flurry of holiday events, a weekend away to kansas city, a visiting friend from kuwait, and some late (and very early) hours at work to make up for lost time, reduced our holiday “prep” time pretty much to nil.

thus, we find ourselves at the brink of christmas and, much to our dismay, having to send our holiday greeting "electronically". however impersonal this may seem, it does not diminish the sentiment within, as we wish happy holidays to those who are very close to our hearts despite the multiple continents and time zones between us.

in spite of the near-miss in s.e. asia and the last minute holiday rush, we really have nothing to complain about as 2008 has been good to us: we continue to be in excellent physical health, we still have a job – which, sadly, is more than can be said about thousands of our compatriots – and we continue to enjoy the love and companionship of our family and friends, the source of all our strength.

thus, it is with great joy that we bid farewell to a good year, and welcome a new one with brutal optimism. may you have a recession-proof holiday with plenty of reasons to celebrate, and may the party continue well into 2009.

where is the hot water?!?!

i recently came back from a business trip to russia. one word: w.o.w.

lovely country, amazing history, fun people, superb vodka. i was incredibly lucky to witness while in moscow the celebration of the 63rd anniversary of the defeat of nazi germany, celebrated as "victory day" with an impressive military parade and air show to rival those seen in soviet times.

moscow is an impressive city, full of history and contrasts, where you can see couples on their wedding day parading around the city centre, alongside skateboarders, military personnel and the ubiquitous hordes of gorgeous women in impossibly high heels. with an economy growing at the speed of bullet trains, and an increasingly upwardly mobile and educated population, moscow is also the most expensive city in the world.

when we left moscow for siberia, however, things reverted to another era. tyumen was not as cold as i expected it to be and, alas, i was ill-prepared for facing the constraints encountered, as our accommodations fell short of my expectations for a business hotel. for starters, for an eight storey hotel, the lift (elevator) started on the third floor…not sure why, i am convinced that it was a makeshift lift fashioned out of a broom closet with little elves tugging on the pulleys, which would collapse any minute. so we were forced to lug our suitcases and very heavy computer bags up three flights of stairs before we could get to the lift. lesson learned: pack light, like our russian friends, who brought small duffle bags and slim computer cases, and one of them, amusingly, only brought whatever could fit in a medium sized plastic bag! my hero!

next, with a temperature of 20°c+ there was no air conditioning in our rooms. this may not seem like a big deal to some, but if you have lived in the usa for the last 13 years of your life—particularly in texas—you get used to having a/c at all times of the day and night, all year round (yes, even in winter!). then, there was no hot water in the shower. again, this may seem to some like a contradiction, seeing as being hot would perhaps be alleviated by a cold shower, but try showering with cold water first thing in the morning. apparently, in every city in the russian federation, the government provides the hot water to city residents, but every year in the late spring or early summer for about 20 days, they cut off the hot water so that the pipes can be maintained. lovely system, except the cut-off happened while we were there...oh joy. i had to exercise my creative side by using a tea kettle that i managed to obtain from the only english-speaking front desk clerk in the entire place, with which i boiled some water and made a bath in the sink, resulting in water being splashed all over the bathroom (see prior post).

by far the most peculiar anecdote was the laundry. we were told by our russian students that, to get our clothes washed, all we had to do was put them in a plastic bag (which we were expected to provide) and hand them to the floor housekeeper. we found bags and put our clothes in, but we could never find the floor housekeeper, so we took the clothes to the front desk and told the clerk via hand signals (the english-speaking clerk was not working that day) that we needed our clothes washed. she nodded and smiled (a rarity) which we assumed meant she understood us. when we arrived back at the hotel that evening, my bag of clothes was sitting in the exact same spot where the lady in the morning had put it, with a note on it stating (in russian) my name and room number. i was extremely aggravated initially, as i had no clean clothes left whatsoever, until i remembered that i was lucky to have even found my clothes, as they could’ve very well ended up enlarging the inventory of a street vendor at the local flea market. eventually we figured out where the floor housekeeper resided and took the clothes to her, and got them back the next day in perfectly good order, but the entire experience was, as much of the rest of the trip, very unusual.

but despite all of the “character building” experiences, and the harassment of a local drunken woman who kept trying to kick us (mostly me, really) out of the local square for being a (loud) english-speaking foreigner, the best of times were spend hanging out with our russian friends, with a beer in hand and just talking, telling silly jokes and stories, and at times even singing. these were some of the best times we had and i can’t wait to go back to repeat them :)

(photo caption: st. basil's cathedral in red square, moscow, russia)

thank goodness for "western" toilets

i have always considered myself to be fairly conscious of my surroundings and, not having grown up in the usa, i've always been grateful for the comforts of living in an modern and highly industrialized nation – after all, as eloquently put by my spanish uncle, where else in the world can you do your banking, get your food, and even get married, without having to get out your car? however, nothing could’ve prepared me for what i will call the “toilet situation” in a recent trip to southeast asia.

first, as i very quickly discovered, toilet paper is a luxury. predominantly muslim cultures do not use toilet paper for...er…personal cleansing. they use a water hose conveniently affixed to the toilet cubicle wall instead. in rural areas, a bucket of water and scoop is provided. so i quickly learned to bring my own t.p. on all trips to the toilet, lest i be forced to use the hose!

second, you're lucky if you find a western-style "sitting" toilet ; more often than not, you will find a "squat toilet" (basically, a hole in the ground), which turns the simple act of using the toilet into an excercise of your lower half--maybe that's explains why the "pear" body shape does not occur as often in eastern countries...but i digress.

third, there is water e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.! due to hose usage, water gets splashed on every possible surface in the toilet cubicle: walls, floor, toilet seat, tank (if there is a sitting toilet), i even went into a stall that had water splashed on the ceiling (don’t ask me how that happened…). as water ponds on the floor, it is necessary to roll up one’s pant legs before entering the restroom, and if wearing flip-flops or sandals, well, it may be best to just hold it. as a direct result, the toilet seat (again, only if there is a sitting toilet) is often entirely covered in water and as there is no toilet paper with which to wipe it or line it, one is highly advised not to sit.

finally, if you’ve managed to survive the above, most restrooms have water to rinse your hands but few have soap and even fewer have paper towels or a hand dryer. so after having touched all those wet surfaces and knowing how they got wet, hand sanitizing gel is highly advisable. needless to say, every trip to the restroom was an adventure, and by the end of 3 + weeks i was ready for a regular toilet experience.

i didn’t realize how much of an impact this whole situation had made on me until i came back home and the first day back in office, i went to the ladies room to find a full roll of toilet paper and a dispenser of toilet seat liners, so common in american ladies’ rooms. i couldn’t help but smile and reflect back upon the most basic commodities that we so often take for granted but that elsewhere in the world are considered luxuries, and felt instantly enlightened :)

(photo caption: looking up at the petronas towers, kuala lumpur, malaysia)