Happy Black and Red Day

I've always viewed Valentine's Day with a mixture of skepticism, speculation, and a hint of envy for the girls parading their tacky bouquets and cheap chocolates in the faces of the less fortunate. I mean, really, who was St. Valentine and does he get any post mordem royalties from Hallmark and Hersheys? And this year I still viewed the pink and red hearts and cherubic cupids (where did those come from anyway) still afforded me great amusement.But this year I've gained a new perspective on the festive day.


A black eye, roses, and chilean sea bass. Oh my. The black eye was mine, courtesy of a frisbee to my left eye the day before V-day. The roses were a Valentine morning surprise from my husband (I woke up V-day and walked into the boys' room to have Keahi launch himself from bed shouting Happy Valentine's Day Mommy! and waving a perfect--only slightly squashed--red rose and a card. He had waited 20 min. for me to drag myself from bed to see him. Then when I followed the card's instructions to look upstairs I found lovely roses arranged in Gypsy Eyes (Iz's pot from his college art show) on the table next to an even better letter. I felt loved and cherished and all those other mushy things Valentines is supposed to engender.) And the delicious sea bass was from Chai's Island Bistro during our 3 hour dinner. The food was pretty good, if expensive, and the blaring music rather entertaining. What added spice and hours to the dinner was the slow service. It made Grenada seem positively fast. We had the privelege of being the last to leave (after 11pm), receive the last wine glass filled with not virgin strawberry daiquiri which was then replaced with a glass tumbler of pure strawberry lushness, and the very last gold dusted truffle lollipop. We laughed at the delays, tipped our slow but funny waiter, and enjoyed the thought that some of these people were looking at us and seeing a guy who beats his wife and takes her out to dinner afterwards.

And it didn't end there. The next night there was another surprise. I was told to dress up and that's it. So in my best black dress and silver shoes I entered the car anticipating....something. And I got out of car to see we were at the Blaisdell Concert Hall to see The Barber of Seville. The orchestra was awesome and the plot whimsical and entertaining. Plus, during the opening song I still got flashes of Bugs Bunny's superb Rabbit of Seville performance. Gosh it was great to have a grownup night. I wish we had some nice pics but I don't think they would have captured it well enough. And so we concluded our Valentine weekend. Now, several days later I can still enjoy my lovely--though severely wilting--roses and, of course, my now yellowing eye.

Why yes, I am a mother

This post has been waiting in my draft folder because I wanted a picture to illustrate my point, but oh well. I'll post a pic when I can.

With my recent birthday and the birth of a new year, it's natural to review your life, accomplishments, and gauge if you're growing old with grace. Losing nearly all my pregnancy weight, sporting a new haircut (thank you Amanda), and being blessed with Asian slow-aging genes, I felt pretty good about myself. Our friend from Grenada, Salisha, is here now enrolling in BYUH and we were helping her get settled today--an intensely complicated journey zigzagging the entire campus. My ego got a few boosts as people incorrectly assumed I was enrolling with her instead of being the older, possibly wiser guide shepherding her about.

Then we met her roommate. A twenty year old sophomore from Vietnam. After initial pleasentries about who was from where, she politely crumbled my self image with this innocent query: so is this your mother? IS THIS YOUR MOTHER?!! Are you kidding me? Do I look old enough to be the mother of an eighteen year old? Or did I have her when I was 10? Oh, and then there's the little visual clue: me Chinese, her African.

So life continues to surpise and tickle me. Today, for the first time, I looked like the mother of an eighteen year old black girl. What will tomorrow bring?

More Fun in the Sun

Here's one more tribute to Grenadian life. It was a small playground but the sunshine and the friends made it a welcome weekly treat.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Fun in the Sun

I love being back in Hawaii but there are things I miss about Grenada. The University Pool with our friends is one of them. Here's a tribute to the good 'ol pool days.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Back in Paradise

Wow, can it really be more than 2 weeks since we arrived back in the motherland? Time sure flies when you're in paradise--granted a much colder, wetter paradise than I remember. It's been more of an adjustment than anticipated--some good and some not so good.

Reflectors on the smoothly paved road: genius. With all the rain we've been having those bright little bumps are a lifesaver. Ooh, lifesavers, another thing I've missed.

Blinkers and wipers switched again. Teenagers smirking at me from the backs of trucks as I wipe away non existant rain or signal a left turn as I head to the right. Sigh. And I keep looking over my left shoulder to reverse and get a face full of seatbelt. Oh, and I miss the beeping sound that reminds me that my car is in reverse. More helpful than I had thought.

Costco. aa-ah-ahhhhhh (to be heard in surround-sound chorus). The beauty. The wonder. The large packs of affordable diapers. On the other hand, I now find warehouses full of oversized products and luxury items a bit appalling. We really do live in the land of excess.

There's no GAP here. I'm of course talking about the playgroup and not the store. The store can't hold a candle to educational daycare at the low low cost of $1.88 per half day (that's as long as 7:30 to 1pm if desired). I miss my 2 days a week of having only one kid to care for. And I miss French Fridays with Keahi coming home singing Mon Petit Lapin.

I miss the sun. It's been raining a lot and Grenada thined my blood so that now I need sweaters here. So no beach as of yet for us. We miss pooldays with our friends.

Long hot showers are like mannah from heaven. I love showering at night again. But I miss our bathtub for bathing the kids. But my mom's double sink works rather well. I was floored by how huge that sink was compared to the tiny ones in Grenada.

We now have our wimpy pet cat instead of our landlady's 2 large dogs. I like not having to watch out for dog poop in the yard but I think our cat got even more neurotic in our absence. And you've never seen such a woosie cat in your life. We had to bring his foodbowl inside so he could eat without the 5 roaming kittens bullying him away and stealing his food. So we leave the door open a bit so he can run out when he's done. Usually we wait and then close the door behind him, but a few days ago Iz walked away for a bit. When he returned he found a couple of kittens polishing off Keoni's food. He chased them outside and looked around the garage for the scaredy cat only to find him cowering under the table in the living room. He had let 2 little balls of fur come into his house, take his food and scare him farther into the house for safety. Wow. He's a tough one.

And of course there's the doting grandmother. I remember when we first flew to Grenada with 4 books and 4 toys for Keahi. They more than doubled thanks to his joint birthday party with Isaac. Now that we're back at popo's house, the boys have oodles and oodles of toys. Each of them got 9 gifts from her ranging from massive train sets to talking dogs. On Christmas morning they sat admists their booty with huge grins and eager fingers. Jarom discovered the joy of ripping wrapping paper. Of course, it was much simpler to clean up those 4 toys.

Chivalry is not dead

Keahi is a typical rough and tumble boy into cars and trains and wildly bouncing off of walls while vigorously shaking his head. Of course he has his softer side as seen in his love of pink, dressy heels, and tea parties. Perhaps this side of him has been influenced by his many girl friends. While some have been rowdy with the boys like Esther and Addison who can hold their own in any tumble, there have been truly girly friends like Gabe and Jada, both sweet and kind and tenderhearted. However it happened, Keahi's soft side peeks through in often amusing and occasionally sweet and tender moments of his own. Particularly with Jada. Here are some examples.

While we were having a little gettogether with some friends and their kids, Keahi actually pushed Jada's chair in for her. Twice. Without any prompting.

When Keri and I with kids in tow went to the grocery store, Keahi put his arm behind Jada's back to walk with her. When she said, "what are you doing? don't push me," Keahi responded, "I'm not pushing. I'm helping you."

I don't even know where he came up with these things but it sure was cute. Oh and there was one other girl he was intent on impressing: Diamond Cummings, a local girl in the branch, age 6. When he was told she was coming over one evening, he rushed to change out of his pajamas and into nice clothes for her. Boy they sure do start young.

Rant #1

So I don't generally consider myself an angry person and I like to think I've got as much holiday cheer as the next normal-happy-it's-Christmas-but-not-obsessive-about-it gal. But lately I've found my jaws clenching more and I think I've developed a permanent scowl. Or maybe it's just my inner Temple eyebrows coming out. Or maybe it's because SGU has once again proved that incompetence and beaurocratic administration go hand in hand.

Israel has now completed his first two years of medical school and we packed up all (well most, but that rant comes later) our stuff and were happily anticipating our next 2 years doing clinical rotations on the mainland. We had been given a list of hospitals we could do rotations at and turned in our first, second and third choices. I was pretty confident we would get Michigan because we had been told families and people from that area would be given first priority and we had written a long letter detailing the reasons for our choice.

But SGU always does the unexpected. This time that meant assigning all 30 people who requested MI into the 12 available spots. Hmmm...does this strike anyone as odd? Instead of placing the 3 families requesting MI and 9 others and placing everyone else in 2nd or 3rd choice hospitals, they nullify any "priority" and tell us that whoever passes the USMLE first gets a spot. So now 30 students have to find a balance between hurrying to take the exam (and possibly either failing outright or getting a poor score which affects future residency options) to secure a rotations spot and taking the time to study thoroughly to ensure a better score (and possibly being too late to get a spot). Ridiculous.

So we all wrote long angy letters--including me the non-student. I talked about the mechanics in moving a family as opposed to a single student including difficulty in securing housing, schooling, and plane fare. I mean, we can't wait till April to discover where we're going in May. It just doesn't work. And we just can't afford to live in NY or NJ. I really laid on the guilt trip in my letter while being respectful and understanding.

As of yet, we have not received any response. So Iz will study and take the test as originally planned and we'll see what happens. I'll try to reserve Keahi a spot in Joshie's (his friend from 1st term) school and hope we get to go to Michigan after all. We've heard from an SGA officer that they're still giving families preference even though they haven't officially announced it. My question is why not do it officially?

Well, that's SGU for you. Or perhaps it's all educational institutions. You tell me, is my situation unique? Misery loves company so share yours with me.