Erin's Here!

May and kids picked up Erin at the airport this afternoon.   Flight was smooth and 

Typical for visitors after the long journey, they had a low-key first day.

Erin and all went to Letna Park, the playground, toured the metronome, taking in the fantastic view of Prague below.

After Jeff got home from work, we made tacos for dinner (easing Erin into Czech food very slowly).  And, to make sure Erin slept well her first night here, we enjoyed a few glasses of burchak, the cider-wine.

More stories to come for sure.  Good night!

"Hey, you're American. Why do...?"

Jeff here. Got a small rant to give.
Being an expat (living outside your country) brings challenges, apart from adapting to another culture, food & language. One fun challenge is getting asked questions, as if we could speak for our whole country. Expats who read this blog include our close friend, Kit in Korea and Jeff's sister, Jeannine in Saudi Arabia.

How much we immerse ourselves depends on factors like, whether a spouse is 'local' (as in Kit's case) or if we work & reside in an area designated for expats (Jeannine's case) or just motivation to find "change" (as I'd call our case).

But I can guarantee that in all cases, we get asked many questions the local people have about our own country. Early questions, most questions compare lifestyles: "What do you eat?" or "What was your house like?"
Some tougher questions require tact before answering: "Is it true you must pay for university?" or "Who voted for him...twice?"
Such questions are usually fun to answer and can get great conversations started, friendships developed.

Then there are times like this, when questions can get tough to answer without getting angry.
I just got asked "Is it true that the insurance company (AIG) got $85 Billion, then their senior management expensed a week-long resort holiday, then asked for another $37 Billion, and is now planning another resort holiday?"
I was dumbfounded. I had no clue how to answer. I still don't. In fact, at first, I (foolishly) denied it, without knowing any of the facts. "No way, that can't true..." Yup, it's true.

In summary and I added links:
1. AIG makes bad investments
2. Company execs make millions
3. Stock gets wiped out
4. Company gets wiped out
5. Billions lost
6. Company and execs get $85 billion bailout
7. Execs and sales force go on $400,000 weekend retreat
8. Congress cries OUTRAGE!
9. They ask for and receive another $38 billion
10. Execs and sales force plan another retreat

Of course, people recognize such boondoggling is not limited to AIG's execs. And the recession is not limited to the USA. Asia is hurting. Europe is hurting. The whole mess is on everyone's front doorstep and people are searching for both the reason and resolution. With questions like these, we lose hope for both.


p.s. Yes, I actually used the word "boondoggling". That's funny. W.C. Fields would be proud. :)
For reference, watch this great Fields movie opening (or skip to 2:46 if you're impatient)

Ella & Mattias in Pictures, part 1

When we don't know what else to write about, we just post pictures.
To start, a couple cute pictures of them we snapped over the past couple weeks.



Little britches is starting to pull his weight around the his house.
Been meaning to post this for a while. Ella is clearly a Patriots fan, still not following any local teams!

Watched The VP Debates

The most hyped debates in ...well, at least 4 years. :) Jeff had to watch them.

Watching them (streaming on NY Times' website) meant Jeff got up at 2:45 this morning (yes, 2:45 AM) to watch the debates from 3:00-4:30.
Thankfully, Maylia convinced him at 5 to come back to bed for a bit of sleep. [thank you, honey]

Was it worth it? Yes.
Looking forward to the 2 other VP debates? Yes.
Did Ella go to bed an hour earlier the night before? Yes.

Eric sent me a link to a documentary about debates. It's fun to watch.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/debatingourdestiny/

Great clips from debates since 1976, such as...

• "Governor, there you go again."
• "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
• "I will not make age an issue for this campaign. I will not exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." (hint: speaking about Mondale!)
• "Are there personal differences? Well, my blood pressure's lower, my weight, my cholesterol. But I will not make health an issue in this campaign."
• "The man's practicing fuzzy math again."

If you need any reminder who said what, check out the documentary.

Update: Yes, Snickers, Too.

Sorry, Kit.
Sorry, Korea.
Sorry most of all to Korean Snickers, Jeff's all-time favorite treat.

An update to the earlier post.

Finally Jeff got worried and did some research. Sure enough, Jeff's digs around a few articles and finds out that even Korean-made Snickers are also considered unsafe. Damn.

The last paragraph in a recent article about South Korea's Food and Drug Administration:
"Popular food products branded by multinational companies and imported to other Asian countries have also been found to contain melamine. Indonesian food regulators said they found melamine in Snickers candy bars and M&M’s, both of which are made by Mars, Inc. The KFDA (Korean Food & Drug Adminstration) said that most of the Mars products imported into South Korea are believed to have been made at the same plants in China."

And just in case family back home may worry, Jeff selfishly keeps his Snickers stash away from Ella.
In fact, Ella has only once sampled a Snickers bar (documented September 2007. Pic below).










Tonight, Jeff will finish the rest of his Snickers stash, before they have a chance to fall in the wrong hands.

p.s. If a few readers are wondering "What on earth is Jeff talking about...he eats Korean Snickers in Czech Republic??" Yes. They've always rocked, always will (even with this supposedly dangerous melen-blah-blah in them). The Snickers Taste Test of May 2007.
Thanks to Kit, our dear friend and fellow English teacher, she regularly keeps Jeff stocked.
Kit - as much as I hate to say it, please send no more. (for now...heehee)