Top Ten of the moment...

This is a list of my top 10....top 10 what? Well, top 10 thoughts that are too short to put in a whole blog. There is nothing more than the ramblings of my mind here, nothing earth shattering or exciting, just things I would chit chat with you about over Starbucks.....mmmm sounds good.

10. I really love riding my bike in this cooler weather while listening to my ipod. I have traded a big suburban for my "electric bike" and still I can load children and groceries on the back of my bike...with the help of a bungee cord. What a sight.....me, bungeeing (sp?) my groceries to the bike then riding off into the sunset with my ipod blaring. And no, I don't bungee the children.

9. It is interesting to me how life can seem "normal" no matter where you live. After living in OK for 15 years I felt that was about as "normal" as it could be, then we headed cross country. About the time I adjusted to living in VA for 3 months, we moved. Now we have been here almost 7 months, and normalcy has found us again.

8. Rob and I have been wondering how "weird" we are becoming. When we think about some of the places we eat and even some of the things we have no problem eating....we wonder, when did we come to this? Especially when other Americans come to visit....we realize, we have come a long way.

7. My sappy thoughts have been about my nieces. Last Saturday I helped a friend decorate her son's 1st bday cake. Apparently I had been blabbing about how I had decorated a few cute cakes for my kids' birthdays and I was recruited. I was thinking about how I missed Reese's 1st bday and would have loved to help Heather get ready for the big day, and how in a few more months I will miss Ainsley's 1st birthday as well as Ashley and Abigail's 5th and 7th birthdays. No more about that.

6. As the weather has turned cool enough to open the windows day and night, I marvel at all the sounds of life that go on around me. I love hearing children laughing, crying, ladies gossiping and people playing instruments all surrounding me. It is a beautiful sound....the sound of Life.

5. There is a strange culture shock every Sunday afternoon for me. After spending several hours watching OU football and watching American commercials and eating sandwiches and Pringles, I walk out my front door. The sights, sounds and smells overwhelm me. There are many times I feel like I have just been teleported from OK back here. So strange.

4. I am SOOOO thankful for McDonalds now selling Coke Zero, along with its standard Coke, Sprite, and Fanta......someone must have told them my mom was about to come. It is the little things in life that make me happy.

3. One of the great things about living here is whatever fruit is "in season" is sold everywhere. On every corner and at every market there are people pushing carts of fruit down the street waiting for people to buy. Right now the "fruit of the day" is small mandarin oranges. They are soooooo good. For 4 days in a row now I have bought a bag of these oranges. Hannah and I especially love peeling them and popping them in our mouths!! Sooooo good!!!!

2. I think I have mentioned before how my favorite lunch now is noodles. Today Rob wanted me to meet him for lunch at McD, but he was running late, so I ate noodles with my friend then met him. Today, however, I put too much hot pepper spices on my noodles....WOW! I have never been so miserable. So, I was thankful to arrive at McD and drink a large coke zero while Rob ate. There are some things I don't know when I will get used to, like not drinking a tall glass of water/tea/diet coke/etc... with my meal. (Just so you know, Rob also really likes to eat noodles for lunch too.)

1. My number one thought of the moment is how much I love my husband. I can't imagine this great adventure without him. It is different having him around more than ever before, and I like it. Who knew he could cook, help with homework, and frankly do most of the housework better than I can. He is such an encourager to me and my life is so much better becasue he is in it. We are having such a great time together experiencing life in a new culture and all the FUN it holds!!

1a. Since it has taken me several days to write this.....my newest thought was how amazing it was today when I forgot my first English word. I stared and stared at the word in the asian language knew what it was, described it to my teacher and finally she said in English..."pork rib". Then she laughed very hard. Oh well. Maybe that is a good sign. I have also found that some of my sentence structure in English is changing, that can make for some interesting sentences. No one here thinks it is weird, but you might when I come home someday.