just rambling...

Well, I haven't posted in a while since I didn't feel like I had anything new to say. But here's what's been going on the past few weeks.

- I finished reading The Great Influenza - a good, if long, book about the influenza pandemic of 1918. Scary. I didn't know it primarily killed people ages 20-35. We are so not prepared for the next time it happens. I passed up an "emergency food kit" at Costco, a big bucket of preserved food for $99 that's supposed to last 6 weeks. Some day I'm going to get just a little more paranoid and start buying that stuff. For now, we are still hoping to rely on the mercy of our good Mormon neighbors in the event of catastrophe. :-) Today, in fact, the same good Mormon neighbors invited us to an "emergency preparedness" event at the local ward.

- Bryan's grandma, Great Nana, hasn't been doing so well. She's been combative and non-cooperative at the nursing home. :-(. She even threw her Bible at one of the aides and called her a "hussy." This is about 6 weeks after starting Zoloft...sigh. It's sad.

- Am currently reading "The Courage To Be" by Paul Tillich. Apparently this book was all the rage when it came out, but by the time I was in college had dropped off the required reading lists. I like it but it's pretty heavy stuff. I feel like I'm back in college again. I wish for a group to discuss it with, but I doubt I'll find one anytime soon. Maybe online.

- Listening to "When We Were Orphans" in the car - a detective story taking place in London and Shangai. The reader is one of the best I've ever heard - he ranks up there with Willem Dafoe reading Steven King's The Langoliers. He does voices and accents really, really well. It makes me glad I'm listening to it rather than reading it. Fun.

- Alex said something cute the other day. Her pants had no pockets and she said, "Oh, I'll go get my overballs. They have pockets." Overballs. As my friend Nancy said, "If she were a boy, that would be true!"

A los dioses tambien les gustan los dolares

P1000849, originally uploaded by kalibushido.

Esta es una foto de una especie de altar de los mil que habia enfrente de todos los negocios de Muine, en Vietnam.
Parece ser que para adorar a los dioses y ganerse sus favores, los vietnamitas tienen que ofrecerles dolares americanos (estos son una replica), la moneda de su archienemigo.
Curioso, parece que con el dinero nadie tiene miramientos, ni los mismos dioses...

AK-47 y M-16

P1000681, originally uploaded by kalibushido.

Que pasa si estas en Camboya y paras a un hombrecito que va en moto y le pides que te de una vuelta y te lleve a los sitios que quieres ver y en un momento de descuido (no habla NADA de Ingles) te mete en un caminucho del infierno y despues de un buen rato apareces en un terreno cerrado con puertas metalicas y te salen unos individuos con cara de pocos amigos, chaquetas militares y armas automaticas?
Lo que yo hice es ponerme a disparar con un AK-47 y con un M-16...

Mmmmm, viva el pato

P1000970, originally uploaded by kalibushido.

Un delicioso Pato con miel y nosecuantas especias que me sirvieron en un restaurante de Phi Phi Island, Tailandia.
De lo mejorcito que he comido en este viaje.
Adoro el pato.
Incluso el vivo.

;P

Cu Chi Tunnels por dentro

P1000763, originally uploaded by kalibushido.

Esta es una de las partes por las que se puede ir a gatas.
Hay muchas por las que solo te puedes arrastrar, despues de unos minutos te das cuenta de lo duro que tenia que ser estar metido bajo tierra durante meses...
Gente dura estos campesinos-guerrilleros vietnamitas...

Entrada a los Cu Chi Tunnels desde fuera y mi lindo piececito

P1000747, originally uploaded by kalibushido.

Se puede apreciar que casi no se puede apreciar donde esta la entrada a los Cu Chi Tunnels.
Bonito juego de palabras...

Cu Chi Tunnels

P1000749, originally uploaded by kalibushido.

Son unos tuneles que cavaron los guerrilleros vietnamitas en el distrito de Cu Chi, en Vietnam, durante la guerra contra EEUU, para esconderse de los ataques enemigos bajo tierra y a modo de cuartel general y vivienda.
En total hay unos 200 Kms de tuneles. Estos tienen cocinas, enfermerias, zonas comunes, trampas contra intrusos (espeluznantes...).
Es un trabajo increible.
Era necesario bajo tierra ya que los americanos habian dejado la superficie plana y sin vegetacion a base de bombardeos constantes y de Napalm.
La entrada era de unos 20x30 cms, menos mal que he perdido unos kilitos...