A Few More Photos

During our travels we learned why we we drink bottled water. See we do not have a bathtub in our apartment, but knowing that our hotel would, we were both excited to have a soak. Well, after filling the tub up we both noticed that the water was a bit brown...the photo really does not do it justice. We still took baths (and showered afterwards), but we finally understood why our whites must be bleached so often.














We also ate at a rib place while on vacation. The owner said he went to Texas and ate at over a hundred barbecue places, and took photos of each restaurant's sign. I even saw a sign from each of our hometowns. It was a pretty exciting moment for us, but not so much for our friend's who were not from Texas.













To get around in our vacation country we had to ride on the back of pick-up trucks that have been rigged up so that people can sit in the back. They still drive really fast and try to rip off the vacationers, but it is apparently the only way to travel.













Lastly we would like to thank the folks responsible for putting up this sign. I was really considering jumping in but thanks to the warning, I now know better. (This is a subway tunnel with high voltage tracks running on both sides)



K & L

Back Home

So, we went on vacation, and it could not have come any sooner. We had a difficult time getting out of country as the snow delayed and then canceled our flight. Nevertheless, 18 hours later we were on a plan to a warmer country! First thing was first...Western Food!!! We both gained weight on this trip, but this being our first chance to eat Western food that L did not have to make, we did not hold back. Below is a photo of a place we went to. The owner was from Houston.



The sun is a bit intense here, and unfortunately we did not have any sunscreen. So, L sat under an umbrella by a pool for a couple of hours one morning and wound up with a sunburn. Apparently in the South Pacific area indirect sunlight is just as strong direct in Texas. This is not the best photo of us, but is shows her burn pretty well : )



This is a photo of the cutest little dog and of the girl who refused to let us pet it.



Well we eventually had to come back, but we got to spend Valentines day in a very large city. So, we finally got to have a date that was not at Pizza Hut or McDonalds. We found this trolly car restaurant very close to our hotel, and...



We had Cold Stone for desert! It was a great Valentines day, and in fact it was our first one in which one of us was not working.



We would like to give a "shout out" to everyone at our Lake Arlington class. We miss you guys!

Please feel free to e-mail us at eastasiabrownies@gmail.com.

We love you all - K & L

Cold, Cold, Cold

January has been a pretty slow month for us. Over here instead of having a "winter vacation," we are given a "spring vacation." So we are out of school right now and will be for a while. However, no one can convince us that this is spring time. We have not made it over freezing in at least 2 weeks.


It snowed last night. Even though it is cold, it does not snow often. It was really fun watching the locals react to the snow; it is just like in Texas. No one is able to drive very well, but I did see one taxi pulling donuts late last night. We also watched a kid and his dad build a snowman this morning.


We will be going on vacation really soon - someplace warm! We feel strange pulling out our summer clothes to begin packing, but wow we are looking forward to it.


A couple nights ago we made burritos. They were so good. It took us about an hour to prepare the veggies to eat raw, but it was worth it. It was not quite Freebirds but close enough for where we are. L is getting better each week at making tortillas. We are going to try out breakfast burritos tonight.

We would like to give a big "shout out" to Trevor and Andrea. Your last e-mail was really funny!

Please don't forget that our e-mail address is eastasiabrownies@gmail.com. We love to hear from everyone!

LB likes these little orange fried pumpkin patties. They are fried with a slight crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. They come with white sugar dumped on top of them.

Shout-out to Phil and Angela, a.k.a. Philangela.

We hosted several Christmas parties at our apartment. LB taught our guests some important Christmas songs.

Since we hosted a party at our apartment Christmas morning, we decided to exchange gifts Christmas Eve. Most of the gifts under the tree were empty packages.

LB and others contributed in providing us with some delicious traditional food. Special thanks to our friend who picked up 2 pizzas on her way to our house.

LB made sugar cookies everyday for an entire week.

The dog's normal size snack weenie.

KB's Christmas gift to the dog.

We decorated our Christmas tree yesterday. It is not the best looking tree, but it will do. To the left of the tree is our blue/white plaid couch. The couch came with the apartment. To the right of the tree is our coat rack with our heavy winter coats hanging on it. Hanging on the bookshelf to the right of the coat rack are our stockings. The bottom stocking is for the dog.

We are riding in a taxi on a one-way street near our apartment. Notice anything unusual? The bus is going the "wrong" direction. The rules of the road here are a lot different than what we are used to.


Outside our school is a little courtyard. Sometimes during our break between classes I will go for a walk in the courtyard.


This month we have been dog-sitting for our friend. The dog's name is Mimi.

Seasons Greetings!!!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving with our new American friends. We had all the traditional foods we eat in America (except turkey since it is not available). After our dinner we played pin the hat on the turkey. L won!

















Cheese was a precious resource here in our city. We went a while with out it, but now that we have convinced the stores to order it for us we really need to buy it often so that they do not stop getting it for us - at $5.43 USD a block.
















Just like in the US, Christmas parties here start right after Thanksgiving. We went to a really fun one last night. We ate tasty party food, and when playing a game K got up to sing and dance L joined him. It looks like it may snow tomorrow. We are so excited, sort of....
















We love you all, K & L

Recently we traveled outside our city and we were able to see the beautiful countryside. Right now the farmers are harvesting their wheat and gathering hay to insulate their crops for the winter. It was amazing to see how they managed to pile it on. If you look closely you can see a man sitting on top. I guess he is there to make sure nothing falls off : )














Although our university campus here makes me very grateful for what we had in the States, the landscaping is breathtaking. The golden tree behind us is a ginko tree. We took this photo on one of our warmer days.














The locals often transport their goods around in what we would consider an inefficent way, but soon after we took this photo the driver came back and took off with his large load. I thought he was carrying bathroom sinks, but it is really styrofoam.

Hope you enjoy our pics. Love, K & L

We now have a Pizza Hut in our city. We don't go there often because it is expensive. This picture is from the grand opening. It does not taste just like it did at home, but it is still good.

A friend went to the Asian "walmart" in our city and asked them to get some cheese. We went yesterday and bought 5 little blocks for about 30 US dollars.

If you want...

Several people have asked us what or if they can send us anything. Rather than tell everyone individually what we could use we have put together a list of items that are not available here and that we would use with great joy! We call this our running wish list: powdered sugar, brownie mix, cookie mix, icing (chocolate or vanilla), icing decorating kit, sprinkles, holiday drink mixes (like spice tea), parmesan cheese, Velveeta, mac and cheese, pasta sauce mixes (like alfredo), tasteful Christmas ornaments/decorations, scented candles, Bath and Body Works lotions, magazines (ESPN, InStyle), children's Christmas books, nativity scenes, festive plates and napkins for all of our Christmas parties that we will be hosting.

If you would like to send any of this, please contact one of our parents. They have our address and can ship it to us. If you do not know our parents let me know and I will direct you to someone else that knows how to ship it to us. Just please keep in mind that it costs about $5.00 per pound to ship, and you will want to give the appropriate amount to whoever ships it for you. It usually takes about 10-14 days for it to arrive here.

We are not asking for anyone to send these items to us. This is just for those who have expressed a desire to do so.

We love you all! K & L

Living and Loving EA

We have been busy going to school, figuring out how to order our favorite foods, and tring to meet people who can speak English. Our wonderful parents have been sending us some packages lately. The parmesan cheese was soooo good! Who knew that we would miss that so much?
We have been preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving with our American friends. We are all contributing. L is making sweet potatoes, apple pie, jello salad, and deviled eggs. I think we will be eating chicken rather than turkey though. We will let you know how it goes. We will also be looking for a Christmas tree this week.
We love you all. K & L

We were in a service last Sunday and I heard some water splashing on the ground behind me. I looked down at the ground and saw a little stream of urine running downhill right between my feet. The little boy who did it was about 2 years old. The kids here wear split-bottomed pants so they can just go when they need to and the parents dont have to change any diapers.

Remember if you want to email us our address is eastasiabrownies@gmail.com. Love yall.

We found a Snoopy pillow at the store. Apparently Snoopy here is wiser than the one I grew up watching.


Another quote from Snoopy.

It is hard to tell because of the glare, but the computer on top of the Panasonic display is actually a Mac.

We got a new washer. The picture of the kids in diapers is the company enblem- we did not put it there. It looks big in the picture but it really only holds about 2 towels and 1 cycle takes an entire hour.


This is a pictue of L cooking our first meal in our new apartment. It was chicken and spaghetti and it was delicious. The cabinets are lower than American cabinets so we have to lean over to cook or wash the dishes.

This is the entrance into our bahroom. The bathrooms here don't have bathtubs. The shower heads are connected to the wall and water gets on everything in the bathroom when someone showers. Our friends got us 2 shower curtains to try and keep the water from getting everywhere.


This is the floor of our bathroom. The floor is slightly angled to a drain by the toilet so that the water runs toward the drain in the ground during a shower. We have glass bricks lined on the ground to make a barrier to help keep the water from covering the entire floor.


Next to the toilet is the drain that all of the water runs to. It is just a big pipe with a grill on it. Sometimes it smells really bad.

Fabric softner anyone?

New Do & Packing

The day after arriving in Belton from Virginia both K & L cut their hair. L cut her hair 6-8 inches (depending on which section of her hair you are talking about), and K shaved his head (it has already grown out a bit in the photo). We are now in Houston packing. We are going to be taking with us 630 pounds of luggage, crammed into 9 suitcases. L has spent the last 3 days already rolling and rubberbanding each individual piece of clothing, and K is trying to max out the weight on each piece. We will have to let you know how we did. Please remember us as we prepare to say goodbye to our families and begin our journey overseas. K & L

Wrapping Up

We were able to go to Washington D.C. last week. We had a really fun time there. This was K's first time to go, and it was L's second, but she still has never seen the White House. We will have to go back sometime when we have more time.

While we were there we went to the Capital, and K even bought a doughnut the size of L's head! We love you all and will hopefully talk to you soon.

Love, K & L