Thursday, November 23, 2006

happy thanksgiving!

while not as warm and full of family love as last year, this thanksgiving finds us in thailand! we were enjoying sweet potato biscuits and yummy green mashed potatoes crafted by tommy and ashley this time last year. boy was that cool, especially in our beautiful house with all ashley and brooke's cousins swimming in the pool! so we can't do that this year, but thailand is the next best thing! we send our love to those gathering at 921 for festivities on this day of thanks.

well, the week has been the good type of busy around our house and there is anticipation in the air! here's the short list of reasons:

i finally completed my ICOM application. i was really worked up about this because a college application is a big deal, but i followed the instructions to the letter and submitted my application with attachments, transcripts from RICE, six passport pictures, and the dreaded tape. (you may not know this, but getting a good recording is hard to begin with, but doing it in your living room in one take is the impossible dream.) so i drove it over and proudly handed it in to find that they wanted an audition and test after all. oh, and could i do it today? argh. i bought a little time by scheduling it for the next morning and proceeded to cram my level 5 theory for the rest of the day. the test was more like level 1.5 (no complaints) and when i came in to the audition they said they had not listened to my tape (!). so i just sang what i had on the tape. they seemed particularly interested in the jazz selections, so i sang frim fram sauce, errand girl for rhythm, and popular. i only recorded secret love, if it makes you happy, popular, and an old italian aria from the yellow book we all learned in high school, alma del core, for good measure. when i was done singing we did some sight singing and improvisation with a chord progression. that was funny because the professor was plunking through the progression and abruptly stopped, looked up over his glasses and said "you sing at church?". i said, "um, yes," and that was that. they didn't have questions for me, but you know i had plenty for them! school starts in january and i will begin as a vocalist and switch to piano as my primary instrument after some brushing up. i wonder if they have any idea of what they are getting into...


christmas is in the air. we left all of our christmas decor at home when we packed up; it was too involved to cimb up into the attic in the 100*F+ and try to figure out which boxes contained our usual decorations. so, we are starting again and having fun finding stuff for the traditional christian/european holiday. we're all looking forward to a christmas party we'll host on the 17th at our house! we hope to have some cheerful music, funny white elephant exchange, gwadzillions of cookies, and a gingerbread creation or two grandma barb would be proud of. ashley is working on the invitation and scheming to find a santa among her high school friends.


thanksgiving in phuket, thailand! i'm not sure i can describe how differently i am understanding and appreciating our great country, the united states of america. maybe i needed to move away and see the difference that a weak economy, clearly divided racial lines, and a religious government can make not only in the atmosphere but in the lifestyle of a people. we all know that our country is far from perfect, but girls and boys have the same educational opportunities, racial discrimination is actively and progressively being eliminated, and our government is accountable to a religiously free people. i am so grateful that my grandparents dreamed of a good life, a better life for their kids, my parents. my mom's parents came to america from italy right through ellis island and worked hard to help her and her siblings get ahead. my dad's parents were just crazy enough to believe that if you worked hard, you could change your future. i hope every generation brings us closer to the ideals that they dreamed of and i now see much more clearly in this contrasting environment. i love our country and am so proud to be an american!


the marathon in singapore! greg has been quietly training away on our treadmill in the office and is in very good condition for the event the first week of december. he is hoping for a personal best, which i know he will attain despite the revolution his new job has wrought in his personal life. the best part is that his brother chris will be in town for business and will return to kl with us for a day or two! greg is so excited he can't stand it and we're all looking forward to seeing him! the girlies especially have a blast with uncle chris because they can do bad stuff and not get in trouble when he's around. thankfully the bb gun is in storage!


our plan is to hurry up and do the family christmas shopping so we can send prezzies home with uncle chris because shipping from malaysia is unbelievably expensive. like $100US to send a 5-pound parcel! yikes! we'll do our best to get it done! shipping to us here is not a problem because solar sends our goods through interoffice mail from california, so feel free to send us press-n-seal, almay mascara/cosmetics, laura scudder's peanut butter, or powerbars anytime you want!


i have some fun pictures from breakfast for the next post. asians have such interesting food! tonight we are off for a seafood satay thanksgiving dinner. lobster kebab, anyone??


love chryl

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