I am a mix of emotions this morning as I am at work (Monday):

Isn’t it exciting to read some good news about Iraq for once?  I felt really inspired, reading about the elections in Iraq.  We had elections here recently as well, but unlike Iraq, which had 7,000 (!!!) candidates running and actual choices, there was no difference between the candidates here, i.e. they are all supporters of the Prez. The word on ther street is that most people didn’t vote, but the media (aka, the gov’t) claims that there was 80% turnout. 

I got an email from a friend of mine from Food for the Hungry (www.fh.org) who went to do some work related to the tsunami.  His account of what he saw was SO sobering.  He writes:

I have been around death before…from Iraq where death could be heard in the sound of gunfire and explosions, and Uganda where AIDS was playing its deadly game on the lives of widows and orphans, and Sudan where the Janjaweed continue to wreak havoc on the lives of innocence whose only crime is their God given ethnicity.  But nothing had prepared me for the magnitude and suddenness of the devastation and death Nature had wrought on the northern tip of Sumatra in Indonesia.

Jockeying our way to a waiting taxi I couldn’t help but notice the countless flyers and posters with the word Dicari! (Missing!) together with pictures from happier times of grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters…each one loved…and each one feared forever lost.

The comment about the posters reminds me of what happened after 9/11 with all the missing posters.

So, feeling a little bummed out this morning.    It’s kind of like… wow – things are moving forward in Iraq, but not here.  But there are places worse off than here, like Indonesia.  How to get a hold of all of that?   I think I need to read the ending to my friend’s email over and over again:

As a follower of Jesus, I claim to serve a loving God…a God who creates, a God who heals, a God who brings hope, a God who gives life…and yet I saw destruction, brokenness, hopelessness and death.  I don’t pretend to have an answer to the suffering…or to why God allows it.  It always has been and will remain a mystery.  In fact if I claimed any different I am afraid compassion would be lost to callous dogmatism.  However, in the mystery God reminds us, through the words of Abraham, Whom to trust:  “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”  And I believe the answer is YES!

Re: Spongebob – I think it is ridiculous how they make issues like this a big deal.  I also think that Dr. Dobson’s comments *may* have been taken out of context.   But, at the end of the day, it’s Christians who will always be the ones seen as the stupid ones, not necessarily the media.   I like what just_do_the_math said, which was that Jesus said that we should go one step BEYOND respecting all peoples to LOVING all peoples.  Word up math man!  Alas, in this world, there are many battles to fight, and I guess some people choose certain ones over others; we must CHOOSE WISELY. 

I had an article up here written by this “sort-of” radical guy, but decided to take it off.  It’s a bit too much, I think.  If you read it, let me know what you thought.

Back to the exciting world of Uzbekistan.

A question – do any of your non-Asian friends XANGA? None of mine do.  Why not? 

Maybe more appropriately, why do so MANY Asian people Xanga?

** WARNING WARNING ** SERIOUS TOPIC AHEAD.          IF you don’t feel like thinking, please turn back. **

Christians issue gay warning on SpongeBob video.  http://edition.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/20/sponge.bob.reut/index.html

Basically, some Conservative Christian groups claim that the We Are Family Foundation, who released a song with all these cartoon characters (including SpongeBob) singing “We are family” encourages kids to “celebrate” homosexuality.    James Dobson says that including “sexual orientation” in the pledge is not only “not necessary” but also “crossing a moral line”.

Here’s the pledge from the We are Family’s website:

Tolerance is a personal decision that comes from a belief that every person is a treasure. I believe that America’s diversity is its strength. I also recognize that ignorance, insensitivity and bigotry can turn that diversity into a source of prejudice and discrimination.

To help keep diversity a wellspring of strength and make America a better place for all, I pledge to have respect for people whose abilities, beliefs, culture, race, sexual identity or other characteristics are different from my own.

I’ll share what I think after I’ve heard from at least 5 people on this subject.

BEING D-U-M IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY

Being D-U-M (i.e. absentminded, forgetful) in any country can have bad results.  Being D-U-M in a foreign country?  More frustrating because you can’t admit how D-U-M you’re being (because I find it makes me feel better if I say to someone “I’m being D-U-M!”).

Yesterday, I was in a taxi, going to the post office when I realized I had forgotten my wallet.   So I tried to explain to the driver that I had forgotten it.  He agreed to turn back but only if I gave him about three times the normal fare.  Then, as he was about to turn around, he got pulled over by a cop and got a ticket. OOPS.

Then, as I was going home from work, also in a taxi, I left my cell phone in the taxi.  I called it as soon as I realized what had happened, asking the guy to bring it back and he agreed but for a price, of course.  I had to make at least 2 more phone calls before he was close enough to where I lived to drop it off again. (“hello?  Are you near yet?” “no, 20 more minutes” “okay” … “hello?  Are you near yet?” “no, 10 more minutes” “okay”).  He came back about and hour and a half later, laughing at me.  I sheepishly grabbed my phone, gave him the money, and he drove off.  Thankfully, he didn’t make any personal calls on the phone.

The lesson?  If you’re going to be D-U-M, do it in your own country.

This has nothing to do with Uzbekistan, BUT…

My friends and I were CRACKING UP this weekend about one scene from the movie “13 going on 30″ where Jennifer Garner’s character’s boyfriend dances for her to “Ice Ice Baby”.  He’s a hockey player, too… yuk, yuk, yuk… Here he is doing his “best-est-est move”.  That song is a classsic.  His dancing was classic, too, but in a different way.   “OH GRODY”

Continuing on my theme of living here vs. living there…

Things I miss about America (besides friends and family):

• Starbucks Coffee, esp lattes


• All the different foods you can get there that you can’t get here, like: bagels, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, any kind of seafood, a nice green salad, croissants, sandwiches


• My former NYC apt shower (Lucky Chamsky!)


• The Golden Girls


• Redeemer Presby Church


• The New York Times, especially the Sunday Times!

Anyone who can send any of these items to me will be my hero.

WHY I DONT ALWAYS LIKE LIVING IN UZBEKISTAN, Appendix A:

Okay, usually, care packages and letters get over here PRETTY reliably and in less than 1 month. From NYC, they’ve been coming in as quickly as 10 days!   BUT, I am *JUST* starting to receive Christmas cards that were sent at the beginning of December (THANKS MEL!  THANKS TINA!).   But, I do have to say that it’s kind of fun getting these cards after Christmas…it’s like Christmas is being extended.

Maybe they were holding all the cards in observance of Russian Orthodox Christmas, which was January 7th, or the OLD New Year, which is today, January 14th.

By the way, neither of the cards I got were opened, but “Good Job Tina and Mel!” for not writing anything “subversive” or “dangerous” in them! (sometimes people forget)

So if you sent something and I didn’t say thanks, yet, you know why. 

Game time! (as a break from my very serious topics of discussion and discourse) 
What movies/tv shows are the following quotes from?  Winner gets… NOTHING! 

1. “Poor guy’s so confused he doesn’t know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt.”
2. Character #1:”how about glitter?”
Character #2: “Oh, Scott (not real name of character)’s favorite movie”
Scott: “It was underrated.”
3. “Why don’t we go somewhere where nobody knows how rich I am…Where IS Staten Island?”
4. “bend.. and snap!”
5. “I want my man to wear glasses. Men with glasses are so much more gentle.  They get weak eyes from reading those LONG columns in the Wall Street Journal.”
6. “Next time, write me out a speech. I could mee-mo-rize it.”
7. “yes, I will go down in history as the man who opened a door!”
8. “I’m a good person.  But you – you are a great person.”
9. “Guess what, Mom!  I’m telepathetic!”
10. “now, it’s time for the Pamily Pellowship” 

Why I do not always enjoy living in Uzbekistan:

• the paperwork and bureacracy here are crazy


• the way women are sometimes treated here


• bargaining!  don’t like it and can’t do it well.


• there are not many places to just sit and have coffee or tea and just read quietly


• being taken advantage of because you’re a foreigner