I'M AN AUNT!!!

I find this to be a significant achievement in my life. A fulfillment of an accumulation of years of dropped hints and hours of gossiping with Amanda and James (not sure how this one fits in there, but I needed 2 things here). I feel the need to use my malaysian to-go phone as a mic and begin a long speech thanking many people...I mean, actually...

Congratulations Helen and Ross!!!!! I am so excited for you guys and for Raegan Hannah (did you realize her name could be shortened to Rae?) !!!!!!!!! Yes. I am over using exclamation marks, but I it is kind of exciting. She is a Hari Raya baby! And since Hari Raya is like the muslim version of Christmas, then she is pretty much a Christmas present! I think you should put a bow on her. And it should be orange. Just thoughts. Also, if you ever want me to babysit her for extended periods of time, I will come pick her up and bring her back to Malaysia with me!! Also..might need about 24 hours notice as those plane flights are a bit long for "short notice" sitting.

So that is pretty much the most exciting thing that has happened in my life recently. However I will try to make the rest of this slightly interesting so you do not fall asleep.

First off, I just bought a new computer. As many of you know I get distracted easily and accidentally run into things, drop things, fall down, etc. Well, my computer was already having some problems, but in the past two weeks I have now officially knocked my computer off a height of about 2-3 feet two different times. The computer screen is fine, but the computer itself is constantly freezing, not loading at all, and continually running scripts to try and recover...something. Yes, if this was America I would just take it to Best Buy or another IT place for some diagnostics. However, this is Labuan. The way things work here is if I took it in for a check up to the one computer place in town it would probably take them 3 to 4 weeks to diagnose and fix it, which is fine...IF they could fix it. Then, from my previous experience with commerce and how Malaysians charge westerners, they would probably crazy overcharge me for the service. So best solution for the moment? Buy a new one!! Where at? Well, Best Buy doesn't export. And I am afraid of internationally shipping something as fragile as a laptop to someplaces as kind-of-primitive as Labuan, so I found out there Dell Malaysia! I was able to build my laptop and order it here. It should be here in 7 to 10 days!! I am kind of excited. I hope it turns out to be a good computer.

Lets see, what else?
I have started cooking. I successfully made  chocolate crinkles!! At first it took awhile to find the ingredients, but the Chinese shop keeper and his wife at the little shop across the road are super nice and very helpful. Then when I went to make them I realized I had no...measuring cups! Seriously. So crazy. Or measuring spoons. Good thing I remember what approximately 1/4 of a tsp looks like. Then I got my friend Susannah (who is awesome!) to measure out 1 cup of flour in a coffee cup in America and give me the approximate cup amount over the internet. And with that, and the guessing, they turned out ok! I think I will try cinnamon rolls when I get more brave.

I also discovered that rice here has small bugs in it that you have to rinse out before you cook it. When I asked if this was normal, I was told, "Yeah..they're all like that. This isn't normal in the US?" I may've laughed a little hysterically while i controlled my gag reflex when rinsing the rice out later.

I'm still having that pain-through-mid-section-and-back issue. Actually had 2 "episodes" this week, 2 days in a row. I will talk to the medic here about it tomorrow, and we will see what he says. I am not going back to Klinik Wilayah unless they say they are going to x-ray my gallbladder or something cause there is no way this can be heartburn. But for now I am ok, just feeling a little nauseous. :)

My friend Catherine constantly makes my life better in small ways and I am thankful for her. Example: the other day I was talking about how much I miss oreos. Today she comes in from a lunch at the mall, and she found me a small package of oreos!! I am eating them slowly and they are delicious. I am getting used to ZhuZhu. She is also nice, just has small communication issues. I am trying to help her feel a little more welcome than I did at first.

I finished my control cards and OIL cd (requirements for going to Engg 1 next month)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy about this! It is a huge weight off of my chest. Now I can go back and really studying the little details of what I need to know. I can also spend more time in the shop with the techs, and I've heard that having hands on experience is very important for school. I am going to be so prepared it will be scary!

I also just heard that my friend Marie from Norway and Megan from Alaska (working in China and Equatorial Guinea, respectively) are potentially going to be there with me. Trying to reign in my excitement about that as well (sometimes SLB likes to change things up).

So yeah, today feels pretty good. Also, there are marvelous clouds outside right now which are distracting me because they remind me of Adam so instead of being at all productive I am thinking about how absolutely excited I am to get to see him again! I mean...over the internet is great and all, but wow...it will be incredible to see him in face-to-face!!

Days like today remind me of why I volunteered for this job.

I love and miss you all. I cannot wait to say hello to my new niece in person. Happy Birthday Raegan :)

Becca