A Bit of Culture Shock...

The chances are that this year will be fraught with episodes, small and large, of reverse culture shock. It's pretty much a given when you've spent seven years living and working in a foreign, very foreign, country. It's unpredictable and wily and likely to sneak up on you in the middle of a conversation or in the aisles of your local grocery store. In fact, it's such a devious and insidious thing that you usually don't realize what is causing your confusion/watering eyes/sharp response/fill in the blank...

Case in point: Yesterday I was at the store. Exciting, eh? I wanted to find some seasonings for cooking, particularly for making Thai food. I have to tell you something shocking: it was easier to do this in MONGOLIA. That's right; here, in the USA (the "land of plenty" as people sometimes say) the only thing I found was "Thai seasoning" which, when I turned it over to read the ingredients, claimed to be made mostly of "chili peppers & other seasonings". How is one to know if it contains the Thai staples of Kaffir lime, lemon grass, or galangal? What exactly is Thai about "& other seasonings", and why do I have to pay $5 to find out? I just wanted some comfort food in the form of Tom Ka Gai (chicken and coconut soup). Anyway... it wasn't exactly rational of me to be upset at the seasonings aisle, but I was. Blame it on culture shock.

Maybe I should try to make some Mongolian tsuivan instead. Fewer seasonings involved. Now I'll cheer up and post some wedding pictures.

A Catastrophe!

You may have noticed the lack of posts in December. Up until the 24th, my excuse was that it was a busy month. I prepped and taught a long seminar in UB, and when I got back home I leapt right into the madness of Christmas and New Year's parties. Now my excuse is that my friend's cat, as a sort of Christmas Eve present to me, decided to leap over my computer in a effort to tackle my cat, misjudged, and ended up sliding--with my computer--to the floor. Now my computer is awaiting a new hard drive that my boyfriend, awesome guy that he is, will bring to me in Thailand in a couple weeks. Where, as I soak in the warmth and devour fresh fruit, I'll put my little Mac back together. Until then I won't be doing anything interesting (besides tons and tons of grading) so it's not like I'd be posting anyway. Check back after mid February!

Narnia

While in Thailand I was able to see the new Narnia movie in the theater. (It’s always great fun to go to movies in Thailand—not only are they cheap, but before the start of the movie everyone in the theater must stand as a video tribute to the king is played. This fascinates me.) Anyway, Narnia… I have read this book many, many times in the last four years because it is part of the curriculum I teach. I enjoy the story very much, but unfortunately I know it too well to be able to appreciate the movie. Instead I got a bit hung up on the changes…I realize that they have to cut things out to make it fit in a two-hour time frame—cutting makes sense to me—but adding extra things is always a bit weird in my opinion.

My two main questions: Why did they have to add to, alter, and embellish the children and beavers’ flight from the witch and wolves? And what was up with the near drowning of the kids?

And now, a free language lesson: C. S. Lewis is said to have gotten the name Aslan from the Turkish word for lion. Apparently he came across it while reading Arabian Nights… Anyway, the word for lion in Kazakh is also Aslan, and the word in Mongolian is Arslan. In both Mongolia and Kazakhstan this is a perfectly acceptable name for a guy.

Sorry for the lack of posts... I was in Thailand thawing out.