Lew Tobin was here.

Whew. I would stay that was a world-wind of a visit, but it was a little over 14 days...so, I guess I really cannot say that. Well...I guess you could say that about my bedroom, but hey, what do you expect when 2 people share 50 square feet of space.

So, for those of you know didn't know, my dad came to visit and of course, it went like any normal Tobin visit. Arrival times got confused (my dad chilled at the Az airport for 2 hours because we got his departure and arrival times mixed up), the local news channel wanted to interview us (talk about improving my language skills! I translated the whole darn thing!), my dad's passion for beets ended us up with a 10 gallon bucket of borscht. Of course, this was all in-between the constant tea drinking, the cramped travel, and the billionth asking of, "Are you sure this is your father? You look nothing like him."

Still, it was a fun trip. I got to eat two real hamburgers and am the proud new owner of a huge metal pot. Now...on to guilting my sister into visiting.

Lots of Xengel

So, a week or two ago was my region mate Mike's birthday.

Mike is one of those unique folks who has a birthday only every 4 years, so weren't sure which day to celebrate his 26 years...so we decided to celebrate it both February 27 and March 1.

A pretty darn good deal if you ask me.

At any rate, Mike wanted a stack of delicious xengel...which I happy obliged. I love to roll, crimp, boil, and fry 100 pieces of deliciousness.

Still, it was a good thing I had help.

PS I revised my original xengel [link] recipe post. Check it out!

Keeping My English Up

It's inevitable, the misuse of English words; the failing to recall a simple turn of phrase. Yesterday, I told my site mate, "Don't worry. Meat stays." He, of course, looked at me weird. The word, saxlamaq, in Azerbaijani, means to stay and to keep. Oh, whoa as me.

So what do PCVs do to keep from falling too far down the linguistic rabbit hole? We challenge each other to Scrabble tournaments, several PCVs are studying the GREs and have vocab lists covering their walls. Personally, I try to do a crossword everyday (I got an awesome crossword-a-day calendar recently) and I thank my lucky stars, some kind family members sent me, Take Two.

Take Two is an awesome create-a-crossword-faster-than-your-opponent game. Although, I am not as good as say, Amy, the undisputed Scrabble champ in our region, I do like to throw down a puzzle or two. A few monthly games of this and hopefully, I won't be saying, "Hey, I plan to keep in Alaska for awhile" when I return home.