Order has been restored...

We headed home this weekend to spend some time with the fam...which of course was dominated by cuteness from one Mr. Finnegan. I love that he is saying "What are you talking about Greta...", that he quickly learned that Thailand chocolates are called "Twinkles," and that this conversation actually happened:

Finn: Saying a bunch of stuff that Nate can't quite decipher
Nate: (silence)
Finn: "Why aren't you saying anything Nate?"
Nate: "What do you want me to say?"
Finn: (puzzled silence followed by extreme concentration) "Why don't you say something like a cow."
Nate: Mooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hilarious.

Also on the docket for the weekend was bringing Lucy back to the great state of MN. Now Mom and Dad swear that she didn't do any death growling the entire month she was in Viroqua.

But sure as the sun rises every morning...there was Lucy at the side of our bed death growling in the middle of the night. This time with force. Like--hey you who abondoned me for a month, you are really going to get it now.. And so it goes that Lucy has taken back control of the house, and restored order to who is the boss. Nate and I don't have to argue about that anymore because Lucy cleared that up pretty quick last night.

P.S. Totally unrelated but important, I haven't forgotten about all of you chicken recipe inquirers. I'll post it soon!

Badger Bummer

Nate and I had the honor of accompanying Ms. Fiterman and Mr. Arbit, whom I have just decided to call the Fiterbit's because it is snappy and I kind of like it just like the Wongske's, to the Badger/Gopher game last night. Debra is always so kind to invite us as fellow Badger friends and fans.

This year she got us extra excited to a special "VIP" room. I was picturing gold banisters, champagne fountains, and decadent chocolate desserts spread all over the room. Now for some, what actually transpired would have seem like a let down compared to those expectations but for ME...this little VIP room was a beacon of happiness because:

1) The Badgers were playing horribly
2) Free-flowing Root Beer...

Seriously...who doesn't love Root Beer. And I am pretty sure it is way more refreshing than some stupid champagne. And let's not forget the chocolate cake-pie that had pudding in the middle. Weird yes. But kind of tasty too..and technically qualified for a decadent choclate dessert.

Does it seem like I am a little too focused on said VIP room? Well...that is because it was probably the highlight of the night given that the Badgers played like a tier 2 High School team last night and it was painful to watch. How painful you ask...I really don't think you can describe it any better than this:

Cooking Light: Episode 4

As we slowly fade back to real life, the realiziation that we need food...in our cupboards...so we don't starve came into focus. And since we are both trying to pack lunches and dinners for the nights we have class...a dinner that delivered leftovers was a must.

And if we must have leftovers...I am REALLY happy it is this: Chicken with Bacon and Cider Sauce.

You basically fry up 3 slices of bacon, take the bacon out and saute the chicken in the oil from the 3 slices of bacon. Once you cook the chicken you put the bacon back in the pan, add some chicken broth and apple cider vinegar, and reduce it down to an amazingly delicious sauce.

It was super easy--done in a flash (like 20 minutes) and has been feeding us (ok...Nate) for the entire week.

Any recipe that can make frozen chicken super juicy gets an A+ in my book.Message me if you are looking for the recipe and I'll send it to you!

Listmania: The Greatest Hits...Lost in Tranlsation

Ok, so I am sure you are all getting REALLY sick of hearing about Thailand, but you will have to bear with me through one more post...BUT it isn't about all of the fun things we did, but rather the most hilarious things we saw in Thailand that were a combination of signs lost in translation and one funny little man.

1) Overly literal restaurant names:

2) Overly DESCRIPTIVE Bar Names 

 

  

3) Pringle flavors only true Thai's would enjoy

 

 

4) Japanese candy that entices you with images of hamburgers and naming similar to that of a body part which will later be working to excrete it.

 

5) Interesting use of imagery to substitute for a letter:

 

6) Childish Humor at every turn

 

7) Some spelling errors lead to GROSS errors in interpretation:

 

8) Hidden surprises are never usually a good thing in your meal...but maybe a "Super Surprise" is different.

  

9) Subliminal messaging? Eat Caramel Corn--will have positive life style? Hmm...

10) The Pancake Man--ok..so this isn't a hilarious lost in translation type deal, but I couldn't NOT mention this guy as we went to visit him every night we were in Koh Samui to get his delicious crepes that were $.75. He was hilarious....he had quite the routine/performance that went into every single little crepe. It included extremely precise movements to slather butter, flip the crepes, cut the crepes and present the crepes. I had a video but it didn't turn out very well so this picture will have to suffice:

 

And with that...it's back to your regularly scheduled program....

Messed Up

It's official. I am seriously messed up with jet lag.

I wasn't really expecting it since we adjusted to well on the way over to Thailand, but holy smokes has it been a rough go of it this week.

I have YET to function after 8PM, even though I am literally falling asleep every night at 8 or 9 (when Nate forces me to try to stay up). Which means of course I am up at the butt crack of dawn every morning. And even when I manage to sleep in to a normal time I am STILL tired at 8PM.

And this isn't the oh I feel tired but can stay up sort of tired. This is the eyelids close immediately, drifting off to sleep only to be woken up by a freight train type of tired.

So this whole week has been work and sleep, with very little else cool going on, or getting done. Period. Except of course school, which goes until 9PM which therefore comes DANGEROUSLY close to overlapping with sleep.

Anyway, the point is this weekend is all about sleeping in short bursts in the middle of the day so I have a fighting chance of actually starting to stay awake long enough to do something enjoyable at night like watch TV, read a book, work-out, eat food...pretty much anything.

The Final Days

In the final days of soaking up all the sun possible in Koh Samui, we did a full-day excursion complete with snorkeling, kayaking, more hiking, and plenty of beach time.

Snorkeling was good. I got kind of freaked out by all of the sea urchins and had to keep coming up and double-check with Nate that they don't attack.

It took multiple like 'shocks' for me to finally ask Nate if he was getting stung, and he nodded yes, and we HIGH-TAILED it out of the water. Apparently there were multiple little jelly-fish. Just as we got out of the water, Nate saw a Portugese Man of War...yikes!

After snorkeling we headed to a beautiful beach, took in the scenery and headed on a "little" hike that included a ton of very steep stairs...and climbing through some narrow spots.

The view was worth it.

So, we are officially back in the States. First order of business was to SHOVEL...(awesome), and now we are both elbow deep in studying. Nate has an accounting exam tomorrow night, and I have a paper due.
Can anyone say CRASH LANDING back into reality?

But I wouldn't trade travel for anything..it was a great trip. One I don't think we ever dreamed we would take. I highly recommend Thailand to anyone considering an adventerous vacation combined with a little beach relaxation.

Now...can anyone tell me where I can get a massage for $6 in Minneapols??

Dia de los Adventuras

In true Wongske and Hanson style, we decided to continue the tradition of Dia De Los Adventuras: Thailand stylle. So, what does a day of adventure with this foursome include:

1) Rental Car. Very important for aiding the impulse of the day. You can't quite do that with a tour group. Although with a tour group when this happens it isn't quite so stressful:

2) Picking a direction to drive. Clockwise or counter clockwise. Always a big decision. This decision facilitates which activities you do first, which is important because the adventures usually last all day.

3) Stopping by random beaches to see them in all of their beauty.

4) New for Thailand: Waterfall Trekking. This is where things start to get interesting. We decide to take on the hike to see "Waterfall 2" (yes, that was literally its name). This was not a standard, tourist friendly nature hike. This was rock jumping, up-hill climbing, nature infested hiking.

I say nature infested because about a third of the way up we ran into this friendly little guy:

This is the biggest spider I have ever seen in my entire life, and hope it is the only spider this big I ever encounter. Needless to say, after seeing 'it', I began sweating...profusely. Through my layer of bug lotion, sun-tan lotion and dress. Top the panicky sweat on top of the 'jungle-fever-humidity' and as Katie says I was a "sweaty mess." 

 

It was worth the view, the story and experience. Plus, if we hadn't trekked through the jungle Ryan wouldn't have been able to do this:

 

 

After all of the hiking, and sweating, nothing tasted better than a Coca Cola from the bottle and this lost in translation sign:

 

5) There was a seaside temple that took forever to find. I don't want to completely blame it on the changeover from girls navigating to boys navigating...but we didn't have any issues when the maps were in the back...I'm just saying...

6) We also stopped to see the Grand Mother and Father rocks. I am going to go ahead and let the pictures to the explaining for how these rocks got their name...

Even the immature humor of these rocks couldn't keep our spirits up when we went back to our car and it wouldn't start. It was the breaking point, but everyone kept their cool and we figured it out. And we decided we really needed a break in some air conditioning.

7) Which led us to a Tesco Grocery Store. The first blast of cold air made us feel like new women immediately. Look at these smiles.

The smiles only got bigger when we got our hands on this for 25 Baht (less than $1):

8) Next came dinner, and as the boys settled in for some post-dinner drinks, Katie and I headed out to walk the beach and found out that on this particular beach you can walk out FOREVER because the water was so shallow. I literally felt like I could walk off the edge of the world. It was so dark, and starry and warm. It might just be one of my favorite things from this whole vacation. The pictures just don't do it justice:

 

After all of this everyone walked away with all of their appendages in tact, there were no poisenous bug bites, and almost none of us got a funky rash (nate...). Then as we were leaving for dinner from our little villa, I missed a set of stairs and BAM! Ouchee city. Good thing Nurse Wong was on the job...

 
 

It was definitely a full day, but also a fun and memorable day. 

P.S. I predict many nightmares of gigantic spiders in my future.