Ma Ria

Sister Maria: Did I tell you my friend got engaged at Costco?

Chu Lia

And like a gift from heaven, temporary Chinese flatmate Julia (probably not her real name) has been dropped into my life. I returned to Edinburgh yesterday from my trip to the surface of the sun (Coachella) to find the living room strewn with personal effects. Kitty was curled up on a tourist map of the Highlands, reading a Chinese/English dictionary. She glared at me, snapped her fingers, and Julia appeared. Julia wears mismatched pajamas all day. Except when she goes outside. In an attempt to be hospitable, I’ve been wearing pajamas since I returned. I’ve made the jetlag rookie move of sleeping when you’re tired, ie: all day. I woke up today at 6 p.m., just in time for Julia to cook me a delicious stir fry breakfast. She tells me she’s not a very good cook, and back home in China her family only lets her do the dishes. I let her do both. She makes a mean garlic, ham, cabbage stir fry. It went really well with my morning coffee. And just when I was wondering if Julia would be of any use to me, she told me she’d like to go to France, and visit Disneyland Paris. “I want to dance with Mickey Mouse.”

Unfortunately Julia’s leaving on Tuesday.

Menu Planning

Sister Maria: We're bbq-ing for Fourth of July right?

Grandbrother Hector: Yes, I was thinking we could get some hot dogs and grill some chicken.

Sister Maria: Can we get those really good Frankfurters?

G’bro Hector: Um no. What’s wrong with you? I’m not cooking German sausage on Fourth of July. You can save that for your D-Day bbq.

Good News/Bad News

Sara, Brad, I have good news and bad news. The good news is there are some nice photos from the wedding. The bad news is that this is the best one:

$1 to the writer of the best caption.