Australia 9/2/2019 - 9/22/2019

Sunday, 9/8/2019 - Patriots Sports Bar

The Sonams once again worked a 2:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. shift. When they returned home, they made us a delicious brekky sandwich consisting of onions and sausage in soy sauce with melted cheese on a bun. For vegetarians, the Sonams sure are good at cooking with meat. It was never a combination that we would have thought to make for ourselves, but it was amazing!

Our 11-year-old goddaughter Sisa in Ecuador started to write to us on Messenger. Sonam Tshering had gone with us to visit the family there in 2018, and we knew that the kids miss him. Since we were all here together, I video called the family. The kids were quite excited to see us and Sonam, and also to meet Sonam Choki. They always giggle that the Sonams have the same first name.

Sisa spoke to us in English; she is learning very quickly. Shina was reading aloud from a book. I asked the kids to sing Sonam's song, and immediately all three of them broke into "Tingolayo, come little donkey come," which Sonam had taught them 19 months ago.

Antonio had a bad cold and his voice was quite ragged. Rosa was also sick; both of them have apparently been sick for a month. The kids are now back in school. Sisa is taking her second year of English classes in Ibarra. Antonio told us that Yupanqui and Shina have English lessons at the "high school" on Tuesdays with a Japanese person living in Cotacachi.

They informed us that Cachupin the dog had passed away; ostensibly from eating something toxic (plantains?) This is sad to hear; he was a lovely dog and we were buddies. Rest in Peace, sweet dog. You will be missed.

The kids always latch on to the fact that there is a 12 hour time difference, so they were delighted that we were eating breakfast as they were going to bed. We wished them goodnight and signed off.

Sonam Tshering with our compadres in Ecuador, January 2018

The Sonams offered to take us to the art museum today, but Craig was just too tired. We had done so many activities in the past couple of days that he needed a day to recover before we headed to Sydney to start our guided trip.

We preferred to enjoy a lazy Sunday morning and afternoon at home, savoring our last day together. We had many laughs, doing silly things such as pitting Siri against Google Assistant.

Sonam Tshering had been promising Craig that he would cook him ema dashi (Bhutanese chili and cheese), and Sonam Choki was in a hurry to eat it (they had already done a work shift, after all). Sonam prepared it for her. Craig and I had a little bit, but we were still full from our brekkie sandwiches. It was delicious, as always.

Sonam Choki did our laundry and it dried almost immediately on the clothesline since the sun was out and there was very little humidity. I went out to the back yard to take some photos.

We showed Sonam Choki the video of Sonam Tshering's trip to Ecuador, and then we watched videos from our 2017 trip to visit Sonam Tshering in Bhutan. We followed this up with photos of a 14-year old Sonam Tshering when we firest met him in Bhutan in 2007. It was great sharing these memories with Sonam Choki.

The Sonams made momos (dumplings) for lunch served with ema dashi, rice, and a vegetable soup. Sonam Tshering is a great cook, but he works so much that he rarely has time to cook elaborate meals for his wife. By taking it easy today, it gave him a chance to make some amazing dumplings that we all enjoyed very much. They were also quite beautiful, meticulously crimped and with some shaped like roses. I joked that he was just trying to show off, since he knows all about my pathetic past attempts at dumpling-making.

Craig presented the Sonams with some Boston Baked Beans candy. We had brought some to Bhutan when we visited in 2017, when Sonam Tshering was in his final year of college. He had shared them with his friends, including Sonam Choki. Sonam Choki had joked to Craig that it was at that time that their relationship blossomed and they started to see each other as something more than friendly classmates. So we thought that this was a cute little throwback for these now-newlyweds.

Now that we are heading to Sydney tomorrow, it was time to contact our Facebook friend Carmen. We met her online over 10 years ago through our mutual love for Michael Palin's travel series. She now lives north of Sydney, and we hoped to finally get to meet in person. I contacted her and we made plans for Tuesday. She suggested meeting at WILD LIFE Sydney, a small zoo that specializes in Australian animals. I booked tickets online (along with a pass to get a photo taken next to a koala) and we made plans to meet there at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

Nim came home from work in the late afternoon. After a cup of tea we headed to Northbridge in search of the Patriots Sports Bar. What are the odds that there would be a bar dedicated to the New England Patriots over eleven and a half thousand miles from New England?

My cousin Ally had been working in Southeast Asia earlier this year. After hearing about this particular Patriots-themed bar, she actually flew here to watch the Pats win the Super Bowl. Craig and I are big Patriots fans. Given that today is the start of football season (well, tomorrow, factoring in the time change), we couldn't resist.

Northbridge is a nightlife district of Perth, with many bars, clubs, and restaurants. Nim had suggested taking us to this area even before he knew about the Patriots connection. So even though the Sonams don't drink alcohol, everyone was up for paying respect to our home town team.

Nim drove us to Northbridge. Being a Sunday night, the area wasn't too crowded. He found a parking spot on the street, around the corner from the bar. The parking spot was actually right in front of a Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlor. We commented that this was another New England institution, and suggested stopping in for a cone on our way back to the car.

We rounded the corner and there was the bar. As Sonam took a photo of Craig and me standing under the sign, some random guy walked by and photobombed us. Even though the Sonams don't drink, you have to be 18 to enter the bar. While they located their ID's, Craig and I chatted with the bouncer about the Patriots. He informed us that they had signed Antonio Brown today (by the time we got home, he would be released, but it was still exciting).

Any suspicions that the bar might not lean into its Patriots theme were unfounded. There were mural photographs of Brady and the team on the walls. There were NFL helmets on display, with the Pats one in a prominent location. The menus were "playbooks" on clipboards. Craig had a Patriots Lager (with the Lombardi trophy as a tap handle). The bartender wore a baseball-style Pats jersey. We had fun posing for photos, holding up 6 fingers for our 6 Super Bowl championship titles, mimicing Brady's facial expressions, etc.

Nim and I had Monteith's hard cider. The Sonams had sodas. We all shared a "Mike Tyson" vegetarian pizza.

For a while the Texas A&M / Clemson football game was on one of the many television screens. We explained a bit of American football to the Bhutanese. We explained to them that we have the oldest quarterback who is arguably the best ever in the history of American football. Our six championships have been won over the course of 17 years, and we have had the same quarterback for all of them!

We had fun chatting about other things too. Nim (age 28) was talking about how when he was young they didn't really have chocolate in Bhutan, just potatoes, and Sonam Tshering (25) teased him for acting like an old man.

We continued the New England cultural theme with a stop at Vermont's finest ice cream: Ben & Jerry's on the walk back to the car.

We all got waffle cones (I had my favorite Phish Food and Craig had chocolate chip cookie dough), whereas the others had vanilla and strawberry cheesecake. Nim wasn't familiar with ice cream headaches because he's not an ice cream guy. "there are ice cream guys...I'm not one of them..." Guess it's because of those potatoes again, LOL! (Of course, he was the first one to finish his entire cone, so he seems to be more of an "ice cream guy" than he admits!)

We sat out at a table on the sidewalk, Sonam Choki using Craig's coat as a blanket because she was so chilly. Craig and I were in shirtsleeves and quite comfortable.

As we left Ben & Jerry's, "Buffalo Soldier" by Bob Marley was playing. Craig was surprised as the Sonams started to sing along. "Where do you know this song from?" he asked. Nim deadpanned, "It's famous!" Touche! When we were in Bhutan we had heard lots of songs like "Ode to Billy Joe" and "Country Roads" repeated endlessly on the radio, but no reggae. I guess times have changed. Then again, throughout our travels we have definitely noticed the ubiquity of Bob Marley. He is a world wide icon, and you hear his music and see his image everywhere. He probably took a bit longer to catch on in Bhutan since the country was closed off to outside culture until relatively recently.

We drove back to the house and chatted for a while. As much as we didn't want our time together to end, we needed to pack our luggage for our flight to Sydney tomorrow morning, and they needed to get to sleep in advance of working their early morning shift again.

We really admire their work ethic and perseverence. We know that this culture and society is much different than they are used to, and they are showing admirable flexibility and resilience to reach their goals. We are so proud of all three of them!