We Made It!

Finally.... we have made it to our new city. It has been such a weird feeling and the fact that we have actually moved has begun to sink in a bit. Our first impressions of this place as we drove from the airport to our apartment, is that it is a big city, very modern...it seems that it is a very relational city. Our taxi driver was quite friendly, and the people seem very willing to help out if you ask them. Coming from India in a place where people are always trying to rip you off, we were a bit stand offish at first, but we are slowly letting our guard down. One of the stranger things that we noticed on our drive home from the airport, was that all along the highway, there were random groups of people camped out alongside the road having what looked like a bonfire or a picnic, and smoking their hooka pipes. Seemed strange, but you can tell that these people are very much about relationships.

Our apartment is nice. We have been blessed to be able to move into a fully furnished apartment and not have to be frantically running around looking for stuff in a city we are not familiar with. Our first day here was kind of funny. We woke up and had no food in the house, the kids were pretty fussy, we were hungry and a bit nervous to venture out, but our stomachs wouldn't allow us otherwise. So, the family that had lived here before us, so nicely drew out some maps of what was around and how we could get here and there, and on the one map we saw a bakery. We only had 3 dinar left in our pocket(which is about $5) from the day before of having to pay for our visas and taxis, so we weren't really sure what that would buy us, but we thought we would head off to the bakery. It ended up only being about 5 min. walk away, but when we entered all the prices were in Arabic. Yikes! We have no idea what anything costs. Wait a minute...here are some muffins that are printed in English and they are only 1 1/2 dinars, so we can do it. So we bought them and got a little something to fill our bellies and then were off to the Safeway, where we had heard we could use an ATM. Wow, this Safeway is just like stepping into the US. We can get anything we need here. Well, except for bacon, or anything of that sort. And there is no shortage of olives and nuts and Labnah (which I am really not sure what it is yet) Some sort of cream cheese or something. There is definitely no shortage of familiar things in this city, like Dominoes Pizza, Burger King, KFC, Starbucks, Papa John's and so on. We have only seen what is around our few blocks, so who knows what else this city holds. Sometimes I have felt like this small fish that has just been dropped into a huge lake, and it feels a little overwhelming at times.

But anyway, it has been a time of learning that is for sure and we are all adjusting well. Caleb and Judah are doing great. They don't seem to have really been bothered at all yet. They just go with the flow. I have pictures of our apartment that I will post soon. I just wanted to let you all know we are here and we are safe and we are starting all over as learners. Please pray that our adjustment continues to go smoothly and that we will build some good relationships here. Thanks so much!