Jumbles

Ahsalam-alaykum! Kifak? Cho-gi ming gaci mo? slieineing ligie moeputeme oiwenytóa to. Si!

Arabic
Dzongkha
Jumble
Spanish...

Oh dear, my mind has been feeling a little jumbled lately. The other day in class I almost lost it with the giggles, and I am really not even sure why. Do you ever have those moments where something seems funny to you, and it is in a situation where you know you are not supposed to be laughing, so that makes it even funnier, and you find yourself cracking up at nothing. That is what happened to me on Thursday in class. Oh my, I was laughing so hard that I could hardly catch my breath. I don't really know what was so funny, other then the fact that my brain was not cooperating with me and at times I felt like I was just staring at my teacher and she was sounding like one of the adults from "The Peanuts". Remember how all the adults on the Charlie Brown cartoons sounded like "wah wah wah wah, waa wah"
Then I went to the nursery to check on Mason and the girl in there was asking me a simple question and all that would come to mind was dzongkha. So I just sat there staring at her like a deer caught in the headlights. I am sure she wondered if something was wrong with me or what. Funny!
Hopefully tomorrow in class will be a better day!

Another World

My friend Tasha said it so well when she commented that I "live in another world".  It is so true.  It is funny how you can live in a place for awhile and soon things just become normal to you and your forget to look at things from a different perspective any longer.  You just accept things as they are.

This time of the year does remind me that I am definitely in a different land.  It is such a strange phenomenon to observe, this whole Ramadan thing.  Tonight Mike and I were able to go out on a date, thanks to some friends who volunteered to watch our kids for us.  What a blessing!  So, we went out to a popular restaurant here that has great Arabic food.  Well, going to a restaurant at Ramadan is always interesting because you have to wait for the call to prayer to start eating.  I imagine that being foreigners, we don't really have to wait, if we don't care about being sensitive to everyone around you, but then you may have people staring rather unfriendly at you.  So anyways, we got to the restaurant a little early, because we had to make sure to get a taxi before the streets cleared out of any cars in sight.  Really, it turns into a ghost town for a good half hour at least.  I will have to get some video footage of it.  It is wild!  We went to the grocery store the other day too during that time and it was the best time to walk with the kids, because there is not a car in sight.

Anyway, back to the restaurant.  Every table has a plate of dates on it, and some fried pita bread with half a lemon on top.  When the call to prayer sounds, everyone breaks their fast by first eating a date.  We both were so hungry, but we sat and waited for about 20 minutes until the call to prayer sounded and we could eat.  I did sneak a fried pita chip, but had to try and hide and eat it, because I saw a man watching me.  Oops!  But once that call sounds everyone digs in.  

We had a great evening and always enjoy getting out and watching people. 

The Sound of Forks

Well, Ramadan is in full swing now, and although it has not been too bad for us yet, it is mostly because we haven't had to be out and about during the day yet.  It started just yesterday on Saturday and I went to the grocery store at about 9 in the morning and I was amused by how much more food there is in the store during this time of year.  For those of you who don't know what Ramadan is, it is a month where the Muslims fast from sun up to sunset.  They are not allowed to eat anything, drink anything, smoke anything, and I have even been told that they are not supposed to swallow their own spit.  How many people follow it that close, I am not really sure.  But one thing I have observed is that there is a lot more food in the stores and it seems to me much more like a month of feasting, then fasting.  

Last year when we were here we had heard people saying that during the iftar, (the evening meal when they break their fast), they could hear forks and knives clanging in the houses, but I had thought it was an exaggeration.  Well it was no exaggeration.  Tonight we went outside after we had eaten dinner and it was almost eerie how quiet the street was during the call to prayer, and......we heard it!  We heard people's silverware clanging against plates as they began to eat.  It was so funny!  I guess because everyone is eating at the same time, there are no cars driving in the street, so it is quiet enough to hear the sound of forks and knives on the plates.  Funny!

WE FOUND AN APARTMENT!!! YiPPEE!!!!

After what seemed like an eternity of looking and getting nowhere, we have found a new place to move to in the area we were hoping to move. We won't move until the beginning of Sept., so I will have pictures later.

Modern Marvels

I sometimes take for granted the wonderful inventions of computers and email and how easy it is to keep in touch with family back home. The other day we were able to talk to our friends back in India through Skype. What a wonderful thing to be able to talk and see friends and family! I remember when I was in High School someone sharing the idea about being able to talk and see the person you were talking to on the other end, but it just seemed like something from a movie and that it would never come to pass.....and now, here we are.

Anup and Saroja, our dear friends in India, are the ones who have been caring for Kelden, Pema and Dawa. They all went over to another friends house in India the other day and we were able to see them and talk with each other. It was such a joy! I can't imagine what it must have been like on their end. Especially for the boys coming from a village where they are just recently getting some solar lights in their houses. Now they are talking to their friends in a foreign country and getting to see them on the computer.
They are all doing well. Life there in Kalimpong is not easy at this time of the year due to the monsoon, and they have been having lots of strikes where the whole town shuts down for days at a time and you are not even allowed to drive anywhere in your car. Ugh....although I don't miss that at all, we do miss our friends, and had a great time chatting and catching up with them. The boys are all doing well and continuing in their studies. As they come to mind, please continue to pray for them and their families, that they would be set free by the Truth!

Looking for an Apartment

For the last few weeks we have been on the search for a new apartment.  We new the time was getting closer and closer for our lease to be finished where we are right now, but didn't have the time to look while Mike was teaching English.  Since he has finished though, we have been looking like crazy.  It has seemed like a never ending hunt, with very little results.  One thing we have been encouraged in, is that we are able to speak to people in Arabic and understand a lot of what they reply, and Mike was even able to read the Arabic want ads and look for some apartments.  So our Arabic is slowly improving.  But we continue to search and hope that we can find just the apartment that our growing family needs.

It has been kind of a bitter sweet thing as well, because during the summer most of the ladies in our apartment building sit outside in the evenings and visit, and I have been able to join them and actually participate in the conversations some.  One night as I was either coming home or going out somewhere I sat down with them and they told me how much they liked me and were sad that we were thinking of moving.  I have also been able to get together with one of the ladies who is teaching me how to make some Arabic dishes, and that has been good because her english is very little, so it forces me to have to speak Arabic.  So then I think about moving and how I am going to have to start all over with new relationships.  Ugh....although I can always come back and visit.  It will be better for us to be in an area where Mike can make some relationships as well and that we will be closer to our school.

Anyhoo.....just thought I would share a couple more cute pics of the kids....

We call Mason the little Monkey boy, because he always uses his feet to grab or hold things.  Mike got this picture of him with his bottle when I was out one evening.

Judah is our little music lover.  Anytime there is an instrument anywhere, he wants to hold it or try and play it.

Mason in the bouncer.

Ok, so this is not the best picture of Mason, but all the others were blurry.  But you can tell how big he is getting.

Reading books with my boys!  Fun times....