Urban Chicken Coop

As we were delivering baskets, we parked next to this "farm". I've seen some chicken coops in my time, but never in the middle of such a dense population. I'm sure the neighbors love it.

Baskets of Blessings

Together with some friends we delivered food baskets to some less fortunate. This is some of the prep work before we delivered them. It never ceases to amaze me how those who live with less are big on hospitality. Every home we visited offered us tea, sweets, and conversation we barely understood. We were definitely blessed.

Official Christmas Picture

One of the malls in town has a life-size snow globe you can walk into and take a picture. Here are the kids in a Santa snow globe! The mall also has a life-size hot air balloon in the atrium, and there are Santas in it, so Mike and I have our official Christmas photo by the hot air balloon Santas.

70's country music...it's baaaaack

Today I was at a large grocery chain, and I couldn't believe my ears. They were playing Kenny Rogers & Dottie West. I immediately had flashbacks to my mom's 8-track player and my sister and me singing all the songs. That was one of my favorite 8-tracks! (Hey Wont' You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song, Let It Be Me, 'Til I Can Make It On My Own, You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling. I was lingering in the store because I was enjoying the music! I must really be experiencing culture shock to be hanging on to every song just hoping and praying it's another Kenny Rogers & Dottie West duet. The first song I heard playing in the store was She Believes in Me. The next song they played was Coward of the County. I seriously slowed my pace so I could hear the whole song. The CD switched gears from Kenny Rogers and went to Just Call Me Angel of the Morning, Angel. Another country oldie. The song Feelings followed that one. When Willie Nelson came on next, I was in the check out lane. I guess it was a Sunshine Country Hits of the 70's CD. The scary part is after I left the store I was craving more country oldies. I may go to itunes and download Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. Mike's gonna love that. Maybe I'll surprise him and have candlelight dinner with Kenny/Dottie serenading us. I'll even feather my hair.

Why in the world would country hits from the 70's even be remotely popular here???

I'm Five Years Old!

Yesterday Lisa and I were getting ready to leave, so I told Emma to get her shoes on because we were going shopping at the open-air market. She said she did not want to go right now. I told her we needed to go now because Daddy had to go to language class after we shopped.

Still not quite ready, she told me, "I can stay here." I reminded her, "Emma, no one will be here with you. You need to go with us." Still not wanting to leave, Lisa asked her to get ready and she promptly told Lisa she did not want to leave yet either. When Lisa told her she need to go with us, she blurted out as only Emma can, "But Mom, I'm 5 years old now!" The exchange mad me laugh and also got me thinking about what else we should allow: staying home, keys to the car, checking account and ATM card, American Express card, etc?

So, we are now taking suggestions from YOU on what else she should be able to do now that she is 5 years old!!

Kids' Feet

Note to self: If kids get their shoes muddy and you have to scrub them clean and you want them to dry out before the morning... if you place the shoes on the radiator to dry, the room will begin to smell like kids' feet.

Birthday Princess

Emma got a new dress for her birthday. It's actually handmade, and I paid $25 for it. It's her "princess dress" and she wants to wear it every day. So here she is in front of our Christmas tree (with the lovely fish tank in the background) as the birthday princess.

Tuna Plus

I bought a can of tuna at the store, and when I opened it up to my surprise it had some extras in it. I spied with my little eyes a bay leaf, some sliced black olives, and little round green things (I think they're peas, but I was afraid to try). The tuna actually had a pretty good flavor, but I doused the extra flavor w/ mayo, mustard, pickles, and hard-boiled eggs. This isn't the only canned food I've opened that has given extras. Green beans always have a whole tomato in the can. So it's always fun to open a can and see the extras.

"hip" musical chairs

Emma had a birthday party at her preschool. We had American chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing (which were a hit), and then the kids played a few games. They played hot potato, which Emma won hands down (with quite a bit of help from the teacher). During hot potato, they played some contemporary music from this country. Then, the kids played musical chairs.

My baby played musical chairs to Hips Don't Lie. At first I thought it was a national song, but when I heard the English and the phrase "hips don't lie" I thought uh-uhhh. The basic rules for musical chairs is to dance like crazy and when the music stops get a chair. All to the tune of Hips Don't Lie. I have a short video segment to prove it. I had to make it short so that the lyrics did not make my blog offensive.

So here you go...a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds playing musical chairs to Hips Don't Lie. America exports some crazy stuff.


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"May your exercise come easily, aunt!"

There's a nice little park fairly close to our house, and I went there with Abby and Annie this morning. It has a walking track (I'm guessing 16 laps would be a mile) and some weather-resistant exercise equipment. The exercise equipment has no resistance on it, but you'll find them in most parks in this city. I'll take some pictures sometime because it's quite interesting. There's also some playground equipment and a basketball court on the inside of the walking track, so I can keep a good eye on the kids if they're with me.

The playgrounds here have equipment that's been outlawed in the states. Remember the "wheel of death" on our childhood playgrounds that was later outlawed? We'd spin til we were sick and then we'd keep spinning. They have that at this park, so the girls played on it most of the time. How can they do that and not get sick???

As the girls were spinning, I was walking/jogging around the track. There were 2 boys on the swings. Everytime I passed the swings, they would sing songs loudly to be silly and to get my attention. The fourth time I passed them, one yelled, "May it come easily, Aunt!" (referring to my exercise). I loved it! I spoke to them, and then every time I passed they would try the few English words they knew. The next lap was "hello." The next lap was the Happy Birthday song. They were cute boys.

I love how in this culture I am addressed as "aunt" or "big sister". Children on the street will call me "aunt". When I go to the bazaar and a vendor wants to get my attention, he'll yell, "big sister". I think it's an endearing quality of the culture.

Beauty Lice

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Last night Abby complained that her scalp itched. My first thought was LICE. I searched her hair and saw nothing, so I figured it was dandruff. I was going to douse her hair with vinegar next time we washed it, and that would give her some relief from dandruff. However, this morning she complained again about the itchy scalp and wanted to do the vinegar treatment before she went to school. As I looked through her hair with more thoroughness (Annie's song inspired me), I noticed a few lice nits in that silky blonde hair. Since the pharmacies don't open until mid-morning, I decided to apply the homemade lice treatment. Based on advice from EXPERTS on the internet , here's what I did: 1) doused her dry hair with a ton of mayonaise 2) wrapped her hair about 10 times with saran wrap 3) let it soak for about 5 hours 4) rinsed it out in the tub with 2 applications of dishwashing detergent and 1 application of regular shampoo 5) combed through to remove nits (I found about 10) 6) blew her hair dry on the hottest setting 7) ran my curling iron through every strand of hair

Abby was in a great mood during all the treatments. She explained on video about her new beauty treatment. I'll have to admit, her hair has a new silky sheen to it. Hopefully all the nits are gone and no one else will be infested.

I've done all the laundry and disinfected all the rooms of the house. One load of laundry in the washing machine takes about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to complete. Plus, the capacity of the washing machine is not very big. So it has been a long process of washing clothes, with many more to do!

Our first experience with lice was about 3 1/2 years ago in the states. Emma was a toddler, and when I gave her a bath I noticed bugs crawling in her hair. I honestly thought they were ants feasting on applesauce or other sticky stuff in her hair. However, these were not your normal ants, so I called a friend who worked in the public school system, and she came over and verified that we were dealing with lice. That was 9:00 p.m.

Being a first-time-dealing-with-lice mom, I was grossed out. I went into psycho-cleaning mode. I was overwhelmed at the cleaning task ahead, and it was getting late into the evening. Two teenage girls, Amy and Dana, came to my house and helped me disinfect everything. Anytime people say teenagers are lazy, good-for-nothings, I gladly tell about the two teens who fervently worked into the wee hours helping dininfect my lice-ridden house! My neighbor/friend Libby came over and worked through my hair with a nit comb while we watched David Letterman. I rather enjoyed the combing experience because I thought it felt great. I bought every pesticide known to man, and I must've spent $75 in medical shampoos, aerosal sprays, etc.

When today's news of lice hit, it really didn't stress me out. This time around I'm trying the mayonaise treatment. By doing so, I'll save money and time. I'll let you know if it gets all those varmits!

Thoroughness, Dependability, and Determination

The kids are learning songs about different character traits at school. Annie gets the songs stuck in her head and sings them at home. I recorded her singing the songs about thoroughness, dependability, and determination. Be inspired!



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No more plastic

When we first moved here, we had to buy almost everything to furnish a home. It was amazing how quickly the money went, and by the time it came to buy dishes our budget would only allow plastic. We bought some blue and yellow plastic dishes, and they've been quite handy. However, in this culture serving a guest on plastic would be insulting. We borrowed some white dishes from a friend so we could serve guests, eventually hoping to get some nice dishes.


Well, that day finally came! A group of friends from the states pitched in and sent us money to buy some dishes! We are so incredibly blessed! I went shopping with a friend and found a really nice set of china that can withstand limitless trips to the dishwasher. Also, these dishes are made in this country, so when one breaks, I can easily get it replaced.


I posted this blog to show off my new dishes. Thanks to all those friends who pitched in so we can serve ourselves and our guests on something other than plastic! And a big thanks to Tiffany who walked the narrow streets and crowded shops to get me the best deal on china!

ambiance

I recently went to this quaint little restaurant on the second floor of a building in the oldest part of town. After walking the cobblestone streets, a friend and I picked this one little cafe. We had to walk up a rickety metal spiral staircase to get to the floor with the cafe. The cafe was heated with coal, and our table was right beside the coal-burning stove. We had a beautiful view of the city, and the ambiance of the music, antique chairs, and traditional furniture made this an all-around awesome experience. There was a lady in the corner rolling out fresh dough for the meals. This was a mom-n-pop place, and it's the best national food I've had since we've been here. They served us an appetizer "on the house", and it was rice/spices wrapped in grape leaves. They were the best I've had! I can't wait to go back!

Chestnuts Roasting on Open Fire

I've sung the song all my life, and I finally got to taste a chestnut that had been roasting on a open fire. In case you're wondering what they taste like, check out the picture below of the reaction of our girls and some friends after they tasted the roasted chestnut.

Roasted chestnuts are sold on the street corners this time of year. I will try to describe the taste: warm sawdust held together by sesame paste. Mike just saw that description, and he said, "I don't know if it was that good!"

Sometimes it's just better to live in ignorance. So as you sing The Christmas Song about the chestnuts, Jack Frost, and yuletide carols, imagine that chestnuts roasting on an open fire are a wonderful delicacy. You'll never know what you're missing.

What's Your Story?

What a difference a year makes! One year ago today, I woke up unemployed. December 3rd was the last day at my last job. It was the hardest decision we have ever made. We knew, even if only a tiny fraction of the reality, how this decision would change our lives forever. We knew it would also make life different for family and friends. It is wild to think of all that has transpired since. We have seen spiritual, financial, emotional, relational and physical mountains MOVED!! We have been on a family roller coaster as we have all said goodbyes, hellos and tried to learn a new language and culture. Yes, we are still on it! At times, it feels like we are headed ssslllooowwwllllyyyyy up the hill; at other times, we feel like it is 120 mph downhill...and picking up speed!

Through it all, we have learned much. I do not have time to write it all, nor do you have time to read it. Let me summarize it in one simple verse from 1 Thes. 5:24, "Faithful is He who calls you, and He will bring it to pass." That's my story...and I'm sticking to it! So, what's your story?