David's First Draft Day

Well, in the ongoing saga of things I never thought
I would do or say.......David signed up with 11 others for an NFL fantasy football league. We went to the "War Room" for our draft today and had a great time after some technical difficulties cancelled our draft last night. If we happen to win our league, we could be eligible for a trip and cash to San Diego to hang out with LT! (If you do not know who LT is, or think it is Lawrence Taylor, you don't need to read further!) So, root for David so he can take his Dad to San Diego!

For those curious enough to even know what we are talking about, here are our 14 picks in order chosen: Peyton Manning (QB), Rudi Johnson (RB), Ocho Cinco (our official fantasy team dancer!), Thomas Jones (RB, NYJ), TJ Houshmandzadeh (Yes, it is spelled correctly!), Todd Heap (TE, Balt), Pittsburgh defense, Philip Rivers (QB, SD), DeAngelo Williams (RB, Car), Shayne Graham (PK, Cin), Jerious Norwood (RB, Atl), Mushin Muhammed (WR, Chi), Joe Horn (WR, Atl), and Dallas Clark (TE, Ind).

If any of you have any idea what we have just signed up to do, please send us your advice! We have no clue how this works! We will keep you posted and let you know if we make the playoffs at the end of the year.....Somebody crank up Hank Jr, "Are you ready for some football?!?!?!?!?"

New Haircuts

The girls and I have not had haircuts since early April. For those of you women reading, you understand the special relationship that is shared between a woman and her hairdresser. It's a relationship that develops over time, and she knows your hair and your likes. I've had the same hairdresser in KY for 14 years, so the thought of finding a new hairdresser in a completely different part of the world is something I've been avoiding. Men do the majority of the hair-cutting in this society, and I prefer a woman to cut my hair. There ARE a few places where only women work and only women are the patrons. This is mainly for the more conservative ladies, especially ladies who cover their head. My neighbor needed a haircut, and she goes to a women-only place, and she was happy to take us. I drove us all to this back-alley apartment building where the salon was on the 3rd floor. The girls kept asking if we were going to someone's house. Once we were inside, the women were excited to see the fine-haired, light-colored American hair. Abby was the biggest hit. Over here you have to talk in terms of centimeters (the rest of the world is on the metric system), and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how many cm were in an inch. I showed the hairdresser approx. an inch. Well, that woman got happy with Abby's hair, and she whacked off several inches. Maybe she was having fun feeling the texture. I think her hair looks darling, but Abby doesn't care for how short it is. Annie was next. I made it very clear that Annie only wanted the dead ends off, and this lady did a great job. Annie is very happy with her hair cut. I was last. I handed the lady a picture of Meg Ryan, and I was hoping to walk away looking like Meg Ryan. Oh, well. How many Central Asian women does it take to cut an American woman's hair? Three. One to prepare it (with a spray bottle and comb). One to cut it. One to style it. I'm happy with my haircut. I wanted it short since it's been so hot. Next time I may attempt to get a few highlights. They call it "painting" the hair, and it is very common here. With this blog I'm also attaching a picture of David's latest haircut. His hairdresser is none other than moi. I cut David's hair on the balcony. David's wearing his Bengals jersey in this picture. Right now he's at a friend's house for the draft for his fantasy football team. He and Mike are going to have a team in a league with several other guys in town.

In case you're wondering why the picture of me is blurry, we've been having this problem with the camera. We took at least 20 pictures of me, and every single one was blurry. It got to be really funny because I was being still and the picture-taker was holding his/her hand steady, but they kept coming out blurred. I was giggling in all the pictures. Mike, Abby, and Annie all attempted to take a non-blurry picture. This is the one Annie took, and I finally just went with it. It's funny how I can take a sports picture and it will be clear, and when I'm sitting entirely still we can't get one clear picture.

Our First International Wedding

This past weekend afforded us our first invitation to a wedding in our city! Can you believe we forgot to recharge the camera? Anyway, we were very excited as we went to meet friends until I (Mike) hit a parked car!!! (That is a whole different blog you will not find here, OK?) As it turns out, God's sense of humor allowed the parked car to belong to the man who pierced the girls' ears (see story below). After a trip to the body shop, we were off to the wedding.

The men and women sat in separate areas the whole evening at an event similar to a reception. Here is the funny part, though: my new friend introduced me to over 100 people using pretty much the same story after my language skills ran dry. It went like this, "Yes, he is from America. He is my friend; I met him yesterday at the park. We were late because Mike had an accident. He has this BIG van and it will cost him lots of money to fix the other car!" At this point, the men would start laughing hysterically in my direction as the pointed fingers, spilled their tea, spit out their water, drop their cigarette, or slap me on the back to hold themselves up. I just wish my language skills were as good as my laughing-at-myself skills!!!

It was quite an honor to add so much life to the party.

rollin' in the dough

This table and long, thin rolling pin are how many women make bread in this country. The dough is rolled flat, very similar to a tortilla, and then it is baked. The dough is larger and thinner than a normal tortilla, and it is delicious. It is often stuffed with meat, diced potatoes, cheese, or spinach and grilled like a quessedilla. It is one of our favorite foods. A lot of restaurants have women in the back making fresh dough on a table like this. Emma wanted to get a job rolling it out, but we pried her away before they put her to work.

typical ride

The lady in the U.S. who reprimanded me for not having my baby's car seat securely attached with the little metal ring on the seat belt strap would have the big one in this country! It's not uncommon to see 10 people in a car made for 4. Babies sit on mother's laps, and seat belts are only worn by Americans. I took this picture the other day when we had a group of kids in the van. This is a typical ride. So, when you think of us, remember our safety in travel!

May I take a shower?

Yesterday we went to the mall, and every single bathroom in the mall was locked shut. We couldn't read the sign with the explanation, so we figured the water must be shut off. We went outside of the mall to a separate store to use their restroom, and I asked the security guard at the front, "May I take a shower?" She smiled and looked at me inquisitively. I repeated, "May I take a shower?" Somehow in translation when you ask "Is your bathroom working?" it really means "May I take a shower?" Mike said one word to the lady - "Toilet." She said "Yes." I was trying to be polite, and Mike basically said "Commode" and Mike's communication was more effective. So we went to the bathroom, and the guard must've imagined I was going to the commode to take a shower.

Asking for a bathroom is no simple task here. If you ask where the toilet is, it's kind of rude. It's like saying - You gotta commode? The word "bathroom" also means "shower". The word you really want to use to be polite is the word "sink". If you ever need a public restroom, you ask "May I use your sink?" Then, no one is embarrased from the word toilet or bathroom.

Carrot Juice Fountain

This blog is for my juicing friends! We went to a small village an hour and a half outside of the big city. It is the carrot juice capitol of the world! This village is famous for its juicy, sweet carrots, and you can get fresh carrot juice on every corner. Women are making fresh carrot juice and putting it in a "lemonade fountain" (the carrot juice fountain is on the other side of the lemonade fountain in this pic). So those of my juicing friends, come on over and I'll take you to the city with the never-ending supply of fresh carrot juice! Of course, Mike and I had some, and it was better than any I've ever tasted in the states. In this city I also ate fresh carab, bought some handmade noodles, and got a hand-carved wooden massager for my back.

What is Emma doing?

What is Emma doing?

a) preparing for open heart surgery

b) going into a museum

c) going into the delivery room to see mommy have a baby

d) disinfecting her bedroom

Lesson in Hospitality

This afternoon we headed for a park that had some motorized cars for the kids to ride. We had our foursome and two of the kids' friends. We actually found the park without getting lost, so we knew it was going to be a good day.

As we entered the park, the kids played on the playground equipment first. Mike and I "sat a spell" on the park bench in the shade. We got out some language study books and began to read as the kids played. About 5 minutes into our time, a man approached us and spoke a mile a minute about needing money. He pulled out papers and pointed to a bunch of line items. He continued to pull out papers and spoke a little louder and more excited with each paper. We understood about 1% of what he said. Mike showed him his empty wallet. The man wanted Mike to go to the ATM and get some money for him to pay a bill he kept showing us. It's hard enough to understand this language, much less from an excited man who thinks speaking louder and faster will help.

As this is going on, a 5-yr. old boy fell in the gravel at the playground. He called for his mother, but no one responded. He was crying, and his knee was scraped up. After a minute with no one helping, I got up off the bench. Though I couldn't really communicate with the little boy, I had a clean tissue to wipe his scrape. When I got to the child, I placed the tissue on his scrape and carressed his hair. At that moment, his mother joined me at his side. After she checked on her son she asked me to sit with her.

So I'm sitting with my new friend directly across from Mike who is listening to the "money man", and I've noticed that another man has joined Mike's conversation. Mike later told me that the "money man" claimed he was a policeman and pulled out papers to "prove" it. The other man argued and said he couldn't be a policeman because that was a fake document. Then he proceeded to show a genuine police document and said HE was the police.

Without knowing what was going on, I told my new friend that the man by my husband was asking for money. She said she'd take care of it, and she walked over there and gave him a tongue-lashing. He walked away after my new friend got through with him.

About this time the kids are ready to find the motorized scooters. I told my new friend where we were going, and she asked if she could come along. So my new friend and her 2 children ages 5 and 9 rode the scooters with our kids. While the children rode the scooters she bought Mike and me some tea, and we drank tea and flipped through the dictionary trying to communicate for the next 45 minutes.

As we were drinking tea my new friend's father showed up. He's retired, and he enjoys meeting his grandchildren at the park. He joined us for tea as well. As we were drinking tea and visiting with the children, I noticed the 9-yr. old girl's ears were pierced (pictured above with Annie). Abby and Annie have wanted their ears pierced for quite some time, so I asked where she got her ears pierced. My friend said the ear-piercing place was really close, and she wanted to take us there. After I asked the girls and they squealed, we all headed to the store to get their ears pierced.

A half mile later we arrived at a jewelry store. Several people came in from off the street to see the American posse in the jewelry store. The store was the size of a small bedroom. In a crowded, unairconditioned store with an audience of about 14, Annie sat in my lap and got her ears pierced. Then Abby sat in my lap and did likewise. Everyone was happy for the 2 little American girls who looked so beautiful with pierced ears. I asked about how to care for the ears, but I was assured that the studs had medicine on them, and I did not have to apply anything, twist them, or do any of the usual things they advise you to do in the U.S. I'll let you know if a couple of days if we have green ears. The picture to the left is one of the guys who pierced the ears. We think his eyes were open when he pierced them!

When it was time to pay for the deed, my friend's father took care of the ticket. He refused to let us pay! It was only about $3 per girl, but he was adamant about paying.

Following the ear piercing we went to this family's home. The father's home was directly above the jewelry store, and they insisted that we come up. So we went upstairs and had more tea and some cookies. While we visited, they asked us if we've ever attended a wedding in the country. When they found out we've never been to one, they asked us to attend one tomorrow night. It's the father's friend's son getting married. I was really excited because I've been wanting to go to one! We said yes, and tomorrow night at 5:00 we are going to our first wedding in this country!

What an odd chain of events!

Something to consider...if you were in a park, would you make conversation with someone from another country with limited English? Then, would you buy her a drink? If her daughters wanted to get their ears pierced, would you take them and foot the bill? To follow that, would you (on the spur of the moment) invite her entire family (all six of them) in your home and give them food and drink? After all that, would you invite her to do something the following evening together?

It's called hospitality.

New use for clothespins

Here are a few pictures of the kids with some friends. I'm still finding hair in clothespins when I hang clothes out to dry! The other picture was taken of the kids relaxing in bean bag chairs at a local park. This picture was taken minutes before a 5-min. monsoon struck the park.

2 Old Men..I Mean, 2 Old Friends!!!

Last week was one I had been looking forward to for over a month. We had been talking with friends since June about the possibility of them coming to visit. Our plans became a reality last Tuesday afternoon when they drove to stay for a few nights. Thankfully, they were here BEFORE our water was turned off for 2 days!

This is my friend and me in front of a Gulliver's Travel scene at a local park. (Yes, that is his son over my right shoulder giving us both rabbit ears.) What this statue is doing here is beyond me, but we just wanted to do something fun with our families. Our friends have a son and 3 girls as well, but the biggest difference in our families is they will be expecting #5 in October! And, no, we will not be trying to catch up so our families will be the same again! We will just celebrate with them and cheer them on! We are such good friends that I even shared Twizzlers and Skittles with them! Seriously, I hope all of you are blessed like me to have a friend who knows all there is to know about you...and loves you anyway!

My Helper

Once a week I have a house helper who cleans, cooks, and helps with the kids. When I am in language lesson, she cares for the kids. This lady is an excellent cook. She can make soup out of anything in your fridge or pantry. She makes a really good bulgar pilaf (it tastes similar to Spanish rice). The "red rice" is Emma's favorite. One time she made a popular national dish - it's tortellini-like dumplings filled with meat and rice. It is served with a marinara-type sauce. Today she made some zucchini cakes. The smell was so yummy, and they were delicious! She basically mixed together shredded zucchini, cheese, tomatoes, flour, egg, salt, pepper, and mayonaise. Then she fried them in a skillet. Of course, she never uses a recipe so I couldn't give you the exact amount. My helper usually stays from 9-5. She knows very little English, so I get plenty of language practice. Today she actually understood something I said, and it caused such joy that I did a little dance in the other room. It felt good!