Christmas Party

For the last eight weeks we have been teaching a Friday-night English class for preschoolers age 3-6.  Tonight, for our final class, we invited them to our home for a Christmas party.  For a while the adults chatted in the living room while the children played in Caleb and Susanna's room, and after that, Gracy taught the children (and moms) how to bake cookies.

Finally, I shared a portion of the Christmas story from Luke and we handed out CD's of truly Christ-mas music.  We are thankful for the opportunity to share a bit of why we celebrate this holiday with our neighbors here.

Relationships, pt. 2

As a follow-up to my initial post, "Relationships," I wanted to give you an update on how things are going with my new acquaintance.  As I mentioned before, he recently invited me to go climb a mountain with him.  Though the park we went to didn't require an entrance fee, it was his responsibility to purchase drinks and snacks while we were out.

So, this past weekend, I called him and invited him to go out and drink tea.  This time I was the host, and it was my responsibility to pay.  As I understand it, this is how a "societal" relationship begins in this culture.

To be honest, we have been a little unclear regarding this reciprocal aspect of culture during our time here.  For instance, last night while our family was out walking near our home, we passed by a Muslim restaurant where we frequently stop and chat with the owners and their their family.  Two younger boys (but older than our kids) were playing with a couple of small toys.  As soon as they saw that Caleb and Susanna were interested, they immediately gave the toys to them and insisted that they keep them.  Feeling more than a little embarrassed, we began contemplating how we might "respond" to this act of kindness.  What do you think?

In America:  Though we might be touched by their kindness, in that situation we would insist that our kids give the toys back because they have plenty of their own.

Here:  After refusing several times, you would accept the gift and immediately think of how you might respond.  If you don't have anything suitable with you, you can choose another time in the near future to reciprocate their kindness. 

Yesterday, I made a slight mistake in a similar situation.  A student bought me an inexpensive breakfast food.  After he handed me the snack, I insisted on giving him some money for it.  Only afterward did I realize that paying him for the gift might have given him the mistaken impression that I don't want to be friends with him. 

Continue to think of us as we navigate a world that plays by different rules than we are accustomed to, seeking to share our lives and His life with our neighbors here.

Battle Scars

Yesterday marked a parental milestone for us, as well as an unforgettable experience for Caleb.  While climbing a tree, he grabbed onto a branch not strong enough to hold him, fell backwards and hit his head on a jagged rock, leaving him with a nasty gash.  Not knowing the depth of the cut, we immediately took him to the clinic next door to the college where David studies. Thankfully, a local brother accompanied us to make sure Caleb received the care he needed.  The nurse recommended stitches, but informed us we would need to go to a hospital as the clinic was too small to perform these kinds of procedures.

In the afternoon, we headed to the prefecture hospital, again accompanied by this gracious local brother (with his newborn infant-in-arms!).  We were a bit nervous, being far from our familiar healthcare system and such, but overall it was a good experience.  After giving him two stitches, the doctor gave Caleb this stylish hairnet to hold the bandage in place.  Though not so proud of his "bonnet", Caleb is more than proud to have had his first significant battle scar. Thank Dad with us for his care and provision.    

Relationships

Sunday I went with a friend to "play" at a local park.  He works at a gym I sometimes go to to lift weights and meet people.  He comes from a city smaller than ours where his father works for the local government.  He dreams of studying overseas and hopes one day to have the chance.  He laughs easily and is very polite.  Be asking that I have more opportunities to spend time with him.  Here it is easy to meet people, but very hard to get to know them.

As we have been learning recently, most locals have three kinds of relationships.  Firstly, you have family relationships, which are important to maintain and difficult to sever (as are the obligations entailed).  Secondly, you have good friends (from your childhood or school years).  These friendships are developed over time and loyalty runs deep.  Thirdly, you have what are called "societal relationships."  These are people you get to know for the purpose of discovering how you might be of help to one another in the future.  The more ability and influence (or money) you have, the more of these kinds of relationships you will attract.

This puts us in a difficult position in some respects.  Not being family and not being a childhood friend or classmate automatically puts us into the third category.  Naturally, the third category of relationships is in your outer ring (likely furthest from your heart).  It would take a unique situation for someone from your outer ring to work their way into your inner ring.  Continue asking for wisdom and opportunities for us to speak to people at a heart level.     

National Day

Recently we celebrated National Day here. A local park was hosting a special ceremony, followed by a parade to represent the country's many minority groups. 

As we watched the ceremony, we stood near this group of minority ladies waiting for the parade...

There they go, starting off on the parade across town...

And other groups who followed after...

This lady was selling chickens while enjoying the parade.  Hey, why not kill two birds with one stone?  No pun intended...    ; )  

Talking about Right and Wrong

Today I had a discussion with my tutor about morals.  I invited her to share with me about what in her culture would be considered "bad" and "good."  After sharing a bit about what defines good or bad behavior, she expressed concern over the gradual decline in moral values in her country.  Though she feels some of the taboos needed to be redressed, she mentioned that the decline may indicate a crisis of trust.  From an early age, children are taught what is right.  Share, be kind, think of others first ... but what happens when the child grows up and discovers that nobody really plays by these rules, including those placed in authority over them.  It is during this time that they enter the "real world," and are forever changed.  The outcome is predictable:  Trust no one but yourself.

My teacher alluded to the importance of faith regarding good morals but did not elaborate much more.  In her culture, several ancient philosophers continue to have strong influence, though the influence of money and self-preservation is stronger still.  She also is familiar with our faith (both her Grandmother and Mother are sisters), but feels the educational indoctrination she received as a child has predisposed her to be unable to believe it.  I look forward to hearing more about this subject.        

     

Water!

I don't think I've ever been more thankful for running water in all my life.  After 6 days of no water in our apartment, the sound of a gurgle and then a trickle coming from the faucet yesterday was absolutely heaven.  It all started Monday when I was washing dishes...  The water pressure decreased down to a dribble and then nothing.  At first I thought it was just our faulty faucet--it has developed several problems since we moved in.  But as I began checking other faucets and the showers and toilets, I realized our water was off.  So then I thought perhaps we missed the notification to pay our water bill (sometimes figuring out how / when / where to pay your bills in a new place can be confusing!).  But after talking to some neighbors and realizing they didn't have water either, I realized that we may be headed for an adventure. 
Since we've moved here, the same thing has happened with our power--probably four or five times they've shut the power off in our complex and beyond.  But it's always come back on after a few hours.  So I figured the same would be true of the water.  Not so, my friend!  The evening of the second day without water (Tuesday evening) we found out that we would be without it until Saturday! 
Let me tell you, it didn't take long to begin really missing being able to wash our hands, flush the toilet, wash dishes, take showers, wipe down the kitchen table / counters, etc. But what do you do when you don't have what you're used to?  You complain.  Er, I mean, you adjust, of course!  You keep the bathroom doors closed at all times, and hold your breath when you have to go in.  You use alot more wet wipes and Germ X for faces and hands.  You just let the dirty dishes pile up until they threaten to overtake your kitchen and you have no more clean ones left, and then you start eating out.  You use bottled water for drinking and washing.  Etc.  All these tactics got us to day three, when a family in the complex who did have water let us bring a big bucket over and fill it up--woohoo!  I washed dishes--took me 2 and a half hours!--using the water very sparingly so I could leave some for kids baths and our showers.  It was good for me to think of how to be most conservative with the water, using the old rinse water to be the new wash water, using the old wash water to flush the toilets, etc.  And you'd be amazed at how little water is really required for bathing.  I guess I realized for the first time what a waste of water showers are!  It's funny, though, that you don't think of taking a shower as "wasting water" until water is a limited resource in a very immediate way.  Again, I think of my grandmother and even my dad in his early years, and the generations upon generations of people who had to work alot harder than just turning on a faucet to have water available to them.
So anyway, in the end it was a beneficial experience to be without running water for a while.  I had a lesson in being frugal and in developing a greater appreciation for fundamental blessings, as well as opportunities to connect with our neighbors under unique circumstances and shared experiences. 

Just some Hotwheels...

During the first week we were here, we had some unexpected but welcome company--3 boys from the fellowship --come and play with our kids. The main attraction was Caleb's Hotwheels cars and cartrack, which ended up providing entertainment for several children for over 4 hours. Who knew you could get that many "miles" out of Hotwheels cars?!

It was so much fun to see Caleb connect with the kids, using his limited language to relate and make some new friends.  In the end we were also able to meet the boys' parents and some of our neighbors too. Who knows what will come out of the relationships that all started because of some toys!
We recently learned from a friend here, though, that teachers generally discourage parents from buying toys because having too many toys at home could distract the child from studying and doing homework.  We've found that it's a real treat for kids to come to our house and play.  We always invite kids to come when we return home from playing outside, and since "Hotwheels Sunday", we've had several little ones come in and explore and see what's inside the foreigners' house.  =)

This little guy has come a few times.  We see him out in the neighborhood alot, but have never seen him with parents or grandparents (though we know he lives with his family).  He's really taken to Dave, especially enjoying throwing frisbee and playing ping pong. 
Anyway, it's been fun to get to know these precious kids a bit, and fun for our kids to have little friends around to play with.  We don't mind if our friends only like us because of our toys.  =)