Luxi Trip

About a month ago, I had an opportunity to visit a friend's hometown. I arrived on a Friday, and he toured me around a few of the local attractions as well as invited me to his home to meet his family. On Saturday, we visited a local hot spring and ate lunch together before I got back on the bus to return home. Neither he nor his friends are family. Thank you for making trips like this possible.
Picture of us at the park
Eating lunch together



My friend's family

Salad Bar

With Rick and Susan in town, we decided to go eat some "Western" food at the downtown Pizza Hut. While there, they were able to see an interesting example of the "economy" of our host culture. At this Pizza Hut, you pay for a single trip to the salad bar. And locals here know how to really make that one trip count. They start by filling the bottom of the salad bowl with various ingredients. Then they use a layer of cucumbers to extend the width of the bowl. Next, they alternate stacking toppings and applying salad dressing to help hold it together. When they are finished, the height of their salad is at least two times the height of the original bowl!! When they are finished, the whole table can feast on this salad that has taken them approximately 15 minutes to construct!!

I would like to buy ...

Today I took my father-in-law, Rick, to our version of Home Depot, called "B & Q." Some days you are feeling good about your language progress until you go into unfamiliar territory. Try explaining "duct tape" when you don't know how to say "tape!" Or how about "cut me a 1 foot by 1 foot piece of wood!" With gesturing and what I call construction speech (using simple words you know to describe complex things you do not), we were able to successfully purchase the materials we needed. I'm sure it will be an experience neither of us will soon forget.

Up and Running...

Well, I’m back, after a little sabbatical from blogging… due to this precious little one on its way in February!
This is the ulatrasound from my 9th week—everything just fine! I’m now 19 weeks along and looking forward to the next ultrasound in a couple of weeks and finding if we’ll be having a boy or a girl. (Caleb thinks it’s a girl and calls her Grace. I asked him why he thought it was a girl, and he said because he loves to have girls all around because they’re so beautiful… Ha! I asked him, “Well, what if it’s a boy? He said, “Then I’m going to call him Sam.” Guess he’s got it all figured out!)
So where did the time go!? Well, among those who know me best, I’m kind of famous for my morning sickness, and this time was not any different. Well, yeah, it was different being so far from home and familiar—two things I missed the most: my mom and American food! But I think the worst is over and I’m finally back to my old self—able to go and do and function again. Woohoo! So now it’s time to play catch-up with all the things that have had to sit on the back-burner for the last couple of months…
Prenatal care here is just a totally different story than I’m used to, but we’re slowly getting the hang of it. No more quiet, simple, unhurried, private, personal visits like I’ve had before. Nope! Now it’s some sort of version of going to the huge public hospital and spending half the day running around with a thousand other people, going to various counters to register, pay to get written orders, get written orders for what you need, pay for what you’ll have done, and then waiting, waiting, waiting in a large, busy room with about a hundred other pregnant ladies (okay, maybe more like forty!) before you finally see the doctor! But honestly, I’m just thankful that I’ve been able to have the care I’ve needed, different as it may be, and that everything is well with the baby so far.