Variety

We have really enjoyed our language and culture studies these last few months. Every Monday we got out with our teacher to experience an aspect of culture related to the topic we want to study that week. We take pictures while we're out, and afterwards record our teacher telling about our outing so that we can listen to it and begin learning vocabulary related to the topic. Tuesday we go through the pictures we took and record her telling us about what is in the pictures, allowing us to learn more vocabulary, more information, and more culture. The rest of the week is spent learning the new information and then talking about the topic with our friends.
It's a great advantage for David and me to study together and learn about the same things. Sometimes Susanna and Emily get to join us in the lessons too! In the last couple of months, we've studied several topics, one of which was jobs and businesses. The beginning of that week, we took a walk down our street, up to the main road, and around the back way home, taking pictures along the way of businesses that we passed.

It's amazing the variety found within our city, and any big city for that matter. This is the left side of the main road...





...and this is the right side of the road--the alley we walked through that leads back toward our home. Behind all the nice big buildings on the main streets and roads are what the locals call the "village in the city"--where generally people from outside the city live. The same types of businesses are on both the main roads and in the city villages, but they look a lot different.


For example, the shoe repair place on our street...















and the shoe repair place in the alley behind our street...










Laundry mat on our street...











Laundry mat in the alley...
















Liquor store on our street...












Liquor store in the alley...

















So many differences in the way people live and meet their needs, but when it comes down to it, we're all pretty much the same:

we all need food...


















shelter...














love...


















...and we all hunger for more than this world has to offer.