Catch Up

The last time I posted, we were about to leave for two weeks in the States. We arrived at my father's in SC for a few days before heading to our conference in VA. It was Easter and A's birthday. We celebrated her birthday on my dad's back porch with cake and ice cream. The next day was Easter Sunday and we went to church with my dad and stepmom. After that, we spent about a week at the conference and my mom and stepfather were able to come up and spend time with Ava towards the end  of our conference. Soon after, we returned here.

Spring here was long and very lovely with the temperatures gradually rising. It stayed in the 60s for a while and then in the 70s for another long while. In Florida, spring is about two weeks long, ha. We might see weather in the 70s before it climbs into the 90s and stay there until after September. Maybe I exaggerate but that is how I remember Florida. I have enjoyed seeing the trees bloom here and I appreciate spring so much more after a cold winter. Even now, it's early June and the temperatures are still in the 70s. The sun warms our faces while the cool breezes keep the sting of heat away.

We are continued language and I have just one more session left. I thought I would finish in early May but there were cancellations that just prolonged the ending. G went on a trip over Mother's Day weekend. He took A shopping before the trip for my gift and had all the gifts ready and stashed in his closet for me to find on Mother's Day. A made a present for me at school and also picked out a bag of colored glass rocks. G, instead of shooting down her idea, helped her by developing the gift idea more with a pretty glass jar and lid. It now sits in the bathroom with the blue glass rocks filling the jar.

Last week, we took a work trip out east where we could encourage friends there. Nothing spectacular happened except a pretty sunset, a fence covered in raw wool, and thunderstorms. In spite of the storms, it was still dry there and our lips were splitting.

Storm to the left, sun dropping behind the mountain

Raw wool hanging out to dry before being sold to factories

Wild poppies were blooming. I love the bright red splashes everywhere.  

I think that's all in a nutshell.

Lately

Oops, it's been over a month since I've posted. I've procrastinated because we've been busy, or I've been tired, or I was just plain unmotivated. I was also sometimes at a loss as to what to say. The sad thing about living overseas after a period of time is that you notice the interesting cultural things less and less because you become accustomed to them. So, I'll just do a comprehensive update since the last one was September, just a month after DB was born. Crazy.

Work: 

• We have been very busy meeting with people, having people over for dinner, going to birthday parties and brunches, etc. It's been a good kind of busy. 
• I'm nearing the end of my language time with my language teacher. I have about 10 sessions left with her. I'll miss seeing her three days a week. Although my sessions with her are coming to an end, I'll remain in level one since I have projects left to turn in. I'm barely suppressing an eye roll because the projects are just busywork and does nothing to improve my language. Anyway, let's move on.
• We are about to leave for a work-related conference stateside in two days. We will first go to my dad's in South Carolina so he can meet the baby-o. We get to wake up at 3am (wahoo) and take a 6am flight, connect in Paris, and keep a cranky baby calm for 10 hours from Paris to Atlanta. It'll be DB's first time setting foot in America -- and she's an American. After spending four days with my dad and stepmom (including Easter), we'll head to the conference for eight days. We hope to see my mom and stepdad somewhere in there. I'm not ecstatic about putting DB through jet lag for work-related reasons but I am thankful that we will get to see family briefly.
• This month, we celebrate two years of being with our organization. In July, we will celebrate two years of being overseas. Two years don't sound like a lot, but it feels like we've been here forever. Not in a bad way.
• I've had an aunt and an uncle (separately) die since we've been overseas. It's been sad to be apart from my family (clarification is needed for some people: I count my extended family as my family) during that time and I definitely sat down and counted the cost of following the Father's call overseas. I remembered His call on us to go overseas and to remain faithful. 
• Sometimes, we get so bogged down in the day-to-day details, going from one day to the next, that it's almost as if we have our heads down with blinders on and we just don't see what's happening around us. Last week, the Father blessed us by lifting our heads up, looking out at the broad canvas of our host country, and recognizing how He is moving and has been moving long before we ever arrived. It's incredible. He certainly doesn't need us to do any work here, but I feel tremendously blessed to witness history in the making. I wish I could say more and hopefully, I get to share more in detail one day.

Culture: I'm really drawing a blank here. I'll have to get back to this later.

A: She turns four years old next week. I'm going to say what every mom says when their child turns a year older: I. can't. believe. A is turning four! Since her birthday is during the aforementioned conference, we will be celebrating with a little party at my dad's, which will include an uncle and aunt, whom I have not seen in years. I'm excited about that. A was recently diagnosed with a small, harmless heart murmur. I know you grandparents are just now being informed as you read this, but we didn't want to worry anyone until we got a firm diagnosis and it turned out to be harmless. Really, she'll outgrow it and it'll be a blip on her radar. Anyway, A is being her usual self. She is signing a lot more with me now, which makes me happy. She loves her preschool, loves to go places, and continues to be extroverted.

DB: Baby, baby, baby. She was a short napper until I finally figured out that I needed to drop naps and stretch her longer. She started taking longer naps, much to my relief. I really stink at figuring out infant sleep. Her weight gain really slowed down around 5 months and the pediatrician turned the pressure on to start solids. I started her on purees at 6 months old and struggled for a month to get her to eat. Finally, I switched to table food and that was a hit. She does really well with the table food and I've been wondering if there is any point to purees at all. She's gotten two bottom teeth at the same time (which made me sad because I can't call her snaggletooth) and a top tooth is pushing out soon. She turns 8 months next week (wait for it...."I can't believe it!") and doesn't give any indication of being close to crawling, but she will be crawling before I know it.

Hearth and Home: 

• Since my last update, we moved A into the front bedroom because her old room isn't sealed very well and the smell of burning coal seeps in during the winter. A was breathing in the smell all winter last year so we moved her out for this winter. She was in a bedroom right next to ours. The other bedroom is by the living room and front door. It's also a better room for her furniture. Her twin bed recently broke and now she has bunk beds in her room. I don't like bunk beds but it's really the best solution since her room is too small for two twin beds in the event she and DB start sharing a room. DB is still sleeping in our room in her pack 'n play.  When the weather warms up (and people stop burning coal), DB will move into A's old room. It's currently an office/guest room. It will become guest room/DB's room. The office (and my sewing corner) will move into our bedroom. Nothing seems to stay settled around here. 
• As for interior decoration, don't even ask. I have been bitten by the DIY bug and have a couple of projects planned. Hopefully I will follow through with them this summer and be able to present them with pictures in a post. 
• I decorated for Christmas and right now, I only have one decoration up for Easter. I wish I could do more. We have an Easter tree with decorated (hollow) eggs from Prague. They are my absolute favorite holiday decorations; they even go on the Christmas tree. 

Our Easter Tree

• I did some major reorganizing. A has a crazy amount of art and craft supplies and they occupy two and half shelves in a closet by the front door. One big bin contains all her markers, pens, crayons, and pencils alone. She has sticker books and other packets of stickers on one end of a shelf, workbooks on another end, and coloring books one yet another end. Playdoh and accessories, construction paper, empty oatmeal canisters for future craft projects, beads, popsicle sticks, stamps and ink, glue, paint supplies, games, flash cards, puzzles. Shelves are neatly labeled so everything stay in place. Anyway, who cares how organized A's arts and craft supplies are? Normally, everything belonging to A stays in her room (I don't like kid stuff dominating the entire house). These shelves are the only place outside of her room that belong to her alone. Good grief, kid. 

Free time: We have some free time. Sometimes we have to carve that out and protect it. G and I try to have at-home dates every week but that doesn't always happen. We mostly play games but I think we have done some other things. I can't remember. I still have not been sewing for over a year. It's sad. I do read a bit. I've been working on Les Miserables for a few months and according to my Kindle, I'm only about 40% of the way through. It's a very long book. I'm currently reading Choosing Gratitude by DeMoss which is really convicting. I'd been talking to my accountability partner about the complaining attitude I'd had lately and how I really wanted to stop because it's just the pits. Negativity, blah. She lent me this book and it's been great reading so far. I recommend it. I squeeze in a TV show before bed about once or twice a week. I like to watch White Collar and Bones. 

Upcoming holidays: Easter, yay! It's my favorite for all the reasons behind the celebration and because Easter also brings spring and family reunions. I'm excited about spending Easter with my dad in a ch-rch stateside, participating in corporate w-rship.

Weather: We are seeing more sunshine now. Winter is one long overcast, rainy season with intermittent sunshine. Now, the days are getting longer and the sun shines brighter. The US is getting some spring snowstorms while the days stay mild on this side with temperatures in the 50s and 60s. Can't complain. 

Visitors: In our last comprehensive update in September, I mentioned that G's parents visited and my mom was coming soon. Since my mom left, we had visitors come and stay with us four times. One was a friend of ours passing through to a conference in October and this same friend came again this month but this time with his sweet wife and two adorable boys, one who is a new baby. In December, our supervisors visited and co-workers from another country came soon after. For now, we have no visitors coming for several more months, but that can change at any time. Our city seems to be a revolving door for people passing through. 

Well, this update was a bit longer than usual. Hopefully, I will update more often. Happy Easter!

  

The Big Six-Oh

My language teacher is turning 60! Today, she celebrated by reserving a table at a cafe for twenty-two of her friends. It was a brunch with a variety of cheeses, variety of bread and pastries, cold lunch meat, green and black olives, fruit, french fries (yep, you read that right), tomatoes, cucumbers, cooked cold eggplant, a cold dish of tomato sauce and veggies, and endless amount of hot tea. To commemorate her birthday, she chopped off her mass of curly hair and now she looks cute with a mop.

D got passed around and held by the ladies:

The cafe sits nestled on the side of a small mountain and it has an incredible view of the sea and the mountains beyond. It was a gray, rainy day so when the rain paused long enough to go out of the cafe and admire the view, I snapped a picture with my phone and sharpened the light and shadows so the clouds would stand out.

Friday, we took baby D to get her visa. It was also another rainy day. We took a bus, a ferry, and a tram to arrive to the headquarters for her visa application. We had an appointment and a number. We arrived on time but they'd already called our number long before. It's a very strange system. So, we had to go to some guy who gave us a number to go to and we waited at the window belonging to the number we received. We eventually got the application approved and the fee paid and after lunch, we returned home by tram, ferry, and bus. It took 6 hours from the minute we walked out the door to the minute we arrived home, including lunch and two stops to feed D. D did pretty good sleeping in the carrier and it was easier than struggling with the stroller on public transportation.

A Snapshot In the Life

For a while, I've wanted to post what our day-to-day life looks like as expats, but our days are generally never the same. We have a few things that are regular (weekend gathering to honor the Father, language sessions, etc) but rest of each day is always different. Something is always happening - appointments, guests, etc. So, I decided to post about our day today and show how it's not much different from life in the U.S. Today was Tuesday and I don't have language on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I concentrate on taking care of the girls. Here goes:

7:00 wake up and feed baby D. G goes to his desk.

7:15-8:00 get A up; A eats a bowl of cereal while I eat oatmeal and D hangs out with us in her new booster seat with the tray. G comes in at some point, eats breakfast, and starts decaf coffee for me. He disappears. I feed D mashed banana, which she rejects, and try rice cereal, which she also rejects. She's not a fan of solids yet. A dances around, trying to help feed D, driving me crazy. I clean up the breakfast mess. Coffee has now finished perking so I drink a cup and relax a few minutes while reading the news (ahem, in interest of full disclosure, also Facebook) on my phone.

8:00-9:00 put D down for her nap. Start a pot of coffee for G. Exercise (burpees, high knees, jumping jacks, push-ups, wall sit and repeat) during and after which G proceeds to critique my form and demonstrate the correct form. Slightly irritated. A watches and mimics me. She was helpful earlier and brought me my running shoes and weights - she knows my routine. D wakes up after 30 minutes and I begin to seethe in frustration at her short nap, which sends me into a foul mood.

9:00-10:00 After leaving D in bed to fall back asleep (she doesn't), get her up, feed and change her. Play with A and her play-doh while G showers. Then I shower. We discuss taking the living room rug to get cleaned because the previous night, D was on the floor playing and had a big diaper blowout and stained the rug. A big stain. The rug needs a good cleaning, anyway. D fusses and rubs eyes so I put her down at 10am or so. She starts screaming bloody murder which shreds my nerves. I'm furious because D never used to scream when being put down and now it's almost daily occurrence lately. Where's my easy baby? 

10:00-10:30 I snap. Yes, I snap. I'm tired and already feeling pressure from language and work. I rant and growl about D's bad naps and her new screaming fits at being put down. My foul mood then turns G's mood foul also. We have a heated discussion. He's frustrated with my frequent frustration with D's chronic short naps. Not quite an argument or a fight. No yelling, just venting. He reminds me D may still be jet lagging and she is teething, too. And did I have my quiet time in the Word today? No, G, I haven't, my morning has been a blur. Why don't I do it now? Because I'm in no mood to do even though I know that's exactly when I should do it. How am I going to have it with two girls around and no one to help? Just go to your language lesson already, G. I pick up D to calm her down.

10:30-12:00 G leaves. I immediately gain self-control. Interestingly enough, I rarely have these rants and fits of frustration when I am alone. It's because I know I'm the only one who has to  keep it together and when there is someone else around who can hold it together for me, I then will give vent to my frustration. I put D in the swing. Then A and I eat lunch. D naps nearly an hour. Get her up, feed her, change her.

12:00-12:30 It's sunny so we decide to go to the park. It takes nearly 20 minutes to get D bundled up and A into her jacket and snow boots, my diaper bag ready, and myself bundled up. G comes home from language in the meantime and brings in our doorman. The doorman goes to our kitchen sink and uses the faucet to explain that the water will be turned off. I'm glad laundry from the trip is mostly caught up and dishes are clean. 

12:45-3:15 The girls and I go to the park. Two kids strapped into car seats and stroller in the trunk. My first time driving alone with TWO kids. My first time to the park by myself with two kids. When we arrive, it's time for D's nap again and I figure I will push her in the stroller until she falls asleep, but I freeze when I realize I need to supervise A, also. She's asking me to play with her but I have to push D to sleep in the stroller. She understands and happily plays by herself, not very interested in other kids today. Push the stroller and keep an eye on my big kid. I do figure eights next to the playground. D falls asleep. Victory. I enjoy the wintry sunshine and my nerves are restored.

3:15 - 7:00 Arrive home. It's a blur of activities - put D down for nap, paint with A, get D up and fed, play with D, snacktime for A, ticklefests with both girls, pick up the living room which isn't really messy, G hauls off the rug to the cleaners, discussion about dinner with G, A spills the water for her paint onto her toddler table and down the wall and cleanup ensues, on the computer briefly and sporadically for some research which turns into plain ol' browsing for half hour (i.e., wasting of time), play with A some more, watch A try to skate in her roller skates on our hardwood floor, etc. G cooks dinner (my love!), D down again for a nap and then up again, I feed D and then we eat with D hanging out with us in her chair. D shakes her head at us and we shake ours at her. It's a new fun thing for D.

7:00-7:30 No baths because the water is turned off. D goes to bed. A goes to bed soon after D but her bed breaks. Yes, her bed breaks. It's lopsided with the mattress sliding to the floor. It is broken beyond repair. My reaction: Oh. Well, it's time to buy a new bed. I don't really care. We pull the mattress onto the floor and put A to bed on that. She thinks it's fun. Discover that the water is turned back on so dinner dishes get washed and the kitchen is clean. Water turns off 30 minutes later.

7:30 - 9:30 Write this post while looking at bunk beds, daybeds, twin beds, trundle beds, etc. online.  I need to work on language homework but we need to take care of the bed issue. G and I discuss about what bed to buy in the light of the girls sharing a room when D gets bigger. Looks like a trip to Ikea is on the agenda for this week. Unexpected changes of plans are always happening. 

And now, post this to the blog. Work on language next. Unmotivated.

Just a boring day. 

Tropics in January

We were very blessed and very happy to visit G's parents in Thailand during the dreary, winter month of January. It had snowed two or three times so far in our city and the skies remained heavy with clouds for days by the time we left. We were definitely looking forward seeing G's parents and to the sunny climes of Thailand.

We took an overnight trip to Thailand, stopping over in Dubai, UAE (Middle East). The trip back home was during the daytime so when we came through Dubai again, we were able to see the tallest building in the world, rising out of the cityscape like a toothpick in the hazy desert. Since that is the main attraction in Dubai and we have already seen it, I guess we could check that city off our list of places to see, even though we never left the airport. Well, maybe not. It stays pretty warm there during the winter so it might be a good vacation spot to escape to and it's only 4 hours away by plane.

We met up with G's parents in Bangkok where we stayed for three days to recover from jet lag. We were in a beautiful, gated compound with tropical trees and plants all around, in the middle of Bangkok. It was there when I first started to feel the stress seep out of my bones as I absorbed the sunshine, the foliage (my favorite part), and the temperate weather. I mean, look at the picture below:

Doesn't this look idyllic?

Compare this view with the views from my apartment (see this post for pictures). Wouldn't you pick this any day? This picture doesn't even do justice to the profusion of trees and flowers around the compound.

There is a store about a 10-minute walk from this compound that carries a lot of American treats, including gluten-free stuff. We walked through the aisles and our jaws just dropped at the variety there. We started pouncing on things like crazed and starved people before we realized that we didn't need any of it so we just got what we needed for breakfast and snacks.

After three days in Bangkok, we flew south to Krabi and headed in a van to Lanta Island, taking two ferries. We checked into the resort which consisted of bungalows, a nice alternative to hotel rooms. We stayed in a duplex-type of bungalow: two connecting rooms in a bungalow. The resort was just gorgeous with the trees, flowers, and the beach. We enjoyed the view of the beach but we didn't spend a lot of time on it, surprisingly. A preferred the pool over playing in the sand, which was new to us, but she did play a bit in the sand when it was cooler in the evening.

Beach

Rigged up lights over a raw seafood bar, ready to be cooked

Islands

Tropical

The main pool area, the second pool is at the bottom of this picture, out of sight

Our bungalow, two connecting rooms

Sunset on the Andean Sea

Taking pictures with his other wife, the Diana F+ camera

I did a whole lot of this - sitting around and relaxing

I could post a ton more pictures of all the wonderful Thai details like the dragon motif, Buddhist spirit houses, variety of flowers, scenery, the strings of Christmas lights in the palm trees, different sunsets, etc., but it would make for a long post already.

In Bangkok, on the tail end of our stay in Thailand, we did some sightseeing and also spent time with a co-worker of ours. She was gracious enough to take us to a couple of sites. We saw a shrine and a wat where the reclining Buddha is. For some reason, when I heard about the reclining Buddha, I thought it would be the size of an ordinary man. When I went into the temple, my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe how enormous it was. It was like two stories high! It is made of stone and covered with gold paint. Crazy! The soles of Buddha's feet are inlaid with designs in mother of pearl.

We were sad to end our stay there and return to our wintry city. It has definitely made for some wonderful memories and we always enjoy new experiences in traveling. Besides the great weather, we loved the food, the tropical trees and flowers, and the smiling Thais. Thailand is called the Land of Smiles and it has lived up to its nickname.

We're mostly over the jet lag - for now. We get to suffer jet lag all over again when we go to the States for a conference at the end of March through the beginning of April. We will tack a few vacation days on that trip to see family briefly but apart from that, we won't go on another trip solely for vacation until July so stay tuned for that.

Last Post Of The Year

It's New Year's Eve. Kids are in bed and G's gone out to spend New Year's Eve with some Deaf folks here. I think there will be fireworks over the river so that will be enjoyable. Here, they put up trees for New Year's as we do for Christmas. Stores and malls have winter holiday decorations just like the States. They've incorporated Santa Claus into their celebration and at first, I thought they were copying the Western countries without realizing the background from which Santa Claus came. (Auto correct on my computer keeps wanting to change "Claus" to "clause.")

Let me pause here a minute and explain something. I'm a bit ethnocentric. Or maybe a lot. I have a tendency to think that everything in our culture and all our traditions originated in America or at least in Europe. When I see something from our culture overseas, I think they are copying us. There are far more ancient cultures than the American culture and more stuff has been around before America was discovered in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Like Santa Claus.

Santa Claus originated from an actual, bona fide, real life person in history. This guy was a Greek Orthodox bishop, Nicholas (later elevated to sainthood), who lived in the 4th century. Guess where he was born and where he was bishop. In the area known as the modern-day country that I live in.

Who's copying whom? Apparently the St. Nicholas tradition is not unique to Western culture; it lives on in many cultures from Argentina to Palestine. My ethnocentrism has a dent in it. Good. Very good.

I won't leave you hanging about how Santa Claus came to be. Here's a great website: www.stnicholascenter.org.

Anyway, our Christmas was nice and quiet. We opened presents and enjoyed our presents all morning long. I cooked a couple of dishes and we went over to another family's home for potluck Christmas dinner.

You probably know that the majority religion here forbids pork. This is truly a cosmopolitan city so there are some stores that sell pork and they are mainly European chains. There is a single pork butcher in this entire city of 16 million. He's a Greek in his 60s and the government will not allow him to train someone to take his place. Apparently there are some Greeks who live down the coast and they raise pigs - oh, the horror! Sorry, that was sarcasm. Forgive me.

So, this European store had one hunk of ham for a whopping $86. The wife from the other family and I nearly choked. Then we discussed it. We decided it was only once a year and worth it for Christmas. We asked for the ham to be cut down and it cost $65. Sixty. five. dollars. For a one big slice of pig weighing about a pound or so.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the pig! Oink! We also had some turkey on the side and we basically ate a Thanksgiving meal with mac 'n cheese, green beans, sweet potatoes, pecan pie, and pumpkin custard. And no, I didn't make the pie this time so pie-crust-rolling remains as the one occasion per year, a quota I have already met at Thanksgiving, thank you very much.

Yesterday, I got to celebrate New Year's somewhat. My language teacher invited me to her secret club. Women here form cliques and they meet once a month, taking turns hosting brunch and they all dress up really nice in suits and dresses. I think some may just meet in cafes. These groups are tight and closed to any newcomers. It can be difficult to break into. Two women formed my language teacher's group and one of them live across the street from me. The other lives just outside the city. She was always kind of distant towards me and yesterday, she finally warmed up to me, held baby DB for a few minutes, and invited me to her home when she hosts the group at her turn. Whoa. I mean, whoa. I'm making inroads...

So, anyway, since it was just the day before New Year's Eve, they wanted to celebrate. They got matching shirts and tights and hats. We were required to wear denim skirts. The shirts were bright, royal blue and so were the tights. The hats were tiny red fedora-style with netting and feathers, perched on the side of our heads. I felt a bit ridiculous in the get up. These rowdy women, mostly in the late 40s to early 60s age group, like to have fun! I had DB with me so I could feed her since this brunch runs until 5 or 6pm and I had to bring her if I wanted to stay all day. She did pretty well and at least didn't skip any of her naps.

So, I had my New Year's fun yesterday and it's G's turn tonight. I just got a text message from him saying that the group he's with (who I imagine are mostly older folks) are getting rowdy and hilarious.

Happy New Year!

Goat Cheese, Anybody?

We've been eating goat cheese without knowing it.

We were at a family's home for a brunch one morning several months back and ate fried cheese. We thought it was delicious and proceeded to buy halloumi cheese (English rendering of this name is from Arabic) and fry it at home on occasion.

Photo credit: squidoo.com

Last night, we had roasted vegetables with halloumi cheese. As I sliced up the cheese and fried it, it occurred to me that the cheese was not melting. I don't know why I only just now noticed it after several times of frying the cheese. How does the cheese not melt?

Curious, I looked it up. That was when I was surprised to discover that it was actually goat/sheep cheese. Halloumi cheese originated out of Cyprus (there used to be no cows on the island until the the British brought cows over in the 20th century) and was initially made in the Byzantine period (A.D. 395-1191) and gained popularity in the Middle East region. The high melting point comes from the fresh curd being heated before being shaped and placed in brine. Apparently, the Cypriots like to eat grilled halloumi cheese with watermelon. I guess it's not different from feta cheese with watermelon, a trend that I've heard of in the States.

Speaking of feta, we love feta so much that we use only feta as dressing for our salad and G puts feta in his scrambled eggs most mornings. Feta is super cheap here and it's expensive in the States, alas. This is just a side note, since we were talking about cheese. Just random and unimportant.

I never thought I'd ever get the opportunity to drink goat milk and eat goat cheese. Much less a type of cheese that has been around since the fourth century A.D. It's just cool.

I just wrote a post about cheese. I mean, really?