A Kazakh Engagement Party!

We were invited by some of our new friends to go to the engagement party (really, it's the time when the groom technically goes to "get the girl" from her family) of his cousin today. Doug and Ethan ended up going along, as Ethan is growing to be good buds with the 9 year old son of our friends. Because our friends' family lived in Brooklyn (yes, in NY) for the past decade, the son speaks both great English and great Turkish, which is excellent for Ethan. They've been inseparable the past few weekends.

You can see Ethan & his friend Barish here, as the groom's family went to "get" the girl.
(Click on any of the pictures to see them larger.)As the groom's party walked down the street, they met an old patriarch from his side of the family and stopped for a chat. This Kazakh elder was probably giving words of wisdom before the couple came together.
Here's the happy couple, meeting their guests together:

They served tasty fried breads, cookies, cakes, and muffins, and plenty of milk tea. It was the first time Doug had tasted milk tea since we lived in our previous home in Central Asia several years ago, and spent regular time drinking milk tea with Kazakh friends there. Milk tea is made with a special type of tea and milk is added, seasoned with salt and drunk from a bowl.

The couple and the party guests left the one house to go into the bride's family home for a ring ceremony and exchanging of gifts.

The house was packed; Doug said at one point there were nearly 100 people in the one apartment.

Their rings were connected with a ribbon, and they placed them on their fingers and the bride's brother cut the ribbon. We still aren't sure of the meaning of this tradition, but we'll keep asking questions and learning as we go.

Here you can see the lamb boiling to be ready for dinner. You can also see, up on the far left, what Ethan's friend Barish looks like from the front. :)
Yummy palao. It's been a while since we've eaten it, and it really is delicious!

It's very fun to begin becoming a part of the community here... Doug's brain is fried after hearing & speaking Turkish (& small bits of Kazakh) for nearly 10 hours today, but our hearts are full of joy to have friends and be able to share in the celebrations of their joyful moments.

One more note: we were excited to learn that the bride & groom will be moving to our neighborhood once they are married, so we hope to get to know them better as time progresses.

Seen and Heard This Week...

We have a few quotes and stories from our home to share this week. Perhaps you'll enjoy and laugh about them as much as we have! (The picture alone is proof that we have at least one very goofy daughter!)



BAXTER WANTS TO GROW UP, part one:
Baxter: (pointing to Doug's mustache) "When can I get one of those?"



CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION:
Ethan had a British friend, Jimmy, over and they were drawing men. He asked if Ethan thought he should draw a "smart" (meaning well-dressed) man. Ethan excitedly answered yes, so Jimmy drew a man in a blue suit-- indeed, he looked very "smart"(British meaning of the word).

Later, they were talking about their drawings and I asked what their drawn men do for a living. Jimmy answered that his man was an inspector.

Ethan added, "yeah, cause you have to be very smart to be an inspector."

Jimmy said, "well, you don't have to be very smart. You just have to be a normal person, really."

Ethan looked confused, but shrugged and went off to play with something else.



FRIED EGG REPORT:
Fried eggs are a family favorite around here, and the kids often eat as many eggs as we do. But lately, we've noticed an interesting trend:

Ethan (5.5 years old), our active oldest son, eats 3 fried eggs. Baxter (3.5 years old), growing taller by the day, eats 4 fried eggs. But our dainty little string-bean-thin Maranatha (21 months old) eats FIVE fried eggs, every single time we eat fried eggs. It's funny the way they grow. She consistently is out-eating the boys at nearly every meal these days.



BAXTER WANTS TO GROW UP, part two: [A little context, first: about 90% of the time, when Baxter and Ethan disagree about something, Ethan's right. He just knows more about the world right now, and is older, so Baxter ends up eating crow a lot.]

But on this particular day, they were disagreeing and Baxter was right, and they both knew it. Ethan was ready to let it go and move on, but Baxter wanted a little acknowledgment:

Baxter: "You say 'yes, sir' to me, Ethan."

Ethan: "I'm not saying 'yes, sir' to you. You're not the daddy."

Baxter: "But I will be a daddy one day. You say 'yes sir' to me."

Ethan: "But you're not a daddy right now, Baxter. I'm not saying 'yes sir' to you." (And he left the room to go do something else, and that was the end of that conversation.)

:) In the next room, I couldn't stop laughing.

Fun With Turkish

So, I (Jessica) have been trying to cram some language learning in before Silas' arrival (he's due in 6 & 1/2 weeks), and I thought I'd share with you some of what I'm learning, so you can have a small glimpse into what language learning is like.

Yesterday, my assigned homework was to write several sentences in each person group in simple past tense. (Person groups being I, You, He/She, We, plural "You", and They.) So I did that (5 sentences in each group), and then I began thinking how much more fun it would be to make up a fun past-tense story.
So, consider this the unveiling of my very first Turkish story! Don't you feel so special, getting to read what will undoubtedly be an incredible tale that will work its way into your heart, cause you to ponder life's deeper truths, and could possibly change your life?

I'll share the English translation below, after letting you see the Turkish. (I don't know yet if the Turkish is all correct or not-- I'd bet there are at least a couple of errors, but we'll see tomorrow morning in class!)

Ben dün evde Şeri gittim. Biz beraber aliş veriş yaptık. O ben ile konuştu. Biz yolda (caddede?) yürüdük. Biz köpek görüştük. O biz sabret ettik. Biz köpek korktuk. Biz köpekten (oden?) kaçtık. O aynı koştu. O biz ye-mek istedi. Biz evde Şeri döndük. Güldük; ağladık. Ben evim git-mek korktum. Sofada Şeri uyudum.

OK, so I won't give you the whole run-down of Turkish pronunciation. But if you want to try to pronounce what I wrote (try it-- it's fun!!!), in a way that is somewhat close to how it sounds here, you'll want to read through it out loud with these things in mind:

• S with a tail = "sh"
• C with a tail = "ch"
• O with dots = "er"
• U with dots = kind of a combination of "you" and "ew"
• Read the entire thing with your lips sticking out like you're saying "ewwww" because something really stinks.

OK, now that you've read through it (you DID try, didn't you?) :) , let me tell you the story in literal (word-for-word) translation:

I yesterday to house of Shari went. We together went shopping. She me with talked. We on the road walked. We a dog saw. He us hated. We the dog feared. We from the dog (from him?) ran away. He also ran. He us to eat wanted. We to house of Shari returned. We laughed; we cried. I my house to go was scared. On the sofa of Shari I slept.

OR, in actual comprehensible English:

Yesterday, I went to Shari's house. We went shopping together. She talked with me. We walked on the road. We saw a dog. He hated us. We were scared of the dog. We ran away from him. He ran too. He wanted to eat us. We returned to Shari's house. We laughed; we cried. I was scared to go home. I slept on Shari's couch.

See how fun it can be to study another language? :)

(And no, none of this actually happened...
it's a fictional story that allowed me to do a little practice.)

Daddy Goes to Class

Doug started language classes (in Turkish this go round, Doug's third language to begin studying in the last 18 months!) last week. So now on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, the kids have a big sending-off ceremony, full of waves, kisses, hugs, "BYE"s, and blown kisses!

Grocery Shopping Without Language Skills

So, I thought I'd give you a little taste of something that happens every week for me. Grocery shopping with little to no language skills.... so here it is: the raw, uncut version of this weekly necessity. (All of what proceeds is entirely true.)

GETTING READY TO GO TO THE GROCERY STORE
I prepare my list carefully, looking at packages if I need to write anything down (brand names, sizes, etc.). Once my list is made, I make sure I have plenty of money. I don't -- I repeat DON'T -- want to get up to the counter without enough money. That would spell disaster.

Head out the door, certain to grab the pull cart for groceries and all four of our durable cloth bags for bringing our groceries home in the taxi. Usually, I have one or two of the kids in tow as well. For this example, we'll just say I brought Baxter and Maranatha with me, as has been the case while Doug & Ethan have been gone. With that in mind, I better run back inside the apartment and grab a snack or two and grab at least one water bottle. Oh, and "Baxter, you need to go potty before we leave." "I know you just went (2 hours ago), but you need to go ahead and try again now. Yes, ma'am?" "Yes, ma'am."

GETTING TO THE GROCERY STORE
Once we make it out our door, down the stairs, and out of our apartment complex to the taxi stand, I tell the taxi driver the name of the mall that the grocery store is located inside of. He looks at me strangely, because I didn't say it right, but he knows precisely where I'm talking about. We take off. Darting past the sheep salesman, the elderly pedestrians, and narrowly missing the small bus headed in the opposite direction, he honks at will.

We enter the parking lot, only to notice that they're doing *more* construction on this particular lot. He rolls down his window to get instructions on where to park (as he'll wait for another mall patron just outside the mall). I look in my wallet and realize, askance, that the smallest bill I've got is a 50 YTL bill, which is equivalent to $40 US. When I offer it to him, he throws his hands up in the air and, frustrated, mutters something, and goes to the back of the taxi to get my shopping cart out of the trunk for me. He keeps saying something in Turkish. "Pardon, Turkce bilmiyorum," I say, many times, which means, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Turkish." He keeps repeating the phrase. Finally he throws in a hand gesture, somewhat pointing in the direction of home. I ask, hesitantly in English, "oh, I...(point to myself)... give you money... (gesture as though I'm handing him money) at the taxi stand (a point in the same direction he pointed) later?" He nods and waves me off. Good riddance, he's probably thinking.

I feel terrible. But there are two children to deal with and a grocery list to be crossed off, so I plod on. We walk into the mall, where we go through a baggage check and x-ray machine, and Baxter smiles up at the "policeman" (aka, security guard woman) who totally isn't even concerned with the baggage screening any more, and smiles back at him.

We go over to where the carts are, and realize that the only carts that are at the back of the rows are ones without child seats. But I need one with a child seat in it, so I walk over to the cart attendant. I motion that I need a seat. He eventually gets what I'm talking about, asks me something in Turkish, and I catch something about "one", so I pull out a 1 YTL coin, hoping that's what he's asking for. Yes, it is. He takes it, and puts it into the back of a cart in the middle of a row, and dislodges it from all the others. (Yes, you have to pay a deposit for your shopping cart, and yes, they are all connected, so you can't just pull out the one you want. You have to pull from the back.) I tell him "thank you", and we're on our way.

SHOPPING
We enter the store, and I pull off to the side and pull out the bag of pretzels that I brought for a snack for the kids. "Baxter, here are the pretzels; you'll need to share with Mei-Mei. Please give her one after each one you eat. And here's a water bottle if you get thirsty. Now sit down on your bottom. Thank you."

And we're off! I skip the housewares section, and go for the food. The promotion aisle, which usually has lots of American products, has been taken over by spices and Turkish teen girls in green uniforms and funny, quirky little matching shoes, all of which are emblazoned with "Knorr", the brand of choice for spices and bouillon here in Turkey. They have a booth. They talk to every other shopper, but one look at my face, and they don't even bother. They know what I know: my Turkish isn't good enough to talk about spices and why Knorr is the best.

As I'm buying things I need, I try to limit the weight of what I'm buying. I normally like to buy in bulk, but having to carry heavy things over my shoulders after each trip to the grocery store has taught me to buy for need, rather than for "stocking up" purposes. (Not to mention that a very well-stocked kitchen was left for medical reasons last year, and I'm trying to learn my lesson.)

Sometimes I have to stop and try to discern any level of familiarity on a package, but at this point, 2 months into living here, I pretty much know what I need. I might buy a different brand of sugar, flour, or cookies, to try something new, but I know where things are (for the most part), and shopping itself isn't that difficult. Baxter is still faithfully handing Maranatha her pretzels (and her water cup if she gets thirsty), and I regularly tell him what a good job he's doing. "I a good helper, momma," he says. "Yes, you are!"

I should note here that a normal trip to the store, in a normal week, when the other two members of our family are here and I'm cooking for 5 rather than for 3, my cart ends up quite full. Which isn't strange to you. Because you're an American. But to these people, just as it was before when we lived overseas, a cart as full as ours just isn't seen very often at all. They buy enough for a few days and then come back. I don't want to do that. It costs me nearly $10, roundtrip, in taxi rides to go grocery shopping. I don't want to make that trip twice in a week. So I load up and buy a lot. We buy several packs of meat (chicken, beef, and chicken tenders, maybe). We buy several bags of pasta. We get a few snacks for the kids, and then I usually need at least some of the staples: sugar, flour, baking items, spices, oils, etc.

Then on to dairy... I get several varieties of cheeses, none of which are particularly like anything we think of as cheese, but some of which will suffice when mixed into a casserole or pasta dish. Their main cheese is a white cheese, kind of like provolone, only much less flavor. So it's a basic, almost flavorless, but sometimes bitter, and quite expensive alternative to the cheeses we're used to, but I'm willing to pay it, as it provides protein and thickens the sauces and casseroles that I make.

I buy yogurt (think of how big an American "cheese" section typically is. Double that, and that's how much space they give to yogurt- it's extremely popular here) and milk, which is unrefrigerated on shelves. They have more brand names of milk than you can imagine. It is long-life milk, which we've gotten used to, and so I buy several jugs of that (they only come in 1 liter or smaller containers, which is like one-fourth of a gallon). They come in thick plastic containers, so it's very heavy and cumbersome to even get the equivalent of one gallon. We actually don't drink that much milk now that we live overseas, but between cooking and cereals, it gets used up fairly quickly. So I get what we need and prepare myself for the checking out process.

CHECKING OUT
I wait in a long line. The belt where the groceries should be put is small, and so I have to wait until the person in front of me is almost ready to pay before I can begin unloading my cart. The clerk just starts right in scanning the groceries, and the LCD screen is never turned out, to where the customer can see. So I would have to be done unloading my cart and down where I could see the computer screen in order to tell if the prices are ringing up as advertised. Baxter helps hand me things from the cart ("what a little helper you are!"), and I finish as quickly as I can.

So now, you might be thinking, I can go and check up on prices, at least for the last half of my groceries purchase, right? But you would be wrong.

No, this is a bag-your-own groceries place. And because he's already halfway through my load, I am already halfway behind. I open up my grocery cart and begin loading the heaviest things (like the milk jugs) into the cart, since I can roll it behind me. Then I begin loading in all of the other groceries into my cloth bags. They do have plastic bags, but I use cloth bags for environmental and practical reasons. My fingers like to have circulation, which would not happen if I had a gazillion plastic bags hanging off of my hands while trying to pull the shopping cart and carry Maranatha. So I use my cloth bags, which I can sling over my shoulder much more easily.

I'm only halfway through bagging my groceries when I realize that the clerk just said something to me. I look up and realize that he's finished and ready for me to pay, and the people behind me (in any given shopping trip) are either (a) completely frustrated that they decided to get behind ME of all people, or (b) making googly eyes at my two American children. Thankfully this time, it's the latter.

I pay the money, which, even though I really cut back this week (cooking for 3 people, not "stocking up", etc.), I still spent over $100. "How did I even do that?!," I wonder. Well, no time for dwelling on that... I've got to bag up all of the rest of my groceries. That's right... the clerk won't lift a finger, even seeing my two little ones and how completely behind I am on bagging.

So I hurry up, throwing things into bags as quickly as possible while telling Baxter, "please don't push the cart over there... mommy needs to put these bags into it." Finally, I finish, just before the next customer in line (that's right, the person 2 people behind me in line) starts getting their items scanned.

GOING HOME
We whiz away, thrilled that we got out of the store so quickly and easily. Compared to previous trips, this shopping trip was a breeze! Thank you, Lord!

I get out to the taxi stand, with my full cart and two kids who are VERY ready for lunch at this point, and the taxi attendant begins unloading my cart. Baxter climbs into the back of the taxi, and I stand outside to make sure all my groceries make it into the trunk, placing fragile items like eggs and bread in the cab, to be held between me and Baxter. I notice, just as they're pulling my fully-loaded rolling cart out of the basket, that the tuna fish I had finally decided to buy this trip (I had delayed purchasing tuna for 2 months, because of how expensive it is-- $5 for 2 small cans!!!) had slid under the rolling cart and I hadn't paid for it. ACK!

While quickly debating myself, I realize several things:

1. My language skills are not anywhere NEAR where they would need to be to explain that I didn't pay for the tuna fish, but did not mean to steal it
2. Even if I could somehow manage to communicate what I needed to to the customer service representative, my son and all of my groceries are now loaded up into a taxi that is WAITING ON ME to quit debating myself and get inside, please.
3. I can call my friends who have been here longer and get one of them to write a note explaining the situation so that I can take it with me the next time I go shopping and pay for the tuna.

I settle on that last point, and get inside the taxi. We make it to the front door of our apartment building, and the taxi driver unloads my groceries while I get the right amount of money to pay for the taxi fare. Once we're all unloaded, I load up with as many bags as I can handle (three cloth bags) while still wrangling Maranatha in one arm. Baxter waits at the base of the stairs with the rolling cart and the remaining cloth bag, smiling at me nervously, even though he knows the gig and knows I really will be right back. We live on the first floor, so I run inside, drop my bags, and carry Maranatha back outside with me to get the rest.

Oh, praise the Lord- just as I'm loading up like a packhorse for the second round, a man walks up and offers to hoist up my rolling cart and carry it up the flight of stairs for me. Baxter runs up, I open up the door, and thank the man profusely. We get inside and I begin unloading groceries, placing the tuna fish can prominently at eye-level on the shelf over the sink, to remind me to get my friends to write that note so that I can pay for it at the next visit. And I stick a 10 YTL bill near the front door, so that I'll remember to pay the taxi driver (from the first ride) the next time we head out to go somewhere. Ah, life is good. I did all my shopping in less than two hours total.

But then it hits me, uh-oh- I needed to order water bottles to be delivered (think Ozarka, only these are not optional- it's necessary in order to have drinking water here)... and I have to do that in person at the shop nearby... "Baxter, buddy, better get your shoes back on..."


~written by Jess, who would testify in a court of law that all of this really happened last Thursday when she went shopping.

The Meaning of a Word

Last weekend, Ethan asked me, "momma, what does 'spoil' mean?" After a few probing questions, I realized that he was trying to reconcile two different meanings of the word: (1) that Nana and Papa "spoil" them whenever they're together, and (2) --from a book we read-- Rudyard sadly overhears his friends saying, "I hope Rudyard doesn't come! That would spoil everything!" (Rudyard doesn't realize they're talking about walking in too soon to his own surprise party, but I digress.)

So I explained the meanings to him, and he seemed satisfied. But apparently, he didn't really get it, because...

This weekend, after Nana (my mom) had taken the boys to the Dallas Zoo, while they were driving home, Ethan excitedly said, "Nana, I love the way you spoil everything!"

he03 & fu02

he03- to join, combine, unite, gather
fu02- father

These two characters represent what we'll be doing in 2 days: reuniting with Doug/Daddy after 10 days apart!

Because the testing has been more lengthy than we anticipated and still seems that it will be at least another week or two, the children and I are going to be flying down to Hong Kong Tuesday night and all day Wednesday.

We are excited to get to see him, and are ready to be back together as a familly!

Thank you to all who have been praying; this has been a hard time for our family. Keep on lifting up Doug and the doctors (and me and the kiddos as we fly), and we'll let you know more as we know more!

Q&A2: Devotions, Holidays, and Top 5's

Sandra asks: What do you do for family devotions? How overt will your Christmas celebration be where you are? Are you aware of any needs there that we could support? How can we best support you?... Understanding that service is at a cost is important -- what are the five things that each of you miss most? ...The five most unexpected pleasures at your new home?

FAMILY DEVOTIONS
Nearly every night, we have "family time", where we read and talk about the Bible, sing songs, and spend some time in prayer. Right now, we're going through a book together called, "Training Hearts, Teaching Minds", that has pre-made short devotional ideas that teach doctrinal and biblical truth. Ethan really enjoys the teaching time as we discuss questions and concerns he has along the way, and Baxter is more interested in the singing aspects of it. But it's a short time that our family takes to focus on our Maker and to regularly teach our children the most important things in life.

CHRISTMAS
We are currently thinking about how we will celebrate Christmas. We have a few books and a nativity set that will draw the eyes of people who come to our home. We are considering having our own party for friends, just as they did for us last week (see "Fasting and Feasting"). We can share our customs and beliefs with friends in that way.

NEEDS
As far as needs go, we personally have no immediate needs, but we will address an overarching need in our next e-mail update (we'll send that out in the next couple of days). The very best support is by regularly lifting us up. There have been SO MANY times over the last 8 months that we have been discouraged, physically ill and injured but we are VERY confident that it is the kneebends of our friends and family that has kept us here and thriving, despite the difficulties.

FIVE THINGS WE MISS MOST:
1. PEOPLE- family , friends, Brothers & Sisters
2. FOOD- familiar and comforting foods from home
3. BOOKSTORES- we are BIG readers, so it's hard not to be able to take a quick trip to Half- Price Books or LifeWay for some new things to read! (We had a hard time deciding if this was #2 or #3, if that gives you an idea of how much we love reading.)
4. CONVERSATIONAL EASE & DEPTH- the ability to easily have a conversation about real-life things without having to explain what a word means, explain analogies, try to communicate cultural differences, etc.
5. TEXAS THINGS- the State Fair, the Dallas skyline, Cowboys and Rangers games, the big Texas sky with beautiful sunsets, Mexican food, pictures in bluebonnets, things like that. (Sorry to all you non-Texans, but it's the truth--we miss it!) :)

FIVE UNEXPECTED PLEASURES:
1. PEOPLE- I thought it would be annoying to be constantly stared at, but it is actually generally very fun. The kids make a great entrance for us to talk with people, and we have many more opportunities to smile and connect with people because of the "celebrity" factor.
2. FOOD- We are pretty spoiled, I think. The food here is delicious and generally cheap. While there are some disadvantages, they have really great food here. It's not home-food, but it's good. I'm actually going to do a big post sometime soon discussing food.
3. SCENERY- The mountains, greenery, and environment are beautiful. But I even like the differences in city landscape-- buildings, signs... it's all so different and there's something really wonderful about it. Though we don't "fit in" here, we somehow feel like we fit.
4. INEXPENSIVENESS OF LIFE- We knew it would be somewhat cheaper to live here, but we had no idea. Big Ozarka-sized bottles of purified water cost about .60 cents each. When we were furnishing our apartment, Jess bought three large pieces of used furniture (a hutch, a cabinet kind of like a sideboard, and a small dresser) and had them all delivered for a total of about $40. And it's so inexpensive to go out to eat. Saturday night we went out to eat (just the two of us) and a very filling and tasty dinner for both of us cost us $1.75.
5. WEATHER- We were told it was very cold here, and it was when we arrived in March, and it has been getting more and more cold in the past few weeks, but we had about 6 months of really nice, comfortable weather-- almost never getting over 80 degrees.

Thanks to Sandra for her questions! If YOU have questions, please CLICK HERE and leave a comment with your question(s) and we'll take time to answer yours.

Q&A1: Our Apartment & A Typical Day

These are answers to questions Kim brought. If you have questions about our lives here, feel free to go here to ask them and we'll answer them in a future post.

Kim's questions: I would love to see pictures, if you can, of your apartment! It's hard to picture where you live. Also, what is a typical day like for you all?

OUR APARTMENT:
Here's a long picture of the big area of our apartment. The entry way is to the right, kitchen area, and Maranatha's room doors are straight ahead (you can't see the door to her room, it's just ahead of Doug to the right in this picture).

You can see a wall opening that's to the left of Doug. It is directly across from the front door... off that small area, the bathroom is straight ahead, our bedroom is to the left, and the boys' bedroom is to the right. We are blessed in that (as you can probably tell) we were given a brand new apartment when we moved here.









I did something fun in MeiMei's room: she has all different bright-colored daisies lining her ceiling for a fun border. And we found a floral painting that has the verse "I know the plans I have for you" (Jer 29:11) written on it. Her room is like a garden!













Here's our living room area, complete with our new Kazakh rug we just bought this weekend! We are so thrilled to have something warm under our feet instead of the frigid tile that is growing colder by the day. Now when she starts crawling, MeiMei will have soft carpet under her knees with some very visually-stimulating patterns! We have a table with a bench for the kids tucked away in one corner of the balcony area, and our computer desk is on the other end.



Our bathroom (this is not really a great picture, but it's the best I could get) has a small sink area that balloons out into a small room on the other end. In the more narrow section are the cabinets, sink, and washer (we don't have a dryer). This area generally stays dry. On the far end is the toilet, towel racks, and the shower head. We also keep a large plastic container on the floor full of water in case the water goes off (which happens semi-regularly). The shower head is open to the entire room, which means that everything in the bathroom gets mist on it anytime one of us takes a shower. Without the window, it would get very musty in there, because the water just runs all over everything. The window helps, but there are still several open drains, and with less-than-stellar plumbing and very fussy water pressure, rather than describing them all, I will let your imagination run wild with the smells that sometimes permeate our restroom. :)

Being on the 6th floor, we have really nice views of the mountains (mountains almost surround the city), and there is also an airfield nearby, so in regular intervals throughout the day, we can see airplanes flying relatively close to our apartment. That is an exciting thing for the boys.

A TYPICAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE CONNELL FAMILY:
On weekdays, Doug and I will each have classes throughout the morning, trading off watching the kids so the other can go to class or study. We have virtually all our meals together as a family, which is really nice. Eating in is great, and eating out is cheap. Our new househelper comes for about 2 hours to help with dishes and tidying up, which helps immensely and gives us time to study. In the afternoon, the kids take a nap and we either have more classtime or studytime. After dinner each night, we play, read, ride bikes, study, or just hang out as a family, and then before bedtime each night, we have a 10-15 minute "Bible time" when Doug teaches us from the Bible and then we sing a few songs and pray together as a family. The kids go to bed around 8, and then we have more study time or reading time or we have time together to hang out and watch a movie or whatever.

Thursdays I don't have any class and that's a day that I get together with a friend who wants to learn English (so we can each practice language together) and we go to the market together (kill two birds with one stone-language practice & shopping). Weekends are less structured. Sometimes we have people over, sometimes we go somewhere as a family (see here, here, and here), sometimes we just stay home and rest. I hope that gives you some ideas of what our average schedule/day is like.

Thanks for the questions, Kim! To anyone else who has questions, leave a comment HERE!

What It's Like #1: FRIENDS

To answer the e-mailed questions from many friends, I'm going to attempt to give insight, real insight, into life overseas through a series of e-mails called "What It's Like". I'll try to stick to one topic per post, so this first one will be the thing that's been on my mind lately: FRIENDS.

Concerning old friends:
* It's impossible to fully describe what life overseas is really like. So they can't really imagine your day-to-day life. They can try, and things like e-mails, phone calls, and blog stories help. But they still don't really know what your apartment looks like, what your daily world looks like. On the flip side, you can pretty much fully imagine their life. You know what it's like to go to a grocery store, eat at a restaurant, go to Sunday morning church, etc. You know what their kids schools look like, what an American hospital looks like, and all the rest.

* Conversely, while you can imagine their daily lives, you don't really hear about them. You hear the big stuff ("mom just had heart surgery"), but not the little stuff ("Betsy is starting to walk now"). So they hear about your daily funny stories (this is especially true when you keep a blog), but you don't often hear theirs. You could imagine their lives, but you don't hear about them like you used to. So while you kind of feel "in the loop", you feel "out of it" also.

Concerning new friends:
* You miss the ease of friendship. With friends who know your life story, get your jokes, and know deep and personal things about you. What you get instead is friends who you can kind of communicate with, on very shallow subjects. As language skills grow, there are more things you can talk about. But when you spend an entire language session covering the parts of the body or time & direction words, you can't really incorporate those into a meaningful conversation. :) Language learning is necessary and good, but in the beginning stages, it sometimes doesn't assist you in real relationship-building (although it is useful for giving directions to a taxi driver!)

* You sometimes aren't certain what their motivation for friendship is. Are they just wanting to practice English? Are they wanting their child to have the status of an American friend? Do they have hidden motivations? Even with less-than-just-being-friendly intentions, it can still make for a good friendship. But you still sometimes wonder.

* They can be great when you are willing to laugh at yourself, and at least try (even if you make mistakes) in language, pronunciation, or cultural situations. It is really interesting to talk about the differences in cultural norms, humor, shared wisdom/information, and dreams. It gives opportunities to share about more meaningful things because there are so many differences, but also so many similarities (priorities in life, desires, etc.).

Flat out, you miss your old friends like crazy. But it wouldn't be the same way it was, even if you were to interact with them daily. And you long to make new friendships, but sometimes that's slow coming. So there are differences in friendships and the speed and ease with which they are made in the States and overseas. Though my time is limited and spread out over various areas, like being a child of the King, wife, mom, language student, family chef, food-source-for-Maranatha, and other assorted duties, it is nonetheless an important and forefront goal to make genuine, lasting, and meaningful friendships here so we can share the Most Meaningful Things in life. Hope this gives you some insight into the changes that come in friendship via life overseas.

Our brains are toast.

Burnt toast.

After language learning for hours each day, struggling to pick up on minor differences in speech, tones, phrasing, and new vocabulary...

Our brains are toast.

A River Runs Through It

Doug took a trip up into the mountains with some guy friends this last weekend.

Some Kazakh children at play



No matter where you are in the world, elderly men can be found in early morning discussions


This picture proves that stick swords are universal

Mountain village


The guys stopped to watch this man carving a lamb, and Doug said half the town came out to watch them watching the lamb being carved! Because we're so close to Russia, people often assume that we are Russians. Some of the people they met this weekend didn't believe that they were Americans and were convinced that they were Russians, despite what Doug & the guys told them!

Ethan's Play Day

Yesterday was quite the eventful day for Ethan, beginning with our morning bike ride, when we met 2 little girls (4 & 6 years old) that he got to play with in the park down from our apartment.



They had such a good time chasing each other in the park and playing together even though they couldn't speak to each other.

Then, later in the afternoon, my friend Lucy came over and invited us to come with her to pick up her daughter, Kitty, from her grandma's house. Ethan rode the whole way on Lucy's motorbike while she pushed it alongside him, even through 6 lanes of traffic!So the kids got to play and eat snacks together. Here's a picture of Ethan's friend Kitty: And another great thing happened: Kitty's grandma agreed to teach me to make jiaoza sometime soon! Then after we walked home, Ethan's little neighbor friend that lives downstairs chased him around the yard before we came upstairs to eat dinner! What a great day for Mr. Social!

Virtual bike ride

On our bike ride this morning, Ethan & I decided to do a photo-bike-ride for you to be able to see different parts of our campus. The first person we saw was an old man doing tai chi. We see this all over campus every morning- it is a very popular way for older Chinese people to stay flexible and healthy.

We rode to the center part of campus, where we saw this girl quite early in the morning sitting near the pond studying, even though this is vacation week.


This sign is on all the trash cans on campus. English is often mis-translated for public signs and they end up with sentences sounding like this one:

Ethan had fun running up and down (and up and down, and up and down, you get the idea...) this beautiful hill at the front of our campus.

After meeting some friends and playing with them at a park (I'll do another post about that), we returned home to our apartment. Ours is the one all the way to the top left- on the 6th floor.
Hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did!

Home Sweet Home

Here's a picture of Maranatha & I showing off our front door and entry way, complete with coat hooks, cabinets for shoes, and a "No Smoking" sign just to the left of our door. (Workers would often come into our house to work and we'd leave them doing their work in the bathroom or kitchen and then we'd start smelling smoke, and then I--Jessica--would start hurriedly using my limited language skills to ask them not to, that we have 3 children, a baby, etc. So, we decided to just let them know on the front end that we'd appreciate them not smoking in our apartment.)

A little out of season, here's a close-up of our little strawberry:

"Mahrjan" can roll over!

Well, just when you thought you had "mei-mei" down, we have another new name for Maranatha! That's right. It is very common here for Americans to be re-named (given a Chinese name) by someone here (the same way that a foreigner in America will often take on an American name, for ease of introduction, spelling, and pronunciation). In the area where we live, there is also the likelihood that foreigners will be given a minority name as well, if they interact frequently with the minority groups here.

Here she is showing off the trick she's gotten so good at-- rolling over. (Look at her great tights that are all one piece but makes it look like she's wearing ballet slippers--what fun!)

This semester, Doug switched over from learning Mandarin to learning Kazakh. So, in Doug's language class the other day, we learned (I was listening in) that the Kazakh word for pearl is "Mahrjan" (I can't really think of how better to spell this... it includes a sound that we don't really have in English.) Try to make an "rrr" sound, and then add in a J/ZH sound with your tongue held up at the middle-to-back of the roof of your mouth, and you'll likely be pretty close. (Go on, try it!) Then try making that sound in between the two different syllables: "ma" (R/J/ZH) "awn" (as in dawn). Since Maranatha's middle name is Pearl, and the Kazakh name that means pearl is quite similar to the first two syllables of Maranatha, we decided with Doug's teacher to make it official: her Kazakh name is now Mahrjan.


MeiMei, Maranatha, Mahrjan--confused? Yeah, well, just wait until she gets a Chinese name! ;)

Bye-Bye Birdie

Tonight, I (Jess) took the two boys for a late-night bike ride. We rode past the music building and as Ethan and I often do, we stopped to listen to the piano music. Tonight, it was a beginner student practicing scales. As we were listening, I noticed the painting room and so we rode over to get a closer look at the sketches. While I was looking, Ethan shouted, "mom- come look at this!"

I went over, and on a ledge was a dead bird, perfectly laid, as if it had been standing there looking around and just fell over. We started talking about how not even a sparrow can fall to the ground without God's notice. How he knows when we've had a bad day, when we've got a new bike, and when we're tired. It's a good reminder for all of us- that not the smallest detail of life escapes God's notice.

When we got home and I'd put the bikes down in the basement, we started to climb up just as 6 minority boys ages 6-9 ran up behind us. Since Baxter climbs stairs at the pace of a arthritic elderly woman, we let them pass. As we walked behind them, we watched them stop at each floor and sing a funny little song about food (I didn't catch all the words, but I could get the general jist of it). Ramadan started last night, so food is on the brain, since devout Muslims will fast during each day for the next month. As each apartment opened their door to acknowledge the boys, they would hold out their pillowcase filled with candy, fruit, and money, and the people would hurry to get something to offer them for their song. It kind of reminded me of trick-or-treating back in America. This happened on 3 of the 5 floors leading up to our apartment. As they passed the 5th floor following the boys and I up to the 6th floor, I knew it was our turn. So Doug came to the door and we all got serenaded by the boys celebrating Ramadan. We hurried to get them some money and the Ethan and Baxter offered it to them, and the boys in turn gave them each an apple. The boys can't wait to eat their apples for breakfast tomorrow!

Phriday Phood Photos

Last night, we went out to eat at our favorite place here in our new hometown. They make the best jiaoza (pronounced jow-dza) in town! This is what jiaoza look like: They are dumplings filled with meat or veggies, chosen by you. They make them when you order them, however many you want, with whatever fillings you want. We ordered 10 chicken and onions jiaoza, & 10 beef and romaine lettuce jiaoza. The beef ones were incredibly good; Doug likened them to a hamburger... beef, bread, & lettuce all in one!

And these little wonders are called guotia (gwoa-deeuh):
They are bigger than jiaoza, and these are filled with lamb and pumpkin. I know, it probably sounds strange, but I'm not sure I've ever eaten a more rich and delicious food than this. We all love this dish... again, it's the all-in-one factor: carbs, protein, and veggies all in one delicious dumpling! These are boiled and then fried on one side so they're kind of crispy and crunchy and soft all at the same time.
Here's what the inside of them looks like: After writing so much about them, I think I'm craving them! Maybe we'll go again tonight. For 20 jiaoza, 20 guotia, 2 bowls of rice, one bottle water (I forgot to bring one) and a huge plate of eggs and tomatoes, the entire bill came out to 23 yuan, just under $3. What a cheap thrill!