Day of Firsts

This morning, Andrew and I woke up to chanting.  Here and all over the world, Muslims are celebrating Aid Al Fatha.  As best as I can gather, this is a celebration of God providing a lamb in the place of Abraham's son.  After the morning prayer, there is an extended time of chanting.  I am not sure what they chant, I just know I heard it.  After chanting, about 8:00 a.m. everyone goes home to butcher their sheep (or goats or camels).  They are to give a third to the needy, a third to family and friends and they keep a third for themselves.  At 8:00 this morning, Andrew went out with some other guys to take pictures.  As I sat out on the balcony of our apartment, I could hear the goats crying all around our area of town.  Thinking I had seen all that I would get to see from my balcony, I went back inside to enjoy some coffee.  As I settled in by the window, I heard baaing louder than I had heard yet!  I grabbed my phone and told Andrew I was going outside.  Our neighbors who live below us in the apartment complex obviously had goats.  I ran down the stairs and crossed the street to watch from a safe distance.  Of course they did not miss the lone white girl across the street, so they invited me over to look closer.   Then they invited me to come inside the gate and watch.  It probably should have been more gruesome to me than it was, but I was just amazed at the skill of the butchers!

After they had finished "processing" the goats, I attempted to take my leave, but they insisted I stay for tea.  What was I to do, I mean, I do love some tea.  While sitting out on their patio enjoying tea, we observed one sheep that escaped and was trying to flee as well as a little boy chasing around all the girls in the street with a goat leg.  It was a priceless experience, I got to meet more of my neighbors (and get the scoop on everyone in the building) and I left with my own little bag full of fresh meat.  The question now is how do I go about cooking whatever it is that is sitting in my fridge?

Later that morning after Andrew returned from taking pictures, we went on a walk around the neighborhood.  Most people had finished, but blood still stained the streets where there had been a butchering.  The city where we are living now rarely if ever gets rain.  Today it rained; mind you not sheets of rain, but more than a sprinkle.  As I was watching the rain I could not help but be reminded, on this day of all days, of the sacrifice that my Father made for us.  Where God provided a ram in the place of Abraham's son, He provided His Son in our place.  Just like the rain today washed away the blood stains in the streets, the Son's blood washes away all of our sin stains and makes us as white as snow!

Another first for the day was my first time making eggnog!  Andrew loves eggnog.  He is used to drinking it when they first start selling it in the stores in November until they quit selling it in January.  Here is my first attempt.  It was not bad at all, but I'll definitely tinker around with it before I settle on a final recipe for it.

Today was an incredible day of firsts and a little bit of sensory overload.  I am so thankful for new experiences and new cultures, and I am even more thankful He is with me and reminds me of Himself no matter where in the world I am.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my Dad's birthday.  I wish that I could be at home and celebrate with my family, but I am halfway across the globe instead :(  I remember when I was away at school in Texas, my mom threw a surprise birthday party for my Dad and made him do all the prep work for it (he thought my sister was having a party at the house with some of her friends).  I flew in from Texas for the big surprise.  I got there early that morning and had to hide upstairs all day so my Dad wouldn't see me.  All in all I think Dad was pleasantly surprised by his party, but we still remind Mom about how she made Dad do all the work for his own birthday party.

Miss you lots today, Dad!  Wish I could be there.  I am so grateful that I have a father like you who is such a great example for me.  Thank you for loving and supporting me through all the years and all my crazy endeavors.  I love you!

A Day at the Beach Day

SCUBA

Today I went SCUBA diving for the first time in quite a while. It was a blast. It was my first time to dive in salt water. The water was the most clear I have ever dove in. There were so many fish. I saw a Napoleon Wrasse. I saw Clown fish hiding in the sea anemone. I saw an eel swimming among the coral. We dove to the ship wreck which is massive as you are swimming beside, and under it. It sits on two reefs and there is a spot at 25m down where you can swim beneath it. It was incredible. My favorite was that I got to see an octopus which was a brilliant crimson color settle upon the coral, settle into itself and change color and textures, matching the coral around him. It was incredible. It was definitely a day of firsts for me. I cannot wait to get my wife certified and take her down there with me.

The Infantry and the Pedi

Yesterday afternoon we spent at the beach.  When we returned home, all seemed well and good.  We unloaded our stuff, skyped.  It was after the skype call that we noticed it...an army of ants were moving through our apartment!  I have never seen so many ants in my life.  They were coming out of the floor at the door of our bedroom, moving through the hall, into the kitchen, around the floor board, up the cabinet, across the counter and going down behind the counter right by the sink.  There were millions!  They were not getting into anything, not even looking at the food, just were just passing through.  Once they realized that we had discovered them, they rapidly began to decrease in numbers.  By the time we got our cameras, their line was not nearly as thick, but we were still able to snag this photo of their masses.

We quickly grabbed our highly toxic cleaner and sprayed them with it.  Hundreds died on contact.  We then ran to our local market and bought some bug killer (and some falafel while we were at it).  We returned, cleaned up the dead ants and sprayed their entrance and exit in case more decided to show up.

This morning Andrew went scuba diving.  He has been wanting to go since we arrived here.  He finally got the chance, but this left me all alone for the morning.  I slept in, cleaned up the house a bit and then decided to take my first outing by myself and go get my nails done.  My heart was racing as I walked up the street to hail a taxi.  When one arrived, I could barely slow my breathing enough to tell him where I wanted to go, "Burger King" (not really where I was going, but easy enough to say and close to my final location).  I made it there without a hitch, but the lights were off at the salon I wanted to go to.  I had made it this far, might as well try the door.  It was open!  See, here at the female salons, they black out the windows, either with tint or curtains or even newspapers, so people cannot see the women inside and I could not tell if they were open or not.  I got across that I wanted to get my nails done.  I guess usually people make reservations, so they were a little confused that I wanted it done now.  I got the lovely blue taken off my fingernails and got this pink put on my toenails.  

Unfortunately I did not meet any women in the salon like I had hoped.  It was such a big salon, they have different rooms for each thing.  Like a room for nails, a room for massage, a room for hair cuts, etc. There were other women there but no one else getting their nails done.  I was able to talk with the lady doing my nails which was fun, but she was from another country and basically works 24-7 while she is here.

It was a fun experience.  There is a salon very close to our apartment that I will probably go to next time.  I wanted the experience of taking a taxi by myself and going to a nicer salon for the first time.  

Language

To help us in learning the language, we use these things call lexicarrys.  Basically this is a book with lots of comic strips in it, but rather than have their words in the bubbles, it is blank so our language helper can fill in what local people would say in that situation.  In theory, this sounds like a great idea.  Unfortunately, I do not believe that our language helper has ever seen a comic strip so he really does not understand the concept.  This morning our lexicarry strip was of a person who said something that the other person could not understand.  To fill in the bubble, one would need to say..."I do not understand.  Please repeat."  or something of that nature.  This was a disaster!  We spent over thirty minutes trying to explain to our non-english speaking helper what we wanted.  Rather than telling us how to say "Please repeat that," he would simply just keep repeating himself!  He understood that we wanted the words repeated, but he just could not grasp that we wanted to know how to say "please repeat."  To add to this mess, script is read from right to left here unlike in the States where we read left to right.  These comic strips are drawn out left to right but our helper kept trying to look at them right to left.

A tiring day with a few tears of frustration shed, but in the end, I think we have the word for "repeat."

First Impressions

After three days of attempting to get this online, I finally present to you our first video.  Still haven't quite figured out how to get it on my video page, and I am not sure that there is any volume.  None the less, I hope you enjoy and get to see a few of our first impressions.