I was really tearing it up today with "getting stuff done". And WOW, did it feel good; so good I started to pat myself on the back and think, you've sure pulled it together today, Girlie. The folks coming over tonight are going to be impressed that the dishes are actually done and the floors clean. Then, I was convicted. Hard. Memories of some hard lessons learned while overseas in another time and place all came back to me; it was sobering and so, so good.
I asked myself exactly where I thought my pride and identity lie. Did I really believe that my identity lies in how clean my house is? NO! A thousand times no! We will never find true satisfaction and fulfillment to the depths of our souls when we seek it in how busy we are. Seriously.... I can be busy 18 hours a day doing all kinds of things from cleaning to cooking. It gets messy again, and I get frustrated. Why? Because I'm looking for something cooking and cleaning cannot give. A sense of identity.
My life overseas was a unique role of mother, community development worker, friend, counselor, mentor, teacher, wife and many others. However, my salvation, pride, nor identity was not in how well I could cope each day with no water or electricity. That is simply sanctimonious bologna. I could counsel a hundred crisis situations- from mothers bringing their dying children to my door, to neighbors seeking shelter from their husbands beating them- but that is not where I needed to take my identity from. I am more than that, and you are too. Do you think you are more sanctified if you cook fancy meals? And even more so if you strive for perfection in how healthy and nutritious that are, Moms?? Dads, are you so wrapped up in your work that you find it as your sole source of pride and motivation? Students, how much are your grades tied into how good you feel about yourself? I know that is certainly one I can say I struggle with fairly consistently. Artificial sources of identity are found in so many places: habits, works, good deeds, friendships, what church you go to, associations, talents, and certainly money. But, outside of Christ ALONE, there is NO source of true identity for us. We are made in His image, if you claim His Son as Savior, you are His and He lives through you to BE your identity, strength, source of contentment, fulfillment and pride.
Don't get me wrong. Everything from going overseas in the first place for me and most of the things I do today are BECAUSE of that truth. I have to constantly remind myself that outside of that motivation, my clean floor (a once in a while phenomenon) is not WHO I am. The "A" I may get in a class is an expression of his calling on my life at this time. My kids' performance, my husband's job or position, my friendships, are all only but an outpouring of His provision given as gifts, NOT ways to edify myself.
Grace,
SteppeSister
Friday, January 11, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
Expressing LOVE
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2009
I've been thinking for several days now about what to write about, and today, at our Christmas party with the office staff, it came to me. Well, actually, the topic sprung out of what we talked about during this party. The topic of love. Not exactly love, but expressing it.
Out of the blue, one of the guys (he's maybe 26) asked The Water Guy if he told me that he loved me. HUH!!?? Did we understand the question right? Of course we tell each other we love one another. It's natural, it's something we do every everday, sometimes even, gasp, more than once!! Imagine that!... telling someone WITH WORDS that you love them. Believe it or not, people in this culture do not say it; to their kids, to their spouses, parents or anyone else.
We were flabbergasted that people go through their whole lives without hearing those most important of words after they are about 4 or 5 years old.
We probed the reasons, and they came up with these:
1) We just don't hear it from our parents, so we didn't learn how.
2) Parents are afraid that if children hear it too much they will become spoiled or bratty.
3) After not practicing it, they feel uncomfortable or somehow embarrassed about saying "I love you".
4) They are afraid too, of rejection.
5) It is quite possible that they value other ways of expressing their love more highly. They did say that they know their parents love them, for example, but that they show it by giving gifts, or caring for them through basic care.
After some minutes, we asked our friends if saying "I love you" or hearing it was important. Everyone of them said yes, and that in their families they are trying to change things. 4 of the people at this party are young parents and they are beginning to hug their kids and speak those words to them everyday.
Coincidentally, at another party we went to on Christmas Evening, everyone in turn gave a reflection from the las year and a blessing to the party. When it was The Water Guy's turn he stood up, walked over to where I was sitting, took my hand, pulled me up, and blessed me publicly. You should have seen the mouths fly open. There were even snickers around the room, and one lady went on and on about how she's never seen that done, that husbands would never do that in their culture, and expressing love like that was just so odd and foreign to them.
If we have shown the value of telling and showing love to one another, then all our years of living here have been worth it!! It is said in a "VERY Good Book" they will know what you believe by how you love one another.
Have you told someone that you love them today??
Love,
Your SteppeSister
Out of the blue, one of the guys (he's maybe 26) asked The Water Guy if he told me that he loved me. HUH!!?? Did we understand the question right? Of course we tell each other we love one another. It's natural, it's something we do every everday, sometimes even, gasp, more than once!! Imagine that!... telling someone WITH WORDS that you love them. Believe it or not, people in this culture do not say it; to their kids, to their spouses, parents or anyone else.
We were flabbergasted that people go through their whole lives without hearing those most important of words after they are about 4 or 5 years old.
We probed the reasons, and they came up with these:
1) We just don't hear it from our parents, so we didn't learn how.
2) Parents are afraid that if children hear it too much they will become spoiled or bratty.
3) After not practicing it, they feel uncomfortable or somehow embarrassed about saying "I love you".
4) They are afraid too, of rejection.
5) It is quite possible that they value other ways of expressing their love more highly. They did say that they know their parents love them, for example, but that they show it by giving gifts, or caring for them through basic care.
After some minutes, we asked our friends if saying "I love you" or hearing it was important. Everyone of them said yes, and that in their families they are trying to change things. 4 of the people at this party are young parents and they are beginning to hug their kids and speak those words to them everyday.
Coincidentally, at another party we went to on Christmas Evening, everyone in turn gave a reflection from the las year and a blessing to the party. When it was The Water Guy's turn he stood up, walked over to where I was sitting, took my hand, pulled me up, and blessed me publicly. You should have seen the mouths fly open. There were even snickers around the room, and one lady went on and on about how she's never seen that done, that husbands would never do that in their culture, and expressing love like that was just so odd and foreign to them.
If we have shown the value of telling and showing love to one another, then all our years of living here have been worth it!! It is said in a "VERY Good Book" they will know what you believe by how you love one another.
Have you told someone that you love them today??
Love,
Your SteppeSister
Scorpion Sting- by "Roo"
Since sand was used for diluting the cement that all the buildings were made from , the mountains of sand were a cliche during the summer. It seemed like there was one dumped on each corner once every week or so. The day that I was stung by a scorpion, or a 'shayan' in Kazakh, is just as vivid in my mind now as it was then. I remember my big brother, Andrew, coming up to me and asking if I wanted to go outside and play in the sand pile, or 'khom'. I ran across the vomitous kitchen linoleum that always looked like a giant had used it for the disgusting task of blowing his nose. I grabbed my cheap-o red and white 'Chinese-made 'tapchkee' (summertime sandals), the kind that always broke in a month, and slipped them on my feet. We told our Kazakh housekeeper where we were going, and asked her to make sure the door locked behind us. Since petty thievery was such a troublesome issue, locked doors were the norm in every household.
We stepped out into our dingy, dank stairwell and started to run down the murderously crooked steps. The smells got more intense as we went down...down closer to the basement door and sewage piping for the entire apartment building, neither of which were sealed at all. Rats, cats and other various forms of scummy life lived and died down there. Getting a whiff of decaying flesh was never appetizing whatsoever. We hurried out of the stairwell as fast as we could, and stepped outside. Summer was in full swing and it was a sizzling one hundred and ten degrees that hit us like a belly flop from off the high dive when we stepped outside- definitely not a perfect eighty degrees like back home. I remember how it felt as the thirsty air drank whatever liquid was in our lungs and bodies, leaving us bony raisins in a desert. The two of us marched around the apartment structure, ignoring the shockingly vile remarks the local kids shouted at us as we scurried past. Rounding the corner, hurrying as children do, we were eager to start playing. We had this beautiful master plan to consturct an impressive (at least it was impressive in our little heads) labyrinth of tunnels through the sand. They would be just big enough to push a matchbox car through.
We never tired of digging around like moles in the massive mounds of sand. The two of us jumped into the sand dumped there the previous day, turning deaf ears to the annoying protests of the builders who would have to shovel it back into a pile when we were done. They despised it when kids like us came and played in their sand, spreading it out until it looked like dessert on a toddler's face. After about fifteen minutes of digging around and getting grubby, my tunnel was just about done. I reached towards the little tunnel entrance to dig out the last bit of sand that separated mine from Andrew's, but before my dusty hand reached the other side, I felt something sort of "stick it". "Oh brother", I thought, "Another nasty thorn in the sand." I reached down to pick it out and throw it somewhere out of my sight, but a thorny vine wasn't what I saw. What I did see made the blood drain out of my face; I saw the underside and tail of a scorpion exposed in the sand where my hand had brushed the sand.
It was already hurting, throbbing and turning red. I jumped up and told Andew. He told me to run and tell Dad as fast as I could, so I turned and ran back to the apartment. I was in such a hurry , I forgot my shoes. Trying to run and not hurt a scorpion sting at the same time is harder than trying to get a camel (which we have plenty of roaming wild on the steppes) through the eye of a needle. Step-ow-step-ow-step-ow all the way to the apartment. The reaction I got from my parents was essentially the same as a bomb squad's would have been to an emergency call. My dad ran for the medical bucket where the snake venom suction device was kept. By now, looking at the side of my thumb was like looking at a bad pimple through a microscope. It was so nasty and ugly it was enthralling. My dad put the cracked yellow venom sucker on the side of my thumb and got it sucking. This sucking on the sting made it turn from red to putrid purple. After about fifteen eternal minutes, Dad took the yellow sucker off and put ice on it. I can still remember sort of falling asleep; I must have been tired out by all the hovering around me Mom and Dad did. When you know it takes an ambulance up to two hours to get anywhere after receiving a call, the local medical care isn't much of an option when you're in the mood to live. It was truly a miracle of Grace that I surived that day!
We stepped out into our dingy, dank stairwell and started to run down the murderously crooked steps. The smells got more intense as we went down...down closer to the basement door and sewage piping for the entire apartment building, neither of which were sealed at all. Rats, cats and other various forms of scummy life lived and died down there. Getting a whiff of decaying flesh was never appetizing whatsoever. We hurried out of the stairwell as fast as we could, and stepped outside. Summer was in full swing and it was a sizzling one hundred and ten degrees that hit us like a belly flop from off the high dive when we stepped outside- definitely not a perfect eighty degrees like back home. I remember how it felt as the thirsty air drank whatever liquid was in our lungs and bodies, leaving us bony raisins in a desert. The two of us marched around the apartment structure, ignoring the shockingly vile remarks the local kids shouted at us as we scurried past. Rounding the corner, hurrying as children do, we were eager to start playing. We had this beautiful master plan to consturct an impressive (at least it was impressive in our little heads) labyrinth of tunnels through the sand. They would be just big enough to push a matchbox car through.
We never tired of digging around like moles in the massive mounds of sand. The two of us jumped into the sand dumped there the previous day, turning deaf ears to the annoying protests of the builders who would have to shovel it back into a pile when we were done. They despised it when kids like us came and played in their sand, spreading it out until it looked like dessert on a toddler's face. After about fifteen minutes of digging around and getting grubby, my tunnel was just about done. I reached towards the little tunnel entrance to dig out the last bit of sand that separated mine from Andrew's, but before my dusty hand reached the other side, I felt something sort of "stick it". "Oh brother", I thought, "Another nasty thorn in the sand." I reached down to pick it out and throw it somewhere out of my sight, but a thorny vine wasn't what I saw. What I did see made the blood drain out of my face; I saw the underside and tail of a scorpion exposed in the sand where my hand had brushed the sand.
It was already hurting, throbbing and turning red. I jumped up and told Andew. He told me to run and tell Dad as fast as I could, so I turned and ran back to the apartment. I was in such a hurry , I forgot my shoes. Trying to run and not hurt a scorpion sting at the same time is harder than trying to get a camel (which we have plenty of roaming wild on the steppes) through the eye of a needle. Step-ow-step-ow-step-ow all the way to the apartment. The reaction I got from my parents was essentially the same as a bomb squad's would have been to an emergency call. My dad ran for the medical bucket where the snake venom suction device was kept. By now, looking at the side of my thumb was like looking at a bad pimple through a microscope. It was so nasty and ugly it was enthralling. My dad put the cracked yellow venom sucker on the side of my thumb and got it sucking. This sucking on the sting made it turn from red to putrid purple. After about fifteen eternal minutes, Dad took the yellow sucker off and put ice on it. I can still remember sort of falling asleep; I must have been tired out by all the hovering around me Mom and Dad did. When you know it takes an ambulance up to two hours to get anywhere after receiving a call, the local medical care isn't much of an option when you're in the mood to live. It was truly a miracle of Grace that I surived that day!
My FIRST Blog Post- An Introduction
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2008
Being over 40, and not of the "blogging generation", I thought I'd give it all a try. Let me introduce myself... I am married to The Water Guy, and have 5 WONDERFUL kids. We live on the Central Asian Steppe and live a pretty simple life as we do our development work. I can't think of too many kids- at least in the States who: regularly drink fermented horse's and camel's milk, know how to fluently speak another language, have eaten in a yurt, or have travelled to no less than 10 countries in their lives.
My passions are quilting, watching great classic movies, enjoying a good cup of coffee every day, spending time in Scripture with my good coffee, playing Settlers, listening to my daughters play guitar, and sleeping in on Saturdays. In summer, I grow a garden, have regular campfires with my family, and watch the stars with our telescope. In winter, I make hot cocoa, read a lot, and quilt more.
I am challenged by trying to cook good meals with the limited ingredients available here. I love everything about Thai food, homemade Mexican food and a good Margarita. I am also challenged as I try to keep up with my 4 students still at home homeschooling. I learn something new everyday, and that keeps me on my toes. My live is very full- I wouldn't change a thing!
My passions are quilting, watching great classic movies, enjoying a good cup of coffee every day, spending time in Scripture with my good coffee, playing Settlers, listening to my daughters play guitar, and sleeping in on Saturdays. In summer, I grow a garden, have regular campfires with my family, and watch the stars with our telescope. In winter, I make hot cocoa, read a lot, and quilt more.
I am challenged by trying to cook good meals with the limited ingredients available here. I love everything about Thai food, homemade Mexican food and a good Margarita. I am also challenged as I try to keep up with my 4 students still at home homeschooling. I learn something new everyday, and that keeps me on my toes. My live is very full- I wouldn't change a thing!
My Very Typical Day-
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2008
I used to wake up at nine feeling guilty and grumpy- how could I have slept this long? I got over THAT about 7 years ago! When we moved overseas we quickly discovered that we just plain ol' need way more sleep! Life is more physically demanding in many ways, not to mention the mental and emotional strain of speaking a foreign language and dealing with a completely different culture. It takes its toll. So, we are up at 9:00 guilty free. The youngest enjoy a bowl of hot cream of wheat or oatmeal, the older ones cook themselves an egg or just have bread with cheese or jam. I, of course, start with a strong cup of coffee and snack until lunch on whatevers around. The Water Guy is always gone by 9:00, but we see him most days at 1:00 for a hot family lunch.
School starts around 9:30 with the older ones working with their DVD's or books, while the youngest take turns with Mom on reading, math, Bible, phonics, etc... Mr. Macaroni has some pretty significant learning issues and takes a massive amount of time. I comfort myselft knowing that what I can give him at home is about 10 times more than what he'd be getting mainstreamed in school.
3 days a week, I have a wonderful young woman come to help me with the housework and cooking. She has become a WONDERFUL cook and we enjoy her soups and other goodies on the days she is here. Other days, the kids help out with making a good meal for us all to enjoy. Afternoons are more of the same, but often we have an unannounced visitor interrupt our day. It could be anyone from the guy collecting money for the water bill or the neighbor needing to borrow baking soda.
Now that it's fall, we spend more time indoors as the muck factor has increased by a hundredfold. There is no such thing as a sidewalk here, no grass, just mud everywhere. Often, The Water Guy will call and need some e-mailing done, or something to be looked up on the home computer. By 4:30 or 5:00 we are done with the lessons and start on dinner. If dinner is an easy one, or if our helper is here, we can play a short game or watch a little TV. Right now we are working our way through Season 8 of Little House on the Prairie. Still love that stuff!
The Water Guy comes in around 6:30 and we have dinner together. Tonight, being a very typical one, we will read aloud (currently that is a Hardy Boys), eat oatmeal cookies made by Roo, and hope that the power does not go off- again. After the kids head off for bed, maybe I'll have a few moments to finish the Dresden Plate block I'm working on for the matching wall hanging that goes with my queen-sized quilt, and put a bit of time into my Precepts Study on Hebrews. After The Water Guy is asleep I still have a little more time to me, and spend time in prayer or on projects that need doing.
Not all days are so simple. There are many days with meetings, errands to run, and days we drink tea with friends. I'll post sometime after a "crazy day", and you'll see how different they can be.
School starts around 9:30 with the older ones working with their DVD's or books, while the youngest take turns with Mom on reading, math, Bible, phonics, etc... Mr. Macaroni has some pretty significant learning issues and takes a massive amount of time. I comfort myselft knowing that what I can give him at home is about 10 times more than what he'd be getting mainstreamed in school.
3 days a week, I have a wonderful young woman come to help me with the housework and cooking. She has become a WONDERFUL cook and we enjoy her soups and other goodies on the days she is here. Other days, the kids help out with making a good meal for us all to enjoy. Afternoons are more of the same, but often we have an unannounced visitor interrupt our day. It could be anyone from the guy collecting money for the water bill or the neighbor needing to borrow baking soda.
Now that it's fall, we spend more time indoors as the muck factor has increased by a hundredfold. There is no such thing as a sidewalk here, no grass, just mud everywhere. Often, The Water Guy will call and need some e-mailing done, or something to be looked up on the home computer. By 4:30 or 5:00 we are done with the lessons and start on dinner. If dinner is an easy one, or if our helper is here, we can play a short game or watch a little TV. Right now we are working our way through Season 8 of Little House on the Prairie. Still love that stuff!
The Water Guy comes in around 6:30 and we have dinner together. Tonight, being a very typical one, we will read aloud (currently that is a Hardy Boys), eat oatmeal cookies made by Roo, and hope that the power does not go off- again. After the kids head off for bed, maybe I'll have a few moments to finish the Dresden Plate block I'm working on for the matching wall hanging that goes with my queen-sized quilt, and put a bit of time into my Precepts Study on Hebrews. After The Water Guy is asleep I still have a little more time to me, and spend time in prayer or on projects that need doing.
Not all days are so simple. There are many days with meetings, errands to run, and days we drink tea with friends. I'll post sometime after a "crazy day", and you'll see how different they can be.
My NOT so typical day-
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2008
I knew it wouldn't take too terribly long to have a NOT so typical day. Yesterday proved to be one of THOSE days.
I awoke earlier than usual to my househelper knocking on the door, asking for not only her pay, but for a $300 advance so she could buy a washing machine for her niece. Here, where we live, bride stealing is a very normal part of life, and her niece was one of the unfortunate ones to have to start her marriage off with a kidnapping and rape. This guy sees her once, decides she's the one for him, gets a bunch of friends together and pulls her into the car. Once she steps foot onto his parents' property in those circumstances she is theirs- no questions asked. It is brutal and oh so too normal. So, her aunt now must go and lavish her with an appropriate gift to seal the deal.
After we get her squared away, (yes, I did give her the money, as she has been with us for over 7 years and has never been unfaithful in money matters) I make up my coffee and try again for the third straight day to get on the internet- again to thwarted success. Ugh! I hate computer problems, especially when they involve my internet!! Looks like The Water Guy has fixed everything up and I'm able to get on again.
So, instead of my regular gal showing up, a friend of hers came. I must share a funny thing that happened today- making again for a strange day. When we were last in the States, we had some aquaintances that live nearby in another city. She asked my to help her find a friend that lives in our city- a friend from her youth, and all she knew was that she lived here. I though, "Oh no, that will be impossible with only a name and birthyear. I'll have to call the phone company, hmmm... maybe the tax office, there's just no way." Well, when this young gal shows up to work I asked her where I should start. I told her all I know is that her name is... , and the next thing she says is, "Hey, I know her!! She was my English teacher last year." So that ended that. It really was that easy. We called her house and I could talk to her myself, giving her greetings from her long lost friend and helping them hook up again after all these years.
All the kids managed to get through all their subjects in school, which is another thing that is not so typical. We even had time to get some fresh tortillas and some homemade cinnamon rolls made! Mmmm... they tasted great for dinner/ dessert.
All was going well, for the rest of the day, until the power went out just after dinner. So, we sat in the dark for another evening. I had re-started Wuthering Heights as I had gotten to the beginning of Vol. II and felt I needed to go back and re-read the beginning now that I was more aquainted with the characters. Okay, this is a VERY weird book. I don't know of any other "classic" in which incest, domestic violence and necrophilia are the central themes. What a strange journey into the subjects most taboo to mankind. The rest of the gang played a board game or UNO, until it just got to tiresome. I think we were all tucked in by 9:00.
Well, if thinking about Wuthering Heights hadn't have kept me up all night, the party across the street surely would've!! LOUD! (I mean really loud!) music blared off and on until 2:45 AM. It kept most of us awake, and hence we are now getting a start to our day at about 10:00. I've always thought that if you're going to have a party that keeps your neighbors awake, the least you can to is invite them :)
Hope you are all well, and enjoying life to the fullest. Typical day or not, there' always Someone there with you to give you that gift of a "full life".
I awoke earlier than usual to my househelper knocking on the door, asking for not only her pay, but for a $300 advance so she could buy a washing machine for her niece. Here, where we live, bride stealing is a very normal part of life, and her niece was one of the unfortunate ones to have to start her marriage off with a kidnapping and rape. This guy sees her once, decides she's the one for him, gets a bunch of friends together and pulls her into the car. Once she steps foot onto his parents' property in those circumstances she is theirs- no questions asked. It is brutal and oh so too normal. So, her aunt now must go and lavish her with an appropriate gift to seal the deal.
After we get her squared away, (yes, I did give her the money, as she has been with us for over 7 years and has never been unfaithful in money matters) I make up my coffee and try again for the third straight day to get on the internet- again to thwarted success. Ugh! I hate computer problems, especially when they involve my internet!! Looks like The Water Guy has fixed everything up and I'm able to get on again.
So, instead of my regular gal showing up, a friend of hers came. I must share a funny thing that happened today- making again for a strange day. When we were last in the States, we had some aquaintances that live nearby in another city. She asked my to help her find a friend that lives in our city- a friend from her youth, and all she knew was that she lived here. I though, "Oh no, that will be impossible with only a name and birthyear. I'll have to call the phone company, hmmm... maybe the tax office, there's just no way." Well, when this young gal shows up to work I asked her where I should start. I told her all I know is that her name is... , and the next thing she says is, "Hey, I know her!! She was my English teacher last year." So that ended that. It really was that easy. We called her house and I could talk to her myself, giving her greetings from her long lost friend and helping them hook up again after all these years.
All the kids managed to get through all their subjects in school, which is another thing that is not so typical. We even had time to get some fresh tortillas and some homemade cinnamon rolls made! Mmmm... they tasted great for dinner/ dessert.
All was going well, for the rest of the day, until the power went out just after dinner. So, we sat in the dark for another evening. I had re-started Wuthering Heights as I had gotten to the beginning of Vol. II and felt I needed to go back and re-read the beginning now that I was more aquainted with the characters. Okay, this is a VERY weird book. I don't know of any other "classic" in which incest, domestic violence and necrophilia are the central themes. What a strange journey into the subjects most taboo to mankind. The rest of the gang played a board game or UNO, until it just got to tiresome. I think we were all tucked in by 9:00.
Well, if thinking about Wuthering Heights hadn't have kept me up all night, the party across the street surely would've!! LOUD! (I mean really loud!) music blared off and on until 2:45 AM. It kept most of us awake, and hence we are now getting a start to our day at about 10:00. I've always thought that if you're going to have a party that keeps your neighbors awake, the least you can to is invite them :)
Hope you are all well, and enjoying life to the fullest. Typical day or not, there' always Someone there with you to give you that gift of a "full life".
The REAL Mrs. Tiggy Winkle
Monday, October 20, 2008
What makes summer so nice here? Well, there has to be SOMETHING! As fall sets in (okay, really for here it's almost winter!) I like to look back, and think of my favorite things about summer. We had lots of campfires along the water (with marshmallows), went stargazing with the telescope a few times, enjoyed fresh chard and grapes from the garden, went to the village several times and drank fresh milk, and ran across these cuddly little friends right in our own yard.
As we were clearing out the weeds one day, we undercovered Mama and her 3 little ones hudddled together. We stopped out work, took some shots, then let them to be hoping they'd move on. Sure enough, by morning they were gone, but we have such nice memories of the REAL Mrs. Tiggy-winkle visiting us this summer. Who knows maybe my new hankies will turn up yet...
Getting Ready for Vacation
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2008
Getting ready for vacation
Getting ready for vacation...there's too much to do- most should have been started weeks ago! Before I could even pack, we had to find the winter clothes out of the storage shed. Then of course, it is discovered that most of those clothes didn't fit. Hmmm... what to do now. Off the bazaar we go in search of sweaters and socks. We did laundry 3 days ago in anticipation of this trip. Is it dry yet, you ask? Of course not! Well, it might have been had we heard the rain in time last night. Alas, it is too late now. We brought it in the house, and now, not only is the laundry not dry, the house is a complete sauna.
Does it happen to you too?? 2 days ago, one kid got sick, then another and now another. This seems to be the consistent story with our travels. Sore throats, sniffles and mild fevers abound, and I think we may watch it get worse before it gets better.
The place we are going provides 3 meals a day, but the food will be quite bland, so we are sure to bring homemade cookies, our own jam, soft drinks (we get awfully tired of tea 3 meals a day), chips, coffee (of course!) and other luxuries. We are praying that they have the heat on, but planning on it being cold, so in go the slippers, mittens and other necessities for sleeping. This place is set in the midst of a prolific apple orchard and we look forward to gathering as many apples as we can to bring home for holiday apple pies. Mmmmm!
The Away One will be meeting us for the week, and we are soooo looking forward to seeing him! We need fresh competition for our games of Settlers, are dying to find out about how classes are going, and how he is settling in at his new home. He asked us to bring his blanket, so he must be chilly.
I'll post some pictures of our adventure in a week or so when we return. Until then stay healthy!
Does it happen to you too?? 2 days ago, one kid got sick, then another and now another. This seems to be the consistent story with our travels. Sore throats, sniffles and mild fevers abound, and I think we may watch it get worse before it gets better.
The place we are going provides 3 meals a day, but the food will be quite bland, so we are sure to bring homemade cookies, our own jam, soft drinks (we get awfully tired of tea 3 meals a day), chips, coffee (of course!) and other luxuries. We are praying that they have the heat on, but planning on it being cold, so in go the slippers, mittens and other necessities for sleeping. This place is set in the midst of a prolific apple orchard and we look forward to gathering as many apples as we can to bring home for holiday apple pies. Mmmmm!
The Away One will be meeting us for the week, and we are soooo looking forward to seeing him! We need fresh competition for our games of Settlers, are dying to find out about how classes are going, and how he is settling in at his new home. He asked us to bring his blanket, so he must be chilly.
I'll post some pictures of our adventure in a week or so when we return. Until then stay healthy!
An Autumn Getaway
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2008
Hi Everyone! We're back from our weeklong extravaganza of doing very close to nothing! It was relaxing, but bordered on being very, very boring. The Water Guy is very happy staring at the mountains, and walking amongst them, I on the other hand, although I like to take walks, would rather see museums, shop, etc.. We have very different ideas of a great vacation. That said, it was challenging to come up with things to keep occupied with.
Another thing we did was play lots of games of Settlers. What great fun, trying to build the longest trade route, largest army, and most cities. The kids enjoyed reading books, playing game boy etc..., and I found time to work on the recipe book I am working on to send away with the kids as they leave. It's full of recipes that we eat regularly, from Scalloped potatoes to BBQ beef sandwiches. Maybe by the time the last one leaves I'll have it done.
The snow melted quickly, and all was back to grass and trees. I'll leave you with this picture. If you look closely, you can see the colt nursing its mother.
One way I kept busy was to take some strolls around the grounds and find nice photo ops. Here is one I took off of our balcony to start off with.
The colors of fall were in full display. The chestnuts and maples were golden and yellow. And Nariloo had a great time finding the big chestnuts to make a little family. It really was a treat to see trees again. Alas, the apples we thought would be there were not. The orchards are there, but this year, as opposed to all others we've been there, the apples had been harvested, apparently to go to market. I did find one tree that had been left untouched and got a great shot of it.
Another treat we had was SNOW!! on the second day! Hooray! We had lots of snowball fights, tried to catch flakes on our tongues, and made a cute little snowman, which promptly got hit by a bus. I don't know why all the kids decided to build him in the middle of the road! But here he is immortalized...
Another thing we did was play lots of games of Settlers. What great fun, trying to build the longest trade route, largest army, and most cities. The kids enjoyed reading books, playing game boy etc..., and I found time to work on the recipe book I am working on to send away with the kids as they leave. It's full of recipes that we eat regularly, from Scalloped potatoes to BBQ beef sandwiches. Maybe by the time the last one leaves I'll have it done.
Sleeping in was something we really could not do, as they serve breakfast promptly at 8:00. The regime is quite sterile, and the variety of food nil. Cream of wheat, bread and butter for breakfast, broth with chunks of potato for lunch, and chunks of meat with mashed potatoes or buckwheat for dinner, EVERYDAY! Don't get me wrong, the food is okay, but after eating cabbage or beet salad everyday, for 8 days, makes you not really crave that food again for a very long time!
Here are a few more nice shots that I ended up with. Enjoy!
These are very efficient horse whips, and the folk of this land use them very adeptly.
The picture above, if you look closely, is the same one as the first photo, but on our second day there. Same balcony, same time of day. What a constrast!
The picture above, if you look closely, is the same one as the first photo, but on our second day there. Same balcony, same time of day. What a constrast!The snow melted quickly, and all was back to grass and trees. I'll leave you with this picture. If you look closely, you can see the colt nursing its mother.
Water Woes
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2008
HOORAY! The water just came on! For 2 days we've had to only flush yellow, wash dishes once a day, with extra care, and the worst, yes, the very worst, I've had to miss my nightly de-stressing hot bath. Tonight, I have big plans to have a nice, hot bath with some bubble bath I've been saving for such a time as this :)
That's the good news. The bad news is that the washing machine is completely out of commission until a part arrives from the US. That could be anywhere from 2-6 weeks. Yikes! The water guy has tried and tried, but to no avail. More hand wash....
The weather is now cold- cold enough that the laundry gets tidy little icicles hanging from it as it dries. I'll try to get a picture of that posted very soon. It's really quite a crack up. We can always tell how the lauderer has done his or her job, but the length of the icicles. It's a very objective measurement of how well the clothes have been wrung.
Today the kids and I started to make our ornaments for our Jesse Tree. If you've never seen the Jesse Tree idea- just give it a Google. It's a wonderful way to bring a little more meaning into the holiday.
It's settled- Dubai for our area conference. We are looking forward to seeing somewhere new, and are definitely looking forward to Wild Wadi World. Apparently it's the largest water park in the world! Mostly, though, we are looking forward to having a break out of Central Asia with a variety of food options, shopping, beaches, pools and fellowship with other English speakers.
Well, that's the news today. Hope you are well, and enjoying your running water, washing machine, and icicle-free clothes.
That's the good news. The bad news is that the washing machine is completely out of commission until a part arrives from the US. That could be anywhere from 2-6 weeks. Yikes! The water guy has tried and tried, but to no avail. More hand wash....
The weather is now cold- cold enough that the laundry gets tidy little icicles hanging from it as it dries. I'll try to get a picture of that posted very soon. It's really quite a crack up. We can always tell how the lauderer has done his or her job, but the length of the icicles. It's a very objective measurement of how well the clothes have been wrung.
Today the kids and I started to make our ornaments for our Jesse Tree. If you've never seen the Jesse Tree idea- just give it a Google. It's a wonderful way to bring a little more meaning into the holiday.
It's settled- Dubai for our area conference. We are looking forward to seeing somewhere new, and are definitely looking forward to Wild Wadi World. Apparently it's the largest water park in the world! Mostly, though, we are looking forward to having a break out of Central Asia with a variety of food options, shopping, beaches, pools and fellowship with other English speakers.
Well, that's the news today. Hope you are well, and enjoying your running water, washing machine, and icicle-free clothes.
You Know You Live in Central Asia When...
You know you live in Central Asia when... (using personal experiences from the not too distant past)
1) you must break up chocolate bars to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
2) there is nothing worth shopping for in the bazaar, so instead you do all of your Christmas shopping online- and pray that, everything you order arrives, AND that you can find a courier willing to haul it all over for you.
3) your propane gas tank runs out of gas halfway through cooking a meal EVERY TIME guests are coming over.
4) the neighbors walk in at any time without warning to tell you that your invited to their house for a party in a couple of hours.
5) you are accused of not wearing your seatbelt (without the guy really even seeing you), and then threatened to be taken to jail for not paying a "fee".
6) warm, fried bread is delivered to your door by neighbors every Thursday afteroon- cooked to appease the spirits of dead relatives.
7) fresh herbs like dill, parsley, cilantro, and basil are are merely pennies for a bunch.
8) the up and coming influx of foreign workers are Chinese.
9) the wind doesn't blow, you are choked with coal smoke, and all your laundry reeks of it.
10) birds come in 3 varieties: crows/ravens, sparrows, pigeons.
Such is life, here where we live. Glad to share a little piece of it with you!
I'll leave you with some wildflower shots The Water Guy took last spring.
This display of beauty lasts about 2 weeks on the steppe. It's great adventure to seek these treasures out each year!
Tea Parties and Birthday Cherry Pie
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2008
Cherry pie for a birthday??!! You bet! The Water Guy loved his pie, although it did end up having quite a freezer taste to it. I should have put the cherries from last spring into Ziplocks, but those are so few and precious! Ah well... it was a nice break from our usual apples, mandarin oranges, and persimmons we eat all winter long.
NariLoo has been hosting some wonderful tea parties lately. All of her "friends" enjoy her special cakes and tea, and there's always plenty to go around. It just doesn't get any cuter than that!
The girls and I spent a chilly time working on the grape vines that all must come down before too much longer. We enlisted the help of a neighbor today, and he will finish the job of getting them off the treliss and buried over the next few days. It is HARD work and cold to boot.
Meantime, we will have a friend visiting from the big city over the next couple of days, so we will be busy hosting. This friend has never been this far into our country, and we are sure he will enjoy the authentic culture and flavors of this territory.
The Away One enjoyed his first DANCE!!!!! last Saturday night! He says he actually danced and even enjoyed it. We are dumbfounded! When I get my hands on the photo CD, I'll post a couple. He says his class has 100% participation for all of the spirit days, and he is looking forward to crazy hair day. He also says that he promises to get his hair cut afterwards :)
Have great day everyone!
Steppe Sister
NariLoo has been hosting some wonderful tea parties lately. All of her "friends" enjoy her special cakes and tea, and there's always plenty to go around. It just doesn't get any cuter than that!
The girls and I spent a chilly time working on the grape vines that all must come down before too much longer. We enlisted the help of a neighbor today, and he will finish the job of getting them off the treliss and buried over the next few days. It is HARD work and cold to boot.
Meantime, we will have a friend visiting from the big city over the next couple of days, so we will be busy hosting. This friend has never been this far into our country, and we are sure he will enjoy the authentic culture and flavors of this territory.
The Away One enjoyed his first DANCE!!!!! last Saturday night! He says he actually danced and even enjoyed it. We are dumbfounded! When I get my hands on the photo CD, I'll post a couple. He says his class has 100% participation for all of the spirit days, and he is looking forward to crazy hair day. He also says that he promises to get his hair cut afterwards :)
Have great day everyone!
Steppe Sister
Freeze dried Laundry
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2008
Sorry it's been a spell since last posting! We had a guest stay for most of last week, and Mondays are always full playing catch up. We have a family policy to not turn on the 'puter on Sundays, so that day was out too. So, finally, Monday late afternoon, I can finally get something up :)
Thanksgiving will be a very small affair this year. Only our own family, minus The Away One. Very large bummer. I just can't get used to the idea of cooking such a large meal for only 6 people- half of whom eat so little. Nevertheless, we will enjoy the 2 cans of cranberry sauce we had our guest bring us from the big city, and I will make the stuffing bread cubes today from the 2 loaves of bread. We can get celery now, so that's a very large bonus! Did I tell you my househelper also found sweet potatoes a couple of weeks ago, and the seller told her they'd have a new shipment in on Thursday. Hurray!
Well, that's all for now! Enjoy your preparations for family and fun!
Much love,
Your SteppeSister
Our visitor brought us lots of words of encouragement and plenty of laughs and fellowship. This is always so nice ! We even had time to play a game of Settlers, and the kids enjoyed a game of Risk with him. Nice!
Bought our tickets to Dubai today! What a smokin' deal at $425 per adult (1/2 that for kids)! Too bad it's soooo expensive to stay there. But, hey, you take what you can get. It will be a nice break for us all, and we are looking forward to the warm beaches and ethnic restaurants.
Mike wanted to get away to Thailand this January, but it just isn't going to work out. We have no one to watch the kids, so we will have to wait on that. He really wanted to take in a hydrogeology conference, as he has not had any continuing ed. in his field since we left almost 8 years ago. That, and my bone density scan, will now have to wait until at least June, when we think about it again. The good thing about waiting to see if Thailand will work out, is that it will be our 20th anniversary and the prices will be less than half of what they are in January; the downside is that it will be HOT season!
Here is that pic. I wanted to post of the icicles on our laundry- too funny! By the way, that part has STILL not arrived. More handwashing :(
Thanksgiving will be a very small affair this year. Only our own family, minus The Away One. Very large bummer. I just can't get used to the idea of cooking such a large meal for only 6 people- half of whom eat so little. Nevertheless, we will enjoy the 2 cans of cranberry sauce we had our guest bring us from the big city, and I will make the stuffing bread cubes today from the 2 loaves of bread. We can get celery now, so that's a very large bonus! Did I tell you my househelper also found sweet potatoes a couple of weeks ago, and the seller told her they'd have a new shipment in on Thursday. Hurray!
Well, that's all for now! Enjoy your preparations for family and fun!
Much love,
Your SteppeSister
The Holidays Have Arrived
Posted November 30, 2008
Thanksgiving, come and gone! It is very anti-climactic to cook a huge dinner only to have just us, I think. I think my parents and sisters would agree that holidays are meant for friends and family- in the extended sense. Yes, our Thanksgiving was nice, just not "merry" as one might say. Our dinner was yummy, but the holidays are so much more that just about food.
Saturday we met all 5 Peace Corps workers in our area at a get together. You'll be happy to know that you hard-earned tax dollars are hard at work buying HUGE amount of beer, and that they are doing all they can to represent Americans as fun-loving drunks devoted to all things comsumer. On Thursday, 2 of them and myselft hosted (along with our national friend running the lang. center) an English lesson/dinner all about Thanksgiving. Whereas my part of the lesson focused on being thankful for our blessings and the history of the holiday including the part that the immigrants were looking for a place to worship as they saw fit, the other workers made sure that everyone learned about Black Friday, the Macy's Day parade, and ( I swear this is true!) how one of their family's traditions is to have an eating contest to see who could eat the most. I was truly saddened and angry that my country was being represented this way! What a shame!
On a happy note, the washing machine part has arrived and The Water Guy will likely have time tomorrow to put it in and try it out. Yippee!! He has also decided for certain that he will go to Bangkok for a geologist's conference this Jan. We are hoping that Thailand can get their act together in time to open the airport for his travel. I feel sorry for the people stuck there!! (and a little jealous too!- tee hee)
I wish I had some new pictures for you, but sadly we are very lame in that department! I'll try harder to have some things for you to look at soon.
We have a guest coming in Friday, and I'll try to post one more time before she comes. I will be away from Monday until the following Friday, so posts may be sparse in the coming days. I apologize.
One more thing, if you can think about it... Macaroni needs a new passport before our trip to Dubai in March! The only trip we had planned is mine next week, so even though it still has until June left on it, we need to take care of it now. Bad news is that if both parents don't come in for document submittal and affidavit must be signed/ notarized. Here that means a lengthy translation project, extra time, stress and now money (since Macaroni must now travel with me to the big city). Ugh!!! I guess red tape exists everywhere; you can't escape it!!
Unti next time,
Your SteppeSister
Thanksgiving, come and gone! It is very anti-climactic to cook a huge dinner only to have just us, I think. I think my parents and sisters would agree that holidays are meant for friends and family- in the extended sense. Yes, our Thanksgiving was nice, just not "merry" as one might say. Our dinner was yummy, but the holidays are so much more that just about food.
Saturday we met all 5 Peace Corps workers in our area at a get together. You'll be happy to know that you hard-earned tax dollars are hard at work buying HUGE amount of beer, and that they are doing all they can to represent Americans as fun-loving drunks devoted to all things comsumer. On Thursday, 2 of them and myselft hosted (along with our national friend running the lang. center) an English lesson/dinner all about Thanksgiving. Whereas my part of the lesson focused on being thankful for our blessings and the history of the holiday including the part that the immigrants were looking for a place to worship as they saw fit, the other workers made sure that everyone learned about Black Friday, the Macy's Day parade, and ( I swear this is true!) how one of their family's traditions is to have an eating contest to see who could eat the most. I was truly saddened and angry that my country was being represented this way! What a shame!
On a happy note, the washing machine part has arrived and The Water Guy will likely have time tomorrow to put it in and try it out. Yippee!! He has also decided for certain that he will go to Bangkok for a geologist's conference this Jan. We are hoping that Thailand can get their act together in time to open the airport for his travel. I feel sorry for the people stuck there!! (and a little jealous too!- tee hee)
I wish I had some new pictures for you, but sadly we are very lame in that department! I'll try harder to have some things for you to look at soon.
We have a guest coming in Friday, and I'll try to post one more time before she comes. I will be away from Monday until the following Friday, so posts may be sparse in the coming days. I apologize.
One more thing, if you can think about it... Macaroni needs a new passport before our trip to Dubai in March! The only trip we had planned is mine next week, so even though it still has until June left on it, we need to take care of it now. Bad news is that if both parents don't come in for document submittal and affidavit must be signed/ notarized. Here that means a lengthy translation project, extra time, stress and now money (since Macaroni must now travel with me to the big city). Ugh!!! I guess red tape exists everywhere; you can't escape it!!
Unti next time,
Your SteppeSister
More Guests
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008
Last week, and the upcoming one, have been/are very typical. A wave of not much to do (aside from the tedium of everyday normal stuff, followed by a time of overload! Beginning in about an hour, I will have non-stop stuff to do starting with a new family here to adopt for lunch. No, I'm not going to eat them, I will SERVE them lunch. After that, in the afternoon, I want to paint a wall that really needs it badly! When we were back in the States last time, my househelper had a friend over, and her guest's toddler peeled off large sheets of the wallpaper!
Then, I must get the guestroom ready for our next guest coming- a single gal coming to look at teams here in our country. She'll be with us for 3 days. No, we don't have a guest room, the 2 youngest get kicked out of their room, and will sleep on the floor. They love it because to them it will be a sleepover-style party.
The gas line is being laid today in front of our house! The second phase, that is. We are really praying hard that they don't dig up our water, sewer or phone lines in the process. We joke around here about the day being a 5-Star day when everything is on and working. (That would be phone, cooking propane, electricity, water and internet) With the digging, it could quickly turn into a 2-Star day. We have some filled up buckets just in case!
Well, this will be it until the week after next. I'll be gone to the capitol city all next week for a conference. Until then, Every Blessing!
Your SteppeSister
Then, I must get the guestroom ready for our next guest coming- a single gal coming to look at teams here in our country. She'll be with us for 3 days. No, we don't have a guest room, the 2 youngest get kicked out of their room, and will sleep on the floor. They love it because to them it will be a sleepover-style party.
The gas line is being laid today in front of our house! The second phase, that is. We are really praying hard that they don't dig up our water, sewer or phone lines in the process. We joke around here about the day being a 5-Star day when everything is on and working. (That would be phone, cooking propane, electricity, water and internet) With the digging, it could quickly turn into a 2-Star day. We have some filled up buckets just in case!
Well, this will be it until the week after next. I'll be gone to the capitol city all next week for a conference. Until then, Every Blessing!
Your SteppeSister
Ongoing, but normal CRAP
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2008
I know, I know, "Where've you been!!!???" You're all asking!! I do have a good explanation- let me begin!
When last posted I was on my way to the airport to pick up our guest- that was Friday the 5th. Wow! that seems like forever ago! Well, our airport here is about 50 square feet. There is no way to miss someone who is supposed to arrive. And sure enough, SHE DID NOT ARRIVE! After MUCH calling to airlines, worrying, calling to our home office in Orlando, and praying, we found out that Allison had been deported at the capital city. Somehow, the person in charge of her logistics had forgotten or had gotten misinformation about getting a visa or Letter of Invitation for her. So, I spent the next full dayand night! on the phone trying to get her out of Frankfurt airport into a place that she could rest and be cared for. Our crisis team ended up getting her to a friend's (our friend) place in Amsterdam where she spent the next 4 days. Rearranging flights, (all 6 of them!), working on getting an LOI, making sure she was not in meltdown mode, etc.... was my and 2 other peoples' jobs for the next 4 days. Ugh!!!
On Monday, right in the middle of all that, Macaroni and I had to fly out to the capital to attend a meeting and to work on getting his new passport. That went okay, until I got to the window and they told me we needed to have an original birth certificate for him. Oh brother! More phone calls... The Water Guy's Parents had to send one priority mail, and HOPEFULLY we will get that by the 29th. That's when the Water Guy will fly out to Bangkok for a water resources management conference. So..... IF we have the birth certificate by then, he can swing up to the consulate, present the paper, and pick up the passport. IF NOT, it will mean an extra trip to the big city for someone.
Let's see... we returned on the 12th, this time WITH Allison. Hooray, she finally made it into our country and albeit exhausted, after travelling from the States, to Frankfurt, to our country, back to Frankfurt, then to Amsterdam, then to Turkey, then to our country again! she is ready to see what living here could be like. She was able to meet lots of local friends, go to a house fellowship, see the leprosy hospital- and indeed, this was the first time The Water Guy was actually allowed into the hospital as well, and meet with a pastor who runs a rehab center! We packed a lot in for her, but she said it was all very worth it!
Allison took off on the 16th from our city, and is now in a city up north visiting there. I'm sure they will keep her busy too.
Then, we had a little excitement concerning The Water Guy!! What a story to add to our repetiore! The 2 of us went out for dinner, as we hadn't really had any time together since the 8th. Occasionally The Water Guy orders a beer to go with our grilled meat. As we left the cafe', he made a lefthand turn, but apparently too close in front of a police car. Trust me, there was loads of room! They love to pull you over here for anything, and often times nothing. "Facilitation fees" are still very normal here, and they try to get them anytime they can! Well, as The Water Guy was trying to negotiate this, they smelled the beer. What we didn't know, (and most of our colleagues didn't either) is that our country has a zero tolerance policy of this. Folks, it doesn't get much more ironic than this!!! EVERY country in Central Asia has a reputation for about 80% alcoholism rates, so it is pretty funny that the one person here who can have one beer and enjoy it responsibly gets nailed. We see scores of guys come out of cafes DAILY after drinking 5 beers and get into cars! We are still wondering what happens to them. Anyway, on with the story... They hauled him in to the center, where they wanted to do a blood test. But legally, they must provide a translator to do that process. AHHH... too bad, they couldn't find one- tough draw for them! Great for us :) They finally admitted defeat and sent him home- vowing never to do that again. Instead, we will enjoy our occasional glass of wine at home, but it's just not as romantic with all the kids and the "homey" ambience.
So, that's been our excitement over the last couple of weeks. Most of it (except for hosting a potential teammate) I'd never want to go through again!!! But God is good, and His watch-care is perfect, even in the tough stuff.
Hope you all are enjoying the winter weather- we hear it's quite cold and white in a lot of places!
Your SteppeSister
When last posted I was on my way to the airport to pick up our guest- that was Friday the 5th. Wow! that seems like forever ago! Well, our airport here is about 50 square feet. There is no way to miss someone who is supposed to arrive. And sure enough, SHE DID NOT ARRIVE! After MUCH calling to airlines, worrying, calling to our home office in Orlando, and praying, we found out that Allison had been deported at the capital city. Somehow, the person in charge of her logistics had forgotten or had gotten misinformation about getting a visa or Letter of Invitation for her. So, I spent the next full dayand night! on the phone trying to get her out of Frankfurt airport into a place that she could rest and be cared for. Our crisis team ended up getting her to a friend's (our friend) place in Amsterdam where she spent the next 4 days. Rearranging flights, (all 6 of them!), working on getting an LOI, making sure she was not in meltdown mode, etc.... was my and 2 other peoples' jobs for the next 4 days. Ugh!!!
On Monday, right in the middle of all that, Macaroni and I had to fly out to the capital to attend a meeting and to work on getting his new passport. That went okay, until I got to the window and they told me we needed to have an original birth certificate for him. Oh brother! More phone calls... The Water Guy's Parents had to send one priority mail, and HOPEFULLY we will get that by the 29th. That's when the Water Guy will fly out to Bangkok for a water resources management conference. So..... IF we have the birth certificate by then, he can swing up to the consulate, present the paper, and pick up the passport. IF NOT, it will mean an extra trip to the big city for someone.
Let's see... we returned on the 12th, this time WITH Allison. Hooray, she finally made it into our country and albeit exhausted, after travelling from the States, to Frankfurt, to our country, back to Frankfurt, then to Amsterdam, then to Turkey, then to our country again! she is ready to see what living here could be like. She was able to meet lots of local friends, go to a house fellowship, see the leprosy hospital- and indeed, this was the first time The Water Guy was actually allowed into the hospital as well, and meet with a pastor who runs a rehab center! We packed a lot in for her, but she said it was all very worth it!
Allison took off on the 16th from our city, and is now in a city up north visiting there. I'm sure they will keep her busy too.
Then, we had a little excitement concerning The Water Guy!! What a story to add to our repetiore! The 2 of us went out for dinner, as we hadn't really had any time together since the 8th. Occasionally The Water Guy orders a beer to go with our grilled meat. As we left the cafe', he made a lefthand turn, but apparently too close in front of a police car. Trust me, there was loads of room! They love to pull you over here for anything, and often times nothing. "Facilitation fees" are still very normal here, and they try to get them anytime they can! Well, as The Water Guy was trying to negotiate this, they smelled the beer. What we didn't know, (and most of our colleagues didn't either) is that our country has a zero tolerance policy of this. Folks, it doesn't get much more ironic than this!!! EVERY country in Central Asia has a reputation for about 80% alcoholism rates, so it is pretty funny that the one person here who can have one beer and enjoy it responsibly gets nailed. We see scores of guys come out of cafes DAILY after drinking 5 beers and get into cars! We are still wondering what happens to them. Anyway, on with the story... They hauled him in to the center, where they wanted to do a blood test. But legally, they must provide a translator to do that process. AHHH... too bad, they couldn't find one- tough draw for them! Great for us :) They finally admitted defeat and sent him home- vowing never to do that again. Instead, we will enjoy our occasional glass of wine at home, but it's just not as romantic with all the kids and the "homey" ambience.
So, that's been our excitement over the last couple of weeks. Most of it (except for hosting a potential teammate) I'd never want to go through again!!! But God is good, and His watch-care is perfect, even in the tough stuff.
Hope you all are enjoying the winter weather- we hear it's quite cold and white in a lot of places!
Your SteppeSister
What I See From my Window Today
Written on Dec. 28, 2008
Have you ever seen it snowing when there's a bright blue sky?? Today, and for the last several days, it has been a sparkly, winter wonderland. Very pretty! The air is so cold these days that the moisture is condensing right out of the air! Little sparkly crystals are floating through and dancing through the air, landing on the trees (what few there are) making them sparkly too. By the way, it's -20 C today.
From my couch, I see coal smoke puffing out of the neighbors chimney pipe making a foul odor for all to enjoy. But hey, at least they are warm :) Directly across, I see a huge new home our neighbors are building, but it's only half finished. It got too cold for the migrant workers to continue, so they will resume next spring. I fear they are now in debt up to their eyeballs, and hard times may come for them.
I see lots of folks out on foot all bundled up with fur (YES! we actually DO wear real fur here). Fur is very warm and practical, and no one seems to have a problem with it here. Sorry for all you animal lovers. They are probably going to work, which is still very odd to us, being Christmas Eve.
Let's see, I also see that the road is finally repaired correctly. For years the water dept. tried to fix the pipe that seeped water with a whittled stick!! (gasp) stuck into the hole. It was constantly a mud hole that resembled something on the African savannah for zebras and such. Last week, after the ice finally got so bad our street became a one-lane nightmare, they brought out a welder, and fixed it right. We'll see how long the repair job holds...
I see the cars racing by, nice shiny new ones (well it's all relative) instead of the old Soviet makes such as Volga, Niva, and Zhigoly. Now we are seeing Toyota Landcruisers, Mercedes, Audis, etc... We once asked someone by which route they were coming. Some come from Germany by truck, others are coming from Dubai, via the Caspian and Iran. I also see trucks of coal, bricks and other forms of cargo going by.
Well, there you have it, and glimpse from my window.
Merry Christmas, Everyone,
Your SteppeSister
Have you ever seen it snowing when there's a bright blue sky?? Today, and for the last several days, it has been a sparkly, winter wonderland. Very pretty! The air is so cold these days that the moisture is condensing right out of the air! Little sparkly crystals are floating through and dancing through the air, landing on the trees (what few there are) making them sparkly too. By the way, it's -20 C today.
From my couch, I see coal smoke puffing out of the neighbors chimney pipe making a foul odor for all to enjoy. But hey, at least they are warm :) Directly across, I see a huge new home our neighbors are building, but it's only half finished. It got too cold for the migrant workers to continue, so they will resume next spring. I fear they are now in debt up to their eyeballs, and hard times may come for them.
I see lots of folks out on foot all bundled up with fur (YES! we actually DO wear real fur here). Fur is very warm and practical, and no one seems to have a problem with it here. Sorry for all you animal lovers. They are probably going to work, which is still very odd to us, being Christmas Eve.
Let's see, I also see that the road is finally repaired correctly. For years the water dept. tried to fix the pipe that seeped water with a whittled stick!! (gasp) stuck into the hole. It was constantly a mud hole that resembled something on the African savannah for zebras and such. Last week, after the ice finally got so bad our street became a one-lane nightmare, they brought out a welder, and fixed it right. We'll see how long the repair job holds...
I see the cars racing by, nice shiny new ones (well it's all relative) instead of the old Soviet makes such as Volga, Niva, and Zhigoly. Now we are seeing Toyota Landcruisers, Mercedes, Audis, etc... We once asked someone by which route they were coming. Some come from Germany by truck, others are coming from Dubai, via the Caspian and Iran. I also see trucks of coal, bricks and other forms of cargo going by.
Well, there you have it, and glimpse from my window.
Merry Christmas, Everyone,
Your SteppeSister
Amazing Grace- by "Roo"
The following was written by my daughter the other day. I thought it was such a great piece of writing, I thought I'd treat you all to it!! GREAT job, Bek!!
Since sand was used for diluting the cement that all the buildings were made from,the mountains of sand were a cliche during the summer. It seemed like there was one dumped on each corner once every week or so. The day that I was stung by a scorpion, or a 'shayan' in Kazakh, is just as vivid in my mind now as it was then. I remember my big brother, Andrew, coming up to me and asking if I wanted to go outside and play in the sand pile, or 'khom'. I ran across the vomitous linoleum kitchen floor that always looked like a giant had used it for the disgusting taks of blowing his nose. I grabbed my cheap-o red and white Chinese-made 'topchkee' (summertime sandals), the kind that always broke in a month, and slipped them on my feet. We told our Kazakh housekeeper where we were going, and asked her to make sure the door locked behind us. Since petty thievery was such a troublesome issue, locked doors were the norm in every household.
We stepped out into our dingy, dank stairwell and started to run down the murderously crooked steps. The smells got more intense as we went down... down closer to the basement door and the sewage piping for the entire apartment building, neither of which were sealed at all. Rats, cats and other various forms of scummy life lived and died down there. Getting a whiff of decaying flesh was never appetizing whatsoever. We got out of the stairwell as fast as we could and stepped outside. Summer was in full swing, and it was a sizzling one hundred and ten degrees that hit us like a belly flop from off the high dive when we stepped outside- not the perfect eighty like at home. I remember how it felt as the thirsty air drank up whatever liquid was in our lungs and bodies, leaving us bony raisins in a desert. We marched around the apartment structure, ignoring the shockingly vile remarks the local kids shouted at us as we scurried past. Eager to start playing, we rounded the corner, hurrying as children do. We had this beautiful master plan to construct an impressive (at least it was impressive in our little minds) labyrinth of tunnels through the sand. They would be just big enough to push a matchbox through.
We never tired of digging around like moles in the massive mounds of sand. The two of us jumped into the sand dumped there the previous day, turning deaf ears to the annoying protests of the builders who would have to shovel it back into a pile when we were done. They despised it when kids like us came and played in their sand, spreading it out until it looked like dessert on a toddler's face. After about fifteen minutes of digging around and getting grubby, my tunnel was just about done. I reached towards the little tunnel entrance to dig out the last bit of sand that separated mine from Andrew's, but before my dusty hand reached the tunnel, I felt something sort of "stick it". "Oh brother", I thoguht, "Another nasty thorn in the sand." I reached down to pick it out and throw it somewhere out of my sight, but a thorny vine wasn't what I saw. What I did see made the blood drain out of my face; I saw the underside and tail of a scorpion exposed where my hand had brushed the sand.
It was already hurting, throbbing and turning red. I jumped up and told Andrew, and he told me to run and tell Dad as fast as I could. I turned and ran back to the apartment, and was in such a hurry I forgot my shoes. Trying to run and not hurt a scorpion sting at the same time is harder than trying to get a camel (which we have plenty of roaming wild on the steppe) through the eye of a needle. Step-ow-step-ow-step-ow, all the way back to the apartment. The reaction I got from my parents was essentially the same as a bomb squad's would have been to an emergency call. My dad ran for the medical bucket where the snake venom suction device was kept. By now, looking at the side of my thumb was like looking at a bad pimple though a microscope. It was so nasty and ugly it was enthralling. My dad put the cracked yellow venom sucker on the side of my thumb and got it sucking. The suction on the sting made it turn from red to putrid purple. After about fifteen eternal minutes, Dad took the yellow sucker off and put ice on it. I can remember sort of falling asleep; I must have been tired out by all the hovering around me Mom and Dad did. When you know it takes an ambulance up to two hours to get anywhere after receiving a call, the local medical care isn't much of an option when you're in the mood to live. It was truly a miracle of Grace that I survived that day!
Since sand was used for diluting the cement that all the buildings were made from,the mountains of sand were a cliche during the summer. It seemed like there was one dumped on each corner once every week or so. The day that I was stung by a scorpion, or a 'shayan' in Kazakh, is just as vivid in my mind now as it was then. I remember my big brother, Andrew, coming up to me and asking if I wanted to go outside and play in the sand pile, or 'khom'. I ran across the vomitous linoleum kitchen floor that always looked like a giant had used it for the disgusting taks of blowing his nose. I grabbed my cheap-o red and white Chinese-made 'topchkee' (summertime sandals), the kind that always broke in a month, and slipped them on my feet. We told our Kazakh housekeeper where we were going, and asked her to make sure the door locked behind us. Since petty thievery was such a troublesome issue, locked doors were the norm in every household.
We stepped out into our dingy, dank stairwell and started to run down the murderously crooked steps. The smells got more intense as we went down... down closer to the basement door and the sewage piping for the entire apartment building, neither of which were sealed at all. Rats, cats and other various forms of scummy life lived and died down there. Getting a whiff of decaying flesh was never appetizing whatsoever. We got out of the stairwell as fast as we could and stepped outside. Summer was in full swing, and it was a sizzling one hundred and ten degrees that hit us like a belly flop from off the high dive when we stepped outside- not the perfect eighty like at home. I remember how it felt as the thirsty air drank up whatever liquid was in our lungs and bodies, leaving us bony raisins in a desert. We marched around the apartment structure, ignoring the shockingly vile remarks the local kids shouted at us as we scurried past. Eager to start playing, we rounded the corner, hurrying as children do. We had this beautiful master plan to construct an impressive (at least it was impressive in our little minds) labyrinth of tunnels through the sand. They would be just big enough to push a matchbox through.
We never tired of digging around like moles in the massive mounds of sand. The two of us jumped into the sand dumped there the previous day, turning deaf ears to the annoying protests of the builders who would have to shovel it back into a pile when we were done. They despised it when kids like us came and played in their sand, spreading it out until it looked like dessert on a toddler's face. After about fifteen minutes of digging around and getting grubby, my tunnel was just about done. I reached towards the little tunnel entrance to dig out the last bit of sand that separated mine from Andrew's, but before my dusty hand reached the tunnel, I felt something sort of "stick it". "Oh brother", I thoguht, "Another nasty thorn in the sand." I reached down to pick it out and throw it somewhere out of my sight, but a thorny vine wasn't what I saw. What I did see made the blood drain out of my face; I saw the underside and tail of a scorpion exposed where my hand had brushed the sand.
It was already hurting, throbbing and turning red. I jumped up and told Andrew, and he told me to run and tell Dad as fast as I could. I turned and ran back to the apartment, and was in such a hurry I forgot my shoes. Trying to run and not hurt a scorpion sting at the same time is harder than trying to get a camel (which we have plenty of roaming wild on the steppe) through the eye of a needle. Step-ow-step-ow-step-ow, all the way back to the apartment. The reaction I got from my parents was essentially the same as a bomb squad's would have been to an emergency call. My dad ran for the medical bucket where the snake venom suction device was kept. By now, looking at the side of my thumb was like looking at a bad pimple though a microscope. It was so nasty and ugly it was enthralling. My dad put the cracked yellow venom sucker on the side of my thumb and got it sucking. The suction on the sting made it turn from red to putrid purple. After about fifteen eternal minutes, Dad took the yellow sucker off and put ice on it. I can remember sort of falling asleep; I must have been tired out by all the hovering around me Mom and Dad did. When you know it takes an ambulance up to two hours to get anywhere after receiving a call, the local medical care isn't much of an option when you're in the mood to live. It was truly a miracle of Grace that I survived that day!
The Hard Work of Living Overseas- by "Roo"
Ok, so Mom asked me to write her next post; she wants y’all to hear my definition and experience of what I thought was “hard work” while living overseas.
As a child my definition was naturally a little different from an adult’s would be. I was too young and immature to grasp all the reasoning behind the racist (and usually vile) remarks the other children, and sometimes even adults, threw at my siblings and I. I just knew that I wasn’t accepted; because I didn’t speak their language, because I dressed differently, because I was blond. Within the first few months, I’d grown a thicker skin and had learned to ignore such remarks and insults. It got 100 times thicker when I went to school. I made exactly one friend who told me to sit in the far back to avoid getting pranked, which was nice.
Years later, when I was finally ‘big’ (for those of you who don’t know, I’m a whopping 5’1” and 95 lbs.) and stronger, Andrew left for school. So his responsibilities of helping Dad around the house fell mostly to me. Fixing his car in -30* weather is cold to the hands. C-c-can’t h-hold a b-bolt with m-m-mittens. Every year when the heat was turned on, we had to check the hot water pipes that ran through each room to look of leaks. Three was the usual number: two minor and one major. Did you know that all it takes to fix a leaky hot water pipe is ONLY Epoxy if you’re lucky? If you’re UNlucky, it’ll take one cheap shoe, a little bit of an old inner tube, a one tenge coin, one hefty hose clamp, and a couple of rivers of rusty water in the face.
Not all the hard work pertained to fixing things. Some of it resulted from things that just would not fix. Toilets for example. Not cool when they don’t fix fast. Or how about Washing Machines?! I bet you take yours for granted. I’d even bet yours works 98% of the time too, and if it does break it can be fixed in a few days. 7 people make a lot of laundry that needs doing by hand. And perish the thought of a dryer. I didn’t even know how to use one till a year ago, that’s how absolutely absent they were. Vacuum cleaners are in the same category as washing machines. We didn’t have one that worked till two or so years before our time was up. The heavy rugs had to be rolled up and carted outside to where they were beaten with sticks or a rug beater. They were heavy and showered a cascade of dirt and sand in your face when you hung them up.
Some of the hardest work in a dessert is sleeping. Yes, even SLEEPING is hard. In the summer the house kindly cools down to 95*, and then it stays at 95* (again, IF you’re lucky) till 2am, and if you don’t wanna wake up as a raisin, you’d better be covered with at least a sheet to keep the ‘skeeters away (we didn’t usually have bug spray or nets). The house was so well insulated that it didn’t cool down like the outside did. It wasn’t unusual to go camping in the summer and wake up to a frost, so who wants to sleep outside? If it wasn’t hot, then the wild dogs came out in their usual packs and made the usual nightly noises. Sometimes there would be so many running past our house that in the morning we’d go outside and look in the dust around our property and see nothing in it except pooch prints.
The worst of the worst was none of the above mentioned. Not by a long shot. It was a combination of the heat, the nasty smells (which I didn’t mention), the fixing thingamajigs, and the toilet. Yeah, the septic line got clogged. Lovely right? Not only did it get clogged, but it also got clogged for the second time! Only I don’t really remember the first time, I was just a little too busy with a body that was recovering from a 30 hour travel period, (full of pain stemming from a triple whammy of strep throat, a sinus infection, and ear infections – NEVER fly with ear infections.), and a throat that was clogging up in a more alarming way over some meds for an allergic reaction to a vaccine. So I was mercifully excused from the first sewage spree. The second time, however, happened on a blistering hot day, and I was unmercifully un-sick. We dug up the pipe, took a look, and pulled out our tools, which were:
• A water pump that belonged to Dad’s NGO
• Two Rubbermaid tubs that were full of water
• A half flat basketball
• Some plastic bags
• Cement mix
• Anti-sissy-ness
These tools were for:
• Pushing the clog out, if possible.
• For the pump propel into the persnickety pipe (these tubs needed to be refilled as this went on).
• To shove partway down the toilet and have your littlest sister stand on to prevent back-flow.
• These were mostly unused, but their intended purpose was as a sub for rubber gloves.
• To fix a mega-sized leak before pumping.
• To reach into the pipe and pull out the clog. (For real)
Having insults thrown at you every time you step outside is frustrating. Working outside in constantly extreme weather is wearing. Fixing eternally leaking pipes so you can stay warm gets old outrageously fast. Being unable to sleep for six continuous months out of the year is, well, tiring. Fixing sewage is callously hard work. Have I adequately defined the term “Hard Work” for you?
As a child my definition was naturally a little different from an adult’s would be. I was too young and immature to grasp all the reasoning behind the racist (and usually vile) remarks the other children, and sometimes even adults, threw at my siblings and I. I just knew that I wasn’t accepted; because I didn’t speak their language, because I dressed differently, because I was blond. Within the first few months, I’d grown a thicker skin and had learned to ignore such remarks and insults. It got 100 times thicker when I went to school. I made exactly one friend who told me to sit in the far back to avoid getting pranked, which was nice.
Years later, when I was finally ‘big’ (for those of you who don’t know, I’m a whopping 5’1” and 95 lbs.) and stronger, Andrew left for school. So his responsibilities of helping Dad around the house fell mostly to me. Fixing his car in -30* weather is cold to the hands. C-c-can’t h-hold a b-bolt with m-m-mittens. Every year when the heat was turned on, we had to check the hot water pipes that ran through each room to look of leaks. Three was the usual number: two minor and one major. Did you know that all it takes to fix a leaky hot water pipe is ONLY Epoxy if you’re lucky? If you’re UNlucky, it’ll take one cheap shoe, a little bit of an old inner tube, a one tenge coin, one hefty hose clamp, and a couple of rivers of rusty water in the face.
Not all the hard work pertained to fixing things. Some of it resulted from things that just would not fix. Toilets for example. Not cool when they don’t fix fast. Or how about Washing Machines?! I bet you take yours for granted. I’d even bet yours works 98% of the time too, and if it does break it can be fixed in a few days. 7 people make a lot of laundry that needs doing by hand. And perish the thought of a dryer. I didn’t even know how to use one till a year ago, that’s how absolutely absent they were. Vacuum cleaners are in the same category as washing machines. We didn’t have one that worked till two or so years before our time was up. The heavy rugs had to be rolled up and carted outside to where they were beaten with sticks or a rug beater. They were heavy and showered a cascade of dirt and sand in your face when you hung them up.
Some of the hardest work in a dessert is sleeping. Yes, even SLEEPING is hard. In the summer the house kindly cools down to 95*, and then it stays at 95* (again, IF you’re lucky) till 2am, and if you don’t wanna wake up as a raisin, you’d better be covered with at least a sheet to keep the ‘skeeters away (we didn’t usually have bug spray or nets). The house was so well insulated that it didn’t cool down like the outside did. It wasn’t unusual to go camping in the summer and wake up to a frost, so who wants to sleep outside? If it wasn’t hot, then the wild dogs came out in their usual packs and made the usual nightly noises. Sometimes there would be so many running past our house that in the morning we’d go outside and look in the dust around our property and see nothing in it except pooch prints.
The worst of the worst was none of the above mentioned. Not by a long shot. It was a combination of the heat, the nasty smells (which I didn’t mention), the fixing thingamajigs, and the toilet. Yeah, the septic line got clogged. Lovely right? Not only did it get clogged, but it also got clogged for the second time! Only I don’t really remember the first time, I was just a little too busy with a body that was recovering from a 30 hour travel period, (full of pain stemming from a triple whammy of strep throat, a sinus infection, and ear infections – NEVER fly with ear infections.), and a throat that was clogging up in a more alarming way over some meds for an allergic reaction to a vaccine. So I was mercifully excused from the first sewage spree. The second time, however, happened on a blistering hot day, and I was unmercifully un-sick. We dug up the pipe, took a look, and pulled out our tools, which were:
• A water pump that belonged to Dad’s NGO
• Two Rubbermaid tubs that were full of water
• A half flat basketball
• Some plastic bags
• Cement mix
• Anti-sissy-ness
These tools were for:
• Pushing the clog out, if possible.
• For the pump propel into the persnickety pipe (these tubs needed to be refilled as this went on).
• To shove partway down the toilet and have your littlest sister stand on to prevent back-flow.
• These were mostly unused, but their intended purpose was as a sub for rubber gloves.
• To fix a mega-sized leak before pumping.
• To reach into the pipe and pull out the clog. (For real)
Having insults thrown at you every time you step outside is frustrating. Working outside in constantly extreme weather is wearing. Fixing eternally leaking pipes so you can stay warm gets old outrageously fast. Being unable to sleep for six continuous months out of the year is, well, tiring. Fixing sewage is callously hard work. Have I adequately defined the term “Hard Work” for you?
The Hard Work of Living in a Developing Country- Pt. 3
Our task was to rebuild that house and try to make it a home- a place where we could rest after a day of hard work living overseas. But more often than not, it was just as much hard work making and keeping that house a place of refuge and comfortable to be in.
How so, you may ask…
First of all the plywood side had to be completely torn down and redone from foundation up. When it’s 110 outside, tearing down a house is hard work; filling the shower tank time after time to get cleaned up after 10 hours is even harder yet. The Water Guy had hired a local man to help with this project and he turned out to be a pretty difficult guy to deal with. The constant barrage of requests for pay advances proved to be quite wearing, as did trying to manage this gigantic project without most of his family nearby. If you’ll recall, I had left with the 2 youngest children and temporarily moved to Thailand to deliver our 5th child. So, instead of dealing with dust and no plumbing back in our “home” city, I was dealing with snakes and scorpions in the house, climbing into the backs of small pickup truck taxis 8 months pregnant to get to doctor’s appointments, earthquakes, and the lonliness of a separated family. My friends, that is hard work.
Eventually, about 3 weeks before NariLoo was born, The Water Guy and the 2 oldest joined us in Chiang Mai where we undertook the hard work of figuring out the paper work involved with a “foreign birth”. It involves a lot of running around to various departments getting certificates translated, notarized and signed; birth certificate, a certificate of foreign birth, visa for “overseas”, passport, and several more I’m forgetting. I recall that being even more stressful than the labor and delivery itself. Which was actually a bright spot amongst all else. I would easily choose Thailand again to have a child in.
Meanwhile, the deconstruction went on. As did the spring. The timetable to finish our new home was rather rapidly dwindling; by fall’s end we simply had to be done! Enter “the work crew”. A team of 6 men, not of our host culture, but from a neighboring country, rotated into our home over the next 4 months. At times all 6 would be there; at other times 2 or 3 would be with us. Let me explain what I mean by “with us”. When you hire a construction crew of this sort (basically the only people willing to do this kind of manual labor) you provide EVERYTHING for them. You are expected to feed, clothe, and house them for the duration of the project.
It looked something like this: Eventually, the 2 youngest children and I (one being 2 weeks old) made our way back to our host country where we were met with a camping situation for the rest of the summer. No toilet, no bathtub, no kitchen, and 6 men to daily cook 3 meals a day for. It was 110 degrees out most days, but that was not nearly the most difficult part to endure. One day, the migration police showed up threatening to take all of our workers to jail where they would eventually be deported and never allowed back in the country again. When we hired these precious men (all would be amazing treasures whom our family loved very much) we were faced with an unspeakable moral dilemma of paying a “fine” on their behalf or choosing for them a doomed life with no opportunity of finding work in their own country only a year after revolution had gripped their land. I don’t feel as if I can say what we chose here, but it was hard work making that kind of judgment- it was one that left us physically ill for days, if not weeks.
There would be more illness that summer, in the midst of all. Not an illness borne of stress, but rather one that racked bodies with pain and suffering. But that’s for another chapter on another day...
How so, you may ask…
First of all the plywood side had to be completely torn down and redone from foundation up. When it’s 110 outside, tearing down a house is hard work; filling the shower tank time after time to get cleaned up after 10 hours is even harder yet. The Water Guy had hired a local man to help with this project and he turned out to be a pretty difficult guy to deal with. The constant barrage of requests for pay advances proved to be quite wearing, as did trying to manage this gigantic project without most of his family nearby. If you’ll recall, I had left with the 2 youngest children and temporarily moved to Thailand to deliver our 5th child. So, instead of dealing with dust and no plumbing back in our “home” city, I was dealing with snakes and scorpions in the house, climbing into the backs of small pickup truck taxis 8 months pregnant to get to doctor’s appointments, earthquakes, and the lonliness of a separated family. My friends, that is hard work.
Eventually, about 3 weeks before NariLoo was born, The Water Guy and the 2 oldest joined us in Chiang Mai where we undertook the hard work of figuring out the paper work involved with a “foreign birth”. It involves a lot of running around to various departments getting certificates translated, notarized and signed; birth certificate, a certificate of foreign birth, visa for “overseas”, passport, and several more I’m forgetting. I recall that being even more stressful than the labor and delivery itself. Which was actually a bright spot amongst all else. I would easily choose Thailand again to have a child in.
Meanwhile, the deconstruction went on. As did the spring. The timetable to finish our new home was rather rapidly dwindling; by fall’s end we simply had to be done! Enter “the work crew”. A team of 6 men, not of our host culture, but from a neighboring country, rotated into our home over the next 4 months. At times all 6 would be there; at other times 2 or 3 would be with us. Let me explain what I mean by “with us”. When you hire a construction crew of this sort (basically the only people willing to do this kind of manual labor) you provide EVERYTHING for them. You are expected to feed, clothe, and house them for the duration of the project.
It looked something like this: Eventually, the 2 youngest children and I (one being 2 weeks old) made our way back to our host country where we were met with a camping situation for the rest of the summer. No toilet, no bathtub, no kitchen, and 6 men to daily cook 3 meals a day for. It was 110 degrees out most days, but that was not nearly the most difficult part to endure. One day, the migration police showed up threatening to take all of our workers to jail where they would eventually be deported and never allowed back in the country again. When we hired these precious men (all would be amazing treasures whom our family loved very much) we were faced with an unspeakable moral dilemma of paying a “fine” on their behalf or choosing for them a doomed life with no opportunity of finding work in their own country only a year after revolution had gripped their land. I don’t feel as if I can say what we chose here, but it was hard work making that kind of judgment- it was one that left us physically ill for days, if not weeks.
There would be more illness that summer, in the midst of all. Not an illness borne of stress, but rather one that racked bodies with pain and suffering. But that’s for another chapter on another day...
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