Ants in our pants...

And everything else.  We’ve been drying our clothes outside for more than a year and a half.  Not too big of a deal, expect during raining season as we have to find a spot sheltered from the rain and things just take longer to dry, occasionally leading to a sour smelling towel or shirt.  Other than that, we’ve gotten use to the initial starchy or scratchy feeling of hanged dried clothes.  Since living with a local family in this smaller town, we’ve had to adjust to another aspect of drying clothes outside.  The clothes line is next to the house above over grown plants.  Quite frequently the clothes line is used as a major highway by ants.  So when it is time to take the clothes down they need to be shaken out well.  Even still the ants end up coming inside.  I frequently will place all the clean laundry on our bed to be folded, but this then leads to ants in our bed.  There are enough ants other places it is hard to know if the ants we actually find on our bodies are from our clothes or elsewhere.   In addition to ants in our clothes John has been bitten multiple times while hanging up clothes, this has then led to a very swollen foot and difficult language session after taking Benadryl and fighting drowsiness. 



Caedmon on the way to take down dry clothes.

A couple days after we moved upstairs we were given a broom.  Small wicker brooms are usually used outside to sweep porches, driveways, streets, and even lawns.  At first I was a little confused as to why we where given this broom until it was explained it was for our bed.  Who knew you need a broom for your bed.  It has come in quite handy as we do not have a top sheet or comforter (not that we’d want one in this heat) and our room is not sealed off well from outside.  So our bed needs a frequent sweeping.  Though I still think if our bed truly needs sweeping there are other preventative measures I should take, because it is really that much cleaner if I’ve just swept it with a broom?

our bed broom

Substitute Teacher

Our host is a high school art teacher who recently opened a language center (where John will work).  His heart is for people from his community to understand other cultures to then enhance relationships and development within their own community.  His center currently offers English courses and TOEFL prep courses.  A English conversation class currently meets three time per week.  The majority of the students are nurses or midwives within the community.  Our host invited John to the Thursday class, but John suggested I go instead since I previously worked as a nurse.  I had a language session from 2-4pm on Thursday, then was planning to stay to be a guest at the 4pm English conversation class.  It was never discussed as to what I would be doing during the class, but I assumed at least speaking in English.  Prior to the end of my language session, John called to inform me our host was not coming to the class and I was THE teacher.  5 minutes prior to class our host stopped by to briefly explain what he had planned for the session. 

At 4:15 2 people, out of 9, had arrived for the 4pm class.  One of which was a visitor interested in the class.  Finally at 4:30 I started class with two students.  Over the next HOUR, 5 other students trickled in.  I spent the majority of the time doing a Q&A session.  Then we discussed characteristics of local names versus names in the States.  It turned out to be a lot of fun, though next time I would prefer to plan for the 1 ½ hour session. 

Language Learning

We are a week and a half into learning the local ‘village’ language.  We are still students sponsored by the University, but there isn’t any ready-made curriculum or any designated tutors.  So how in the world do we go about this enormous task?  I, Erin, was feeling quite overwhelmed by this fact last week.  Thankfully we have both received great training for this particular task.  We’ve begun with a lot of listening and recording.  We each meet with a local language speaker 2 hours a day.  We ask for a couple common phrases, record them, then memorized them (even if we don’t quite understand them).  For example, “what is this?”, “good morning,” and “how do you say that in the local language.”  That is about all the actual speaking we are presently doing.  The majority of our time is spent with an activity called Total Physical Response (TPR – the more you move the better).  For example, to learn colors, we set on the table a red crayon and blue crayon.  We point to the red one and ask, “what is this?”, thus eliciting a word or sometimes a phrase.  Then repeat for the blue one.  We continue pointing and eliciting the two words until we feel we have a good grasp on them.  We do not repeat or say them, just listen.  Then we have the tutor ‘test’ us by saying the words or phrases elicited, such as ‘blue,’ then we point to the correct one.  After repeating multiple times in mixed order, we add a color and return to asking “what is this?”  We continue adding and being tested until there are 10-15 items.  We record the final ‘test’ to use for our own practice at home.  So far we have learned colors, numbers, farm animals, wild animals, insects, terms for people, and house parts all in this manner.  We aren’t saying them ourselves at this time, just listening and pointing out the answer.  This methods promotes better pronunciation later and good auditory comprehension.

On Monday we had a quite unusual language session.  We had one language tutor and lined up a second to begin on Monday so John and I could trade off studying and watching the boys.  Our tutors have jobs of their own so our meeting times change from day to day.  On Monday, one of the tutors had to postpone a morning session until the afternoon.  So John and I met at the same time, taking the boys with us to the center where John hopes to later work.  Upon arriving we found out there was already a class scheduled at the same time.  So the pre-scheduled class met in the one class room, while John and I, our two tutors, and the boys met in the front reception area at the same time two people arrived inquiring about the center.  The reception area is not air conditioned, so with 9 people in a space about 12 x 18 feet it got pretty hot.  We eventually opened the front door to let in some air, but that also let in the noise of all the vehicles passing by.  Instead of trying TPR with two tutors and a lot of noise we asked for multiple dialogues from our tutors in the local language, which turned out well thanks to a great microphone on our recorder.  Otherwise the session was very chaotic and not very beneficial. 

On another note, last weekend we moved upstairs!  Before arriving we were expecting two bedrooms upstairs.  One bedroom was ready this past weekend.  We are all still in one room, but now there is enough room for us to have our own beds!  There is also a great deal of room upstairs for the kids to run around.

Our new bedroom upstairs, big but slightly unfinished!

Upstairs area, with a nook to later be enclosed for a second bedroom.



The bathroom for two families.  There is a sink, it is just outside the bathroom door.  The blue tub seems only to be used to store water if needed.

The kitchen and washing machine/area at the far end.  There is a fridge next to the dish rack on the left.

 

Safely in a new city!

We arrived safely in the smaller city to study their local language.  We rode a night bus, after a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with other ex-pats, and arrived at about 4:30am.  THANKFULLY the boys slept really well!  We were graciously picked up by the family we are now living with.  They offered us their eldest daughter’s room to sleep in until morning (or at least later morning), which we were all able to do for a couple more hours.  That morning we ate pastries (the local version) and coffee (with sugar).  Mid morning I, Erin, along with Whitman joined the wife on a trip to the traditional market.  It was great to see all the produce, meat, household items, and even toiletries they had.  The wife bought blue nail polish for her daughter, yes, at the traditional market.  The rest of the afternoon we spent just hanging out at the house. 

We are trying to get settled, yet still very much in transition.  The second floor, which we where first offered, isn’t quite finished.  So the daughter’s room we were graciously offered is our room as a family.  The firsts two night we slept well, but last night the four of us in one bed began to be more uncomfortable. 

Our current sleeping situation... becoming local!

Thanks to our host we have lined up a language tutor.  He works for the department of tourism and a local museum.  Due to his work schedule and there only being one tutor, John and I are attending a 2 hour language session together.  That means the boys get to come along and try to be quite!  Movies, books and snacks are very helpful. 

The rest of our time is still pretty unscheduled.  I often will help the wife cook at 11am, when she prepares a few different dishes for lunch.  Later we eat the left overs for dinner.  We’ve eaten at least four different kinds of fish thus far.  Today I did laundry.  My first time using a twin tub washer, do those even exist in the states?  When we arrived I was very glad to see it, then I noticed laundry being done by hand and figured it must be broken.  Apparently the wife prefers laundry to be done, by her house help, by hand.  Shortly after I hung up the clothes it began to rain.  Mid-day it cleared up only to rain again early evening.  I brought our laundry in before the second rain, though some of it was still damp.  Once inside I struggled to find a place to dry it, so I just laid it all out on our bed and pointed our 6 inch fan it. 

We are in the middle of an incredible learning experience as we get to live with a family and focus on language study.  Even teaching Caedmon is on hold as I arranged his lessons so he gets the whole month of December off, a perk to homeschooling!  But it is also becoming challenging as we try to maintain some of our normal routines for the health and well being of our family. 

We will be here with the local family for 3 weeks, celebrate Christmas on another island, then come back to the same city for continued language study.  So here we go!

My last bike ride

This was my biker gang for the past 19 months, although it usually was just me and Bapak (far left). I will look for another group to join after we move. I just realized I was the only one wearing a helmet--some parts of our home culture we're not willing to give up!

Finished!

**UPDATE: Today we got the results of our latest language and culture evaluations, and we both achieved our goals!! Thank you for rooting for us these past 19 months.**  
Wednesday, the 20^th, was our last day at the Language Center.  We have spent a year and eight months studying at the language center with over 13 different tutors.  At times it was tedious to go the two hour language sessions, but other times it was like getting together with friends.  It is exciting to be done with our formal national language study, but it is also sad to loose the frequent interaction with friends.  Please remember our tutors as our future interaction with them will be very infrequent. 

Our language tutors (and two office workers and another student's daughter)

Both John and I also had language and culture evaluations last week.  This was our third evaluation and we hope to hear soon that we have reached our goals, not that language and culture learning will ever really stop.  Our language evaluations are actually quite enjoyable, if you can forget you are being evaluated.  A friend of ours has a consultancy business and thankfully is a big help to us in our learning.  Our evaluations basically consist of one hour of conversing with a local, in which we go through various role plays as our consultant listens and records our conversations.  Then we spend about another hour listening to the recordings (my least favorite part) and getting feedback from the local about how I spoke; everything from pronunciation, words choice, grammar, and manners.  We usually spend at least another hour just with our friends talking about cultural aspects we've learned.  Afterwards our friend spends who knows how much time writing up the evaluation and giving us a rating on a scale of just beginning to highly capable.  The write up really helps us to see how our studying time has been effective, how it may need to change, and in what ways it can be improved. 

On another note, I spent an hour yesterday with a local friend learning how to cook local food.  First I learned one way of preparing tempeh, which is a favorite of mine.  I didn't think it existed in the US until I just recently found it in a magazine my mother-in-law sent me.  Who knew!? 


See #6.  Easily available and very cheap here.  A brick as pictured above would be less than $1 and would be more than enough for our family.(Huckleberry's Taste For Life Aug 2013 issue)

The second thing I learned to prepare was a hot ginger drink.  I really like the flavor, but it is usually too strong, or spicy, to finished when ordered at a restaurant.  Now at home I can make it just right for my taste buds!  Give it a try, it is very easy:
Hot ginger drink:
2 cups of water
2" fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2-4 Tbs palm sugar (or brown sugar)
2-4 Tbs coconut milk or creamer (my friend prefers creamer)
-Combine ingredients in a small pot.  Bring to a boil.  Pour into a mug through a strainer.  Enjoy! (Adjust the amounts to your liking.  Here is it usually very strong.)  This is most often enjoyed with friend bananas on a rainy day. 

Recent and prospective happenings

Last Saturday we attended the third of three events of a neighbor's wedding.  To be honest I don't think I had actually met this neighbor before (they live in our complex, but are at least 6 houses away).  A very nice invitation was hand delivered about 3 day prior.  The events began with a party Friday night, the actual ceremony Saturday morning, at 10am, then a reception Saturday night.  We attended the reception, which was held at one of the top 4 hotels in town.  We did not commit any major cultural taboos by only attending the reception!  It was the most lavish wedding we have ever been to, maybe in our whole lives.  The reception hall foyer was decorated nicely with at least 20 large framed pictures of the couple and a small coffee area.  Inside the actual reception hall there was a stage full of musicians and singers, at least three buffet lines with two separate dessert tables, and of course a stage with the couple and their respective parents.  We arrived, signed a guest book, walked across the stage to greet the couple and their parents, put an envelope of money (the gift) in a designated box on the stage, ate dinner, chatted, then went home.  We've been to quite a few weddings here, but this one was definitely unique.

At the wedding we ran into the post office clerk that always helps us.  We often don't recognize her at first as she always wears an orang head covering and shirt at the post office. 

A better view of her fancy dress!

A neighbor we met at the wedding.

The stage with the newly married couple in the middle-blue.

 

In other news, we will finished will all of our formal national language study at the university next week.  At the end of this month we will travel about 5 hours northeast to begin local language study in the city where John has accepted a job position.  We are still on student visas so we plan to study while awaiting the work visa.  For the month of December we plan to live with a local family there.  Thankfully we will be at a good point in homeschooling to take the whole month off while we are transitioning.  After December our plans are to continue living and studying there.  Where we will live, when and how we move all our belongings, and when we'll start homeschooling again are all a little up in the air.  Please remember us in this time of transitioning.  I, Erin, am finally feeling at home in our new country, but the prospect of readjusting again and beginning to study another new language is a little daunting. 

Whitman playing with a mustache turned beard!

Names

We have lived in our house here for a year and a half and I, Erin, still do not know the names of the neighbor ladies next door.  During our first few months in country people would always ask us what Caedmon and Whitman’s nick names were, or more literally translated their “to call” name.  These are just two examples of the issue of names here.  Often when we are introduce to someone for the first time, their name is never mentioned or if it is, it is said once.  With names so different than most western names, it is very difficult for me to catch the first time around, if it is said.  It took me at least two months to figure out that our neighbor Uci, the age of Whitman, was a girl as her name didn’t tell me anything nor the way she was dressed.  Thankfully for us there are more common methods of referring to people then their names.  The age relationship is very important in this culture.  Whether it is at home, in school, or even at the office, people will refer to each other by saying ‘older sibling’ or younger sibling’ then their name.  As we are older than all our tutors, it is natural and more polite for them to call us (in our presence or in our absence) ‘older sibling’ John, or ‘older sibling’ Erin.  Quick side note, there is not a single word for brother or sister, instead there is a single word for ‘older sibling’ and another for ‘younger sibling’.  The same goes for him/her/she/he which are all translated with one word, unrelated to gender. 

As soon as someone marries, they become the equivalent of ‘Mr.’ or ‘Mrs.’  So at the tutoring center we are more appropriately referred to as ‘Mr.’ John and ‘Mrs.’ Erin.  Which leads to another interesting aspect of names.  The main culture here on our island (as culture varies from island to island, even within one country) does not have family or surnames.  Children are given 2 to 3 names.  Occasionally the first name of the father will be used as their 2^nd or 3^rd name, but a person always uses just their first name.  Their closer friends will use a shortened version, or nick name (hence every one asking for Caedmon and Whitman’s nick names).  This is also why John and I are referred to as “Mr.” John and “Mrs.” Erin, instead of using our last name, which rarely changes upon marriage.  I recently attended a sports medicine seminar at the university.  One of the speakers was a professor from Australia.  He was referred to as Professor Luke, which was his first name. 

Since I have children I can also be referred to as 'Caedmon’s mom', which is the most common way to refer to a mother, either in her absence or directly to her face.  The oldest child's names is the one used.  This word is the same word used earlier for “Mrs.” just with a suffix.  Without the suffix I can also be referred to as “Mrs.” John.  More often than not we call people, 'Mr.' and 'Mrs.' without ever mentioning their name.  This would be like saying, “Mrs. where do you buy your vegetables?”  It works great as I often don’t know, much less understand names, but the concept doesn’t translate well.  Often as I walk to class people yell out, “Hi Mr.” with the very occasional, “Hi Miss.” (not Mrs.). 

our nieghbors' moms, not picture, can be called Sifat's mom and Uci's mom

She just doesn't want to...

      Yesterday a new friend came over with her 4 year old daughter.  During our visit she told us about her daughter’s poor health, lack of teeth and many doctor visits.  The majority of her daughter’s top teeth and many of her bottom teeth had rotted away.  Not much later the mother told us how her daughter just didn’t like having her teeth brushed, the toothpaste was ‘spicy.’  We showed her the kids’ toothpaste our boys use.  She responded in the affirmative, she had seen that toothpaste before, but her daughter just wouldn’t let her teeth be brushed.  Later the mother made a comment about just trying to keep her daughter happy. 

      I, Erin, so often see kids with a few to a whole mouth of rotting teeth.  At first I thought this was due to a lack of education and understanding regarding mouth hygiene.  I later learned most small children are put to sleep with a bottle of milk or while still nursing.  It took still longer for me to learn that all of this, brushing teeth to the methods used for soothing, are more surface level expressions of deeper underlying values.  Peace between people and keeping other happy is highly valued in this culture.  A common saying is roughly translated, “Maintain others’ feelings.”  We have seen this in the indirect way people will respond to invitations or make requests, or choose to lie to avoid hurting another’s feelings.  This extends into the family as well.  It is important to keep the children happy, therefore giving in to the child when they protest or cry, even to the extent of avoiding practices that benefit the child’s health (tooth brushing).  I still think there is a lack of understanding among many regarding the harm of putting children to sleep with bottles of milk or the benefit of brushing teeth, and I understand how hard it is to endure a child’s whining when you put your foot down and stick to it.  But with all that said, the value placed on peace and contentment among people here seems to trump many valuable practices that may require a little hard work for a long term benefit. 

On a happy note, here are some pictures from a day trip we took on Sunday to a local hot spot known for the many butterflies.  Instead we saw a great number of.... bats!

On the road there, trees were filled with bats, during the day, chirping and flapping their wings. 



The bats were huge!



Looking at bats in bamboo.



Our friend's son wanting to take a fallen bat home!

Whitman sitting in a nook said to have been used by a man for 40 days and nights searching for purity and renewal.



Caedmon washing his face in a spring said to keep you looking young.



The path through the forest to the cave.



A nice swimming area created by a small river.

A water fall at the top of the swimming area. 



Erin's first bike ride

When I bought my bike 18 months ago an added bonus was the small frame sizes, because Erin would be able to use it too. Well, apart from trying it out once, 2 hours and 45 minutes ago was Erin's first real bike ride (and she's not back yet...hmm). Most Sunday mornings it is me who has the social engagement, but I canceled my swimming date because our favorite tutor (pictured) invited Erin to ride out to the beach. Watching the boys is getting easier every month, as they're learning to play on their own, but I'm still definitely hoping she survives the crazy traffic.

There are cows in our park!

The park in the middle of our complex, as see from out side our house.

We have a small and rather nice park in the middle of our complex.  When I, Erin, say park I mean a landscaped area with some paved paths, lots of shade, and a few bamboo benches.  There is a small roofed structure about to fall over and the occasional garbage pile being burned.  It is not the large grassy park with a play structure I often dream of taking the boys to, but there is so much shade from the surrounding trees it is quite a pleasant place to visit.  On Saturday we noticed two large cows tied to trees in the park.  I could not believe it!  The park has been home to building materials for houses being renovated and rice field plowing machines for sale, so why not cows.  It shouldn’t have surprised me, especially with the upcoming holiday, but it did. 

Two new additions to the park with two very excited boys.

We spent most of an hour looking at the cows and learning what a 'cow pie' is, right in our complex!

 

Yesterday, Tuesday, was the second largest holiday of the year.  The majority of the population celebrate it by killing a cow or goat, depending on financial ability.  The meat is then shared with the poor and also cooked as part of the day’s celebratory meal.  When we first noticed the cows we where told they were to be killed there in the park.  Last year John and Caedmon accompanied our host dad to the killing of his cows, so this year we thought we’d just go outside to the park.  By Tuesday morning though the cows had been moved to the far end of the complex where the owner killed them in front of his house instead.  The boys, only, where slightly disappointed to not be able to watch. 

We were invited over to a tutor’s house to eat dinner with her family that evening.  We enjoyed two varieties of wrapped rice, goat, chicken, noodles, and vegetables.  Today we ate lunch with our host parents.  We had wrapped rice and beef cooked three different ways.  The flavor of one in particular I really enjoyed; tasting like it might contain coconut.  After placing another piece on my plate I noticed the texture of the meat was slightly different.  I’m pretty sure that dish was made mostly from organ meat (heart, liver, lungs).  The flavor was good, but the texture is just not appealing to me.  As we left our host mom gave us a bag full of beef.  As she handed it to me she explained it was cooked so it would keep longer, but not seasoned at all.  It looked rather strange, was room temperature, and smelled strange.  I heated it up in the pressure cooked with some BBQ sauce and we ate it for dinner, so hopefully all will be well tomorrow J.  Throughout the day we were also gifted with many of the wrapped rice varieties. 

We are still having new experiences after more than a year!  Enjoy a few extra pictures from the weekend as well!

Three varieties of wrapped rice.  Each has a different name, uses different leaves, and at least one a different kind of rice.

Cooked beef given to us. 

Limes from our back yard.  John went crazy on Saturday picking limes for our breakfast.

The longest paint brush I've ever seen!

A wooden structure built in front of a home for special occasions, usually weddings.

Moving right along...

I (John) have just been hired to promote a brand new academic center at the end of the earth. 

Okay, at least offered a job... 
Before they can hire me, the institute will first have to gain permission to hire a foreigner, which could take six months.
But the best news is that we still have six months remaining on our current student visas, so we have worked out a deal which will allow us to move there to focus on studying the local language and culture while we wait for my work visa to be approved.

One other exciting development, my boss-to-be has offered the newly added second story of his house to our family as we transition there. This will hopefully allow us to adjust gradually to our new lifestyle in a much more isolated spot. Caedmon and Whitman will have a three year-old playmate there, in addition to an elementary schooler and a middle schooler.
As for the town, it is set on a beautiful coast which has both Oregon-esque beaches with big sharp rocks and even cliffs, and other beaches which remind me more of what you would see in Florida (sea walls, piers, plenty of sand and no rocks). And the water is warm and there is plenty of sunshine and mild weather.

Thank you for thinking of us as I made my first journey up there for a two-day interview, abandoning Erin and the boys and spending two nights out of three on a bus. I definitely did not sleep much, but I spent the trip home marveling at (and a bit intimidated by) the fact we have such an ideal an opportunity to benefit a community in really big ways.
For now, we have about six weeks left to iron out the wrinkles in communicating via the national language, and round out our understanding of the majority culture here. Then we will have our last language and culture evaluation and move to our new home at the end of November. There are plenty of things in this transition which could make our lives easy or cause us big headaches/inconveniences, and we will do our best to keep things updated here...

A Miscellaneous Mixture

A Miscellaneous Mixture is the second dictionary definition of one of my favorite local dishes here.  The first dictionary definition better explains this dish as a 'vegetable salad' with 'a spicy peanut sauce.'  It is a miscellaneous mixture of vegetables, mostly green, of which I did not often eat in the States, but with the delicious peanut sauce I would probably eat almost anything (of the food variety that is). This dish is served warm, usually without rice which is rare for most dishes here.  I finally learned how to make it from a friend of ours.  It turned out to be quite simple considering it is from scratch; I even had to roast the peanuts myself!  So if you are feeling adventurous here is the recipe and some notes, enjoy!

A Miscellaneous Mixture
(all measurements are approximate because my friend didn't measure with anything except her taste buds)
2 cups roasted peanuts (if using salted peanuts decrease salt later)
5 shallots (or cloves of shallots, never used before living here), cut in half
3 garlic cloves, cut in half
1/2 inch ginger root
1/3 cup brown sugar (which here is actually palm sugar and literally is called 'red sugar')
1 Tbls salt
water until desired thickness (about that of pancake batter)
chili pepper (I omitted as it adds heat more than flavor)
Steamed vegetables of choice.  I used watercress, bean sprouts, yard long green beans, and a few carrots.
Hard boiled eggs, sliced
Tofu - dusted with flour and pan fried

1.) Fry the shallots, garlic and ginger in oil until fragrant and softened. 
2.) Blend peanuts, shallots, garlic, and ginger in a blender or food processor.
3.) Combine blended mixture, sugar, salt and water in a medium sauce pan.  Heat until well combined and desired consistency and flavor is obtained (I know this is difficult if you don't know how it is to taste, so I'll try to paint a picture.  The sauce is thick and course, but will run off a spoon.  It tastes like peanuts with additional seasonings, which I could not have listed from just tasting, but the ginger is key.  It is sweat, but not overwhelmingly.  Every time I order it at a restaurant the spiciness is different, so omitting the chili pepper really didn't change the flavor for me.)
4.) Place the vegetables and tofu on a dish.  Pour sauce over the top and place sliced eggs on side/top. 
Enjoy a taste of our side of the planet!

Caedmon's first presentation

     We are in our fifth week of homeschooling-kindergarten.  Last year Caedmon attended a local pre-school for all of two weeks.  We took him out and never went back.  Our main goal for him at the time was to learn the local language.  Fortunately through regular play and interaction with locals he is learning quite a bit. 

     This year we decided it would be best not to weaken his enthusiasm for learning by entering him into a local school again.  So on August 19^th we began kindergarten at home.  It is going very well.  Caedmon is ready to start every morning, excited about learning, and constantly asking when we will use the activities I, Erin, have on my shelf.  I too am fully enjoying it, so much so it has become a competitor for my own language study.  I would much rather prepare for Caedmon’s class than for my own language session. 

     I scheduled 10 “field trips” into our year, with the first a week ago Monday.  I’m still slightly at a loss for where we will go or what we’ll do for all them.  So, for our first field trip we just went outside to the small park within our complex.  We talked about the parts of plants and collected examples for a ‘report.’  Back at home Caedmon glued our examples onto a paper and I wrote down headings.  The following day I asked him to give John, Whitman and I a ‘presentation’ about our field trip and the examples on his ‘report.’  It was a lot of fun.  At his age my goal in many areas is broad exposure.  So exposing him the parts of plants and trees in a concrete way, and the terms for a report and presentation with out really emphasizing much else was a lot of fun.  Enjoy the videos!

 

     I feel so blessed to be a part of my child’s formal education.  Years ago I never envisioned myself homeschooling, but I am loving it!  I really appreciate the flexibility we have to slow down when Caedmon struggles with a topic and the opportunity I have to see him learn new information and master previously difficult areas.  And this is just kindergarten!

It's a girl!

No we are not expecting, sorry mom.  Our neighbors just had a baby girl.  This is their second, the first is a little girl 2 1/2 years old, just like Whitman.  According to the local culture new babies are not given a name until a special party which usually takes place on the 7th or 8th day after their birth.  The 7th and the 8th day came and went and we didn't see any large crowds gather at our neighbors nor did we receive an invitation.  Come to find out the party can happen really at any time, but it is best if it take places within the first 20 days of life.  2 weeks after mom and baby came home we were visited by the mom to ask our permission for a large tent to be put up outside our gate.  We were also invited to come for lunch at the special party.

Party tent right outside our gate.
  These go up in front of homes for weddings and funerals too, often closing down the whole street.

The night before a large tent was set up directly in front of our gate.  At this time a goat is killed as well.  We were not aware until the next day when the meat was served.  Apparently one goat is killed for a girl and two for a boy.  At 6am the morning of, the family, which includes an extended family of 5 siblings and their perspective families, began preparing.   The road was swept and motorcycles moved.  I, Erin, quickly offered our garage area as parking for the family’s 4-6 motorcycles and one car.  . 

our garage area as a motorcycle parking lot

The event actually began that morning with a few close relatives each cutting a piece of the new baby’s hair and reciting a prayer.  The hair is then collected and placed in a coconut.  We have heard some plant the coconut afterwards, but are not sure about this specific instance.  At some point the baby’s name is also announced to this intimate group.  This all took place inside the neighbor’s house first thing in the morning so we unfortunately did not take part.  The rest of our morning was spent outside watching the preparations and playing with the neighbor kids.  The event we were able to attend was a catered buffet set up outside for friends and relatives to enjoy.  We ate around noon and stayed another hour.  Guests came and went, eating and visiting until at least 4pm.  Most visitors just sat outside eating.  Often the women would venture into the house to greet the mom and new baby.  By 7pm the tent was down and all was cleaned up.  All in all is was quite a big event consisting mainly of food and visiting.  It was fun to take part in the celebration of their daughter’s birth, even if we didn’t quite understand it all. 

 

Neighbor kids and their cousins sitting in front of our gate. 
Our neighbors are the two on the end left side, and the one in pink second from the end, right.
  The new big sister is second from the end, left. 

waiting to eat

Generous Neighbors

We seem to have a mutual trading relationship with our neighbors.  They frequently present us with samplings of local food; anything from leftovers to portions from regular every day meals or special events.  When they learn the boys like a certain food, they bring it over.  Other times if we take them something, souvenirs from a trip, an extra pan of brownies, they quickly reciprocate.  One morning, I, Erin, was talking with the other mothers out buying fruits and vegetables when a man delivered a flat of eggs to them.  We then talked about how all our kids like eggs, especially the whites but not the yokes.  Shortly there after, one of the mothers brought over a bag full of eggs. 

 


shrimp - the 3rd or 4th occurrence!

 

Whitman displaying the long antennae



It has become quite regular for them to bring us bowl of shrimp; shrimp larger then I’ve ever seen before.  The neighbors regularly visit the port before 6am in the morning to buy a whole case of shrimp, then often share their purchase with us.  One time after I unassumingly told them we like squid, we were given a bowl full of squid.  Come to find out they are actually cuttle fish.  I have never bought, much less prepared squid nor cuttle fish.  Actually the only reason I recognized the name ‘cuttle fish’ was from a kids cartoon program the boys watched in the states before we moved, over a year ago.  Thankfully my trusty Fanny Farmer cookbook explained how to clean and prepared them.  I dusted the cuttle fish in flour and pan fried them.  They were quite good, very similar to squid!

cuttle fish



traditional meal for the biggest holiday of the year: wrapped rice in center, spicy salsa over hard boiled eggs, chicken in a mild curry, and vegetable in broth

We’ve been given vegetables, candy, cookies, birthday cake, bags of nuts, and complete meals.  Their generosity amazes me time and time again. 

TV Repairmen

The sound on our television has been broken for two months.  This fortunately has only disrupted the boys' morning cartoons, which is a little bit of a mystery to me, Erin, as they don't understand all that is said anyway, yet they just didn't want to watch if there wasn't sound. 

Yesterday John saw an add in the news paper for a TV repairman.  John called the number first thing in the morning and arranged for the man to come the same day.  As we sat down to dinner at 6pm, a man knocked on our gate and immediately entered, coming straight to our door.  We were slightly surprise as we didn't recognize him.  John quickly found out it was the TV repairman and invited him in.  He quickly checked the TV, then asked his assistant, who was still outside, to bring in his bag.  His bag was brought in and opened, then not a minute later the men both left to go pray, leaving their bag behind.  We were slightly surprised and moderately confused as not many words were exchanged.  In our position, after living here for over a year, encountering very friendly people, and feeling safe, we continued with our dinner.  Though I have seen way too many movies to keep from letting my imagination wander.  One half hour later both men returned.  They proceeded to take apart the TV, right on our living room floor, and check into the problem.  They determined it to be an issue with the speakers, so the main repairman, left in the above picture, left on his motorcycle to by new speakers.  Shortly after he returned, now 7:30pm, they both left to go pray again.  Thankfully they returned in 15 minutes to install the new speakers, check the function, and reassemble the TV.  At about 8:30 they left. 

Much of the in-between time the assistant, right in the picture above, talked continually with John.  We learned a great deal about his personal beliefs.  It also elicited many questions in our minds.  John was able to follow up with a tutor today about their style of dress and a few of their adornments.  It was a very interesting experience and goes to show that culture and beliefs cannot be generalized across a whole people group.  Overall it was not the TV repair experience we were expecting!