Easter Ruined by Rain

     The life we celebrate on Easter could never be spoiled, yet yesterday’s rain significantly impacted my (Erin’s) intended celebration.  It seems rainy season has finished, much to my dismay, as yesterday’s rain was the first in at least two weeks.  It was also the first time since arriving I wished it would stop. 

decorations made at the morning celebration

Our day began with a celebration at a local service.  After a simple lunch at home, John went out with a friend, while I studied and the boys rested.  After naps, John and our friend picked us up for a trip to the mall.  We spent a couple hours at the mall conversing with a family introduced to us by our friend.  This family wanted us to meet their 14 year son so he could practice his English and learn more about attending college in the States, he will graduate high school this year (much ahead of the average student).  In this culture relationships are a higher priority than time, so I didn’t really know when we’d return home.  Fortunately we returned home shortly after 5pm.  For a special dinner I planned hamburgers, watermelon, potato salad, and pie for dessert.  Not our traditional Easter meal by any means, but I was going for something special, relatively easy, and of which all the ingredients could be found.  When we arrived home I decided to forgo the pie and just focus on dinner.  I took out the hamburger to make patties, turned on the stove, and then heard the sound of our padlock knocking on our gate. 

When people stop by they either knock our padlock against the gate and say ‘good afternoon,’ or if it is another kid they will yell Caedmon’s name (even if they aren’t here to see Caedmon).  I was mentally not prepared to receive guests, nor appropriately dressed.  When we arrived home I quickly changed into a tank top, which didn’t match my skirt mind you.  The culture here is very modest in their dress.  Even those not of the majority religion usually wear pants or skirts down to their knees and keep their shoulders covered, even more so when going out.  Upon hearing there were guests at the gate I quickly found a shirt to put on and went out to meet them. 

When someone stops by it is polite to invite them in, regardless of what you are doing.  It is also polite to serve them tea and a small snack.  I really wanted to be making dinner, but we invited them in and thankfully had some cookies to offer them.  Shortly after arriving it started to rain, hard!  They rode a motorcycle to our house and were going to head on to another friends’ shortly, but the rain postponed their departure.  It is a struggle to remain flexible in these times.  My expectations for the evening of a special meal, maybe another conversation about Easter with the boys, and John and I relaxing together after putting the boys down where spoiled.  Now with guests in my house I was trying to stay calm, engage in conversation and figure out how to do what was best for two hungry boys who likely would turn into puddles of tears at 7pm.  At a lull in the conversation I went to the kitchen to butter a hamburger bun, peel some eggs and pour some milk for the boy’s dinner.  Afterwards John put the boys to bed and our guests decided to brave the rain at about 7:30p.  John and I then ate potato salad and watermelon for dinner while checking the college basketball tournament scores.  It was a great opportunity for practicing language and developing relationships, which is our main goal right now, but it wasn’t the Easter I expected!

Potato salad and watermelon for dinner, and not dressed for guests!

Fish Crackers

 

I (Erin) was very excited to find these crackers.  I thought they would be a great, not to mention, fun, snack for the boys, especially as many of the crackers here are rather sweet.  The boys too were very excited for fish crackers, though I’m pretty sure they don’t remember Goldfish from the States.  We brought them home and immediately opened them up. When I first tasted them I was a bit disappointed.  They tasted as if they were flavored with onion, but with a bit of a twist which I can’t quite explain.  I love sour cream and onion chips and onion in most anything, but these crackers where just different enough I did not like them.  The boys on the other hand love them and just keep eating them.    

Street side seller of durian, which you can smell as you pass by

 

Yesterday we found out they are durian flavored crackers.  It all makes sense now.  I recently had the opportunity to try durian fruit, for it is the height of durian season.  It had been made into a spread, but I would bet the flavor was the same regardless.  I explained to John it tasted like something sweet with an oniony or garlicky hint to it.  Remember the hint of onion in the fish crackers with a slight twist…durian, that was it!  Yes durian is a fruit and has a sweetness to it, yet there is another very different flavor.  People say you either love it or hate it, nothing in between.  Some public buildings, such as hotels and hospitals have rules against bringing the fruit in as it has a very strong odor (odor not fragrance) even with its thick peel on.  I will politely pass on any other offers of durian as it is a very strange flavor. 

I bought the fish crackers for the boys, so as long as they like them it doesn’t matter the flavor.  

Visas were approved!

Prior to arriving in country, we obtained permission to stay for a year as students.  At the end of the year, which is unbelievably only a month away (April 18th) we have to leave the country or have already obtained new visas.  We started the paperwork in January.  It mostly consists of forms to fill out, passport type photos to obtain, and a lot of waiting.  We just heard our visas, for another whole year as students, were approved!  Thank you for lifting us up!  Apparently we still have a few more steps until we have them in hand and are 100% legitimate; these consist of handing over all our passports and current visas to a gentleman who takes them to the immigration office with additional paperwork from the University, and later sets up a time for us to visit immigration as well.  Basically he does all the leg work for us!  As our new visas will be the same type and were approved prior to the expiration of our current visas, we do not have to leave the country to obtain them, as long as we still get them in hand prior to the end of our 'year'.  Thank you again for lifting us up!

No tank, but water!

After only two days with a very finicky, broken pump, our landlord obtained a replacement sensor.  Our pump is fixed and working very well.  We still do not have a new tank, but as long as the pump continues working we have water in all our pipes and coming out of all our facets, whenever they are turned on!

Our buckets are back to being make-shift sinks

SO THANKFUL...for water!

A few weeks ago our water tank began leaking profusely.  Our landlord first tried to patch the large cracks in the bottom, but soon found it was not possible.  Since then we have been without a water tank.  Thankfully this has not been much of a problem until yesterday. 

view from our second floor - across the street

      As you can see many roof tops possess water tanks.  These tanks are for storing water from the city which runs to most households and buildings.  (Side note: most homes outside cities use wells)  Not all households have these tanks.  If you have a tank you need a pump, which pumps water from the city into the tank.  The water pressure from the city is minimal, so people often have a pump even without a tank.  Those that don’t are at the mercy of the city water flow.  In our house for example the city water pressure is never enough to get water to our second floor.  There are times during the day when water pressure is so low it doesn’t even trickle out of our down stairs facets.  Therefore a pump is very helpful.  During the dry season there are water shortages that can limit water access as well.  Therefore a tank is also very helpful.     

Our water tank, next to its stand on our roof

Since our tank broke our pump has been directly connected to the water line, turning on when ever we turn on a facet, and then turning off again by itself.  Yesterday the pump didn’t turn on.  First we thought the water from the city was too low causing our pump not to be able to pump anything at all.  After a whole morning without water we began to wonder and contacted our landlord.  Twice throughout the day the pump kicked on, so we quicley filled up as many buckets as we could.  Throughout the rest of the day we washed dishes, flushed toilets and bathed using water from these buckets.  Today our landlord determined there is a problem with a sensor in the pump.  So until he can get a replacement part we go out back, hit the pump, jostling the sensor and it kicks on!

I am so thankful this didn’t happen earlier in our time here.  Though we are continuing to adjust to life here, I feel we have adjusted to certain areas that made our water issue yesterday much easier to deal with. 

our bathroom: no sink, no separate shower, but usually a regular flush toilet

Most bathrooms here are a tiled room without a sink or separate shower.  Often it is a squat toilet or non-flushing toilet.  So a large bucket full of water with a ‘dipper’ is a common sight This water is used for washing yourself after going to the bathroom (toilet paper is rare as well), flushing the toilet, and showering.  (modern bathrooms with automatic flush toilets usually have a sprayer next to the toilet, see picture above).  Since moving in we’ve used all the buckets more like sinks; catching our used water to be drained carefully and maintain a relatively dry floor.  Though not my preferred method, I wasn’t too bothered yesterday by flushing with a bucket or showering by the cupful.  It still caught me off guard every time I went to wash or even just rinse my hands…no water from the tap.  Through it all I was so thankful we still had water regardless of how we had to access it and amazed at how we have actually grown accustomed to some cultural aspects of life here. 

Do you have any pets?

     We were recently asked this question by a friend in the States.  No we do not have any pets, but we do have various other vermon with whom we share our residence.

First we have ants.  We have seen at least 5 different types.  There are red ones, black ones, big ones and small ones.  Some bite, others don’t.  Then there are some that are so tiny and move so quickley they seem to appear and disappear just like that.  If we miss a crumb on the floor, the ants quickley show us where we left it.  No matter how hard we try to keep things clean and no matter how much bug spray we use, there they are. 

Then there are the small gekos that inhabit our house.  These we see mostly at night or early in the morning.  These lizards are actually kind of cute; until I noticed they seem to leave small dropping on my kitchen counter, dishes in the drying rack, and even a book left out on the counter.  We have found out these small lizards help manage the cockroaches, which we see mostly after return home from a few nights away.  So I’m willing to put up with the lizards (and their little messes) if it helps keep the coackroaches at bay. 

lizard on our dinning room wall

    Outside there are many street cats.  I have yet to meet one person that actually owns a cat as a pet.  The boys are very interested in these cats.  Seeing where they sleep, scrounge for food, and their sickly appearance we have taught the boys to LOOK only.  I (Erin) have come see they too have a purpose: managing the rat population.  Yes, if we are out early or at night we occasionally see a small, gray creature return to the gutter. 
     Occassionally we have seen dogs as pets, but this is rare.  Dog meat on the otherhand is common about 200 miles north of us.  We have had the opportunity to try it.  Interesting, but kind of tough and wild.

In our front garden there are frogs and snails, which both seem harmless and fun to look at, so far anyways. 

snail shells from those common in our yard

one of many frogs in the front year

      In our backyard, again at night, there are bats that like to dive in and out of our yard.  They have a pretty loud squeeking that accompanies their flying.  We have gotten use to their noise and haven’t experienced any other negative effects from them. 

The most recent vermon in our lives are worms.  This is where it gets gross.  A friend suggested we take anti-worm medication every six months just because intestinal worms are easy to pick up here.  We decided to follow this advice after seeing small red worms in the boys bath water, after they finished bathing.  The medication is just a one dose administration, but after a week there were still worms in the bath water.  It turns out these worms were actually in our water tank.  Only after our water pump stopped working and we emptied our tank completely, did we notice that the worms and also mosquito larvae had been coming out of the bathroom facet.  A friend advised us this can happen if you don’t regularly empty your tank, which we hadn’t been doing.  Recently we discovered a large crack in our tank which may have allowed the initial entry of the worms. 

So, in summary, we do not have any pets, intentionally any way.