The Adventure Continues

I have definitely noticed coming back to a place you’ve been before eases any transition.  We had forgotten many little things, yet they have not surprised us as much upon re-experiencing them.  For example, all the staring from people we pass, restaurants being out of menu items, the heat, the bugs, and vocab!

It has been quite the first week back so far.  After getting mostly settled, we gave ourselves a little “return home” party on Sunday.  Learning from our farewell party, we rented a tarp and chairs in case it rained.  Well it did and turn out to be so muddy under the tent, we ended up using our neighbors' covered carport area anyway. 

We decided to serve snack like items instead of a full meal.  We ordered donuts and other pastries, while I made Mung Bean Pudding. 

Mung Bean Pudding

Doesn't look like much, but is quite tasty: consisting of

mung beans, brown sugar, white sugar, and coconut milk.

That morning while I was cooking, our tank water ran out.  The city water usually only comes on full force in the afternoons.  Later that day it came on as a small trickle, at which point we found out the full flow of water changed to only three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  So, that morning as I prepared for our party, which was to start at 9am, I just stacked up the dishes and did what I could.  I always forget how much I was my hands until I’m without water. 

Shredded Coconut

I decided to press my own coconut milk, which is pretty easy, just time consuming, when you have water.

Also as I was cooking, cockroaches started coming out of our broken floor.  Thankfully we had bug spray so I quickly sprayed them and the holes, which only made more come out.  I was afraid to continue standing in the kitchen, but pudding had to be made!  When I did finished cooking, we had enough water in a bucket to shower, though I’ve never showered with less water in my life. 

Our coffee table with pastries and water.

The actual party went well.  Neighbors and friends came, at staggered enough times that many of them we hosted inside our house.  By the time people stopped coming, a small trickle of water had returned so dishes could be washed and the floor mopped! 

   Since then, we are learning to manage without consistent water.  At last on Tuesday we were able to fill our water tank.  We have now figured out how to do multiple loads of laundry on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Our washing machine can handle multiple loads, as can the full flow of water on those days.  Trick is hanging them to dry with limited line space and sunlight as the water comes on in the afternoon. 

That has been our crazy transition back so far.  Though it has been quite stressful at times, it mostly is just annoying.  In spite of it all we really have been given incredible attitudes!  So all praise to Him!  And our electricity has been consistent, so we’ve had AC in our bedroom!!!

As for now we are trying crazily to find a new house to rent.  One which seems more structurally sound (no sink holes), has consistent water, and is in a neighborhood where more people speak the Barat language.   

The Adventure Begins

    After a week in California to obtain visas, we left the country to return to our overseas home.  We found a great deal on tickets, but the itinerary included two 18-20 hour layovers.  The jury is still out for me, Erin, whether that was a better way to travel or not.  On the one hand, we felt much more rested as we were able to sleep in beds at hotels during each of the long layovers.  On the other hand, I had a great deal of time to think about all we had just left and all we were traveling to.  The boys did really well.  The technology these days is amazing.  The immense selection of movies and shows to be selected individually, kept both Caedmon and Whitman occupied for most of the plane ride.  They only shed a few very tired tears as we traveled to the hotels during the layovers. 

We arrived in the big city of our host country on Saturday, the 16^th, along with all 8 pieces of luggage.  We checked into a hotel at the airport, grabbed some fried chicken and rice, and went straight to bed.  The following three days we stayed with our very first host family, in the big city, with whom we first lived with upon arriving in 2012.  It was really good to see them and we were treated like their own children.  It made for a much quicker transition back than I expected though as the four of us shared one room, one fan, ate local food on their schedule, all in a local home.  On the next few days we saw some friends in the big city, along with other co-workers. 

On Tuesday we took the night bus towards Barat.  John had the amazing idea to stop at a city an hour outside of Barat and stay in a hotel.  This enabled us to go straight to bed when we disembarked from the bus at 2 in the morning.  The we were able to travel to our house, in Barat, the next day during the day light, with all our luggage driven straight to our door.  When we arrived we found two large sink holes in our house, one in the kitchen and the other in John and my bedroom.  There was also a fair amount of cleaning to do.  Making our day time arrival a big blessing. 

Sink hole in the kitchen with a temporary patch.

The movement of the floor caused the main water pipe to break under the sink.  Thankfully water still comes into the house, but water no longer runs into the bathroom, hence the hose across the floor: our temporary fix to get water to the bathroom!

It's Official

On Friday we received our temporary visas, good for up to 6 months.  It was the smoothest and quickest process we have yet experienced!  Now after a crazy two days of packing, four days in San Francisco for the visas, we are ready to leave the States.  Our flight leaves Wednesday at 2pm. 

Oh Packing...What to take what to get rid of, and how to get it all to fit! In the end it did.

Amazing these where kept track of for 9 months!

(keys, money and adapters from overseas)

Exploring San Francisco - Alcatraz in the background.

We have had a wonderful nine months in the States!

We experienced Fall:

Selecting, then carving, Pumpkins

Halloween & School at Prospect Point

We experienced new sights:

Izzy the Camel

The Balloon Stampede

 We experienced Holidays with Family:

Thanksgiving with Erin's family

Christmas with cousins!

We experienced snow, both in Walla Walla and elsewhere:

Building snowmen in the front yard.

Whitman and his snowman

Covered by a snow blanket, in Tumalo.  

Snow Angels in Tumalo

Playing with Uncle Ryan at Mt. Hood.

And great time with friends and family:

Saying goodbye to friends around the corner!

Seeing Great-Granny Goose

Seeing friends from long ago;

this family watched Caedmon for us on the day of Whitman's birth!

Playing with friends pictured above December 1, 2010.

So, we now say goodbye to these wonderful experiences and blessings.  We are looking forward to going back overseas, but maybe all for different reasons.  Whitman is excited for cheese rolls sold at Pizza Hut overseas and watching English shows (we made him watch shows in our host country's language while in the states).  Caedmon is excited to see his friends.  John and I are excited to see what He will do next as we continue to work overseas. 

Thank you all for the support and encouragement we received while in the States, it was a rich time that was greatly appreciated!  We hope to see you all again in the years to come or sooner if you're up for a visit!

It's a...

Yes, we are expecting
       and
         it's a girl!

Being in the States

 Until you travel or spend time in a different culture, it is difficult to know just how deeply we have been shaped by our home culture.  Our three years abroad has brought this to light in my life.  The way in which I do things or the filter through which I interpret things has been challenged and often didn't function well in another culture.  Granted, I could get by just fine with my own cultural ways if I kept to myself, but as we desire to build relationships with the people we live among, it requires we not only learn their ways, but also take on many of them.  Having spent three years learning culture and language, and trying to apply it, we now find ourselves in our home culture with very new perspectives. 

 

Fair and Frontier Days' parade



The end of August brought the Walla Walla Fair and Frontier Days.  We enjoyed the festivities, but froze in the unusually cool weather.  Though we are still getting some warm days, the weather is beginning to cool off and we are finding our two pairs of long sleeves each will not be enough to get us through the winter months. 

Mutton Bustin'
(sheep riding)



A Ribbon from Mutton Bustin'

 Caedmon is rather a cautious child.  He has always been one to sit back and watch what is going on before jumping in.  I, Erin, was very surprised when he said yes to Mutton Bustin'.  When it came time to let the sheep loose, he asked for the guides to walk along side and help, resulting in a rather calm ride. 



Caedmon roping a steer

Whitman roping a steer

We have been blessed with opportunities to be involved in many activities unavailable to us overseas.  Again these opportunities feed my feelings that life is great here (when really it is just another place in our broken world, though with a few more conveniences). 

Most activities I jump into with excitement and appreciation for the chance, but their have been a few that have seemed a little ridiculous in the extent to which they are taken.   

Caedmon playing soccer



Caedmon heading to the goal

We signed Caedmon up for youth soccer, which has been a blast.  John also signed up to coach the team.  Caedmon has thoroughly enjoyed both the practices and games.  It has been a great way to meet other families here and expose Caedmon to organized sports.  I applaud the Parks and Recreations department here as it is a rather large program.  Our first game was a new experience for me.  The parking lot at the sports complex was packed with cars, six games were going on at once, people were all over getting kids to the right place or cheering them on, and of coarse there were concessions, as with any other sporting event in the States!  Since the soccer season is in full swing we have found if much more difficult to get together with people as the business takes over and seems to trump relationships with others. 
Soccer may be the most world wide sport, well known even to those we live among in Barat.  Though kids will play pick up games during their free time and there are two indoor soccer fields, the only organized games in Barat are for adults. 





 

Homeschool group field trip to the library. 

Another experience has been schooling, both for Caedmon and Whitman. Though I am not homeschooling the boys currently, I have been able to become slightly involved in the homeschooling community here.  Since homeschooling is done by a large number of families, I have been able to discuss curriculum, look over materials used, and even join a group that meets once a month to co-teach their children about different countries and cultures.  In our first meeting the kids were exposed to maps and globes, characteristics of both, and then taken on a field trip to the library to see a large globe. 

In our host country overseas the only local children that are homeschooled are child stars who have private tutors to school them around their performance schedule.

Caedmon has been in school here for four weeks now.  It is going well and he seems to be enjoying it.  I have been amazed, and very thankful, at all that is sent home to the parents on a daily basis.  To begin with, I received a handbook from the district and another specific to Caedmon's school.  Papers are frequently sent home, some are Caedmon's work done while at school, but others are letters for the parents which are to be signed and returned.  There was an open house to meet the teachers and see the classroom and there will soon be teacher-parent conferences to discuss the child's progress.  In contrast, the boys' school in Barat did not have a handbook, nor did the district.  Instead the boys would only occasionally come home with instructions indirectly given by the teachers about dress or conduction. 

Whitman's preschool has been quite the experience as well.  Whitman is enjoying the new setting and all the 'new to him' toys.   The preschool is a parent co-op, which in and of itself results in a great deal of parent involvement.  My first couple days of exposure to this program left me feeling it was all very excessive.  He is one in a class of 16, with at least 4 adults in the class at all times. In contrast with his preschool in Barat, Whitman was one of about 20, with occasionally two adults in the class.  The activities, interaction, and facilities are all very different.  When I first visited the preschool in Barat, I was astonished.  Now back in the states I find myself surprised at the extent to which the preschool here goes. 

Again I find myself having to step back and recognize that we have had a unique experience, have fresh eyes to see our own culture, and there are reasons why things are the way they are (mostly good).  Here I definitely feel that the well being of my child is being put first!



First Day of School...again

Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 was Caedmon's first day of school. 

In his seven years Caedmon has had multiple first days of school.  2012 brought his first day at a local school overseas, unfortunately that experience lasted only two weeks.  He had his first day of home school in 2013.  2014 brought his second experience at a local school in the town of Barat, which turned out to be a great experience for him (probably attributed to his improved language ability and familiarity with the culture).  This year Caedmon entered second grade, but it is his first experience at what he calls a "real school" in the States, thus leading to another first day of school. 

Dressed and ready to head out!

He desired to arrive at school early enough to play on the playground prior to the start of class.  Upon arriving, he asked me, Erin, to stay until he went into his classroom.  He stood right by my side the whole time.  The second day we arrived early again, this time Caedmon ventured half way to the play structure a couple times but never quite far enough to play before class.  The third day he recognized a few kids in the morning and actually played for awhile, though he asked me to stay again until class started.

Playing before school on day 3.
Caedmon's in light blue - center.

When I asked Caedmon how it went on the first day, he responded with, "Great."  The second and third days brought the same response.  So far he seems to meeting classmates, getting accustomed to the routine of school, and enjoying it all.  We are so very thankful to this smooth transition into "real school."

Whitman seems to be transitioning well into life without his brother at home as well, though when asked what he thinks about it he responded with a big "thumbs down." 

Whitman Climbing

Trying new things with grampy.

Whitman's transition has certainly been smoothed by the presence of grandparents, good weather, and lots of fun activities at home.  On Friday we made a short visit to his school.  In September Whitman will begin 3 day per week preschool.  He seems excited, but at the same time pretty happy at home, even without his brother!



DIY Party

John coined the "DIY" term for Caedmon's 7th Birthday Party last Thursday the 6th. 

The day started with our family tradition of cinnamon rolls and opening presents!

The first family present came the day before!

Breakfast with Grandparents

Caedmon - the 7 year old!



Opening presents from family.

We invited a handful of similarly aged children, all of whom, thankfully, Caedmon had met, at least once.

We prepared a top-your-own-pizza and flavor-your-own-soda lunch.   

Lunch with friends

More friends.

After lunch the kids played games in the yard.





Playing Games

Keeping score!



Caedmon was blessed by the attendance of two of his cousins, Emma & Mason.

 Then they hit a piñata; which only took a few good whacks to bring it down.



Instead of a blindfold, we had the kids spin around the bat.

Add caption

Waiting their turn.

 

Happy Birthday was sung and cake was eaten!

Blowing out the candle. 
Caedmon picked cake-in-a-cone.

 Then, Caedmon opened presents.  This seemed slightly weird to me, at first.  When we first moved overseas, we were surprised to learn of the custom there to accept gifts, but open them at another time, alone.  Coming back to the states, I now realize I became use to that custom and felt a little embarrassed to have Caedmon open the gifts from his guests in front of everyone. 

 

Swing with friends!

Playing Basketball



After the party, Caedmon spent the rest of the afternoon putting together the many Legos he received.  At the end of the day he was exhausted and happy from the very many blessings he received throughout the day!