Affected

Everyone would likely agree we are affected by our experiences, whether they be small encounters with a stranger at the store or larger frequent interactions with a differing culture while working overseas.  Most would hope to be positively affected by their experiences in a way that produces growth and improvement.  Being back in the States has revealed ways, sometimes surprising, in which we have been affected by our host culture overseas in Barat. 

A few examples of areas in which we've been affected are I, Erin, did not think (initially) to include cards with the presents we've recently taken to birthday parties.  

We still think twice about drinking water from any given tap.  This goes hand and hand with wanting to make sure every dish used is completely dry (to decrease chances of ingesting infected water) or cringing when it is not.  

We are thrilled with the endless options for shopping, but it seems to take me forever as I try to navigate through various supermarkets and decided between the endless options.  

All is well in the car, unless your playmate falls asleep.

Caedmon and Evangeline both experience car sickness overseas, yet since our time stateside, thankfully, neither has experienced any sickness in the car, and we have spent a great deal of time in the car. 

Wherever we go, we all take our shoes off when entering a house, the boys often right before stepping across the threshold.  

Some of these things have become so automatic for us we don't often notice.  One example of this was the other day we all walked our visitors out the door when they left.  Our visitors lovingly mentioned it struck them as something different.  We all laughed as it is a custom we picked up from overseas yet hadn't even realized.  

Skipping Stones

We have been spending a great deal of time out doors, though the summer brings hot weather and mosquitos.  The weather has been so enjoyable to us as there isn't what feels like any humidity and we all freeze in highly airconditioned environments.  I have found the mosquitos here creating only a slight annoyance in me rather than borderline fear as when in Barat because they may carry Dengue Fever.  There are so many wonderfully kept hiking trails and playgrounds we can't get enough of either. 

Camping

Hiking

Enjoying a Park

Learning about Gold Panning

while visiting a museum

Eating Butter

Though slightly surprised and grossed out, I didn't worry about our (personally instituted) monthly butter ration as I could run to the store and have more in a matter of minutes rather than a six hour trip from Barat to the nearest butter selling store.  

Climbing Pine Trees and Seeing Racoons

(middle, above horizontal branches)

Loving Playgrounds

Evangeline calls slides "wee"..."more wee please"

Learning to Swing

Evangeline thought this bed looked perfect for herself.  

It seems as if everyone has a dog and they are everywhere we go, which is due to the fact the only dogs we see in Barat are the occasional wild dogs which we try to stay away from.  

Evangeline and the boys can't get enough and all want a dog of their own.

Other areas in which we see ourselves having been affected are in certain areas of our home culture.  There are certain things that feel like 'coming home' to.  Running has been one of these areas for me, as it is not just 'normal' here, but is a very common and popular activity.  But there are other areas that have become almost strange to us.  In Barat presents brought to an event, such as a birthday, are opened only after all the guests have left.  This was strange at first, but now I feel so awkward watching this part of parties here in the States.  I just don't see it with the same eyes.  Another area is how individualistic our culture is.  In Barat we have a hard time getting away from people as they are out and about, ready to interact with anyone in the vicinity.  Here in the States I have found myself ready to talk to any random stranger at the park, store, or running down the street in the mornings.  I find that being back I now have to think about how to interact with others as it seems to take more intentionality to actually cross paths or even just begin a conversation in an appropriate, not strange way.  (In Barat people are so friendly that it isn't a big deal for strangers on a bus, in a restaurant, or on the street to just start up a conversation with one another)

Though this is our 'home culture' we have been affected by living overseas. 

State Side

We were seen off by our neighbors...

  Traveled in the car for 7 hours...

Rode on five different airplanes...

The kids slept relatively well on the flights and we avoided any major melt downs!

Spent many hours in 4 different airports...

Evangeline carrying her baby doll.

Wow, what amazing amenities...a place for Evangeline while the parent uses the toilet!

Bringing us all to our arrival stateside!  

And Evangeline's first steps in her passport country.

Our flight across Washington State.

We were blessed to spend 4 days in Walla Walla with family, then 3 in Portland.  Afterwards we headed north to Canada.  We are spending the summer in British Columbia for John to attended two classes that are directly related to our work overseas and taught by people who have gone before in the same type of work.  

We are already enjoying our time in this hemisphere (layering up not to freeze), speaking English outside the home (though we are learning some uniquely Canadian vocabulary), and taking advantage of all the outside activities and food options.  Hopefully we can keep the last two well balanced so as to not gain the 'furlough forty.' 

Life in Community

Living closely in community with others enables a great deal of living life on life with one another.  In addition to our houses being physically close to one another, the majority of our neighbors do laundry and bathe at out door wells, along with grill and smoke fish outside.  This results in people being around all the time and a great deal of awareness of what is going on with one another.  For example, we often hear small children throwing tantrums, usually in the morning when they don't want to bathe.  Conversely, our neighbors hear when the boys are running around the house or when we took Evangeline outside the other night because she had croup.  The next morning one neighbor confessed she thought it was a cat making the noise.  

As we continue in language and culture study, living in close community with others is very beneficial.  John and I have probably been to more weddings during our five years here than we have during the whole rest of our lives.  Weddings are a big deal and the guest list is usually quite extensive.  Though most weddings look pretty similar to us, I recently had to the chance to see some of the preparations first hand. 

Preparations often begin four days to a week before hand.  Aside from decorating the house, food preparation and invitation delivery are the main tasks for the week before the event.  

Whitman and Evangeline standing against a decorated wall at the groom's house.

This living room area will be used to host and serve guests a meal before the ceremony.

Invitations are usually printed at a shop, but stuffed and addressed at home.  All invitations, when possible, are hand delivered by at least one male relative in traditional dress.  (above right)

 I visited the groom's home a couple times prior to the wedding to see all that was taking place.  Relatives and a couple skilled cooks were, like usual, asked to come help.  Though I stayed only for an hour, the main task of the day was to prepare the ingredients for the sweet and spicy fried cassava.  

Women peeling shallots.  

There must have been close to 10 pounds of shallots.

Once they were peeled, they were sliced, all by hand.

Preparing the sweet and spicy coating for the fried cassava.  

The coating consists of shallots, chilies, garlic, and palm sugar.

Mixing

After shredded cassava and peanuts are fried, it is placed on a large tarp to mix with the boiling hot coating.

It was amazing to the see the mass quantity of ingredients being prepared.  The finished product was then stored at the groom's house.  And I only witnessed one menu item among many being prepared.  

At the end of the week we attended the wedding together as a family.

The groom being accompanied by all his guests to the bride's house,

 middle in green and under an umbrella.

The wedding ceremony takes place at the bride's house.

It was a clear and sunny day, so the umbrellas were used for shade as most people fear any kind of tanning of the skin.

In other news...

Evangeline

"Pack my toys! I'm going to Grandma's."

For the first time in her life...

It is nearing the time our almost two-year-old will set foot in her "passport" country (or country of citizenship) for the first time in her life.  Yes, we are returning to the States at the end of this week for about a six month stay.  We are looking forward to many things about our time, but mostly the opportunity to connect with the dear people in our lives that though far away by distance, have been closely involved in all going on here in Barat.  

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible! 

Life in Transition

We are very thankful to be transitioning well into our new neighborhood.  It is hard to believe we have been in our new house for two months now. 
Though transitioning has been stressful, the Father has decreased the potential stress in a couple very unexpected ways.  Every since we moved in, the city water has been on at least 5 days per week.  The pressure is also high enough to travel eight feet up into the house without the use of our pump.  Secondly, our garbage service has also been very frequent and regular.  Both of these aspects have been significant blessings as water and garbage had become quite irregular and undependable in our previous neighborhood.

Along with the increased dependability of our utilities, we have all gotten into a regular routine in our new surroundings.  Caedmon and Whitman still leave for school about 7am, but they walk instead of ride the motorcycle.  I, Erin, spend my mornings going to the market, which is now about a 10 minute drive away, studying with a language helper twice a week or studying by myself at home, and playing with Evangeline.  Neighborhood kids often come over in the mornings as well to play.  After lunch, while Evangeline naps, we continue with our previous schedule of homeschooling for Caedmon and Whitman.  After the boys have finished their school work, they most often go outside to play with the many neighborhood kids.  Evangeline and I will venture outside as well, to feed goats or visit with the neighbors often sitting in front of or below their houses.

The 'Three Musketeers' and Evangeline

These three little 4 year old boys are our immediate neighbors in front, to the right side, and behind our house.  They can always be found playing together and often seek out Evangeline.  

We frequently sit and help a neighbor make pastries during the afternoon. 

    

Sitting with neighbors and friends. 

There are many kids Evangeline's age.

The lady in the middle is my current language helper.

Caedmon and Whitman often play with the many other kids under our house.

 They play various local games or anything else they make up.

Evangeline loves the goats many neighbors' raise.

Since the first week of living here, she has learned the Barat word for goat and asks daily to see the goats.

Drying fish on the local soccer field.

Though we still live in the same city, this area on the outskirts feels very different, much more like a small village.

The majority of men are either fishermen or construction workers.

Women will sell fish, walking around with coolers or trays of fish, or lay them out to dry.  Once dried, the fish are sold in cities far away.

Squid and fish gifted to us.  

As we spend more time in this community, we are learning how relational and dependent they are on one another.  

If you need something, you ask, maybe indirectly, a neighbor or family member.  The request is often fulfilled without any qualms.  Your fulfilling the request is later answered either when you need something yourself or with a gift from the fruit of your or your husband's labor, as pictured above.  

There was a period of a couple weeks where I received more fish and squid then I knew what to do with.
I'm still learning the best way to prepare these items.

Evangeline holding a smoked fish.  

She loves fish about as much as goats. 

Though she knows both the English and national language word, she tends to use the national language word more often and get very excited when she sees fish up close.  

Evangeline with a little boy from down the street who is about 5 months younger.

Evangeline with my language helper's son. 

Evangeline has learned the names of many of the neighbor kids her age.

Literacy Program

Another regular activity has been the Literacy Program John started in coordination with the foundation he works for.

Every afternoon at 1pm, four young women teach grade school children to read.  The twenty or so children range from first to fifth grade.  Just last week a fluency element was added to help those who already can read or have just finished the literacy part.  

Aside from our daily activities, living in a community allows us to more easily participate in other events.  Shortly after moving here we experienced the holiday celebrating the birth of their most beloved prophet.  Though we have seen the celebrations before, the shape they took was just a little different in this tight knit community.

Whitman and Evangeline sitting on the horse a neighbor girl rode.

Children who finish reading their holy book all the way through celebrate on this holiday by riding a "dancing" horse in a parade.  The parade had at least twenty horse, each with two riders.  

Caedmon having a try.

Our neighbor who celebrated her accomplishment by riding in the parade.

She wore traditional clothing and her family prepared a meal for guests.

Whitman

An additional activity sponsored by the foundation John works for was an instructional course on deep sea diving safety.  John led an instructional meeting for about 6 fishermen.  The men travel to another island to deep sea dive to catch fish and collect Sea Cucumbers.  They typically stay on the island for two months, working, before they return to their families here in Barat.
 

John leading a Diving Safety Course

Though we settled pretty well into our new surrounding, we are still learning how to interact with those we live among and when and how to set boundaries.  Cultural differences seem so much more pronounced in this area.  Many little things we could never anticipate as we lead our lives so often from our own cultural up bringing's. 

Children come over, sometimes to play with Caedmon, Whitman, or Evangeline, but more often desire to play with all our toys.  Our screen doors have been an unexpected blessing in setting boundaries with children.  We have latches on the doors so Evangeline cannot leave on her own.  The latches also keep children out as they often come up onto our porch and just stand peering in at the doors and window.  I often feel bad not inviting children in, but if one or two are allowed to come in, it is quite rude to not invite in the rest, which sometimes reaches up to 20 kiddos.   

A load of children's books accidently washed.

One afternoon we left before the literacy teachers were finished.  We asked them to put the book in our washing machine, which though it is up stairs on our porch, it is outside.  We though this would protect the books from any unexpected weather or random children.  What we did not anticipate was the random children coming up on or porch and playing with the washing machine.  We returned home to find the washing machine finishing a spin cycle.  

Thankfully we could all laugh at the destroyed books, but it was a perfect example of how our culture led us to expect our porch to be a safe, private, personal place to store items.  So as we learn, we grow, which hopefully will lend us to become better communicators and friends in the future.  

My Superstar Wife

She'll pose to show our foreign audience the absolute MONSTROSITY of a banana we were gifted.

She's willing to be right at the center of an ever-growing crowd in order to clean and steri-strip an in-shock neighbor's bleeding wound.

The grinder he dropped cut his leg in three places, eventually requiring 12 stitches.

She'll receive guests morning and night to take out stitches and bandage shoeless mishaps.

She teaches (the often beligerant) Caedmon and (the just as often uncompliant) Whitman from 1:30 to 4:30 everyday.

And she still finds time for regular language study sessions with a neighbor, and nearly EVERY DAY after homeschooling, she musters the energy to take Evangeline out for over an hour to drop in on our neighbors' houses before preparing dinner.
Thank you SO MUCH for your role in lifting her up in the stresses of cross-cultural living. She has been truly in full bloom here the past few weeks.