Our Neighborhood

These are just a couple of pictures from our neighborhood, our street and our apartment building. Most people, about 90%, live in tall apartment complexes. We are told that once everyone returns from their summer homes the city will be really crowded. One day we hope to take a picture from the outskirts of the city so you can get an idea of just how many apartment buildings there are. Our boys seem to be enjoying their new home, even though they do not have a backyard! Caleb has been spending a lot of his time downstairs playing in the courtyard/parking lot of our apartment complex. Even though he is the only English speaker he seems to still have a good time, especially because the other boys enjoy soccer as well. It is somewhat funny to watch him as he interacts with the other children. Josiah will just keep speaking English, either not knowing or not caring that they do not understand him. Caleb, on the other hand, will say English words with a foreign accent. I'm not quite sure what foreign accent he is using but he thinks its working. Tomorrow I will actually go look into sending him to a national school, where we hope that he will learn some language.

National Flavor

Lucas enjoys this popular national dish called lahmacun. I think he actually ate more than Ted did! It is like a thin pizza but is topped with minced beef and lamb. Last night we were invited to have dinner with our new national friends. We knew that we were in for an interesting evening because last time we did not get home until one in the morning! I went there hoping that our boys would eat whatever was put before them. I was happy that to see that we were having lahmacun. I probably should have been more worried about how I would do! I bravely agreed to try a popular national drink that is basically just plain yogurt mixed with water. I was served a large glass but I could not bring myself to drink more than one sip. I can do many things I do not like to do without trouble, but for some reason eating/drinking things I don't care for is VERY difficult for me. Ask my mother about hours spent at the table trying to eat the little bit of broccoli that was set before me. This was going to be a challenge. I sat there thinking that I needed to drink more so as not to offend. Then Lucas came to the rescue. He asked for a sip and loved it. He ended up drinking a good portion for me. Though Lucas has not adjusted to staying up so late he has acquired a liking for the national foods.

Master of Disguise

Can you tell who this boy is? Josiah puts his clothes on over his costume so that "no one will know who I am". We laugh of course, but he is oblivious to the fact that his clothes do not totally conceal his secret identity. In a city as large as our it is easy to believe that we are lost in the crowd. Sure we're foreigners but no one could know that for sure unless we spoke. I've actually had quite a few people come up and talk to me, the possibility of my being a foreigner never crossing their mind. Even as I use the word for "I don't understand" they continue to talk. I think they just change the wording because they think I need further explanation. About a week ago we learned that we are not lost in the crowd here. Ted went to talk to his barber and the barber asked if he lives at "such and such". Amazed, Ted asked how the man could know where we lived. Apparently the water man told him. That clears it up, right? We are beginning to realize that a lot of people we've never met know that we are the foreigners who just moved to the neighborhood. We are glad that our neighbors are curious about us and we hope that soon we will be able to say a whole lot more than "I don't understand".