This Crazy Summer!

I just realized that the last time I update the blog was Sunday afternoon (our time), and it only included the happenings through Saturday night.

Sunday for dinner we went to Sunil and Nazarina's house. They were so sweet to invite our entire family over. I've decided my kids are the most ill behaved children in the world after attending their house, and I need to do a better job at keeping them occupied when they are "bored". Other than the embarrassment of our children we had a very nice dinner. Dinner included a beef curry, chicken fry, rice and a vegetable salad. It was all very tasty. A little spicy for me, but they served the food with a yogurt sauce that cools down the spicy flavor.

At our friends Sunil and Nazarina's home for dinner

Their dog would get out of the way for the picture. She wouldn't settle down, so Sunil picked her up and she was totally still while the picture was being taken.

Everyone (except me) that was there for dinner.

Yesterday we ended up at the church playing table tennis. After a few minutes I just looked at the kids and said, "We are on the other side of the world and we're hanging out at the church." I'd so much rather be out and exploring this world that is so different to me. After playing at the church we ended up back home and hung out here for the evening. On a lighter note, however, I did find some "American" brown sugar and attempted cookies again. They were much better than the first time I made them. This time I actually ate 2!


Chocolate chip cookies!

playing ping pong at the church

This morning (Tuesday) we went to our usual school to do our thing. When I got there, Dallans age group and younger did not have class. Evidently it is considered a "holiday" because the teachers are on some sort of strike. Instead of teaching nursery rhymes I accompanied the other preschool teachers in a meeting and helped them brainstorm activity ideas. It was fun, but I soon realized the activities I was suggesting involved having access to materials (ie, crayons, paper, you know, basic school supplies) and it made it a little more difficult to come up with ideas. I'm not sure how much help I was, but it was interesting sharing ideas. Even Dallan had a few ideas of what he did in his kindergarten class last year. (Thanks, Erika!)

On another note, I’m still learning the tricks and trades of doing laundry. I think I have figured out why some people have gates around their balconies from top to bottom, where they hang laundry. One word: birds. At our apartment it's two points for the birds. I wonder if that’s why most pants are hung to dry inside-out. Hmmm… But then of course there is the rain. You can’t keep the rain out of the gates. The last 2 days I have hung laundry and then it rained. Of course it doesn’t rain long, just long enough to get the clothes wetter than when I hung them up. But today it rained hard enough for the rain to be dripping off the clothes. Four points for Mother Nature and the rain. Regardless of the birds or the rain, it doesn’t matter, laundry is just harder for me to do here, but it has to be done...I do still have some standards as a mother!

Here are some random pictures...

5:00 traffic

Traffic, notice how people just walk wherever they need to, and once again, every ounce of space is taken

This is how they celebrate birthdays in the office here. A cake is ordered (in this case 2 cakes), everyone assembles in the conference room, and the birthday people get frosting smeared all over their face. This would be a reason for me not to work there. However, maybe since Ryan doesn't have an "office" to work in, we should "celebrate" his birthday while we are here and he has friends to help his celebrate! hehe