The Two Month Mark!

Well I have been here for exactly 2 months! In some aspects it feels like forever and in other aspects I feel like I just got here. I have gotten involved in a lot of things, which I think helps in the transition of living overseas. Things are still not easy but it is slowly becoming the new normal. School is slowly getting better and better (however there was a small hiccup yesterday that sent my day into a tail spin). Also getting involved at the church is one of the best things, it is what helped me in China and is what is helping me here.

When people ask me how long I have lived here sometimes they are shocked by my answer. I have learned how to get a taxi and tell them where I need to go, whether by saying it in the language or showing the address on my phone. I know how to buy vegetables at the local street market. I don’t always understand what they are saying but I manage to pay them and not feel ripped off. I know a couple of key phrases and can give input on the way things work here. I am nowhere near perfect but I have learned quickly some of the things needed for survival.

Everyone at church knows I am new, but because I am involved in a lot of things (the young adults group and the women’s group) people tend to think I have been here longer. I think this is a big part of transitioning. Getting involved helps to not think about home so often and I meet tons of new people. The young adults have been meeting at our apartment for the past month. It is so awesome to have a big living room where everyone can sit comfortably. Also I am a part of the women’s connection team! It’s nice having things to do outside of school. It makes me feel like I have more of a purpose here and an impact on the city.

School has been an up and down roller coaster. Whether it is trying to understand co-workers or trying to learn from the other foreigners. There are so many people (yet so little) working here and we are all different. We have different ways of communicating, teaching, and experiences. It’s a lot of adjustments to make while also adjusting to teaching in a foreign country. It doesn’t help that we never hear encouraging words from parents. We only hear the negative things which in turn make us feel like failures. But God is at work here! I am so grateful for the daily reminders that He is here with me. Some days it is easy to see and others it is a little harder. But I always know he is here and he has called me here. Thank you for your continued prayers and love!

2 months down and 22 more to go!

Taco night! And a few games of Dutch Blitz! 

Southeast Asia Costco

The school week is over and it's the weekend!!! Yay!!! And to celebrate we went to Metro to shop for groceries! I know super exciting. ​

Metro has often been brought up in conversations when we ask other foreigners where they find certain western items. What the heck is Metro? It was often described as the Southeast Asia Costco. So when I think of Costco I think of buying things in bigger sizes, buying in bulk, and having to pay a membership fee. I didn't want to buy things in bulk because we don't have a lot of room and it would be an invitation for our creatures to come for a visit. Also there are only two of us living here we don't really need to buy things in bigger sizes. And then I didn't want to pay a membership fee.​

​We found out that it is free for foreigners to get a Metro card and to shop there. So we decided to venture out and see what all the hype is about. Saturdays are our only free day to go grocery shopping so we decided to go today. Many people told us it would be crowded, but we decided to go anyway.

We got there at about 11:30 and there was no one there. No line to get our bags wrapped or to get a shopping cart. Maybe a couple people here and there, but seriously it was pretty empty. So we decided to meander down every aisle. Since there weren't a lot of people we didn't have to weaver our way around everyone and their carts.​

We looked at the rice cookers. We found out last night from a friend that you can cook cakes and breads in the rice cooker!!! What?!?!?! I am super excited to try to bake something, but first we need a rice cooker. It is going to happen! Soon!!! We also looked at fans to use in our living room because our air conditioner needs help. Lol. We found a fan we wanted, but of course they didn't have any in stock :(.​

We found everything on our grocery list except for meat. They had so many things to choose from and we didn't have to deal with everyone staring at us or bumping into us. We did buy our favorite chocolate snack in bulk! I don't really know what they are called but we call them "panda yummies" and we bought 20 boxes of them for $15 and it is totally worth it!!!

We walked down the cheese aisle and were amazed at all the selections of cheese. We found our favorite laughing cow cheese slices for a little more than $2 for 10 slices. We also found whole blocks of Swiss cheese and Gouda. She's the Man lines were traded for a few minutes and pictures were taken. The Gouda cheese round cost $250!!!

​It was nice to be able to go to the checkout line and not have any lines. Seriously there were 5 lanes open and only 4 had people in them. Compared to other grocery stores here this was amazing!!! We checkout out even though we didn't have a metro card (next time we will get one, all we need is out passports). It was nice to be able to spend $150 and not have people staring at all your groceries and standing intimately close to you while you are getting your money out of your wallet. Basically it was a great experience and we spent less than we thought we would!

We came back to the apartment and put all the groceries away (and household things we bought). We washed the new glasses and water bottles we bought. And the we watched a movie to relax. Shopping here is tiring. LOL. No one around you speaks English so you try to communicate and it takes more energy than you think. Hopefully it will get easier as we learn the language. ​

An Unordinary Saturday

The 5th of September is National School Day.  

Our day began at 7am on this Saturday (meaning no sleeping in!). We had to be at school to help set everything up for the festivities that were to begin at 8am. The dress was formal attire and the weather was hot and humid. So I found the nicest dress I brought that was also light because I knew too much fabric would me even more sweat! I thought I would try to wear my hair down as well, but I didn't even make it 30 minutes. It was just too hot!!! 

We walked to school and when we got there it looked completely different than when we left Friday night.  Everyone was in the yard putting covers on chair with red satin bows. We jumped right in to help. My goodness who knew you would work up such a sweat putting on seat covers? All the staff was helping with this in their transitional dress. They all looked so pretty (the staff and the chairs LOL). 

National School Day setup.  

After finishing the chairs I went inside to find some air! I made the mistake of not drinking any water so I got hot super fast and I was just praying I would make it through the program without passing out! At 8am the students lined up to go outside and sit in the yellow lunch chairs according to class. And then the program began.  

David and Ngan were our MCs for the event. They introduced each performance by Sakura Montessori and then by Gateway. The kindergarteners were so cute and I really enjoyed watching my 2nd graders do the YMCA (with a few different moves). The performances ended at 10am and were followed by pictures. After pictures (around 10:30am) we were allowed to go home! 

Performances by all the kids. Top left is 2nd grade and top right is 1st grade!  Sakura had the best costumes!!!

​We made our exit quickly because we wanted to get a rest in before going back to school for a game day with the young adults. At 2pm the HIF young adults were meeting at our school for a game day! I was really excited about having our Christian group at the school being a bright light for Jesus. There is so much heaviness and darkness (lots of oppression) at the school I knew we would be met with some opposition.

The communication was dropped and the security guard was left out of the loop. The Board of Managers (head honchos) gave us permission to use the school for these 2 hours and Valyn let the lady in charge of security know that we had permission to be there and use the facilities. However she didn't tell the guard and he was very upset that we kept coming into the building and using the air conditioner and the fan. He'd keep coming back every 30 minutes to turn off the fan or the air con. And he would yell at some of the young adults. They later came and told me he was being very rude. I'm sad this happened but I know it could have been much worse!

The game time was awesome! We played some ice breaker games and some games that maybe one day we could implement in the classroom. Then we played volleyball with a balloon ball. I don't know any way to describe it other than that and mention that it was a ball that had a balloon inside it. This just made it so it didn't hurt when you got hit by it (I got hit in the face twice!). 

The top is a yoko circle where every other leans back with the other lean forward. Pretty cool! And the bottom is our sit down volleyball game! Such a fun time!!! 

We split into teams and played on game of volleyball sitting down. This is a lot harder than you think! But it was a lot of fun! My team won the sitting down game. Then we decided to expand our court and play standing up. This should be easier except we (I) kept forgetting that we had to hit it at least twice before sending it over. We got close but in the end we lost. :(. But I had so much fun! It makes me miss playing volleyball. Hopefully one day Gateway has the option for a volleyball team! 

Such an awesome group of people! I absolutely love spending time with these young adults! God has bless me with great friends here! 

After the game time I went to the pastor's apartment to talk with his wife and Lydia about the Women's FB page. Lydia and I are in charge of the FB page and we wanted to figure out what all we needed and wanted to have on the page. We walked back to their apartment and on the way I was hit by a motorbike. Yes you read that correctly. However it wasn't bad. The guy's handlebar nicked my side. The guy lost control of his bike and slide on the ground. My fear of walking on the street was realized today. He was staring for too long and not paying attention to how close he was too me. :(. I'm just thankful I only have a bruise!

At the pastor's house I iced my side and talked to the girls about what we wanted to use the FB page for and how we wanted it to look. We spent about 3 hours talking about the FB page and how to keep it effective for the women here. We also squeezed in time to eat pizza :). By 9pm we had a Facebook page and we were heading home.  

Such a long day but a great day! God is providing so many opportunities to get involved. I love meeting people who have a heart for this nation and talking about our plans to reach the people even if it is just teaching English. There is a purpose for why we are here and God is revealing more and more everyday! 

Blessings until next time!