Girl's Night Out

Last night I met up with some American friends who live in our city for a night on the town. There's just something about not having to use a second language to communicate that makes the time together a little more carefree!

First, pedicures! These are my friends modeling the books you can choose your design from. I opted against "Phat Asian" being spelled across my toes. 

The finished glittery products!

Next was a delicious dinner of fresh juices and crepes! Thankfully the few foreigners in our town are for the most part entrepreneurial, this particular Dutch fella makes a mean crepe!

And then . . . karaoke baby! Karaoke is a BIG deal here, and it is A-L-L kinds of fun! As you can see, it's an intense experience that demands the fullest facial and dance expressions possible!

And yes, the tambourine was absolutely necessary when singing Justin Beiber. 

 

 It was a great night, and I'm so thankful for my girlfriends of all nationalities!

We're Kind of a Big Deal

About two weeks ago, Baxter and I underwent another step in planting our lives here - getting our driver's licenses. In the U.S. this is no big deal; class when your sixteen, drive for a few hours with some disgruntled state employee, take a test, renew every now and again = done-skies. Here, it's similar, but in the words of my dear husband "anything is possible, but nothing is easy". This absolutely proved to be true.

Many foreigners hire an "interpreter" (read: someone they pay to study and take the test with/for them), or are able to get their hands on a copy of the answers to memorize. As luck would have it, we had to go to our provincial capital to take the test where glory be (SARCASM), they had an English version. We realized this meant actually studying for the thing, and I about fainted when Baxter said the review booklet was 300 pages. And of course foreigners could only go on Thursdays and attempt to take the test twice, and the only driver's license on our team was leaving the country the following week. No pressure, right? However, I did get a kick out of many of the questions on the test. Here are a few of my favorites: 

 

When encountering a flock of sheep crossing a road, the driver should _______.

A. Honk continuously to drive away the flock

B. Speed up and bypass the flock

C. Drive slowly and use the vehicle to scare away the flock

D. Reduce speed and go slowly, or stop to yield when necessary

When a vehicle encounters an old man riding bike on the road, the driver should ______.

A. Honk to indicate him to yield when approaching him

B. Honk in advance, reduce speed and evade

C. Swiftly bypass

              D. Follow closely
 

 When the engine catches fire, the wrong measure is to _____.

A. Swiftly turn off the engine

B. Extinguish the fire by covering

C. Open the bonnet to extinguish the fire

D. Use the fire extinguisher to put out the fire

When a motorized vehicle breaks down on the expressway, the persons on board should swiftly move to the front of the vehicle for hiding.   (Answer:WRONG)

My favorite part however, was the especially awesome/clear portion of the test involving traffic signals:

 

   Obviously, this means turn left sharply. 

Where as this means yield to the vehicle behind you. 

Per usual, Baxter studied a lot and made a 99 on the first try (knowing exactly which one he missed of course), and I studied what I considered to be enough, and "failed" with an 86 on the first try, and squeaked out a passing 92 on the second try. After giving myself nerve-induced sweat rings the entire length of my shirt and nearly crying with relief in the computer lab with 100+ people, we were THRILLED to leave with these bad boys proudly in hand: 

Now as for actually driving amidst the aforementioned wandering sheep and old men to be evaded . . . that's another story!

When the World Changes

June 2010

This week a bit of my world changed, as the dear man on the far left of the photo, my Uncle Al, went home to be with the Father. As an adult I now realize our relationship was a bit unusual, but growing up, I never thought it to be anything less than perfect.

Al is my mom's elder brother by twenty years, so by the time mom came along, Al was already married with a baby. So, this meant that growing up, "Uncle" Jerry, "Aunt" Deana, "Uncle" Scott, were really my cousins, and their children (technically second cousins) were all my playmates. By the time I was nine years old both of mom's parents had already passed away, and while I of course missed getting to know them, I never once felt the absence of grandparents in my life.

As long as I can remember, Uncle Al and his wife Jackie just counted my brother and I as one of the brood. We got the same gifts as the other grandkids at Christmas, they came to our school performances or games when they could, I even remember them coming to a "Grandparent's Day" or two at my elementary school.  For years our family had a cabin (read:trailer on the "classy" side of the river) in a small valley in the Ouachita mountains of Arkansas, and it was Al who introduced each new generation and family member to the ins and outs of the Bear Cave, the Swimming Hole, and the intricacies of crawdaddin' around Garfield rock.  To me, he was Albert Pike; wonderfully fun and simply unforgettable.

Looking back, the way Al cared for me and our entire family was so typical of who he was as a person. Generous, loving, and always laughing . . . I don't know that there was a single person in their small East Texas town who didn't know and respect my Uncle Al.

While moments like this can't help but remind me of the perpetually and inevitably changing world, I will remember Al as so much more than just a figure in my life, or his passing as a marker in my adulthood. Al wasn't just a man who sat idly by as the world changed around him, but was a man who in his own subtle ways, changed the world. I am so grateful for the legacy of his life, and am blessed to count myself as part of his heritage.

 ¹ Hear my cry, O God;

   listen to my prayer.

 ² From the ends of the earth I call to you,
   I call as my heart grows faint;
   lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
³ For you have been my refuge,
   a strong tower against the foe.

 ⁴ I long to dwell in your tent forever
   and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.^[b]
5 For you, God, have heard my vows;
   you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. 

Psalm 61:1-5

The Sweetest Day

It's days like today that make me wonder how I've got it so good. Sure, there are days when I get stuck in my head and wonder if I'll ever speak this language as well as I would like, but days like today . . . make all my worries and self-induced pressure feel so appropriately insignificant. 

This morning we met them, 

 

to go here, 

to pick these,

and ended up going home with all this!!

Talk about a haul! And this doesn't include the hundreds we ate right off of the tree! Cherries, anyone?

Learning to Play

Something I love about the language here, is the extensive usage of the verb "to play". This can mean a variety of things, but is typically used when a friend is asking you to do something. Here's some examples of how I have recently learned to "play":

Cooking with a friend in YJ (no worries, this is just an apron, not a surgical gown!)

And more recently, I did all kinds of playing this week with a friend! First, we went to a local park where I went elbow to elbow with the local 6 year olds to paint this treasure for my love:

As I'm sure you can tell, this is a ceramic house that says "Sweet Home", and that's Baxter and I on top. He was deeply touched by both my thoughtfulness and remarkable artistic ability. He's a lucky man. ; )

And to cap off our day of "playing", we got our nails did! Now the design you'll see that I got was very simple comparatively, primarily because my nails are short right now. Next time, after I grow these puppies out . . . glitter, butterflies, stick on pearls, rhinestones . . .  it's ON!

Lucky for me, I love to "play" and whatever that could entail, and it's always exciting to see just what "playing" will mean to that particular friend on that particular day!

Living the Dream

In more ways than I can count, our life here is an adventure, unpredictable even at times. Thankfully, Baxter and I both thrive in this kind of environment, and have learned to appreciate and enjoy the random as well as the ridiculous.

This past week I had one of those experiences, that was not entirely random, but on some levels, pretty ridiculous. A good friend of mine and I went shopping, and while out and about she suggested we stop by to see her photographer husband who was doing a shoot nearby. This particular friend is tons of fun, and thrives on spontaneity. So we stop by this little make up shop where her husband is photographing this lovely young lady for an advertisement for the shop, when my friend suggests to the owner/make up artist that she practice on me - clearly, because I am a foreigner.

So next thing I know, not only am in the chair with all kinds of lotions, powders, and potions being applied to my face . . . but the owner asked if we could take some pictures of me! Now, you have to know, it is Baxter and I's not so secret ambition to be featured on advertisements here in our city. There is a brand of potato chips that has this red-headed American child dressed as an angel on their package (makes sense, right?), which led us to decide we could have no greater ambition for not only our future children but for ourselves as well.  If you are one of about 30 foreigners in a town of about half a million and you cause a stir most of the time anyways, why not go big? Billboards, sides of buses - we can only dream.

What I thought was going to be a few fun pictures of the local white girl, turned into a full on 3 hour photo shoot with three different "looks". Daytime, nighttime, and what Baxter and I named the alien/peacock look. It was actually tons of fun, and was a boost that I needed on that particular day. Below are some of the pictures, and yes, I have decided to include some of my personal favorites that understandably won't be used for the advertisements. But the last two she WILL be using, which is so funny to me. First stop, make up store wall . . . next stop - BILLBOARDS!!

I get a kick out of this one, because clearly, the pose is awkward. They painted my nails to match this wrap thingy I'm wearing that incidentally, you  can't see.

  

The oh-so-classic and yet entirely ridiculous, hide behind the leaf pose. 

Natural, right?

And these are the two that will be displayed in her shop. I decided to overlook some of the airbrushing, during which my cheeks were made to look a tad fuller, and a mole on my nose was cropped out. No hard feelings as long as it lands me at most a bus, and at least a bag of potato chips. Livin' the dream my friends!

Nine. Where do they go?

Well. I feel like I say this every month, but it's hard to believe that we recently passed the 9 month mark of living here. Absolute insanity if you ask me. There are days when I don't remember a life that wasn't full of noodles and street signs I can't read, and when our life in the States feels like some odd parallel universe.

Regardless, I can't remember any other season in my life where growth was so challenging and so simultaneously sweet. I recently helped throw a baby shower for two sweet mamas-to-be here, one of which is a friend and co-worker of ours who I've got to see at the various stages of her pregnancy. While oohing and ahhing over tiny baby clothes, and seeing their little ones rolling around in their bellies, I couldn't help but marvel at the unbelievable miracle God brings about in 9 short (says the one who is NOT pregnant!) months.

I got misty eyed thinking about all the ways God has pieced us together in a similar fashion as He has created life for us here. In the early months, we absolutely were the aliens on the screen . . . in very few ways representing what we were to become. And slowly, but so faithfully, God has breathed into us, giving us movement, voice, and growth so that we can survive here. I love thinking about how when babies are born, they are equipped with all that they need - hearts that beat in life and love, tiny eyes that increasingly understand the faces around them, vocal cords that give sound to their needs and cries . . . all of these things that He has been so faithful to place in us in our development here as well.

And yet, just like a newborn baby, our growth is far from over, our development far from done. But what I love about these nine months, is that the God who has nurtured and sustained us, will continue to do so. As our levels of need changes, He still is the source. He still is life. He rejoices with each step and toddle we make, and weeps with us when we skin our knees. He is such a gracious Father, and I am so grateful for these early months of seemingly unseen but necessary growth.