A Glimpse of Life Here

Here are some of the sights we see nearly every day. Enjoy!

This is the hill we climb to go pretty much anywhere. It gives us good exercise. :-) It is also one of the reasons we don't use our stroller unless absolutely necessary. Toby is quite comfortable on this hill now; he walks up and down like a pro! (And, yes, people do ride mototcycles up and down this hill--quite regularly, in fact.)

The neighbor children are very friendly. This little girl is the one who, upon seeing Toby's nicely rounded belly, asked if he was pregnant. :-) A neighbor lady kindly explained that no, he wasn't pregnant, just healthy.

This street vendor sells yummy produce near our language school. He stocks a good supply of vegetables, but fruit isn't quite so common. It's great food though!

The building on the right is our language school. As you can see, hills are pretty common around here. To the left is a nice grassy area with a bench swing.

It really is beautiful here. The weather isn't too hot, but it does rain nearly every afternoon or evening. We're entering the hot or "dry" season, "dry" meaning that it rains in the afternoon instead of all day long. :-) It is a rain forest after all....

No Bananas

Toby loves, loves, loves bananas. He's in the right country to indulge in them too: we've enjoyed eating at least 4 different kinds so far. This morning as we were fixing breakfast and getting ready for the day, Jonathan turned on some children's music, starting as always with the Veggie Tales version of "This Little Light of Mine." (Toby likes to dance around the room doing the motions to that song.)

A few minutes later, I heard Toby crying as though his heart were breaking. I ran to the kitchen to see what was wrong. Between sobs, he was saying, "Na-na, na-na" ("banana, banana"). It registered with Jonathan first that the current song was a jazz tune entitled, "Yes, We Have No Bananas." Poor Toby has heard this song lots of times, but this was the first time he understood what it was saying. Guess he just couldn't bear the thought of having no bananas....

Lessons from a Water Jug

Living in a new culture is a little like being on a treasure hunt except that you don't know what the treasure is or how to recognize your clues. I'm still mulling over the latest cultural "treasure" and its implications. The tap water here is not safe to drink, so everyone buys big jugs of water for drinking. Whenever we run out of water, we call or text the water store, and someone delivers a new jug straight to our door on a motorcycle. It's a pretty nifty system.

Well, the first few times we texted for water, it was promptly delivered. But then the delivery guys really started slacking. One day it took about 4 hours and multiple texts/calls before we finally got our water! I kept thinking about it and wondering if there was some reason behind the delay. Suddenly, it dawned on me: I wonder if we should be tipping them? And sure enough, that was it. As we talked with people, we learned that tipping is expected for delivery service. A few days later, Jonathan met up with one of our water delivery guys, gave him a belated tip, and explained that we hadn't known we were expected to tip them. And this morning our water was delivered within 45 minutes of our call. :-)

You may wonder why the delivery guys didn't simply ask for a tip. I don't understand all the "why's" myself, but I am learning that this culture values relationship and good manners. Instead of rudely demanding a tip, the delivery guys gave us poor service, expecting that this would clue us in to our mistake. This way they don't have to confront us directly or witness our embarrassment at making such an obvious (to them) blunder. It makes sense...and scares me a bit because I tend to rush along in life, not taking time to notice subtle signs of problems. Guess I'd better start paying more attention....


Here are some (unrelated) pictures for your enjoyment.

Abbie has started laughing now. She's got the dearest little ticklish spot up near her neck. I love hearing her bursts of explosive giggles.

Yes, that's a Lego in his mouth. He got great amusement out of doing that one day.

Abbie loves to have her blanket nearby when she sleeps.

Toby still loves to line things up. I often find Abbie watching him these days; he is good entertainment for her.

Toby's Belated Birthday

This year Toby's birthday came at a bad time. We had been in-country for a month and were just days away from getting on a plane and moving across the country to begin language school. Fortunately, he's young enough that it doesn't matter. So we had a small celebration on the day itself but saved the real thing--complete with guests, presents, and cake--for a time when we could host the party in our new home.

Some new friends came to help celebrate

We have a wonderful group of people living nearby who also attend language school. They graciously joined us for Toby's party even though we had met only a few weeks before. We had lots of fun with them. (Names are withheld for sensitivity issues.)

Opening his first gift

So busy playing he couldn't even take time for cake (and it's chocolate-y goodness was well worth eating)

Toby has missed his Legos since we left them behind. I was thrilled to find something similar here; in fact, these are even easier for him to manipulate because they don't hold together quite so firmly. As you can see, they were a big hit.

Toby ate his piece of cake after the excitement had died down.

I think Toby looks so much like my brother Tim in this picture!

Chocolate mustache

We can't leave Abbie out of this post completely. She's so much fun these days! She's a happy, smiley little girl who loves to chew on anything she can get into her mouth.

Abbie's favorite activity: eating her hands

Isn't that headband darling?