a non-slippery waterfall

Our friends invited us to join them on a day trip out of the city to have a picnic and explore this non-slippery waterfall.  I thought maybe I was not understanding the "non-slippery" part correctly due to the language barrier, but we were happy to be invited and join the outing.  After being picked up and joining the rest of the group, we all stopped at the market to buy our picnic lunch.  Have I mentioned how much we love the food here and how wonderful it is to be able to buy food for such a low price, making my time in the kitchen much less?  So, after buying sticky rice, roasted chicken, dried fish and some fruit, we loaded up and headed off.  After setting up the picnic area and visiting the 7-colored-water spring at the top, we started down the long trail of steps to see this waterfall.   Apparently, I did understand correctly, because there were people climbing up the waterfall!  We took our shoes off and tried it out.  It was true, it wasn't slippery!  The minerals in the water had deposited to form this non-slippery surface that the water runs down.  It was pretty amazing.  Obviously, with Elise strapped to my chest, I was very cautious and didn't do any climbing.  We enjoyed it for a bit, then after a loooong climb back up the stairs sat down on the mat to enjoy our picnic lunch with our friends.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of that.  We're looking forward to going back someday when the girls are older and would love climbing the waterfall.  

 

 

hello, kindergarten, it's me again!

When I started kindergarten I was pretty excited about learning how to read and write.  At the time there was no pressure.  Now, I find myself in the same place I was then, but this time I'm an adult and there is nothing glamorous about learning to read and write as an adult.  I did get a little excited about the syllables I read yesterday, but I tried not to show it.  Although, we don't have to deal with phonics in this language, there are over 90 symbols to learn, which is a significant hurdle to overcome before beginning to learn to read.  Now we're getting into the rules of reading, which seems more daunting than learning those 90 symbols.  Reading in this language doesn't just go from left to right, it also goes right to left and up and down and down and up.  As far as writing goes, there are only a few letters that don't have little circles on them.  We have been repeatedly told our circles are on the wrong side, and we don't even have dyslexia.  Needless to say, I'm pretty solid on the words for "circle" and "side."

Talia, who is not at an embarrassing age to learn how to read and write, without any prompting grabbed her magna doodle and decided to join in the fun during one of our language classes.

-Ryan

temple on the mountain

From our window we can see a mountain.  On top of that mountain, we can see a temple.  Even at night, we see it's lights shining.  It's a popular spot for visitors, so we wanted to make sure we visited it before we left.  We spent a morning there observing, photographing, and learning a bit more about the culture and beliefs of people here.  The effects of the 300+ stair climb were felt for a few days after.  It was a good calf workout!  On the way down, we grabbed a quick snack of sweet roasted corn and pickled mango before heading home.  The pictures tell the rest of the story.

 

six months!

Free smiles.  That is one of our favorite things about Elise.  She'll smile pretty much anytime and at anyone.  She has such a sweet little personality, and though this transition has been harder on her than we anticipated, she always has a smile for us.  I would say, though, that her big sister gets more smiles (and giggles) than the average person.  Besides her gummy smiles, I also can't get enough of the rolls behind her knees and her chubby little wrists.  Six months feels like a big milestone and it's hard to believe how fast those months have passed.  A few new things have happened this month:  Elise's first haircut (she was already getting a mullet!) and our sweet little baby is on the move!  I was hoping she might be content to stay put for a bit longer, but apparently it's time to explore and leave the mat behind.  We're so thankful for our precious Elise and that she's now sleeping and eating well after a few tough months for her.  We're also so thankful for the love between our two girls and for how much they enjoy each other.


 

a peek at our language session

A large portion of our week is spent studying language and culture. There are many ways we learn and study, but one of them is in the form of a "language session" with a tutor in our home. We have these sessions for 3 hours during the afternoon. At this point, we are in basic level so are only learning to comprehend new words. In a few weeks, we will begin to speak those same words we've been learning for the past month. To learn the new words, we use pictures we've taken in the community, actions, or objects in the house. We are following a curriculum and slowly chipping away at this monumental task. It all feels oddly familiar. :) We are thankful for the experience we already have learning a language using this method, and it is encouraging to remember that it really does work!

We begin our sessions at 1pm and usually have about 2 hours uninterrupted while the girls are napping. Then after they wake up, they join us. Talia listens for a bit, but then usually colors or plays with playdough. Then sometimes while we are practicing writing (more on that later) she'll learn a few more animal words. Elise is usually content to hang out on the mat or in our laps. One of the most challenging adjustments to learning this particular language, is the tone. I can't even count the number of times I've asked about a new word, "oh, is that the same word as _____?" And she'll say, "no, that's like this ___" and it will often be the same consonants and vowels with a different tone. For example, the words for "horn", "knee", "him/her" and "to enter" are only different by tone. And then you can also add "white" and "rice" to the previous set that only differ by vowel length! Yikes! We're thankful for a great tutor who is patient and really understands our method of learning.

happy (wet) new year

It's the traditional new year here, and we've heard our city throws the biggest party.  It's a four day holiday and water fight.  From what we've learned, the water was traditionally poured gently down the backs of elders and family as a sign of blessing or respect, but it's now evolved into dousing friends and strangers alike with water from buckets, hoses and squirt guns.  The moat in the middle of town is the location of the most action.  It's difficult to even describe the chaos!  It's basically a giant water fight party. There are trucks driving around loaded with passengers and all their water gear throwing water or spraying those walking around.  There are people on the sidewalks with barrels full of water to fight back at the trucks and other passersby.   Many even buy blocks of ice to make their water freezing cold!  April is one of the hottest months of the year here, but that ice water will still take your breath away.  There is loud music playing, snack food for sale and of course all the water fighting gear you could need.

Ryan and I took turns getting out to the moat to experience the fun.  I went with some friends from work and we spent three hours in the action.  We bought ourselves some buckets and joined in the fun by scooping water out of the moat to throw at people.  After seeing Ryan's sunburn from the previous day, we also bought ourselves some straw hats for less than a dollar.  When we were done, we found a safe place to eat and headed back home.  It was an experience like none other and we loved it!

We took Talia out in our neighborhood for a more tame celebration and she had fun making a few friends and trying to squirt people with her little gun.  She wasn't so fond of having a bucket of water thrown at her, though.

 

four on a bike

After a three week exercise in patience, we finally got our new wheels.  Our previous bike was a bit bigger than this one.  Fitting three on it was no challenge at all.  Since we are competitive people we thought we'd see if we could get a smaller bike and add one person.  I remember laughing at pictures of Asian families all packed onto a bike.  Well, look at us now!
I am relieved to not have to walk and sweat so much.  Talia and I probably tie for who is the most excited for the new bike.  She has been anxiously waiting for us to get a motorbike since we sold the last one.  A friend I met at the gym introduced me to a nice old lady who sells helmets, so after getting the bike we all went down together to pick ours out.  There was even one to fit Talia.

 

It's a long story

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I am sure that any local would know the exact steps and requirements for getting a license here. The ones who got to witness me stumbling my way through the process must have been shaking their heads. I did do some research before heading down to the department of transportation. (I'm not a complete idiot, right?) I decided to go ahead and get both my car and motorcycle license at once. I have an international driver's license for a car so that turned out to be a somewhat smoother process.

I showed up at the place bright and early, and after asking a few different people for directions, I ended up getting helped by a very nice lady who spoke great English. She helped me fill out my applications and get my paperwork together. After all my stuff was in order, she sent me to wait with a group of about 8 other people. A man came out and gave instructions to us in the local language so I just followed the crowd. The man lit up different colors on a model traffic light and we had to call out the color. I just went with saying the colors in English and it seemed to satisfy. Next we all took turns testing our reaction time with a model gas and brake pedal on the floor. I think that I may have won this one, but there were no prizes.

After the color and reaction tests, we were sent to the written test station. I had to take two written tests, one for the motorcycle license and one for the car license. The tests were taken on computer and turned out to be pretty much the same. My classmates must have studied more that I did, because I ended up being the last one in the room. I passed my first test and failed the second, which I was allowed to retake. I definitely ran into some difficult questions like this one: "which is illegal to drive down the street, a tank, a car with a broken tail light, or a race car?" Let's just say that I'll be looking in the classifieds for a racing tank with working tail lights.

After my written test, I needed to take my motorcycle road test. From what my research had told me, there was a course set up somewhere outside where I would take the test and I could rent a motorcycle there to take the test. After trudging around for a while and asking directions from a few people, I found the test course. I went up to the desk and explained to the man there that I wanted to take my driving test for motorcycle. He had his assistant try to explain the course, which they would watch me complete from the desk. I had to go down the road, turn right, stop, turn left, go over a bridge, zig zag through cones and ride down a plank. The assistant gestured to a motorcycle sitting there, which I assumed must be the rental. I got on the bike, put on the helmet and when I went o start it, I realized there were no keys. When I asks for the keys, the assistant said, "Oh, this isn't yours?" There was a little confusion for a while as I was trying to figure out why she had me sitting on a stranger's bike and she tried to figure out who would be stupid enough to come and take a motorcycle driving test without a motorcycle. The group there enjoyed some laughs at my expense and when things got figured out, they asked around to see if anyone would lend me their bike for the test. A fellow applicant let me use his bike, which had seen better days. Thankfully, it performed well enough to allow me to complete the course and get a stamp on my application form. I gave the young man a little compensation for the use of his bike, and went back to the main building thinking that I couldn't have made more of a fool of myself and it was for sure all down hill from here.

Arriving back inside, I was given a number and asked to wait. After a lengthy wait, my number was called and I went forward with all my paperwork. All I had left was to have my photo taken. When the lady at the counter looked through my paperwork again she found a problem. My physical exam from the doctor was more than a month old and they couldn't except it. She told me that they would take my photo and make my license. All I would have to do was bring back a new exam form from the doctor to get my licenses. They had a young assistant take me down to the hospital and drop me off. I went in and managed to get what I was looking for. After a blood pressure reading and a few belly pokes I was headed back to the department of transportation. I traded in my medical form for my two licenses and headed home a happy man. Now, in a few days, the motorcycle that we ordered will arrive and I'll be hitting the streets with the rest of the crowd.