more picture memories

(Emily, the lovely lady in the middle, and her husband open their home to me at least two or three nights a week.  They’re basically my school parents.)

(My CM chicas:)

(Definitely a garbage picture, but I like it anyway.  If you look closely, you can see where I have a butterfly bandage on my finger, where I lost a fight with a squash knife.)

The Lining Is Silver

Or the lining is golden.  Or orange.  Maybe it's pink.  In my personal experience, it depends on the sunset.  Or the sunrise.  One thing's for sure, the lining is almost always beautiful.

My plan for this update: culinary misadventures, God's goodness, some awkward encounters, and a request or two for prayer.  Those of you that want to bail now are hereby excused. (Except you, Mom.  You have to stay so I don't look like a loser.  It's your fault I'm writing anyway.)  Alright, hands and feet inside the vehicle?  Here we go...

Roasted garbanzo beans are a lie. I also might have made them incorrectly.  They did, however, start popping like popcorn in the oven without actually making anything fluffy and flavorful.  I ended up with chewy, kinda-sorta-salt-and-vinegar, traumatized chickpea pebbles, which I ate because waste is a sin.  Thankfully, I only made one serving, so they're gone now.  The remaining beans got falafel-ized in our new (to us) food processor!  Of course, I didn't have all the "real" ingredients to make falafel, so I made a recipe up that I fondly call Maybe Falafel.  It's going to go down as a secret family recipe, but I'll give you a hint, it let me use up some left over sweet potato.  I know my Jewish ancestors are rolling in their graves. (Is Dad crying over your shoulder, Mom?)  It tasted good, okay?  In recompense for my desecration of falafel, I also concocted a carrot-ginger hummus that totally redeems my aforementioned chickpea mistakes.

Apparently, God stretches us most when we are in His will.  We recently attended a regional conference, at which I was asked (read: told) to share my testimony.  One on one, I can share my testimony fairly coherently.  Throw me out in front of a bunch of missionaries who share God's word for a living and I'm about ready to have an anxiety attack.  I won't tell you my heart rate before I stood up, but it could have won the Kentucky Derby.  Despite my social anxiety and regrettable tears, I did share some of my journey with the group and no one fell asleep, so go team!

Coming back into the quiet village life, I've picked language study back up and Saturday hikes have resumed.  This Saturday, we accidentally tromped right through a neighboring village, only to realize we were going the wrong way, so we had to tromp right through again.  Ahh, have I mentioned social anxiety?  Thanks for growing me, God.  Thanks.

Now I come to the part where I don't want to share too much information, but I'm going to try to share what I can.  One of my little students has been having some health hiccups.  A couple visits to a lab and some discussions with the doctors let my host mom know that her little girl is going to keep "hiccuping" and there really isn't anything we can do except wait for her to grow out of it.  Of course, no parent or child wants to receive that news, so my prayer (and hopefully your prayer) is that the Lord would heal her.  If He won't heal, then that He would hold them closely through this trial.

TTFN

Ta-ta For Now!

They Say It Lasts A Lifetime

I think we all have random memories.  Something from the dark recesses of long-term memory will occasionally bob to the surface of recollection and we think, "Seriously? Out of everything you could have saved, you picked that, Brain? Consider yourself fired." Exhibit A: is it really that important for me to remember the orthodontist's tuna breath at 3 a.m., a decade later?

But we hopefully also experience moments that we know, without a doubt, are memories that we'll carry as long as our brains are sufficiently functional. Exhibit B: yep, I definitely remember the time I dropped, not one, but two perfectly good tampons, applicator and all, into a dirty toilet.  Talk about five bucks in the toilet.  Maybe a better example is Exhibit C: thanks for holding onto that midnight trek through the jungle by moonlight, Brain.  While I didn't get pictures of the moonlit mountainscape (not for lack of trying, mind you), I know it is a memory that will linger.

In addition to that hike, I was privileged to attend a couple different weddings the week. One was a massive affair with 1,500 guests that the hosts fed for a grand total of three meals, if I'm not mistaken. The other had fewer guests, but still an impressive gathering.  Apparently, the way weddings work here is everyone gets together the night before the wedding for a blowout party that goes strong until the ceremony the next morning, only to revive the party afterward the the remainder of the day!

All that said, I think my take away memories were two traditional dances.  The first is one I think of as the bird dance.  Men play brass gansa drums while men and women dance around each other with their arms raised like bird wings.  A man will single out a woman and dance around only her.  After several minutes, he will offer his hand to her and she will either reject it or accept.  If she rejects, he can try again or try to get another girl. If she accepts, they walk out from the dancers together as a pair. If she doesn't, he can try again or go after a different girl.

The second dance is strictly (to my understanding) a wedding thing.  The bride and groom are the only dancers and the sort of slowly revolve in the middle of everyone.  The guests bring out money and pin it to the bride and groom's clothing as a kind of gift!  This dance can happen several times at one wedding and they'll end the dance covered in money every time.  Another similar dance happened at the second, but not the first. A scarf was draped across the bride and groom's arms, then guests placed folded bills or coins in either the bride or groom's mouth. If the coin started between the groom's lips, he would pass it mouth-to-mouth to the bride and she would drop it into the scarf.

That's all I have for today, except some pictures that will upload at their leisure!