It's Thursday

Not too much is going on here today.

Paige took a long 2+ hour nap this morning. Then decided sleeping is for the birds and took only two 30 minutes naps after that. Every morning nap she sleeps long and good. But lately the naps after that are really short. I know according to Babywise this is when she starts staying awake longer, but she's supposed to be still taking good naps. So I'm not sure what to do. It's hard to know that we are entering a new phase, but not really sure what that looks like exactly or how to know when we are 'there.'

The last two nights she's slept so well and not even made a peep or woken up to jibber jabber at all. I slept from 10:30-6:30 last night, and it was wonderful!!! 

I am loving how alert and aware Paige is becoming. She's starting to respond to the games we play with her, the noises we make, and is noticing everything around her. 

We are full on in cloth diapers now. I'll have to do a separate post on that. It's not too complicated, and I'm enjoying it. Especially the saving money part. I've been drying the diaper covers, because you can-but just read recently that it's better to air dry them so they'll last longer. Since I don't really want to be buying new ones when we have another little kiddo, I figured might as well.

We don't have any outside space, or a good place to line dry things. And our bedroom window is the best place for direct sunlight-so there ya go. They actually just take a few hours to dry-so it's not too bad. We have enough diapers now for her to wear them while we wash and dry the dirty ones. 

We tried going for a walk tonight, but it started to rain, so back inside we came. I want to run tomorrow but it's likely to be raining or pretty wet, so we'll see. 

I had class today and it went really well. I lost a bit of language when we were in the States-but i'm trying to get it to all come back. With language there are good days and bad. Sometimes you feel great like you're really getting a hold of it, then sometimes someone tells you the simplest thing that you've heard a million times and you draw a blank.

anyone else out there learning a second or third language?

love

laura

Long Time No See

This title is perfect since I haven't updated the blog in a while and it's exactly how I felt about our home until yesterday.

Since getting back from the states a few weeks ago, Daniel and I have traveled to 2 different cities, each a few hours away, for almost a week each.

Just a few days after arriving back to EA, we flew for a week for a language training that was being offered. Since language learning takes up a majority of our time, we were pretty eager to attend this training. We learned so much about how to improve our language learning and were both so encouraged about how to better go about it. We wish we had learned most of this a year ago, but better late than never!

While we were travelling, some friends took us to a fancy restaurant. Probably the fanciest I have ever been to in EA. I wish I had pics of the food, but I was way too busy eating!

We flew back home on the 13th and have literally had something every single morning or night until we left again on the 19th. All good things, but it still kept us pretty busy.

We had a baby shower at our house for a friend of mine. Shockingly, this was the very first baby shower I have EVER hosted....how is that possible, I'm 30 for crying out loud. I'm not really sure how I've never hosted one before.

Anyways.....I knew I wanted to make a cookie cake, my friend's fave, and try my hand at monogramming it. 

We also had an iced coffee bar...yum!

We had mint brownies, fruit, cookie cake, and a veggie tray. I picked up the cute napkins and plates while I was in the States.

I'll do another post for our travels last week...but get excited because it includes a local zoo and buying honey on the side of the road.

Also, in wonderful news, preggo Sarah is having a girl!!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!!

love

laura

do you understand me?

I can't stop thinking about what happened less than 2 hours ago.

I had a 30 minute+ conversation in a langauge other than English. I walked into a new shop near our house and talked to the manager. We went past the normal how long have you lived here-do you like the food questions. And I was able to do it in my second (or third or fourth depending on how you look at it) langugae. I'm still in disbelief.

The manager works in a dish store. He has all sorts of plates, bowls, serving pieces, and other random home decorations. I talked about flower pots, cake stands, pets, cooking mexican food, jewlery boxes, and much more. And he understood me......that is mind blowing!

Where we live, we study the main language, but there is a common dialect that is used by locals that is very hard to understand, and different from what we learn in the classroom. I was so thankful that the manager spoke the host language!! Not only did I understand him, but he understood me!! ME?!?!? I'm still in shock.

Daniel and I spend hours everyday studying language-both in and out of class. Everyday we struggle through language...not struggle in a bad way, but struggle in a this-is-not-my-first-language kind of way. Learning language can be hard. It can be discouraging. Especially when you feel improvement in the classroom but step outside and someone doesn't understand a single word you say.

I share this not to pat myself on the back. I share this because I'm so thankful. So incredibly thankful for Father's grace in allowing this opportunity and His mercy he showed me tonight.

When I walked home from the man's store tonight, I had the biggest smile plastered on my face. I couldn't have frowned if I wanted to. The joy that filled me was too much to keep inside. It had to come out.

love

laura

And it starts

Well, I'm back from the future.

I know i know, lame, I just couldn't help it after the last post :)

Today I started with phase 2 of the intensive language program. And I felt the 'intensive' part of it. It's such a world of difference to have 3 hours with a tutor, just one on one, compared to being in a class of 13 other students at a university.

I left class today feeling like I was going to make it. That somehow I would really be able to learn this language. And that my friends is a hard feeling to come by, i think.

Today I learned how to say the bird flew thru the window, the bird flew out the window, the bird flies toward the tree, fish bowl, seeweed, worm, the bird is far from that tree, but close to this one, the curtains have spots on them, and it has stopped snowing.

I learned a few other things, but those were the big ones. go me.

What I wasn't counting on to bring me grief during my tutoring sessions was the gross, phlegmy (yes i said that) cough that refuses to leave my body. Granted I haven't had it that long, but a gross phlegmy cough quickly wears out is welcome.

I had every intention of running tomorrow, but the air is so cold and is aggravating my cough, i don't want to lose my lung on the side of the road. So for safety reasons to myself and those around me, I'm gonna wait on that run.

I would love to share something earth shattering from the day, but it mostly consisted of tidying up the house, class, and studying.

I'm turning 30 on Thursday. I know if you're 22 you're thinking man that is old! And if you're 38 you're thinking, wow get over it you have no idea. ha! But honestly I just don't know how I feel about it. When I was younger my plan was to get married at 24, right after getting my masters, and then have 4 kids by the time I was 30. I always wanted to be done having kids by 30. It's ironic that I haven't even started. But that's what we get I guess for trying to plan our entire lives at the age of 18.

Anyone have fun things they did to celebrate the big one??

love

laura

Language lesson

Daniel and i were starting our language lesson today with our tutor. We were learning basic 'grooming' words like hairbrush, toothpaste, razor, soap, etc....

Each lesson, if we have any of the objects we are learning that day, we get them out and set them on the table to help us identify each object with the new word.

Today, when we got to 'hairbrush,' the tutor said "this is for a dog right?" Ummm no. That is my hairbrush and i use it on my head. He (being a boy) was unfamiliar with brushes instead of combs and thought we only used hairbrushes on dogs. Maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty funny.

Also, when i was in a taxi yesterday, my drive asked if was Russian. This was after he heard me talking on the phone (in english.). Nope....not quite.

Anyways....it's thursday night here and we're relaxing and have LOTR on. I've seen them all the way thru, but most of the time it's ever on i'm also doing something (like blogging ha!) so i'm always confused!! i ask tons of questions and still never really understand the story line. I do like all of the movies though, i just always get to the end and never really understand what just happened. anyone else???

We're having chili dogs tomorrow and then i'm going to try a chicken curry this weekend too. So far we don't have a lot of plans for the weekend. I might do some grocery shopping and work on language. And probably laundry. I'm NOT planning on cleaning the floors :)

love

Laura

Life here

We've been here in East Asia for exactly one month today.

One of the things i did almost as soon as we moved here, was go to the dish market. It's about a $5 taxi ride one way from our house (which means it's actually far!). Anything more than $1.50 taxi ride i consider far. I went with a friend of mine to buy plates, bowls, etc....

There are some normal stores that have very plain dishes, some fine china, and glasses. There are also a few stalls that sell all sorts of dishes that you can pick and choose from. Some dishes you'll see in every store, and some stores are the only one who sell that pattern.

I fell in love with these!

 

I bought 10 large plates, 10 small plates, 6 bowls, 2 large serving bowls, and 3 platters for about $50! I love getting a great deal!!! And i love bartering, which works since almost everything you buy here (except at large stores) is negotiable!

There is a design on the side of the bowls that i really like.

What's funny is that they had my exact same pattern that we got from Dillard's (that we left in the States) when we got married! EXACT same!!! Not shockingly, it was a lot cheaper here. So at least i can buy replacement pieces if i ever need them :)

Daniel and I are still taking language class 4 days a week. We use a lot of objects and things that we have in our house. Our teacher will tell us to put the knife on top of the cup, put the comb inside the blue book, things like that, so it's always a little crazy looking!

This is what our table looks like most days.

I'm planning on running tomorrow, maybe 2.5 miles?? What are ya'll doing this weekend??

love

Laura

It's thursday morning

Each week i keep thinking life will slow down and we'll do all the things we need to get the house settled and finished, and i'll grocery shop and have time to be outside. But each day is busier than i expected and most of those things don't happen.

I wasn't feeling well the last few days, which also slowed me down. I think it's just sinuses.

Language class is going well! Yesterday we learned 53 words. We don't learn that many every day. Some days we learn a lot, some days we review and put everything together that we've learned so far. Today is one of those days.

Random:

We found a GREAT noodle shop just down from our house. I'll take pics next time we go. It's delish!

This has been the week of broken things: our kitchen light (not the light but some type of weird box on it), washing machine, and now internet. Our internet is still out, but we're hoping things stop breaking on us.

We have friends in our city that it seems everytime we go to their house they lose water. I'm starting to think we should find a new place to hang out, ha!

I tried practicing my language with my taxi driver yesterday and isntead of saying i was going to start studying language in 2 months at the university, i told him i was going to open the door in 2 years.

Hopefully i'll have time to do another post this weekend with some pics.

Have a good Wed night/thursday morning whereever you are!

love

laura