Well, here we are at the end of the year already and I can't believe that we have gone nearly 4 months without posting anything. We sincerely apologize for that. We have been consumed with the kids' new school year, our language studies, trips to the orphanage, and, well, you get the idea.
I will try to catch you all up on the past few months' happenings as briefly as possible.
We are making progress in language school, even though sometimes that progress seems rather small. It seems as though I can hear and understand Chinese far better than I can speak it. (Jaime, on the other hand has the opposite problem.) We have been actively learning the language now for six months and now only have the rest of our lives to master this thing called Mandarin Chinese.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with another family here who also have 4 children. We then had a great Christmas with some of our other team members.
We have recently been experiencing the season referred to as "winter". Apparently there are places in the world where it actually gets really cold from November to March. Living in South Texas all our lives did not prepare us for the kind of cold we are enduring presently. (And these cold winters will only get worse when we move out NW.)
We have had a wonderful year watching our father do all sorts of miraculous things on our behalf to get us to this place. We are very excited at the new year's arrival and all that it has in store for us. We hope all of you truly enjoyed the holidays this year and are looking forward to a great new year. Don't forget to check out our "flickr" photos!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Elevator Troubles
It wouldn't be living in another country if you didn't have weird things happen to you. This "thing" actually happened about a month ago, but I thought y'all would enjoy it nonetheless.
Over here your electricty is set up very different than the states. What you do is pay in advance for your electricity, and when you use up that amount, your electricity gets cut off. Then you go downstairs to the desk and buy more. Well, we had run out of electricity, so I decided to go and buy more. Our desk is just downstairs in the lobby at our complex, so I decided to leave the kids in the apartment while I went down and paid. I told them I would be right back. Well....on the way down the elevator decides to stop working...with me still in it! Mind you...these elevators are not equipped for people getting stuck in them. There was no phone to call anyone like you see in the movies. Just a little "alarm" button that buzzes when you push it. And not very loud either. Well, I pushed that button and hollered for AN HOUR! I even pried open the doors to see if I could crawl out, but I was stuck in between floors. I wasn't scared for myself, just worried because the kids were ALONE upstairs, and I had told them I would be right back. Well, finally a guy comes and rescues me, I run up four flights of stairs to our apartment and check on the kids. Thankfully, the kids were perfectly fine. No panic. But I still have to go back down and get more electricty...
Ah, welcome to life in another country.
Over here your electricty is set up very different than the states. What you do is pay in advance for your electricity, and when you use up that amount, your electricity gets cut off. Then you go downstairs to the desk and buy more. Well, we had run out of electricity, so I decided to go and buy more. Our desk is just downstairs in the lobby at our complex, so I decided to leave the kids in the apartment while I went down and paid. I told them I would be right back. Well....on the way down the elevator decides to stop working...with me still in it! Mind you...these elevators are not equipped for people getting stuck in them. There was no phone to call anyone like you see in the movies. Just a little "alarm" button that buzzes when you push it. And not very loud either. Well, I pushed that button and hollered for AN HOUR! I even pried open the doors to see if I could crawl out, but I was stuck in between floors. I wasn't scared for myself, just worried because the kids were ALONE upstairs, and I had told them I would be right back. Well, finally a guy comes and rescues me, I run up four flights of stairs to our apartment and check on the kids. Thankfully, the kids were perfectly fine. No panic. But I still have to go back down and get more electricty...
Ah, welcome to life in another country.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Summer Break
Right now we are on our three week summer break. It's really nice. No worrying about going to school or getting up early. We are REALLY enjoying it. We haven't gone to see anything yet. Every time we ask the kids if they want to go somewhere, they say no. But I'm thinking we'll take them somewhere tomorrow. Maybe downtown. There is the Bell Tower in the middle of the walled city (which is downtow), and a bunch of cool shopping. I'll take plenty of pictures if we go.
Well, that the update of our summer break so far.
Well, that the update of our summer break so far.
Monday, July 20, 2009
It's Just Been Sooo Busy...
I haven't forgotten to write, not really. We've just been soo busy here.
So, we have been here 2 mos. now. Language school has started in full swing. Yikes! I'm sure most of you know that Chinese is not the easiest of languages to learn. But I think Keith and I are doing pretty well. It's fun to be able to use it outside on the streets. We can only say a few words and a few sentences, but it's really exciting when people understand you. So, I'm trying to use it as much as possible, even if it is just one word.
We haven't done a whole bunch of sight-seeing. Really everything we see is new anyway. I think we've gotten pretty settled in so far. I know how to do all my grocery shopping, and things like that. It is more of an effort here to shop than at home in the states, but I'm learning my own ways to do it as efficiently as possible. Our fridge and cabinet space are really small, so trying to keep food in the house is a bit of a problem, but we're working on it. I'm think of getting a small deep freeze. I think that will really help out.
We get a "summer break" starting next week. It will be three weeks long. So, we're hoping to take the kids to see a few things. It's insanely hot here, so it's not really fun to go out walking during the day. But we'll see what we can. I'll try and put more pictures up on Flickr. I don't alway remember to bring my camera with me, but I'll try to do better.
Well, speaking of being busy...I guess I better go off and study, or clean, or take care of kids, or....
So, we have been here 2 mos. now. Language school has started in full swing. Yikes! I'm sure most of you know that Chinese is not the easiest of languages to learn. But I think Keith and I are doing pretty well. It's fun to be able to use it outside on the streets. We can only say a few words and a few sentences, but it's really exciting when people understand you. So, I'm trying to use it as much as possible, even if it is just one word.
We haven't done a whole bunch of sight-seeing. Really everything we see is new anyway. I think we've gotten pretty settled in so far. I know how to do all my grocery shopping, and things like that. It is more of an effort here to shop than at home in the states, but I'm learning my own ways to do it as efficiently as possible. Our fridge and cabinet space are really small, so trying to keep food in the house is a bit of a problem, but we're working on it. I'm think of getting a small deep freeze. I think that will really help out.
We get a "summer break" starting next week. It will be three weeks long. So, we're hoping to take the kids to see a few things. It's insanely hot here, so it's not really fun to go out walking during the day. But we'll see what we can. I'll try and put more pictures up on Flickr. I don't alway remember to bring my camera with me, but I'll try to do better.
Well, speaking of being busy...I guess I better go off and study, or clean, or take care of kids, or....
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
How We're Doing So Far
Pretty good, I must say. We've had our struggles with some sickness--stomach issues (to be expected) and cold/sinus trouble, but we seem to be recovered or almost recovered. Glad that's behind us.
I went today for the first time by myself (well, Nicole was with me, but that doesn't count :) to the market across the street. It's in the back of a village. I bought some chicken--interesting experience--and a bunch of veggies/fruit. I love buying the veggies. It's like a big farmer's market. Fun. And everything looks so good and fresh. The chicken is fresh too, I mean like just killed a few minutes before. Yikes! But I forged ahead and bought some chicken breasts and a whole chicken, with head and feet intact. Yeah! But that's not freaking me out so much anymore. I put the pictures on Flickr.
Now we are just waiting for Keith to come back with Chinese take-out. We decided that Tues. are take-out night because I will be getting back from school on that night around 5 pm. (School begins June 29th.) Take-out is insanely cheap here. We got take-out last week. We got 3 meat dishes and 2 veg. dishes and it all cost about 8 dollars! Crazy, I know. And it is sooo very good.
Well, it looks like the kids spotted Keith downstairs. So, off to eat!
I went today for the first time by myself (well, Nicole was with me, but that doesn't count :) to the market across the street. It's in the back of a village. I bought some chicken--interesting experience--and a bunch of veggies/fruit. I love buying the veggies. It's like a big farmer's market. Fun. And everything looks so good and fresh. The chicken is fresh too, I mean like just killed a few minutes before. Yikes! But I forged ahead and bought some chicken breasts and a whole chicken, with head and feet intact. Yeah! But that's not freaking me out so much anymore. I put the pictures on Flickr.
Now we are just waiting for Keith to come back with Chinese take-out. We decided that Tues. are take-out night because I will be getting back from school on that night around 5 pm. (School begins June 29th.) Take-out is insanely cheap here. We got take-out last week. We got 3 meat dishes and 2 veg. dishes and it all cost about 8 dollars! Crazy, I know. And it is sooo very good.
Well, it looks like the kids spotted Keith downstairs. So, off to eat!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Note About Pictures...
I am just NOT able to upload pictures to blogger. So because of that, I have created a Flickr account so that anyone can view our pictures there. The address is:
www.flickr.com/photos/kandjwommack
It is still a work in progress. I'm still uploading our pictures and I haven't organized them yet, but at least you can see what we're doing. Please leave a comment and let me know if you are unable to view them or if I got the url wrong. Enjoy our pictures!
www.flickr.com/photos/kandjwommack
It is still a work in progress. I'm still uploading our pictures and I haven't organized them yet, but at least you can see what we're doing. Please leave a comment and let me know if you are unable to view them or if I got the url wrong. Enjoy our pictures!
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