Does my face look fat to you?

The fun of being pregnant in a tactless culture began today
when I received my first pregnancy compliment:
"Your face looks fat. How much weight have you gained?"

Here's some other helpful "advice" I've received since being pregnant. Those of you who know the culture know why I said "advice".

• Don’t do anything that might qualify as work or exercise. It's harmful for the baby.
  
• Drink as much tea as possible. It turns straight into milk for the baby.
• Sit on the floor. It’s more comfortable for the baby.
• Don’t use your cell phone. It’ll give the baby cancer.
• Don't drink cold water. The baby will get cold.
  
• Don’t drive over any bumps on the road. It’s dangerous for the baby. (An impossible task here.)
• Don't wear blue jeans. They squash the baby . . .

I have no doubt that many, many more will follow.

Sarah: 15 weeks

My husband pushed me against the wall and made me take this picture.
He assured me I'll be glad later. I don't believe him.

Baby Shower

We recently traveled to another city for a few days of training. While there our incredibly wonderful teammates gave Sarah and fellow pregnant friend, Sheryl, a baby shower. As you can see from the pictures it was quite fun and most importantly we got lots of stuff. Wahooo! The shower wouldn't have taken as long as it did if we wouldn't have had to stop and explain what everything was to Stephen. He'll learn soon enough.

10 bucks says Sarah sleeps with the bear more than the baby does.

Realizing Stephen knows nothing about babies,
our friends gave him a "Dad's Essential Tool Kit"

Guess which local candy bar is melted in the diaper.

Jack eating the candy bar.
There's a reason why boys aren't invited to Baby Showers.

Unto us a Blan will be born

Some of you have heard from excited grandparents, aunts, and uncles-to-be. But for those who haven’t heard, we’re pregnant. Well, Sarah is. As of a couple weeks ago Baby Blan is doing well and was spotted relaxing and apparently sleeping on the sonogram.

Sarah is around 14 weeks and is beginning to gain her strength after a nap-filled first trimester. We’re very excited and look forward to learning the baby’s gender. Yes, we will be telling the gender. Sarah’s due date is around the middle of August.

Please remember Sarah and Baby Blan.

Does two lines mean what I think it means?

Like you, we're hoping our child looks like Sarah.

A nice getaway

Recently, we enjoyed spending a little over a week in the big city. Our company put on a retreat to help us recharge and refocus. The added bonus for us was that our fellowship in Texas helped facilitate the retreat. We were able to see several of our friends and three of them even traveled back to our city for a few days afterwards. Shane, his wife, Sylvia, and Carol stayed with us for about 48 hours before returning to the States. The last picture is us with "the Amy Nobles." We knew her before she was on iTunes.
Our time consisted of shopping in real malls, drinking Starbucks, eating fast food, speaking English, meetings with teammates, more shopping, seeing friends from Texas, and going to the movies. It was a great time and it will hopefully help us get through the long upcoming winter.

Scenes from the Spice Bazaar

One of our favorite things to do when we go to the big city
is to stroll through the Spice Bazaar and take in the rich
blend of smells while tasting free samples of "delightful" candy.

Eight bucks for crap cakes!?!

They were much better than you would have expected.
(Click on the picture if you have a hard time reading the joke.)

Turkey Day

Below is a small collage of our first Thanksgiving overseas. Many of you jokingly asked if there were turkeys here. Well, yes there are. And when you buy one you get the neck thrown in for free. We spent the day eating, chatting and playing games with another American family and a mutual local friend. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Cat Nappin'

After working all morning on language, Sarah was able to enjoy a short nap with her favorite IKEA blanket and floor pillows. But, then her husband got hungry and made her get up and fix him lunch. Before you send me hate emails, I'm just joking. These pictures were taken one Saturday afternoon. She sure is cute, isn't she?

Christmas Wish List

It’s time once again for the hap-happiest season of all and many of our friends and family have been asking what they can send us for Christmas. So, we decided to post our “Christmas Wish List” so that anyone who’s been dying to get us a Christmas gift can begin the process of sending it here.

Here it is:

• A three-way and cheese coney from Skyline Chili
• A McCallister’s Club Wrap from McCallister’s Deli
• Enchiladas from Joe T. Garcia’s
• Boneless buffalo wings from Applebees
• Mom’s homemade caramel popcorn and Christmas cookies
• Soup in a bread bowl from Panera
• Banana nut muffie from Panera
• Cinnamon Crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese from Panera
• Pepperoni Rolls from Chicago Pizza
• Day after Thanksgiving shopping
• Bengals to make it to the playoffs
• Christmas lights and nativity scenes
• Sand volleyball, or girls’ sports of any kind . . .

Okay, so maybe you can’t send these things. But we can wish.

We won’t be completely selfish. Here are some things we’d like to send you for Christmas:

• The best baklava you’ve ever had
• Our view of the snow-capped mountains
• The feeling you have when 100 people stare at you every time you leave the house
• Fresh produce
• Mercimek lentil soup (sounded gross to Steve too, but it's the best soup you'll ever taste)
  
• The most beautiful carpets in the world
  
• The feeling you have when 100 people stare at you every time you drive a car (for women only)

Fruits & Veggies

In America we can buy any kind of produce any time of year – apples and pears in the summer or cantaloupe and watermelon in the winter. Before moving overseas I didn’t know which fruit or vegetable grew in which season (besides tomatoes of course). There everything can either be imported or grown in a hot house. Well, they don’t do much importing here, and I’m not sure about the hot houses. One thing I’ve enjoyed during my first year here is learning which fruits and vegetables are winter, spring, summer, or fall fruits and vegetables.

I was sad when I couldn’t find broccoli anymore last spring, but it made me that much happier when it returned last month. I missed apples all summer, but now I can’t get my fill. Apples were replaced by the juiciest peaches I’ve ever tasted during the late summer and early fall. Watermelon never tasted as good as it did in the evenings after those hot summer days. I’ve learned how to cook and puree my own pumpkin since it arrived in stores a few weeks ago. Soon our refrigerator will be filled with grapefruit and oranges as we head into the winter.

Pumpkin Puree

Since we can’t get much ready-made food here, I’ve been pureeing my own pumpkin – my most recent successful food experiment. I’d always heard that real pumpkin tastes better than the canned stuff, and it really does! If you’re up for the adventure it’s not difficult at all, and your pie, bread, muffins, or whatever you’re baking, will taste better and fresher than ever before. Below are the instructions.

1. Buy precut and seeded pumpkin if possible. If not, cut pumpkin in half, remove the stringy fibers by scraping the insides with a metal spoon.
2. Place the pumpkin pieces, or two halves, cut side down in a baking dish, cover with lid or tin foil and bake at 350°F until tender (probably an hour or more depending on how thick your slices are).
3. Put them in a blender with just enough water to blend smooth.
4. Let cool and put pumpkin puree in plastic sacks of two cups each (or however much you want), label, and freeze. Many pumpkin recipes call for two cups of pumpkin puree.

Where are all the costumes?

Sunday was the last day of Ramadan and throughout the world Muslims are celebrating a three-day holiday. In our country, the holiday is a mixture of Halloween and Christmas known as Sugar Holiday. School is out and most stores and shops are closed while people spend the first day visiting family and the other days with friends and neighbors. It’s common to give gifts to family and close friends.

As for the kids, it’s basically three days of Halloween without the costumes and masks. The unspoken rule in the states on Halloween is that you only go to each house once, unless, of course, you received raisins or some other healthy alternative to candy. Then you would return with your own version of healthy food in the form of eggs. However, we found out before lunch on the first day that there is no such rule here. The kids in our neighborhood run up the stairs attempting to get to each door as fast as they can. Then they run outside and show each other all the candy they received, commence with trading, and then stuffing it in their mouths.

As soon as they're finished, it all happens again.

Little Drummer Boy

Ask the numerous guests that have stayed with us at least one night over the last thirty days and they’ll all have the same story. You don’t need an alarm clock when visiting the Blans during Ramadan. Around 3 o’clock in the morning, every morning, a guy comes around beating a drum in an Energizer Bunny’esk rhythm.

Though most mornings it seemed as though he was right outside the window (we live on the fourth floor) or standing beside your bed, he was actually out on the street walking up and down in a slow fingernails-on-the-chalk-board pace.

I wouldn’t even have mentioned this on the blog, but today on the first day of the Sugar Holiday our sickly pet bird, a.k.a the doorbell, rang. I grabbed the bowl of candy and opened the door thinking it was the group of boys who have already rang our bird-bell too many times. To my surprise it was our little drummer boy (who was actually not very little) and his friend. He held his drum proudly and said “Happy Holidays,” with a big smile. Instead of busting the drum over his head like I wanted to, I handed his friend some candy. His friend then said, “money.”

If our friends who have lived here for a few years had not warned us beforehand I might have actually been upset, but I knew it was coming. I smiled and said, “I’m sorry, we aren’t Muslims.” My answer satisfied drummer boy, but left his friend with far less than a smile on his face.

First Flight

My parents recently got up enough courage to get on a plane for the first time and come visit us. They must think we're real special to go and do something like that. But I guess when you compare me to my older brother it's pretty easy to be special.

"We're not in Lewisport anymore."

Dad's big head is covering up Mt. Ararat.

This cute, young couple was spotted having
a romantic moment at the local pier.

A visit from mom

The last week or so we’ve been showing Sarah’s mom what our life looks like here. She’s drunk tea and eaten lots of treats with our neighbors and friends. In her short time here she’s done a great job of learning some language and customs. If only she could remember to take her shoes off in the house. It’s been a great visit for us and it seems to be for her.

We smell gooooood!

Apparently it's that time again. This morning we woke up to no water running from our faucets. After talking with neighbors, friends, and the guy at the corner market we found out the city has turned it off for repairs. The expected date of turning the water back on is Monday, giving us four days without water.

The guy at the market was shocked we didn't know. "It was on the news last night, didn't you see it on the news?" Well, we don't have a TV at the moment, so no, we didn't see it on the news.

Ahhhhh, this should be fun.

Vacation Pics

For vacation, we traveled to Rome and Barcelona. Pictures, especially these, can't do either place justice. We haven't been everywhere, but we've been to a lot of cities, and in our opinion Rome is the greatest in the world. It has something for everybody - history, art, architecture, shopping, great food, great nightlife, and fabulous gelato. If you ever want to go, call us and we'll go with you.

Everywhere you turn in Rome you'll find fountains.
Trevi Fountain is the most famous.

View from the top of the Spanish Steps at sunset.

The most famous monument in the greatest city in the world.
Sorry Lewisport, you're a close second.

Needless to say, this woman was stared at a lot.

A scene from the facade of the
weirdest church building we've ever seen.

On the roof of the coolest apartment building in the world.

View of the Barcelona Pavilion at night.

Good looking couple, don't you think?

Grandma

While we were away on vacation my grandma finally went to be with the Lord. I say finally because for the past few years my grandma has suffered from severe dementia. Now, instead of remembering her as she was in her last ungraceful years, I can remember the grandma of my childhood. The grandma who went sled-riding with us down her monstrous hill and played wiffle-ball with us in her front yard. Who I could count on to take me up the road to get a child's 3-way and coney from Gold Star Chili when I spent the day at her house, and who would pretend to faint every time she smelled my feet. Who tirelessly played “Old Maid” with me and kept me supplied with pudding pops. Who sang “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” to me long before I understood what the words of the song meant. I’m so thankful that she truly has turned her eyes upon Him now, and for the joy she must have in His presence.

Home Again, Home Again Jiggidy Jog

Yes, we made it back home and are way behind on our posts, so please be patient with us. Vacation gave us the rest and relaxation we needed to be able to get on the plane back here. We got back just in time for a volunteer team to arrive in our city, and we traveled around with them for a few days. Now we’re doing our best to get settled into our new place. We’ll post pictures soon!