May The Force Be With Us

One reason the language we’re learning difficult is, because the verb at the end of the sentence comes is. In English the verb towards the beginning is. Generally what’s going on you know, and later the details fills in it does. Inventors of other languages the beauty of this system grasp did not. So, when our new language we speak, this like we sound. Not only a new language we’re learning, but our brains backwards to think we’re training.

Funny Quote

I laughed out loud just a minute ago when I heard my wife say,

"Oh my gosh, I totally forgot my semicolon rules!"

Few of you will appreciate that quote as much as I do.

Extra Extra Read All About It!

Because of exhaustion we’ve been bad about posting. Please forgive us, but it will probably happen again. Here are the headlines from the past few weeks:

Language Study Leaves Students Exhausted

Group Comes From States to Help

Together the Group Travels to Nearby Cities

Catching up on Language Study Almost Kills Students

Sarah Left Weak After 4 Day Battle with Bad Salad

Steve Receives Husband of the Year Award for Caring for Sick Wife

Language Study Leaves Students in Language Coma

Spring is Here; No Sweater Needed - Finally!

Culture Shock Returns and Overstays Its Welcome

New Apartment Deadline Nears; Couple Feeling the Pressure

Here Kitty, Kitty!

The city we live in is famous for a white cat with different colored eyes. We saw one the other day at a friend's house. Because my throat closes within 5 minutes of seeing a cat, Sarah had to decide who she was taking home - the cat or me. A tough decision, I know. Thankfully, after much persuasion, I won out.

Fancy Old Buildings

Scattered around our city are crazy-old church buildings that reveal traces of a once vibrant community of faith (not that a fancy building equals vibrant by any means). One of these buildings is located in a place where three small mountains come together. The view is breathtaking with the lake just around one of the mountains. To get there you have to take a dirt/mud road that winds around the edge of the lake and through a village.

Last Sunday I went with my barber and two of his relatives, who grew up in the village, to see the building and spend time with their families. I didn’t take any pictures of the village this trip, but hopefully there will be a next time.

These pics definitely don't do this place justice. The church building is set off in the distance about a mile or so away.

Above is my barber (with the stick ) and his relative. The local shepherd is standing behind them.

Island Picnic

In just a short 30-minute drive from our house you can get to a very shady-looking boat that will take you to one of the islands in the massive lake near our city. Besides being a beautiful place for picnicking and relaxing, the island is also home to an 1100-year-old building where a church met. There are ancient reliefs of Biblical stories on all the walls. Saturday we went with friends to the island. Unfortunately, they were doing some renovating to the building so we couldn’t get in or even very close. Hopefully later we can post better pictures with detailed photos of the reliefs on the walls. If you come and visit we'll take you there!

This sign is a perfect example of why we think a business teaching English will be "succes lull" here. The supposed English translation is the second paragraph. Click on the picture to see it better.

Things That Go Bump in the Night

We just got back from a short trip to the Capital for meetings. During our first night back I guess I forgot where I was. I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and apparently I was still asleep…for a moment…because about 5 steps into it SMACK!!! a wall jumped right out in front of me. I staggered backwards a few steps (ala Rocky against the Russian) and somehow managed to stay on my feet, but when I felt my forehead I found a golf ball growing out from it. I seriously thought I had a concussion. The next morning Sarah told me she was startled by a loud noise in the night, but she told herself it was only the neighbors. Once she saw my head it all made sense.

Two days later I still have a headache. The golf ball is a bit smaller but still remains. I know many of you are wondering how my nose didn’t hit first since it sticks so far out from my face. Well, I’m wondering the same thing.

Two by Two

We finally had a Saturday off from language class so we decided to see a few of the bazillion beautiful sights to see within three hours of our city. We planned a route that would take us by a waterfall, an old palace, and the supposed landing spot of Noah and his big boat. Of course, on this day we didn’t expect to climb Mt. Ararat – just see it. Like any good expedition you have to scout out the land before attempting to find the prize of your pursuit. Actually, its just a really, really, really big mountain and unless they build a ski lift we won’t be seeing the top.

Ugly waterfall that is supposed to be pretty in the summer.

It was on the way so why not stop?

Old palace built over 300 years ago.

We brought our lunch for a picnic and found a nice view
for about 5 minutes until Sarah got too cold - Girls!
And yes we know, Stephen is bald - save the jokes.

The most beautiful girl in the world
standing with Mt. Ararat in the distance.

Go ahead and say it, "Awwwwwww!"

Happy New Year

March 21 is the first day of Spring, Stephen’s dad’s birthday, and New Years. That’s right, here in our part of the world for countless years people have celebrated the New Year with the coming of spring. In our city, thousands of people join together in a huge field near the lake. Men, and especially women, dress in traditional attire and dance to traditional music. Many get there early in the day to build fires and then men jump across them as a symbol of leaving the bad things behind from the previous year and preparing for the good things that will come with the New Year. Unfortunately, we didn’t get there early enough to get pictures of the fire jumping, but below you will find a few pictures of the day. As you can see it was a little muddy.

The second and third pictures were taken by Jonathan Henderson
who is an excellent photographer. You can see his work by clicking

on the link to the left of this page under "Our Favorite Blogs."

First Haircut

Mom, remember when I was little and cut my own hair? That’s kind of what I looked like today after my first haircut here. I came home and Stephen cut it again. Now I have short hair.

Floating Train

Saturday morning we set out to explore more of our city. It was a chilly but sunny day, so we went to the port to take pictures at the enormous lake on which our city lies. Our timing was perfect and we saw something you may not see anywhere else in the world. The one railroad that runs through town comes from a neighboring country and ends up at the lake. But, instead of going around the lake – which would take a very long time and a lot of track – it goes across.

How does this work?

Well, as you can see from the pictures, the tracks go right up to the water where a large boat docks. The boat is equipped with rails so the train can back onto it. They load every train car with all its heavy cargo onto the boat - all except for the engine. Then they take the cars and cargo across the lake to a similar dock and unload them with another engine that will take the cargo to the western part of the country. We saw the unloading part of the process.

We thought it was pretty crazy and watching the process made for a fun Saturday morning. They even invited us on the boat! Yes, our idea of fun has had to change a little since living in Central Asia.

It's Almost New Year

March 21st is “Nevruz”, or the K New Year. It’s celebrated by dancing the day away with family and friends in an open field outside of the city. For Nevruz, women typically dress up in a “gras fistan,” the traditional K dress (think old school proms minus the big hair). The dresses are very colorful with lace, sparkles, and poofy sleeves. Sarah picked out material for hers this week and had it made. She’s modeling it above.

The Standard Toilet in Central Asia

This is the bathroom in our office, complete with rubber slippers. The small pitcher under the faucet in the top left is the “flusher.” Use your imagination!

Never Has OK Meant So Much

It’s official! We can buy chicken at the store. We hope OK means the same thing here as it does in the States.

The best things about living in rural Central Asia:

1. The labels on products are in every language in the world except English.
2. Sarah gets to learn creativity in cooking (all of you who can look at a recipe and go to the store and actually find every ingredient don’t understand this one).
3. Where else can simply eating chicken be the most dangerous thing you do in a day?
4. The electricity and water could go out at any moment – while shampooing your hair, shaving your head (with an electric razor), baking a cake, or riding the elevator.
5. Water pressure and temperature fluctuate more than a pregnant woman’s hormones. No Sarah is not pregnant.
6. The greatest candy bar in the world can be purchased for approximately 14 cents.
7. The only things with more potholes than the roads are the sidewalks.

Canned Tomatoes (by Sarah)

I found canned tomatoes at the grocery store this week. So, I did what any normal person would do. I frantically grabbed every single can from the shelf and filled my cart! I questioned my sanity when I found myself with my head against the shelf, reaching my entire arm to the back to grab every last one. I decided I wasn’t insane, but if I had to chop my own tomatoes one more time I would be. So, I continued shopping, asking the Father for more canned tomatoes to be imported please!

Chicken Soft Taco (by Stephen)

After over a month of not seeing chicken anywhere because of the infamous bird flu, to say that I was craving it would be a huge understatement. To my joy as I walked along the sidewalk, trying not to turn an ankle in the potholes, I saw it in the window. It had a glow about it that lured me in like a tractor beam. I instantly turned to enter the small restaurant and felt tears rolling up in my eyes. Before I ordered the equivalent of a chicken soft taco, I shrugged my shoulders and said to the owner, “Bird flu?” He pointed to a sign which I think (and hope) said “100% guarantee you won’t get bird flu.” Good enough for me! It was the best chicken I’ve ever eaten. Since then I’ve become a regular, and friend to the owner of that small restaurant.

Love Day Treats

Happy Love Day (as it is called here)! Sarah baked her
heart out yesterday. Stephen and the neighbors were the
beneficiaries. (The pictures aren't this dark - we haven't figrued out why they look this way.)



Valentine's Day cookies in honor of our 3 favorite people J.J., Camo,
and Katie (not necessarily in that order).

Why another blog?

We've created this blog for our loved ones - family and friends. It makes us sad that living far away means missing out on much of each other's lives. So, we're hoping that this blog can in some ways bring us closer to you than we really are. Our plan is to post pictures and stories about normal, everyday life apart from our work here. In return, we would LOVE for you to post, comment, or email us about the small, yet exciting events in your lives. On bad culture shock days hearing those short, simple stories keeps us sane. We'll do our best to update often! We love you.