a new pace of life

[L]: When we first got here, one of the biggest frustration that I had was how slow it took to do everything. Back at home, on a given weekend, I can travel from one end of the city to the other, stop by some stores along the way, run some errands, eat lunch with a friend.... and that is before half of the day is even over! Though I am not like that every day (who wouldn't love to be that productive!), there were many weekends when we had to do multiple things in one day. So, as you can imagine, one of the biggest hurdles once we got here, was the inefficiency of our new life.

One of the things that we do regularly here is hang-dry our clothes. Oftentimes, while hanging the clothes up to dry, I would think of all the other things I could be possibly doing instead of this (since I was used to having a dryer back home where I can just throw our clothes in and walk away--We were spoiled with a dryer weren't we?). But now, I have come to enjoy hang-drying our clothes. Not only does it slow me down, it gives me yet another reason to enjoy a moment of stillness in my day...even for just a moment.

It's not something I am used to (the clothes dry in crispy wrinkly manner), but I am so grateful for it... =)

What's in a name?

[L]: So I met a new friend this past week. She's a really nice girl! Come to find out, she had an English name. (Well, actually, many college students here have English name, mostly self-named with friend's help or teacher's help.) When I find this out, I got very excited because it makes pronunciation so much easier! Imagine my shock when I found out that her name was "Lucifer." Trying to make sure I understand, I ask her for clarification. Here's somewhat of our dialogue:

me: Ummm... wow, do you mean "Lucifer?" As in "L-u-c-i-f-e-r?"
friend: Yes.
me: Did you name yourself, or did someone else name you?
friend: I named myself.
me: Do you know what it means?
friend: Yes. As the one who led a legion of angels against God. I read it in the dictionary.
me: (out of curiosity) So why did you pick that name? Do you hate God?
friend: Not really
me: Do you know that Lucifer means the devil?
friend: Yes.
me: So why did you pick it?
friend: Because my original name sounds like "Lu" and I want something with "Lu" in it. And "Lucy" is too common. So, i added the "fer" to the end to make it special. I don't want to be common.
me: If I can find other names that begin with "Lu" and isn't Lucy or Lucifer, would you re-consider your name?
friend: Yes, that would be nice.

After much exchange of ideas, my friend decided on the name "Lucinda." Yay! I won't have to refer to "Lucifer" as my friend anymore. I must say that I am very proud of my new friend's name! =)

mid-October already?!

[L]: It's now almost mid-October! Where did the time go? This past week, there was a school holiday. It was also Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. Our language teacher told us about some interesting nearby cities that we should visit on the few days that we have off... so we got on a local bus and went! It was quite an adventure and we got to see some beautiful scenery. But because it was just the two of us (Edwin and myself) and with a bunch of local people, we were able to go "undiscovered" (as foreigners) for a while until they heard us speak English to each other! Too bad we still don't know enough of the language yet--only things like, "How much does this cost?" "Do you think language studies are hard?" or "It's too expensive!"--definitely not enough to carry a conversation beyond 2 minutes. Sigh.

A recent picture we took (in a nearby city) early morning right before sunrise. (We wish we had this kind of scenery in our city...)



Though we appreciate many things about living here, there are still some things that will take time getting used to. Perhaps it will become "acquired fondness." At least we hope so! :)

* Seeing kids in pants with no bottoms, the "split pants" per se. I guess not very many kids wear diapers here... Whenever they need to go, they just "squat"...and go. The pants facilitate such actions. The results of the actions can be seen on street corners. No pooper scoopers here for them either!
* Climbing 4 flights of stairs to go home. This isn't too bad, except for the fact that our friends also live on the 4th floor. So going back and forth to their homes and ours will require us climbing 12-16 flights of stairs on a given day. I guess it isn't so bad because we don't climb them all at once. We get breaks in between. Apparently, they don't put elevators in buildings here (at least locally) unless there are more than 6 floors. We are just glad we are not on the 6th floor!
* Squatty potties! Though there are western toilets available where we live, the most popular and "of choice" seems to be the squatty potties (school, stores, anywhere...) And this is high class compared to the universal "troughs." It was only until I had to use troughs (one long community ditch) that I found new appreciation for individualized squatty potties.
* Spitting. People spit everywhere and all the time. We have often wondered how people can conjure up so much saliva in such short periods of time. Must be an acquired skill. We love the "NO SPITTING" signs when we see one -- but they come too far and few in between... sigh.
* Horns! Everything moving seems to honk -- cars, trucks, buses, mopeds, taxis, and even bicycles!!Honking is normal. It simply means, "I am on the road. Please move out of my way! So if one needs to honk 20 times (in 10 minutes) to announce one's presence on the road, than so be it."
* The way bus drivers drive -- they must think they are driving a sports car. But they are really not. It's still a bus. And 20-30 people are clinging on to their dear lives...
* Going to Wal-Mart (can you believe they have Wal-mart here??!! It's far away from us, located inside the city, but still accessible!) and finding that they sell live large bull-frogs, turtles, among other animals -- and mind you, it's NOT in the "pets" section but in the "meats" aisle.
* Having to "make-up" classes on Saturdays and Sundays (mandated by the school), if there are no classes on the weekdays due to "holiday"!