[L]: Hello Friends! We just celebrated Thanksgiving and it was a great time reflecting on all that we've been given. We are so thankful for all of you and for the ways you continue to be an encouragement to us!
The weather here has recently taken a turn for the worst. It has been wet and rainy for the past few days, and the temperature is gradually getting lower and lower. The thought of riding our bikes to class early morning against the biting wind blowing against us brings me some degree of mental agony. Furthermore, the thought of sitting in class in the pure concrete building (with no heat) makes me feel like we have class in a refrigerator (or freezer). We wear different layers of clothes, our fleece, our coats, our mittens, our longjohns, and it still feels cold! Our teacher found us another classroom with windows with more sun. Yay -- Hope! It's brighter, yes. But still cold, nevertheless. So, we are going to wear more layers of socks, clothes, longjohns... And if all else fails, we have even conspired with our classmates to invest in a portable mini-heater, carry it in our bicycle basket, and take it to class each day. =) We just have to make sure there is an outlet in the classroom. Our local friends (who apparently are used to this weather) laugh at us, as they say this is "nothing." Rather, it's really "only the beginning of the winter." Sigh...we are such weather-weaklings.
Well, with this changing weather, we have another problem. Because of the humidity (so much moisture in the air) and cold weather, our clothes won't dry! Remember last month, I wrote an entry about actually "enjoying" hang-drying our clothes (laundry)? Well, it's no longer that simple. We hang our wet clothes on the laundry line, only to come back the next day, seeing it still wet. Probably now soaked with condensation too. Even our towels in the bathroom stay wet as well. (Did we mention that our bathroom has no bathtub? Or shower stalls? It's just one big spray, and it wets the whole room when we shower. We finally managed to hang a little shower curtain in hopes of shielding the spray, but it doesn't do much as water just runs everywhere.)
So, back to the clothes-line, we now have to lay an electric fan flat on the floor, so that it would blow straight up into the hanging clothes. Now, with the fan, the clothes get reduced to various degrees of dampness. (We have made some headway.) Then, we take the "damp" clothes inside and try to lay it near our heater. (There is no central heater, just room heater.) And at last, the little heater helps take out the final moisture, and we now have clean clothes. =) Voila!
Life in our new 'hood...
November 28, 2006
November 19, 2006
s aurprise visit
[L]: Wow, we can't believe it's already late November and almost Thanksgiving! Where did the time go? I feel like I ask this question a lot. The last online entry we made was 2-3 weeks ago--it's been awhile since we've written, hasn't it! Our internet recently broke down -- for longer time period than normal. In fact, not only did our internet break down, some other things started malfunctioning around here as well...
One early morning, we heard someone banging on our front door. It took us awhile to figure out that it was really OUR front door because we hear noises here all the time. (For instance, we can now sleep through the regular jackhammer & construction noise that goes on from the floors above and below us. We can now also sleep through firecrackers that gets set off at random times, signaling that someone is about to move into their apartment. Supposedly, the loud noise of exploding firecrackers brings good luck to the new household, except unlike New Years, this happens almost weekly.)
So, it was a wonder that we heard the knocks on the door at all, as we've been accustomed to tune everything out -- except to the shrill of our alarm clock. After realizing that it was OUR front door that was being knocked on, I peeked out of our peephole and saw 4 people (3 guys and 1 lady). Having no idea who they were, and not comfortable with using my elementary language skills, I called for Edwin to come look to decide if we should open the door or not. Edwin decided to open the door and to see what they wanted.
To our bewilderment, they started making their way inside. Talking rapidly, loudly and abruptly, they started walking into our apartment. We started getting frustrated because, had we been in America, except for ill-intended home invaders, no one walk themselves into people's homes (however small or big) unless invited to do so. Not only so, they started examining different parts of our apartment. So, except for a few words that Edwin could utter or understand, all we could do is try to get in their way to block them, still trying to figure out, "WHO are these people?!"
After 5-10 minutes (though it felt longer) of now growing frustrations on both sides (them and us), they finally stopped talking long enough to realize that we weren't understanding very much of what they were saying. Finally! After some more awkward moments of us and them playing charades, we called our foreign friend to translate over the phone...and realized that our bathroom had been leaking down to their floor! No wonder they were wanting to examine our apartment (Sheesh! What a strange and abrupt way to meet our neighbors!) But boy, the language and culture barrier is something we hope to overcome -- that means more motivation to study harder in our language classes (since we haven't learned words like "leaking" and "broken" yet)!
And we also quickly learned that the definition of "privacy" and "personal space" is debatable here.
So recently, aside from the internet going down, bathroom leaking, and also the pipes on the bottom of the kitchen sink fell off (another story for another day), not much else is going on except that we've been pretty busy and the weather is getting... COLD. Brrrrrh!
Riding our bikes have been countered with cold wind blowing against us. Our local friends tell us that the approaching winter will just be more bitter and harsh. Not only so, the classrooms (made of pure concrete with windows) at our university have no air conditioning or heat. So, we have started wearing our coats and mittens, while sitting in class. The trick we're hoping to master soon is how do we take notes when we are wearing such thick gloves? Well, we'll just have to deal with our bad handwriting later... As for now, we'll just try to stay warm.
And of course, the next thing on our agenda: Figure out ways to celebrate Thanksgiving here. =) From what we heard so far, our foreign friends managed to find a place to buy a turkey for this coming Thursday!! Yeah! (Our back-up plan would have been maybe to cook a duck!) We have a lot to be thankful for.
One early morning, we heard someone banging on our front door. It took us awhile to figure out that it was really OUR front door because we hear noises here all the time. (For instance, we can now sleep through the regular jackhammer & construction noise that goes on from the floors above and below us. We can now also sleep through firecrackers that gets set off at random times, signaling that someone is about to move into their apartment. Supposedly, the loud noise of exploding firecrackers brings good luck to the new household, except unlike New Years, this happens almost weekly.)
So, it was a wonder that we heard the knocks on the door at all, as we've been accustomed to tune everything out -- except to the shrill of our alarm clock. After realizing that it was OUR front door that was being knocked on, I peeked out of our peephole and saw 4 people (3 guys and 1 lady). Having no idea who they were, and not comfortable with using my elementary language skills, I called for Edwin to come look to decide if we should open the door or not. Edwin decided to open the door and to see what they wanted.
To our bewilderment, they started making their way inside. Talking rapidly, loudly and abruptly, they started walking into our apartment. We started getting frustrated because, had we been in America, except for ill-intended home invaders, no one walk themselves into people's homes (however small or big) unless invited to do so. Not only so, they started examining different parts of our apartment. So, except for a few words that Edwin could utter or understand, all we could do is try to get in their way to block them, still trying to figure out, "WHO are these people?!"
After 5-10 minutes (though it felt longer) of now growing frustrations on both sides (them and us), they finally stopped talking long enough to realize that we weren't understanding very much of what they were saying. Finally! After some more awkward moments of us and them playing charades, we called our foreign friend to translate over the phone...and realized that our bathroom had been leaking down to their floor! No wonder they were wanting to examine our apartment (Sheesh! What a strange and abrupt way to meet our neighbors!) But boy, the language and culture barrier is something we hope to overcome -- that means more motivation to study harder in our language classes (since we haven't learned words like "leaking" and "broken" yet)!
And we also quickly learned that the definition of "privacy" and "personal space" is debatable here.
So recently, aside from the internet going down, bathroom leaking, and also the pipes on the bottom of the kitchen sink fell off (another story for another day), not much else is going on except that we've been pretty busy and the weather is getting... COLD. Brrrrrh!
Riding our bikes have been countered with cold wind blowing against us. Our local friends tell us that the approaching winter will just be more bitter and harsh. Not only so, the classrooms (made of pure concrete with windows) at our university have no air conditioning or heat. So, we have started wearing our coats and mittens, while sitting in class. The trick we're hoping to master soon is how do we take notes when we are wearing such thick gloves? Well, we'll just have to deal with our bad handwriting later... As for now, we'll just try to stay warm.
And of course, the next thing on our agenda: Figure out ways to celebrate Thanksgiving here. =) From what we heard so far, our foreign friends managed to find a place to buy a turkey for this coming Thursday!! Yeah! (Our back-up plan would have been maybe to cook a duck!) We have a lot to be thankful for.
October 30, 2006
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... =)
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... =)
October 21, 2006
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! =)
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! =)
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