Sunrise from our roof

Cat Attack.

Sorry but there are no pictures to describe this horrific event...

I will start at the beginning...

A couple of days ago Brad & I were walking home from a nice lunch out & I tried something I have been thinking about trying for a while...  Here in South Asia there are little stores everywhere... speciality stores we can call them.  Most of them only do one thing... like just a block from our house there is the pharmacy, which is next to the shirt store, which is next to the chip store, which is next to the plastics store, which is next to the ... do you get it?

Well next to the chip store is the chicken store.  Their speciality... yes you got it... chicken & eggs.

There is a WalMart- type store but the smell & freshness of their chicken made me nervous so I thought I would try our our neighborhood chicken store.  I will spare the details, especially since I want my sister to keep reading my blog, but came home with fresh chicken.  Really fresh... got it?

I was super proud of my buy... never in my life have i had chicken so fresh...

Needless to say we had chicken for dinner that night. 

Then I woke up early the following morning to trim my prize chicken & put the remainder in the pressure cooker to have for lunch meat for a few days.  After a few minutes of cookin' our kitchen ... no our house smelled really good.  After the pressure cooker cooled I pulled apart the chicken & put it in the fridge then left the kitchen to get ready for the day.

A few minutes later I walk into our kitchen to see our neighbor's cat sitting on the counter licking the bowl I had put the chicken in!  I screamed more out of surprise than anything else!

I am not scared of cats, i like cats & have always grown up around them... 

but in my closed kitchen in a home where we do not have a cat, where all the windows & doors were closed I was very surprised to see one on my counter... having a snack!

I shewed him out of the kitchen, yelling like it was a snake or something, with the cat was yelling like I was out of place... by this time Brad had come & was just as surprised as I was... our front door was opened and we tried to get the little booger to run out... but he had other plans!  

That little cat when in every other direction... running up almost every window screen in our house, climbing my new curtains, and running into every other room but the open door that was waiting on him.

Finally he went up the living room window, again, and our teammate Tony grabbed him and finally he was out the door.  Tony saved the day.

Cats aren't bad... I thought I liked cats... and have even joked about getting one to take care of our lizards... which is another post altogether.  

But now I am sure... if we get any pet in South Asia ... it will be a dog.  :)

Our New Ride

This mighty beast of a ride is what we call an auto.  They are all throughout South Asia and is quite a handy form of transportation... if one can just get over the "White Prices."

But I should tell you, for the first time yesterday we went out & both Brad & I at different times were able to the driver where we wanted to go in our new language!  It was rather thrilling actually!  

Especially since afterwards I heard them talking about how we spoke the language... 

Here is the view from inside... seeing what we see.  The back of whomever is driving you from A to B.

It can hold 2 adults, or 3 adults & a few kids, or one adult with several bags of groceries or an ironing board (yes a full size ironing board does stick out both sized if you were wondering), or 2 adults & a clothes drying rack, that fills every body's laps... or i have even seen them used as school-buses filled with more small children & backpacks than I should say!

Truthfully I have only been scared once and do rather enjoy riding in autos... 

they fit & can go just about anywhere.  

They are rather high powered... more than once we have been in one & were taken to the filling station.

What do they run on... I am sure you are thinking... why propane of course!

Which probably explains why they sound like weed-eaters on steroids!

Plus, there is nothing like a quick ride across town to fluff up your hair!  Ha!

New Favorite Appetizer

So we were at one of our favorite little all-veg restaurants the other day...

and had to get our new favorite appetizer.

We were introduced to these tasty little morsels of spicy goodness very shortly after arriving here 

thanks to our teammates... who are also rather fond of them :)

Any guess as to what they are?

I was truly surprised when I learned their contents...

But they are still so yummy!

Just leave a comment with your guess... 

and the winner will get a fresh, hot, yummy plate of these on me when you come to visit!!!

Melissa's Wedding

This is my friend Melissa... she just got married... like Saturday!  

I think she & her new hubby are pretty great and since her wedding has been a source of learning & cultural experiences for me I thought it was only fair to share about it...

Just before Christmas as I was preparing to come to South Asia she gave me a call & invited me to join her & our friend Sara for her dress fitting... naturally these pics could not come online till now :)  

I miss these girls.

If I was in AR I would of defiantly been there... but since I am half a world away Mel asked me to get & wear a yellow saree & Skype in for this occasion.  

Enter in my awesome language tutor... I got to go shopping with her for this yellow saree!

 Yellow is hard to find here, everybody kept trying to get me to get a red saree!  Red sarees are special & what one would wear to a wedding. 

And my first time out with a national for anything like this!  It was so much fun shopping with her!  She took me to the right place to get the best price... what are friends for?  Cause then, bless her, she taught me how to wear it!

Here I am after my saree wrapping lesson.  

They are pretty but A LOT of work... any guesses how much fabric is wrapped around me in that pic?  

If you thought... maybe 6 meters... you are correct!  

Saree's are everyday wear around here... obviously this is a fancier wedding sari... but I know some ladies who only where these!  They are beautiful... but whoa...

I should also tell you, after my saree wrapping lesson my tutor & I went out to say hello to my neighbors... all dressed up with no-where to go?  Not here... we just went next door.  

Where I learned that what saree you wear & how you wear it is a reflection of your personality.  My neighbor, who is sweet but we can barely talk to each other, told my tutor that I was so sweet & friendly and that this saree matched me & my body very well!  Who knew!?

So in the middle of the night... my time... I got all wrapped up in my pretty saree & skyped into my home church in AR for Melissa & Matt's wedding.

I even got to sit on the front row... kinda :)

Here are the happy couple after the ceremony!  They... on my mac... me on a tablet there... everybody taking pictures of everybody!  It was fun... sad I missed it in person but still so blessed to be a very small part of Melissa's special day!

I love you girl!!!  I am so thankful for Matt & this new special season in your life!

Just a few...

Language time a few days ago... how many languages can you say all of those things in? 

Another view of our house & down the road

I love living in a place with palm trees.  Actually, we have been told these are coconut trees... either way I feel a bit like its vacation... drinking a fresh coconut & enjoying the fruit in smoothies!

Our new language

Guys like this fella with the veggies on the cart go up & down the streets yelling out what they are selling... i have yet to get anything from them... I would like to but am just now able to understand what they are selling!

My language tutor & I after my sari lesson.  I will show you the full dress after my friend Melissa's wedding... it is for her wedding after all!

One Month

This month we have:

• got stuck in & drank tea in London

• moved to South Asia, check more pics out here if you are interested 
• we were told we cold not live in an apartment we looked at because we are meat eaters... really.
• found & moved into a house  :)

• worked on buying everything for said house, this is our water filter... we love some good clean h2o!

• started full-time language study
• met our neighbors
• discovered excessive or very poor customer service... with everything!
• learned where to buy our food & groceries
• learned you first have to clean your fruits & veggies properly in order to enjoy them safely

• ridden in auto-rickshaws, our main mode of transportation now-a-days
• re-learned how to eat with our hands :)
• learned how to unlock a dvd player 
• discovered that KFC has the spiciest food we have had yet, not kidding!
• been asked something we never expected, "What color do you want your pillars painted?"  HA!

• waited and waited and waited for people to work on our house
• been reminded over & over again why we came to work & live in South Asia
• been to our local hospital a couple of times
• learned how to say, "I have lizards in my house." with cause...
• have been scolded by our garbage man because the outside of our house is dusty!
• bought local coffee & i have to admit... instant coffee... for the drop-ins :)

• eaten some really amazing food :)
• got to cook dinner for ourselves again 
• met some pretty amazing people
• skyped with AR, KY, CA & NC
• and finally unpacked!

I realize I should take my camera out more... I will work on more pics...