Home for a shower

I'm uploading a ton of pics right now on Facebook. but gotta let you guys know we are doing GREAT!!!! IT's a hard life in a way. no toilets. no privacy. no running water. no tacos. but we are really enjoying it. super good experience. we are just home for a shower today cause it's a day off- Happy Men's Day!!!! I'm popping in the shower. I hope to post more pics in an hour if we are still here. Thanks for thinking of us. we'll be back on Saturday for a whole week.

Judging at the College

Yesterday, Bobbie and I were invited to be special guests at the college to judge the sweets part of their lessons. The theme was geletin. So we ate a LOT of jello:) We had a great time- lots of cultural stuff. We will be going to the school sometime in March to teach them a few American/Canadian dishes...not sure what to teach them. It's hard to make something really like home here because of the different ingredients etc. hmmm. We are thinking something simple like pizza/brownies. ANyway, yesterday was great- I took a lot of pictures because they want to make an album at the college. I better get back to packing, we leave for the village in 6 hours!

The Food

Besides the blini (pictured above) which are like crepes or finnish pancakes filled with apple and served with sour cream, all the other sweets were made with gelatin (which was the theme of the lesson). They were all pretty good. They sure go through a lot of work to make these as they don't have instant jello like we do. Makes you feel bad seeing them make it when it's so easy for us to do at home. The chocolate one was more like pudding though cause they added the gelatin to milk instead. They were all pretty good. But wow, after the 4th plate of jello we started getting a little...wiggly:)

Teaching English in the Village

above: the village school below: where we'll live

below: our host Saiid

Though we first heard about the opportunity a LONG time ago, it wasn't really a sure thing and it was only in the back of our minds... BUT well.. it kind of sprung itself on us this week and we're going for it! We will be teaching English in the village of Shambalyg down south (just a little over an hour drive) towards the Mongolian border. We will be teaching at the village school, grades 1-11. We will be living with a Tuvan family and their dogs (kenya will join them), sheep, cows and horses. It seems perfect for us at this stage because we want to be immersed in the Tuvan language and the people in the village (pop. 700ish) only speak in Tuvan. (though some will know a little Russian of course) We will be around Tuvan all day long!!!!! Yay!!! except in our English class:) Our kids will go to the school too! Emma is pretty excited even though she doesn't speak hardly any Tuvan. She is pretty adventurous. The boys will probably have a harder time adjusting but they have eachother at least:)

We start on SATURDAY!!!!! We will be going for 2 weeks and then we will be home for one week, then we will go for 2 weeks again and then we will rotate with our co-workers. Such a great opportunity for us all! They desperately need English teachers and we desperately need to learn Tuvan!!!

It will be challenging of course. teaching 11 grades!!!! and not speaking their language!!!! living in a not so big house with another family!!!! eating together, cooking together, all 5 of us in one little room, bathing nowhere!!!!! phew. no running water. no internet or telephone. but we see SOOOO many positives and we are so excited! and it's only an hour away so we can come home on the weekend if we need to get things (though we don't have a car...)

Yay! I really am so glad. A little nervous. and thinking about preparing lessons for all those different grades etc. knowing nothing about their level (though my guess would be they all know very very little) Wondering if Kenya will survive sleeping outside...(she won't be allowed inside) Hoping we will like the food, hoping we will be a help instead of a handful. Yay though!

SO thankful for this new opportunity. Seems to be just what we need at this time.

if you want to see (almost) all of the pictures from Thailand, you can see them by clicking HERE

David returns from Thailand!!!

cockroaches....mmmmmmmmmm :)

Yay!!! He is back....and I'm so so glad. I'm still hearing all the stories and adventures but here are some pictures for you to see. SOOO beautiful and interesting eh!?! I'm not sure if he enjoyed the conference, sitting on the beach, scooting around Thailand with Jon, eating good food, buying pretty things for me or working hard with the coffee more!!! He told our language helper Thailand wasn't that great...when she asked why he said cause Erin wasn't there... :) It's so so nice to have him back...