the ol' homestead

Thank you so much for lifting all this up.  It feels so great to have a place, and hopefully we’ll be moving in just a few days.  Tomorrow our friends’ househelper will clean our place while we go on a fun-filled adventure to a local government office so we can set up some sort of tax ID number.  Once we have that, we can open a bank account, through which all our bills will be paid - all bills are automatically taken out of everyone’s account electronically, which is pretty cool, in my opinion.  After that, we’ll purchase our mattresses and appliances, and have them delivered.  Once they come, then we can move in.  And finally, the moment we’ve been waiting for - we’ll rent a car for a few days and hit up IKEA, baby.

So, without further adieu, here are some pics.  Keep in mind that the place is still pretty dirty and dusty.  First, our salon (living room/dining room):

The right side of our kitchen (yes, that’s marble countertops - marble is cheap here, and one of the country’s major exports):

The kitchen to the left - the fridge goes in the farther corner, the stove in the corner to the left:

The main bathroom - this photo looks pretty drab.  The washing machine goes under the sink to the left (and the dryer will go on the balcony!):

The hallway:

The office/guest room - the bedroom for all you future guests.  You know who you are!

Chickpea’s room.  They left us two wardrobes (there are no closets here)!

The master bedroom:

The master bathroom.  A second bathroom is unheard of around here, much less a master bathroom.  We’re psyched:

The storage closet - another rarity around here, and ours happens to be tiled!

View out our main balcony - we are one of several high-rises (but we’re on the 4th floor):

The view out our other balcony - in the distance is the bay, but below us is a slum - it’s actually a nice part of town, it just happens to be one of those random spots:

Ahhhh…  Our day ended well, so on this note - I’m hitting the sack…

Hello, my name is Toblerone, and I am a slacker blogger.  (pause while you respond with dutiful “Hi, Toblerone.”)

Really, people.  This is the slowest I’ve blogged since the inception of my cyberspace corner, almost two years ago.  And I know most of you haven’t noticed, or at least don’t mind, but it bothers me.  It’s always been my outlet, my nook to practice writing, to, at minimum, inflict myself with my inner Grammar Nazi.  At its basest form, it’s my place to share cute Chickpea stories and photos.  And it hasn’t even been that lately.

So my apologies.  Chickpea is still cute, and has been growing like a weed on our fall journey.  I have more photos to upload, and since several of you have “hinted” that I need to get on the ball with that, I promise to get more up in the next few days.  Her vocab has taken off like a rocket, and while she’s still behind most kids her age in that arena (which has never bothered me in the slightest), it really amazes me how much she understands.  As of late, the cutest thing has been hearing her call out to Oreo, the cat.  It sounds something like “Roreroreroro.”  She’s also learned the delightful English concept known as ‘articles,’ so she’s naming everything with an article in front, regardless of whether it needs it.  So she’ll point and say, “a flower,” “a moon,” “a banana,” “a daddy.”  We respond by pointing back and saying, “a Chickpea.”

I’ve been reading some good books, about four at a time, as usual.  Two are about the country we’re moving to (if you want the titles, let me know, because they’re good).  I’m also enjoying The Mommy Manual, and Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood.  Good stuff.  Thumbs up.

I iTuned (can that be a verb, Grammar Nazi?) myself a Christmas album.  It has a few classics - Dean Martin, Ray Charles, and the like, but the good new stuff is Sufjan Stevens, Sara Groves, Sarah MacLachlan, Chris Botti, Michael Buble, and Third Day.  My unwritten rule for Christmas music is “new musicians, old classics.”  I’ve never liked newly-composed Christmas songs - call me Clark Griswold, but I really only like the classics like “Joy to the World” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel.”  But get modern voices to do them well, and I’m sold.  So my compilation -also a thumbs up.

So Christmas…  It’s been on my mind, for obvious reasons.  But it’s surreal to think that this might be our last one in the States for awhile.  I’m okay with that, really, but it is a bit emotional for me, to be honest.  We’re here and all, and are enjoying the best parts about it (family, freedom to worship, etc.), but I miss having a home for the holidays.  I miss having a tree of our own, having my own kitchen with the right spices, seeing our stockings on the mantel.  My mind often drifts to our three boxes in storage of Christmas decor, because I know I won’t get to see the ornaments from Martha’s Vineyard until next year (if they survive the Giant Move).  I like making chocolate-covered pretzels and pumpkin bread, and I miss not doing that.  I don’t even remember if I kept my loaf pans.  This in-between time…  It makes the holidays weird.  But I guess it forces us remember why we celebrate.

Okay, Jakers is almost over, and then we’re off to the park.  It’s sunny outside, so I take the vitamin D whenever it’s offered.

Hello, my name is Toblerone, and I am a slacker blogger.  (pause while you respond with dutiful “Hi, Toblerone.”)

Really, people.  This is the slowest I’ve blogged since the inception of my cyberspace corner, almost two years ago.  And I know most of you haven’t noticed, or at least don’t mind, but it bothers me.  It’s always been my outlet, my nook to practice writing, to, at minimum, inflict myself with my inner Grammar Nazi.  At its basest form, it’s my place to share cute Chickpea stories and photos.  And it hasn’t even been that lately.

So my apologies.  Chickpea is still cute, and has been growing like a weed on our fall journey.  I have more photos to upload, and since several of you have “hinted” that I need to get on the ball with that, I promise to get more up in the next few days.  Her vocab has taken off like a rocket, and while she’s still behind most kids her age in that arena (which has never bothered me in the slightest), it really amazes me how much she understands.  As of late, the cutest thing has been hearing her call out to Oreo, the cat.  It sounds something like “Roreroreroro.”  She’s also learned the delightful English concept known as ‘articles,’ so she’s naming everything with an article in front, regardless of whether it needs it.  So she’ll point and say, “a flower,” “a moon,” “a banana,” “a daddy.”  We respond by pointing back and saying, “a Chickpea.”

I’ve been reading some good books, about four at a time, as usual.  Two are about the country we’re moving to (if you want the titles, let me know, because they’re good).  I’m also enjoying The Mommy Manual, and Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood.  Good stuff.  Thumbs up.

I iTuned (can that be a verb, Grammar Nazi?) myself a Christmas album.  It has a few classics - Dean Martin, Ray Charles, and the like, but the good new stuff is Sufjan Stevens, Sara Groves, Sarah MacLachlan, Chris Botti, Michael Buble, and Third Day.  My unwritten rule for Christmas music is “new musicians, old classics.”  I’ve never liked newly-composed Christmas songs - call me Clark Griswold, but I really only like the classics like “Joy to the World” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel.”  But get modern voices to do them well, and I’m sold.  So my compilation -also a thumbs up.

So Christmas…  It’s been on my mind, for obvious reasons.  But it’s surreal to think that this might be our last one in the States for awhile.  I’m okay with that, really, but it is a bit emotional for me, to be honest.  We’re here and all, and are enjoying the best parts about it (family, freedom to worship, etc.), but I miss having a home for the holidays.  I miss having a tree of our own, having my own kitchen with the right spices, seeing our stockings on the mantel.  My mind often drifts to our three boxes in storage of Christmas decor, because I know I won’t get to see the ornaments from Martha’s Vineyard until next year (if they survive the Giant Move).  I like making chocolate-covered pretzels and pumpkin bread, and I miss not doing that.  I don’t even remember if I kept my loaf pans.  This in-between time…  It makes the holidays weird.  But I guess it forces us remember why we celebrate.

Okay, Jakers is almost over, and then we’re off to the park.  It’s sunny outside, so I take the vitamin D whenever it’s offered.

Here’s something odd - right now, it’s 59 degrees (warm for here). Tonight, we’re supposed to get a BLIZZARD. As in, winds up to 35 miles an hour and possible snow drifts several feet high. How crazy is that? The answer is VERY. For this Texan, at least.

Kabob took Chickpea outside to play before heck freezes over here, so I’m taking this very rare moment of alone time to process some of the info we were given today. The afternoon session was on language learning as a family, and what that looks like for kiddos. There was nothing I hadn’t heard before (in fact, I heard this exact talk, five years ago), but everything really resonated with me today. So pardon me, but I’m going to use this blog to help me digest in writing what I just consumed through the ears. Thank you.

• In going overseas, we are raising world citizens (as opposed to American citizens). We will be giving them a big world. In return, we will need to let them explore that world when the time comes.

• Third-Culture Kids (TCKs) will reflect the attitude that their parents have about them being TCKs. If we reinforce the idea that they are the luckiest kids in the world to live the way they do, they’ll feel blessed. Likewise, if we express guilt that because of us, they aren’t living in the States, they’ll feel sorry for themselves.

• TCKs tend to be gifted children. For example, in one study, 1 out of 6,000 kids in “Who’s Who in America” were children of dentists. 1 out of 7 kids were TCKs.

• Not only are they cross-cultural, TCKs tend to be cross-generational. They usually relate well to older and younger generations.

• Something important for Kabob and me to decide - Which language will we speak at home? Children whose home language is English tend to feel a little more at home when they’re in the U.S. The folks here at MTI recommend speaking English at home. However, when a national is present, even in the home, speak the national’s language to everybody present.

• It’s rare, but every now and then, when you take a child that has just begun to speak to a new country (aka Chickpea), they’ll regress in their speaking. Their brain is saying, “You need to listen more than speak.” If it happens, and it’s rare, it usually only lasts about six weeks.

• Never say never about any schooling option for the kids. Don’t assume you’ll never homeschool, send them to a national school, an international school, or even boarding school (I really can’t imagine that last one right now). You’ll be amazed at what’s the best option for that kid at that time.

• Overall, the highest priority is to do what’s best for the kids. Schooling and language options aren’t as important as your relationship with your children, and they know that. If you make family life a priority, they’ll thrive. If they sense the “ministry” comes before their livelihood, they could build up resentment, bitterness, and anger. Your family IS ministry.

I have thoughts on a lot of this, but I want to mull over it a bit more. Overall, I’m so thankful to be in a place and to learn the things that hit home to us right now. In the “real world” we so seldom get that - even in church. Here, we’re normal.