Language-Rich

When you are trying to learn a new language, one of the things you look for in a neighborhood is a place where nobody speaks your mother tongue, so that you are forced to learn the language to survive.  We call this kind of neighborhood, "language-rich".  Ours is pretty good, in this aspect, although many people will proudly use the few English phrases they know when they find out that we are Americans.  However, many others speak Arabic only, as evidenced by one young man in his 20's who had no idea at all that his new sweatshirt read, "GRANDMA is my name and Spoiling is my Game!"  That's language-rich!

Introducing Our Newest Family Member: Bruce Lee!

One of the benefits of living in the desert is... When one of your friends is driving down the road and sees a chameleon crossing the street,  he can stop and pick it up and give it to you for your birthday!  We've had Bruce for about a month now, and he really has been a fun pet!

 He likes to get out of his aquarium and climb around.  We like him because he doesn't move very fast and he doesn't go missing if you put him down! 

 He changes color, depending on his mood or what he's doing.  Sometimes he's dark brown, sometimes tan with flecks, sometimes pale green.

We have enjoyed him more than the crabs, frogs, and geckos that have come to stay at our house recently. 

Here he is eating a fly out of M's hand.  He also likes grasshoppers and cockroaches!  We've considered fitting him with a halter and leash and renting him out to our friends!

Old stones

 Living in the Middle East, there is never a shortage of ancient ruins to climb and explore.

Ramadan Kareem

This is the first week of Ramadan, a 30 day daily fast that our Muslim neighbors here observe.  Our friends wake very early before the first call to prayer to have a big breakfast, because once the call sounds at around 4:30 am, all eating and drinking is forbidden.  They fast all day until the sun sets, and then their fast is broken with their whole family gathered for a lavish meal.

Here is a good article I found about Ramadan:

http://alameda.patch.com/articles/ramadan-a-primer-for-non-muslims

Some of our neighbors hang lights outside their homes to celebrate the holiday.  Our language teacher said her family drove around on the first night of Ramadan looking at the lights.  Sound familiar?

                            

                            

Ramadan Kareem means "generous", because people are supposed to give generously to the poor, as well as to be generous in gifts or food to their friends or guests.  It is also a time of increased focus on self-discipline, and earning Allah's favor.  Help us lift up our Muslim friends to the Father, that they would seek Him with all their hearts and that He would reveal His Truth to them.

             

Language Learning

Our kids have spent the summer learning spoken Arabic from this very sweet (and patient) woman at our language center.  They learn written Arabic from another sweet lady who tutors them.  They have one more month until school starts and then the boys will be in Arabic school all day long. 

Learning new names for body parts.

A page out of a math book.  The numbers are different.  Here we use Hindi numbers, while in America  we use Arabic numbers.  Go figure!!!  To make matters more difficult, the written words (formal Arabic, Fusha) for most items are completely different than the spoken words (local dialect).  So the children actually need to learn 2 new languages for school this year(one for the classroom and one for the playground).  Please lift them up to the Father that they would be able to learn.

Vacation means...

We gave the kids a couple days off from summer school and took them out of town for a break.  They were happy to find the golden arches waiting for them there.

Vacation means having ice cream with your supper...

or FOR your supper!

YUM!! Finger-Lickin' Goodness!!

We visited a different town recently and drove around for over an hour because we heard (and saw billboards) that there was a Krispy Kreme in town.  After asking several locals with no success, we finally had a our car rental agent take us there on our way to the airport.  Success has never tasted so good!