A little catch up...

I feel bad that I have not posted much "written" stuff lately. Life is just busy!

Shane got back from his trip ok. We were without power one afternoon/night while he was gone. That was pretty interesting! I found it quite spooky to sit in the dark and listen to the call to prayer without anyone home. The boys kept saying that they were scared, but they eventually went to sleep!

Shane had a great trip. I have to look through his pictures, and then I can post some. Maybe I can get him to post about it himself. It was really rewarding for him, and he found out lots of information that will help us in the future.

We had some issues with Dave's teacher and school. So when Shane returned from his trip, we decided to move David to another class in the school. He was in a 4 year old class (he wont be 4 until January), and the work was just too hard. In the West, he would have been fine in that class, but here, he is expected to write numbers and ABC's, etc. I want him playing and socializing...not doing "school" when he is 3!!!! He is going wonderfully in his new class. His teacher is great. He is painting and doing things a 3 year old should be doing. There is also another girl from the States in his class. So that makes me feel a little better. He now goes to school from 10:00-12:00pm.

Because David is in school for less time, we are not able to study like we were. Shane and I have now split up and we study separately in the morning, and together in the afternoon. It is working out ok for now. It was better when we both could study together in the morning as well, but it was best for David to move classes.

We had a wonderful weekend with our co-workers! We did the time management and language part of our mentoring program. Really challenging. For the next month, we are keeping a record of what we do each day..even down to 15 minute intervals. This may seem drastic, but it is really good for us to have that accountability. We are already seeing areas where we can improve with our time. At the end of October, we are making a trip to see our co-workers (this will be my first time back since the survey trip), and we will all go over our record keeping. We are also reporting weekly to them about our language learning. This helps us be diligent with our language goals. We are focusing on Learning the Language, Reviewing the Language we have learned, getting out and using it, and then evaluating how things are going. It is really sad that so many people in our line of work are not held accountable for their time. I will let you know how things go and what I find out about myself through this process.

I have been really trying to get out into the community to actually USE the language I am learning. This is probably where I struggle the most. I can be a bit of a coward about getting out!!! So on Monday, I tried going out in our neighborhood. I was a bit discouraged as I cannot talk to men on my own (culturally inappropriate) and there were not many women to be found. I think they must be working women. I found a few and I practiced, but not as much as I wanted to! So yesterday (Tuesday), I hired a little bicycle taxi, and Dave and I went to the market. Wow...that was great practice. I told one person my name....and everyone must have heard it because as I walked through the market people kept saying, Hello Marlana!!!!

Then, I came home got Maggie, put her in the stroller and went for a walk. I found a walk way into a poorer neighborhood here just behind our house. It was awesome. People were everywhere and so friendly and willing to talk with me! It was great. Then, we all went back there just before dinner. I wanted to take Shane and Noah so they could see all the people. It was awesome. I stopped to talk with one woman, and she was surprised that I had 3 kids. She said that, "They told her you only had 2." Interesting...that word had gotten out around the neighborhood that I can been in the morning with just David and Maggie.

So, that is what I have been up to lately! I do my walking and talking while Shane is having his language lesson. Shane is about to start playing a bit of badminton with the locals when I have my lesson. He stumbled upon some courts yesterday, and they invited him to come back and play!

Well, I must be off. I dont want to spend too much time on the computer since I am keeping close track of my time!!!!! Much Love!