The Dating Game

So I've ran into a growing trend here in some of the big cities in EA. When I was walking around a park with a friend the other day we came across hundreds of personal ads, you know the kind where you list your age, job, appearance, hobbies, etc...

and next thing I know we come across nearly 200 or so people my parents age and older holding the personal ads and sharing pictures of their son/daughter...so turns out that the parents are the ones that made the personal ad for their adult child, and are the ones looking at other personal ads and talking with other parents to find a date/mate for their son/daughter.Yeah, I'm still not sure what to think about this, but it was really interesting none the less.But I was SO excited to spend time with my old friend, Cat.

Backpacking

Well kinda...I got the awesome opportunity to travel in country with a dear friend, Stacie, and live outta my polka-dot girly backpack for 5 days. Though we definitely did a lot of walking, there wasn't any hiking involved. My hair products and computer kinda weighed me down though. :) I got to experience an overnight train ride for the first time! Each train car has several compartments, and each compartment has 6 beds, 3 high side by side. The very bottom bunk has the most room, like you can actually sit up straight. I got some decent rest, even though there were some furocious snoorers around me. :)
I found BARBIE Uno in a foriegn toy store right before we left! So we kept ourselves entertained, along with the people around us! Imagine what these people were thinking with their only reference point for American card games being with a deck of Barbie Uno cards!

So here's a few pics from our journey & the peeps we met:

People from all over this city were coming to this spring to get water...

We asked this man if it was safe to drink the water straight from the spring, without boiling it, b/c we'd seen lots of people doing it...but his response made us laugh when he said the some people can, but that speaking truthfully he couldn't...guess ya know what that means!
These are keychains with LIVE fish!

Too cute!

And some cute grandpas!

Living Hope

I'm not even really sure where to begin or what to tell, but it's been an awesome month, and his mercies have been new every morning! These are a few last shots I got with my camera before it broke...

Thanks so much for the lifts!!! He's answering!!!

Weekend Getaway

We took some time to retreat this past weekend...here's some pics from our "getaway":

Just in case...

Just in case you can't find your keys and make it up the flight of stairs to your apt... someone was nice enough to leave this lil contribution at the entrance (for over a week).

Air it out...

You know it's a BEAUTIFUL, SUNNY day when...everyone and their Mama hangs their quilt outside to "air it out!"PTL...we've had 2 pleasant days of sunshine! B/c there aren't clothes dryers here...getting your clothes washed & dryed is very weather-dependent! I always thought everyone washed their quilts and then hung them out to dry on sunny days...but I found out this week that most people are actually just letting their quilts bask in the sun for a lil while to warm them up for the cold nights! :)

I've Got SUNSHINE, On a Cloudy Day!

First, I just wanted to say thanks for keeping up with the blog even though I haven't posted much recently! Lots of rain and cold weather have kept us searching for creative indoor activities with friends for the the last few weeks. I wish you could see the looks on people's faces when they're riding there bikes out in this weather. I was kinda hesitant to take a picture of anyone while they were riding, afraid the flash would startle them and I'd be the cause of who knows what. :) I don't think I've ever anticipated the arrival of Spring so much as I have these past few weeks. I'm eager for the harshness of winter to be over, and to see and smell flowers in bloom!!