You can call me Betty.

I have a new hobby. Baking! Partly because I really need to start being healthier and partly because some of my old hobbies are hard to come by here. Not that baking is always a healthy thing, I've just decided that giving my family Zucchini Bread or Baked Oats for breakfast is a lot better than some other choices. I know, all of those things are made with sugar, oil, ect. but it's got to be better than Lucky Charms and such. I've also decided to stop buying cookies and chips for snacks. Mostly for the reason that if it's in the house, I will eat it. I rarely bought those things when we lived in the States. I really want to instill in the boys good eating habits now. Things like stopping when you are full instead of always having to finish your plate, making good choices and drinking lots of water (and milk for them). So now we have some dried fruit and nuts (really more for us since I don't give them whole nuts) for snacks. I also have popcorn for me, another thing I don't really give the boys. These things can still pack on the calories but we are all going to practice moderation and portion control. I also made sure we have some fresh veggies to snack on if we want. Some other things I'm changing:

1-For some reason I started buying a lot of soft drinks once we moved here. I have always enjoyed a Diet Coke here and there, but I was getting the real stuff. So I have decided to allow myself one diet drink a day--at most but preferably not everyday--and drinking water the rest of the day. (My morning coffee does not count because I make the rules.)

2-I stopped exercising once we moved here. I used the altitude change as an excuse but I'm well adjusted to it now so really I have no reason to not exercise, well other than laziness. A couple of weeks ago I started back on a basic routine to increase as I can. Unfortunately I had to take last week off because of my back but I'm back on it now.

3-Eating healthy. Portion control, better choices and going back to what I've learned from Weight Watchers and First Place. I would love to lose some of my extra pounds but that would be an added bonus to being healthy!

4-Taking time for me. Reading, baking (I really enjoy it, how did I not know this before?--Thanks to Kelli for inspiration) and I may start cross stitching and knitting again.

If you have any good recipes that are somewhat healthy, please send them to me. Just remember that I only have access to basic ingredients so nothing fancy.

Trying to slow down.

OK, so I really wanted to post something profound or at least interesting. I have neither. Over the weekend I got to go visit my friend. I took Kirby with me so he could play with her daughter, one of his favorite people. We had some great girl time just chatting. Since we rarely get girl time I think we could have spent three days just talking about nothing. Now I know all of you are thinking how much I like to talk anyway...just imagine how much worse it is now that I don't have much of a talking outlet. Don't get me wrong, I have several great ladies here to gab with, but we are all so busy and have such different schedules that gab time is cut quite short. Plus, I'm a full believer that the more history you have with someone the more things you have to talk about. And I've know this particular sweet lady longer than anyone here. An added bonus is she is about to have baby #3, and I can talk babies for hours on end.

On a not so good note, my back is hurting. I have back issues quite frequently. Usually they come about when I'm stressed and running around trying to be a hero. I guess I didn't realize that was the case lately cause we have been out and about doing a lot less than we were in the previous two months. But I have let myself become super stressed mentally about the whole learning language thing. I feel frustrated during class and the hour a day I put in studying never feels like enough. I'm thankful that this isn't the sciatica that I sometimes get. This is more like intense muscle strain I felt when I first hurt my back in college. I feel like an old grandma walking around all tenderly. I hope it passes soon. I'm missing class today cause sitting in a hard chair is really painful and I was also afraid a bus ride would set me off screaming. I really don't want to have to miss Thursday too cause next week is a holiday and we are off. Two weeks without class would not be good. To top it off, I started a new workout schedule last week. So that is on hold too. The longer I'm out of these things, the harder to get back into them.

I'm off to spend what would have been class time, studying. 'sigh'

Morning Journey

It's 8:00, time to run out the door. This morning it's easy to leave, the boys aren't up yet, and therefore not begging me to stay. Shoes on, grab back pack and down the stairs. I smile as I pass some neighbors. Everyone is out and the day has begun. I cross the busy street, dodging cars and bikes. As I turn down the alley to cut through to the needed bus stop, I see the all too familiar sights and smell the aroma of life. My 10 minute walk through life. Men pulling their carts with different breakfast items. None that are native to me, some that look tempting, others that don't. One vendor has a megaphone that has his voice recorded, playing over and over the name of his contribution. Something I have never heard of. I speed up as a pass the public restroom. I don't want the smell to invade my senses, taking away the sweet smells around me. I see two women setting up their tables, each item placed just so to be adequately represented. They stop a minute to share a few words, maybe a joke. They talk in the abrupt, loud manner of the local language. They laugh. None of their words are recognizable to me. They see me coming, stare for a brief moment and get back to work. Everyone I pass stares. I return the stare with a smile, getting an embarrassed smile in return. A young woman is filling up a basin of water, preparing to wash her hair there on the sidewalk. She doesn't notice me with her important task at hand. As I pass the Elementary school I can hear the children reciting after the teacher. Maybe I could join their class, although they are far more advanced than I am. I walk by the small local market. It's buzzing like thousands of bees. I finally reach the main street and turn just in time to see the #16 bus pull away, that was my desired bus. Another will be along shortly. Now I have a few minutes to catch my breath after the brisk walk and to sip on my coffee. #16 pulls up and I step on, swipe my card and see that there is a blessing before me, a vacant seat. I get to relax on my way to class. The street is crowded but I hear very little. The bus is quiet. We stop at a red light and the bus driver turns off the engine to conserve gas. We sit in almost silence and I am thankful for the few quiet moments that are rarely a part of my day. The bus makes it's way through town, stopping to let people on and off. I often wonder where their day will lead them. Work? School? Back to their family? Do any of them know my Savior? Traffic seems light today and I reach the school with a few minutes to spare. Three hours of class in a cold classroom. Today is a good day, I don't feel completely lost during the lesson. Maybe I will get this language after all. Maybe I will please Father in my purpose for being here. Maybe this place will one day not feel so foreign to me.

To the extreme

In the past several days I have had two local experiences that are extreme in comparison. (Warning: graphic bathroom story to follow) Last Friday night a friend and I went out to celebrate her 25th Birthday (which was not actually until Monday but we decided to celebrate twice). We started out with getting our toes painted (please let me reiterate that this is not a regular pedicure, I do all the nail trimming and skin smoothing at home, they just do the paint) and then headed off to Old Town to a restaurant called the Tower--some amazing western food, I had Chicken Parmesan. So far so good. Until after dinner when we headed to The Sweet Tooth (a wonderful place run by some deaf believers) where I was enjoying some Italian coffee and peanut butter pie with Oreo crust and my stomach decided now was the time to revolt. I don't know what caused this mutiny but battle had begun. Since The Sweet Tooth has no bathroom I ran down the street back to the Tower. Looking at no one I ran straight to the rest room took care of business and went back to join my friend and finish my dessert. By the time I finished I realized WW II was about to start. I was too embarrassed to go back to the Tower and I desperately wanted to avoid an 'Oops, I crapped my pants' situation (thank you SNL for a great phrase) so my only choice was to go to the public restroom and pay 5 mao, equivalent to about 7 cents, and use the squatty. During all of my trips here I have avoided this. Peeing not a problem but to squat and do more serious business, not an exciting thought. Of course here I am faced with a squatty or a 30 min bus ride with, well you know. I ran into the sqatty, did my business--embarrassing noises for all to hear--and came out successful. I did it! I know this seems like a disgusting thing to be proud of but this was something I knew I would have to conquer at some point and what better way then practically being forced. So take that borderline IBS.

Now on to the more pleasanter of extremes. Last night we had celebration #2 for the Birthday girl. This celebration was dinner out and then on to have a massage and facial. This place was amazing. It uses French products, was clean and reminded me of the couple of places I have been to in the States. We started off in a steam room and then a nice warm shower using their products. After that we headed to our room where the three of us had a back massage and then a facial. This was my first facial and it was wonderful. Usually I don't like to have other people touch my face but I have to tell you this was so good I momentarily forgot where I was. If anyone come to visit we will be sure to go there. Now before anyone starts to think that all I do here is go get my toe nails painted and have massages please let me clarify that this is all for the same cost as a drink from Starbucks and a movie. Since we have neither a Starbucks or a movie theatre, activities for time out with the ladies is limited. Date nights even more so. I have already decided that I want Stan to get me a basic membership to this Spa place--the only name appropriate for a place like this--as my Christmas gift. I think it would be nice to forget where I am occasionally.

On another note, our visa situation is temporarily solved. I have a 6 month visa since I only plan to study one semester at the school and then go to all private tutoring. Stan paid tuition for a whole year so his visa is for 11 months (we have no idea why it's not 12). The boys are able to be under Stan's visa (and I will be able to as well after my current one expires) but we are still waiting on their birth certificates to make it in the mail. So with out the bc's we could only extend their tourist visa for another month. Once they arrive we will be all set.

I also had my first day of class today. Not so bad. I am pretty sure one semester will be just about all I can take.

I almost forgot, we felt our first earthquake. It was really mild in our area and we had absolutely no damage. The linked article does mention our city proper (Dali) as one of the places hit. Our friends living in the capital described what they felt as worse than what we had. I do have to say it was extremely strange to experience. We could visibly see our walls moving and the doors were swaying. We came through with no harm and the boys didn't even know what happened--I don't think they felt a thing.