Eye-witness

Living in new lands brings about new experiences in sight, sounds, and of course...smell. Clearly we cannot have each of you smell the salty sea or breathe in the sandy air which C&E encounter each day. However, we can do our very best in giving you glimpses of what they have seen or ideas of what they have heard. The following is a list compiled of daily life scenes and sounds of C&E's new surroundings. (On a side note: they have now been married FOUR months!)

Sounds:
-cars honking a nano second after instersection lights change from red to green...it doesn't matter if the car is 20th in line!
-call to prayer from the mosque that is only one block from our flat...we hear this 5 times a day beginning at 4am. Don't kid yourself-it's loud enough to wake you up in the middle of the night.
-languages from around the world..German, French, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, Mayalayam (for the Thomas family!), Hindi, Urdu, Korean, Chinese, Italian, Russian, etc. Pick any language and you will more than likely hear it sometime throughout the day. That doesn't include the different dialects of English--American, Australian, British, Irish, Scottish, New Zealand (the Kiwi's) and South African.
-kids laughing at the malls
-songs to our Father during Friday fellowship
-BBC, EuroNews, and Al Jazeera TV
-E playing the piano for fellowship gatherings
-clothes washer going at least once a day
-the work crew working by 6am at the new apartment building going up next door
-students talking in C's class

Scenes:
-sand
-building workers wearing no hard hats and flip flops on contruction sites (in some cases)
- contruction on many major thourough fares
-new sky scrapers in the downtown area
-people of all ages talking on mobile phones
-new apartment buildings contructed in many areas
-mulitple Land Cruisers at intersections
-roundabouts :)
-the other night at one of the many malls, we saw 3 Lambourgines and one Bentley in less than an hour
-women completely covered
-men dressed in the traditional white robes, called a thobe, and a head covering; it in prestigious to wear the national dress and even little boys at the malls are seen wearing it
-more sand
-American restuarants...seriously, I've never seen more Baskin Robbins in one city in my entire life!
-fresh bread stores
-long lines at any offical place you visit (phone company, bank, electric/water, etc.)
-large mosques, small mosques, and what I call "mini-mosques". The mini is set up in new developement areas and is similar to a portable school room building. A loud speaker is attached on the outside and a 'steeple' point is on top to signify it as a mosque.
- The Red Crescent as opposed to the Red Cross
-ice skating rinks
-motor cycles weaving in between traffic and horrific speeds
-futbol matches (soccer games)
-fellowship times with 250 + people
-the sun--everyday all day beginning at 5:15am and setting in the evenings around 5:30pm
-something we have NOT seen much of: CAR SEATS! Little babies in the front seat with NO seat belt or safety seat
-Land Cruisers cutting you off at all intersections without even a nod from the driver.
-sand...everywhere you can imagine
-most buildings and business closed by 12:30 or 1:00pm for Ramadan. Everything remains closed (including banks, restaruants, businesses, grocery stores, etc.) until approx 7p or 8p each night. This will change once Ramadan ends in mid-October
-waterfront lined with buildings, boat docks, and restaurants
-people from all nations
-large villas
-our couches covered in orange material against our pale yellow/cream painted walls. OUCH! This will change in time. :)
-sheets from the US that don't fit the 180cm x 200cm mattresses
-cramped workers camps
-a maid's quarter in a home is about the size of a large walk-in closet in the US.
-turkey 'strips' at the local markets as opposed to turkey 'bacon'
-Ramadan reminders not to eat or drink anything in public....it's agains the law during the month of fasting. Don't worry, we can eat all we want in homes at any time of the day.

Quick blessings to pass along:
-we will get a phone line in mid-October (yes...it takes that long)
-we should get a vehicle this week
-a family moving out of the country gave us 5 bags FULL of spices and mixes for our kitchen. Oddly enough, it's equivalent to the food we left to friends back in the States.
-C has been asked by students to attend a few futbol matches
-C's grandma has fallen asleep in this world to awaken with her Father...she's healed and completely whole before the Father.
-E has been asked to tutor local children after Ramadan and possibly teach a small conversation class of local women twice a week.