While in Turkey, we were out to dinner with some friends. The father in our group told his sons in the restaurant to “talk under” each other. He went on to explain to us that they have used that phrase in order to help their kids understand culture. In our American culture, we tend to get louder, talk over people and try to be heard. But here in the East, people do not talk over. They talk “under” each other.

This is a great framework for me to understand life here. They tend to be quiet and discrete, blending in with their surroundings and disapproving the loud, boisterous attitudes we embrace in America.

Back here in our city, we were talking with a few friends and realized that there is not a word for “funny.” This culture does not especially value humor, and their language reflects that. There is, however, a word that encompasses someone’s worth, value and wisdom. They say that when a person is loud or smiles too much, their “worth” decreases.

Now we walk the line between respecting these cultural beliefs, but not losing who we are as people and who we are in the Son.

Here’s to fighting the tension!

Christmas loot brought home from Turkey. I think I brought more stuff from Turkey for Christmas than I did originally from America. Note the homemade hot chocolate mix, almond roca and yarn from home (thanks, Mom and Dad!), and the moleskin-like notebooks and carbon monoxide detector (much needed) found in Turkey. My suitcase was pushing 30 kilos on the trip home… worth it!

Yesterday, we went to a Christmas Eve service. It was lovely to be able to sing and worship with a big group of people. One line of “Joy to the World” caught me like it never had before… 

“Far as the curse is found” 

Looking into this line, I learned that this song was not originally meant to be a Christmas song. It’s based on Psalm 98 and is really looking forward to the second coming of Christ. He has come to those as far as the curse is found. The curse is in me, it’s in you, in every nation, tribe and tongue. And that curse is redeemed through the One whose birth we celebrate today. 

May your Christmas be full of good tidings – because we have much reason to be merry. 

All of a sudden, Roommate 2 downstairs yelled, “We have fire!!! TURN EVERYTHING OFF!!!”

“What?” I thought. “Surely not…” I moseyed over to my space heater and turned it off along with a few other things I had on. I pulled on my coat and went downstairs. I have no idea why I didn’t seem to believe her at first.

One look outside at our smoking electrical box got me moving a bit faster.

Roommate 2 ran to her car to get a fire extinguisher while Roommate 1 ran upstairs to call our supervisor. I stood there, feeling pretty helpless. Roommate 2 opened the electrical box and that’s when we saw the flames. I’m laughing a bit on the inside at this point (our electrical box is outside, in a courtyard-type of thing so it didn’t feel like any real danger!). Roommate 2 takes the stance and then proclaims, “How do you use this thing?!!!” referring to the extinguisher.

My mind reeled as I mentally scanned every memory I have, realizing that none of them had to do with using a fire extinguisher. “Uhhh! I don’t know!!!!” I shouted, jumping up and down at this point.

With the might and dramatic flair fit for a movie, Roommate 2 popped off the pin and doused the fire. After the flames went out, we looked at each other and just laughed. She went next door and banged on the gate of our landlord. he eventually came out, looking quite tired, but his hair (of course) was gelled back and styled as if he’d been up for hours.

He looked at our poor electrical box and you could almost see his thoughts dawn on his face: “These girls… wow…” He said he’d fix it later on in the day. We went back inside to finish getting ready and go to work.

Did I mention that our landlord is one of my ESL students? He entered class with a little smirk that morning.

Thankful this fire extinguisher was close on hand!

The charred electrical box post-fire.

Just another day here in Central Asia!

Can’t seem to shake this imagery: 

And when I passed by and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’

What does that question mean? How do you answer that about America?

As I’ve pondered my answer, I’ve started to pay attention to some of the little things that make life different here.

1. Our bathroom is one room with the shower head in the middle. When we shower, everything in the entire bathroom gets wet.

2. The call to prayer from the mosque down the street wakes me up around 4:30 AM. Sometimes this is annoying. On other days, it moves me to compassion and prayer. On other days, I sleep right through it.

3. Everyone is so nice and hospitable. On the other hand, it’s exhausting being stared at everywhere we go. People are not generally kind when we pass them on the street, until we give a nod and a greeting. Their scowl turns to a grin and they smile back. I might even get an invite to lunch.

4. Frequent power outages and lack of central heating. At this point, I’m kind of enjoying this. Huddling around a space heater when we do have electricity, cooking by candlelight when we don’t and laughing with housemates.

5.We want to respect the cultural rules and norms. We don’t want to be boundary pushers. Generally, we are home before dark. If a friend invites us out at night, we have to arrange a proper ride home (from a married couple) and still not be out late. Don’t laugh too loud, wear proper clothes, don’t look like a slob, ignore the men, don’t draw attention to yourself, constantly be aware of your surroundings, act in a way that honors our hosts and the people around us… the list goes on. Wearisome on some days and exciting on others, we know what message we want to communicate to those around us. This message is one of peace and Light. And for that, this new lifestyle is worth it.

So that’s some of what it’s like. I’ll have to revisit this one as I pay more attention.

Here, they try to give you the clothing item. And instead of saying “Thank you,” they will tell you, “No, your eyes are ones that see beauty.”

Since I’m learning the language and all I can pick out is “eye’ and “beautiful,” I normally think they’re just telling me I have nice eyes. And say thanks back. Whoops.

Before coming here, the best advice we received about learning a new language was “Don’t be afraid to look like an idiot.” Hm. Accomplished. For the idiotic moments in the past and the many more that are in my near future, I’m thankful for laughter.

A small gesture, but the hospitality of strangers like this woman means a lot more than you’d think!

Yesterday, some visitors from the US were here. We drove out to the mountains with them, stopped on the side of the road. It was a crazy view, the clouds were rolling in, covering the tops of the mountains and you could feel it getting colder by the minute. It was the kind of landscape that I thought “I should really take some pictures of this,” but I didn’t want to distract myself from experiencing it by trying to get a good picture. To make up for it, here’s a shot from downtown.

The clock looks and feelings pretty European and out of place here… but somehow, that makes sense.

Here’s what our mornings tend to look like:

We have a milk frother! Who knew? We found it at a second-hand store in town. With the coffee and we brought from the US, Sarah’s french press and our new milk frother, mornings are quite delightful.

Things are going really well here. I know all days won’t be like this, so I am thankful for these good ones. Before I came here, I heard someone say “When you can fly, soar. When you can run, COVER GROUND. And when all you can do is walk, just put one foot in front of the other.” Hoping to make good distance in these good days!

• Everyone says learning language is really hard and not knowing the language can be one of the most discouraging things. I knew that, but kind of thought that they must not be working at it very hard. Well… I’ve realized that language learning is going to be really hard. Surprised? Ha, I was.
• We have great neighbors who have treated us to one feast already. The communal feel of this culture is very different from the private lives we are used to. Simply walking down the street, my teammate and I were invited into 3 homes to drink tea and (attempt to) talk.
• There is a women’s sports club about 2 blocks away from our house. It’s walled in so no one can see the women running around. We went to check it out and they play soccer, basketball, handball (soccer but you use your hands) and volleyball. They say we’re welcome anytime to join them for practice or recreation. We are very excited about this and hope it will be one way to make friends.
• The English Center is wonderful. Our supervisors are wonderful. We’ve heard that the students are wonderful and I’m excited to begin teaching next month.
• We have some different neighbors who want English lessons and will come over to get help with their homework. Last time, we were busy cooking for a picnic, but it didn’t stop them. Eventually, we were all laughing and mixing and they were telling us how to make cookies while pinching our cheeks and hugging on us. They also make us do their youngest sister’s homework to help us with the language.
• All the language students and teachers at the English Center went on a big picnic yesterday – complete with a 3-hour bus ride full of dancing (but not for us ladies), good food, games, stories and new friendships.

Our first days have been full. Grateful for the good things that have come with them and the fresh eyes we see with during this first season. I know that won’t last forever. But for now, I’ll take it.