Life in G-town

I've been back home for about 3 weeks now-as always, that time has flown by!  I'm really enjoying just being here even though I haven't done a whole lot yet.  One of the important lessons I learned during my internship is that being is more important than doing, and it looks like that's going to be a life-long lesson.  The first couple of weeks I was here, I hung out with the Witts and tried to help them transition back to living here and to having 4 little ones.  I absolutely love hanging out with their girls-I mean, Jason and Bekah are pretty cool too, but their girls are amazing! haha!

The three cutest fairies ever!

Charis's legs, tie-died from playing with food coloring

Righteous telling me a story 

Nevaeh showing me her booboo on her knee :)

Charis peaking through the tire swing

Charis on her 2nd birthday, checking out the 'pin the dress on Dora' game her mom made for her birthday party

The biker gang showing me their ANGRY faces 

Now I've moved in with the 5 intern ladies and I'm working on figuring out daily life from here on out.  I'm still working out the details of a language tutor, but there are some good potential ladies for me to practice my Somali with.  Once I get in a routine, I'd like to visit a friend and exclusively speak Somali for a couple hours a day at first.  As well as studying language, I've been brainstorming for the Literacy project surveys coming in the future.  I've been trying to think of every angle, every question we need to ask to get the right information to make wise choices pertaining to this project.  Once I figure out what info we need and what to ask to get it, I'll work with Jason and Dan, my bosses/teammates, to compile a list of contacts to ask all those questions.  I've done a little bit of research on my own as well, using the few sources I have on the internet, getting some basic info to help me understand the situation better.  


Other than Literacy and Language, I've been readjusting to life here...remembering that laundry takes a few hours at least, and so does cooking a meal, cleaning the house, and grocery shopping-which has to be done two or three times a week to keep fresh stuff in the house for all 6 of us.  I'm also adjusting to living in community again after living alone or with a family (the Germos or the Witts) for the last 7 months.  It's funny how many rules and schedules we have to manage 6 individuals living together-assigned cleaning jobs, dinner cooking day, and laundry day, who buys things like toilet paper and dish soap and when, what foods are communal and what aren't, what days it's ok to invite people to our house...on and on.  Such a strange little picture of society.  All those rules and schedules help remove sources of tension, and even families have 'rules' of how the house runs, but they're decided between the two parents instead of 6 adults with differing ideas of what's normal or best.  Who knew that an argument could arise from whether to use liquid or bar soap in the house! haha!  Actually, that was my class not this group :)

Some of our group at Jason and Bekah's house for Charis's b-day

I have really enjoyed being back in community though-I laugh way more now than when I lived alone!  And just having people around to share the day with, talk about funny things that happened but aren't quite funny enough to make it on Facebook or the blog, or to pray with over things in the moment they're happening.  We're made to be with other people, and I enjoy it.  Even when we argue over soap.  






P.S.
I'm still waiting to hear about my visa/work permit, so please pray that all the bumps in the road will be behind me and that my paperwork will be approved this week.  The committee meeting to discuss appeals such as mine should have happened last Wednesday and I expect to know the results this week.  My short term visa expires June 20th, so we're starting to get a bit close for comfort.  Thanks for praying again!