Guess who got flowers today?

Another first for Phil today. I received a flower from a male friend that works across the street from our building. He is a nice young man that is trying to help me with my Arabic. He is having fun practicing his English on me too. He is a security guard so it is always good to make friends with people that are going to watch your back. It was still weird for me to get a flower from another guy. However, this is a sign of friendship. Step one, receiving a flower from another man. Step two, walking down the street arm and arm with another man. It would not have been as embarrassing, but there were three friends watching and laughing. Welcome to the culture of the Middle East!

Home Sweet Home

Well, we just got back from Kenya. We enjoyed the trip, but could not wait to get back to our home. Last night was a first for me(Phil). We got to the airport and someone asked how we were going to get home and I told them that I was going to find a ride home from someone outside, where many taxi drivers are waiting. Most people have a company come and pick them up from the airport. Usually, I have a plan like that so last night was a new experience for me. To be honest, it was not that bad. What was funny about the whole thing is that we traveled with some friends that used one of those companies to pick them up and Rebecca and I made it home almost 20 minutes before any of them, (but we do live closer to the airport then some people here) but it was still a 40 minute car ride.

Travels

Well, it has been a real experience over the past two months. In March we left our home in the states to start a new job in education half way around the world in a place we call the Middle East. After a few short weeks we had to leave and go to another continent for an educational conference. Africa is a little different than where we live. There is a lot of grass here and our new home has very little grass. It has rained more in the past week here in Africa than it has over the past year where we live in the Middle East. As you can see from the pictures, Africa is truly beautiful, but we can’t wait to get back to our new home.

Sunset

One thing that is true around the world, Sunsets are beautiful. Here is one from our boat ride tonight.

A River Boat Ride

Phil and I went on a dinner boat ride tonight. A group of us got together and brought our meal on the boat and ate while we sailed. It was really relaxing.

We Love Finding New Stuff

We did some work this morning and then went shopping because we were so close to downtown. This is the leg bone of a camel that has been carved to the shape of the Last Supper. It is really nice and the storeowner makes a lot of different things like this. His work really is beautiful.

Rebecca's Choice

After the Ivory and ebony shop Rebecca took me to a store that sold jars and vases made of alabaster and onyx. She asked really nice and got a vase to match our living room furniture. It is made of onyx and really heavy. Guess who had to carry that around for the next three hours? We had a great time.

What You Ask For!

We ordered a pizza the other night and we asked if we could get pepperoni and beef sausage on it. They said of course and when the pizza came it had pepperoni and Beef Hotdog slices on it as you can see. So we got what we asked for.

Some New Stuff

We purchased some really cool new items and wanted to show them off. Rebecca got matching plates while my favorite is the massive cleaver. It's SWEET.

A Neat Morning

This morning I went out to run some errands and when I came home the boys that work on cars at the end of our street were out there ready to meet me. We exchanged names and I used all of the words that I know in Arabic. They laughed at me and asked me if I thought ketchup was good because we live near the ketchup ware house for our section of town. It was a really good morning.