These past two weeks have been very good for us.
February 9, 2008
Hola Friends and Family,
These past two weeks have been very good for us. We have really gotten to see much of Panama during this time and learn much about the people in this country. This past week was Carnival which is celebrated in many places around the world. It is the Mardi Gras of the world, only it is much bigger than Mardi Gras. It really is a sinful few days during the first part of the week. It is like our Christmas holiday season because everyone gets off work. It starts on a Friday and basically everyone gets extremely drunk for the weekend, then it is concluded on Tuesday when they sober up for ash Wednesday to repent of what they did during carnival weekend. Then on Wednesday is the start of the Chinese New Year which is the biggest holiday for the Chinese.
The language learning that we are doing is going really well. We are starting to be able to speak in sentences and we can understand most of what is being talked about in a general conversation. Although this past week made us realize we do need to learn a little bit of Mandarin so we are going to start working on that this next week and hopefully we can be successful with that. Continue to yarp about that as we realize how important that is in our work here with these students.
This past week we left town with our host family to go to their other home in the mountains which is in the valley of a dormant volcano. It was really beautiful there. We did a number of things with the Chu’s son David while we where there. We were able to hike to the top of one of the mountains and along the way our guide would pick us oranges which were very refreshing. We also went to the zoo while we were there and saw a number of animals that were native to Panama. The Chu’s love to entertain when they are in the mountains so they invited about 16 people over while we where there so we met many new people. It was a good chance to make some new friends. It was nice to leave the city for a while and get some fresh air.
We went back to the city on Tuesday night only to leave Wednesday to go to the beach with the Chinese students. On Wednesday morning I was awakened to the start of the New Year’s celebration with a bang. There were some very loud fire works right outside my window at about 4:00 am; not the best way to start out the New Year in my opinion. When we got to the beach house we had a cookout where I had some really good grilled chicken wings and shish kabobs. Rachelle had a great opportunity to get to know one of the Chinese girls. After trying to communicate with the guys I did not have as much luck as she. Be yarping that the father would give me a chance with these guys and give me some type of bridge with the language. This is why we are going to start learning Mandarin with Spanish.
The next day I was out at the beach just enjoying myself and all of a sudden I had some sort of shock on my toe. As I got out of the water I noticed that my toe was bleeding. I got back to the house and felt some cramping up into my whole leg. So we called a doctor that our M’s knew and she told us that it is not anything serious. It was very painful for about 2 or 3 hours but the medicine kicked in and took that away. Praise the father that it was not too serous. That afternoon we headed back to the city.
Thursday night we went with the Chu’s to a festival for the Chinese New Year and there was a show with a Chinese dragon. I would have never thought I would have enjoyed that but it was so neat to see it in real life; it will be one of the highlights of my life. The skill it took to do some of those things was just simply amazing. I would love to see it again if I have the chance.
That night I felt like I had been hit by a truck and the last couple of days I have been really sick. Dr. Chu thinks that I somehow got some type of food poisoning when I was at the beach. So please be yarping for me that I could feel better. We start back up with language this next week. After that we will be starting a VBS with our M’s. We are excited because we will be preparing some lessons for that. Yarp for us as we are going to start with our ministry to these people and are going to be moving away from daily language learning and living in our own apartment. I have many pictures for everyone but it seems that we have forgotten our cord to our camera, but we will have pictures soon.
In our Father,
Brett
Hola Friends and Family,
These past two weeks have been very good for us. We have really gotten to see much of Panama during this time and learn much about the people in this country. This past week was Carnival which is celebrated in many places around the world. It is the Mardi Gras of the world, only it is much bigger than Mardi Gras. It really is a sinful few days during the first part of the week. It is like our Christmas holiday season because everyone gets off work. It starts on a Friday and basically everyone gets extremely drunk for the weekend, then it is concluded on Tuesday when they sober up for ash Wednesday to repent of what they did during carnival weekend. Then on Wednesday is the start of the Chinese New Year which is the biggest holiday for the Chinese.
The language learning that we are doing is going really well. We are starting to be able to speak in sentences and we can understand most of what is being talked about in a general conversation. Although this past week made us realize we do need to learn a little bit of Mandarin so we are going to start working on that this next week and hopefully we can be successful with that. Continue to yarp about that as we realize how important that is in our work here with these students.
This past week we left town with our host family to go to their other home in the mountains which is in the valley of a dormant volcano. It was really beautiful there. We did a number of things with the Chu’s son David while we where there. We were able to hike to the top of one of the mountains and along the way our guide would pick us oranges which were very refreshing. We also went to the zoo while we were there and saw a number of animals that were native to Panama. The Chu’s love to entertain when they are in the mountains so they invited about 16 people over while we where there so we met many new people. It was a good chance to make some new friends. It was nice to leave the city for a while and get some fresh air.
We went back to the city on Tuesday night only to leave Wednesday to go to the beach with the Chinese students. On Wednesday morning I was awakened to the start of the New Year’s celebration with a bang. There were some very loud fire works right outside my window at about 4:00 am; not the best way to start out the New Year in my opinion. When we got to the beach house we had a cookout where I had some really good grilled chicken wings and shish kabobs. Rachelle had a great opportunity to get to know one of the Chinese girls. After trying to communicate with the guys I did not have as much luck as she. Be yarping that the father would give me a chance with these guys and give me some type of bridge with the language. This is why we are going to start learning Mandarin with Spanish.
The next day I was out at the beach just enjoying myself and all of a sudden I had some sort of shock on my toe. As I got out of the water I noticed that my toe was bleeding. I got back to the house and felt some cramping up into my whole leg. So we called a doctor that our M’s knew and she told us that it is not anything serious. It was very painful for about 2 or 3 hours but the medicine kicked in and took that away. Praise the father that it was not too serous. That afternoon we headed back to the city.
Thursday night we went with the Chu’s to a festival for the Chinese New Year and there was a show with a Chinese dragon. I would have never thought I would have enjoyed that but it was so neat to see it in real life; it will be one of the highlights of my life. The skill it took to do some of those things was just simply amazing. I would love to see it again if I have the chance.
That night I felt like I had been hit by a truck and the last couple of days I have been really sick. Dr. Chu thinks that I somehow got some type of food poisoning when I was at the beach. So please be yarping for me that I could feel better. We start back up with language this next week. After that we will be starting a VBS with our M’s. We are excited because we will be preparing some lessons for that. Yarp for us as we are going to start with our ministry to these people and are going to be moving away from daily language learning and living in our own apartment. I have many pictures for everyone but it seems that we have forgotten our cord to our camera, but we will have pictures soon.
In our Father,
Brett
posted by Pamela Ferguson at
10:37 AM
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