Kai - Settling in.

So, if you haven't figured it out yet, we're each picking a day of the week to create a blog post, then taking Saturday off.

I'm going to use this post to let you know what our living situation is like. We've had some questions like, "Are you living in tents?" or "Is living there hard?" But let me assure you, although we are certainly dealing with some differences, we aren't making huge sacrifices in our quality of life. Our houses both have running water (Not potable, and mostly not heated, except one shower in each house) and electricity. (Malagasy electrical engineering could use some work though…) 

As for the houses themselves, we were all impressed and surprised at the size and comfort of both houses.

The girls live in a nice house that apparently used to be inhabited by a German family, because there are still a few pictures in the bookcases, and they had an impressive collection of terrible VHS tapes in German. (Actual titles from this collection: American Tiger Ninja VI, Kickbox Terminator, and Ninja Invasion 2.) They have a small courtyard with a gate, and they have a guard to keep their little compound safe from anyone who might try to bother them. The house is really nice, with a double staircase in the front hall, a large living/dining room, and 2 toilets. Upstairs, Paige and Tiffany have their own bedrooms, and Laura and Dannielle share the 3rd.

The guys' house is owned by a local Chinese man, and isn't quite as classy as the girls', but we make up for it with an incredible view over a field of rice paddies. We have several bedrooms, but up until this afternoon, it was almost completely unfurnished. We've been sleeping on cots and focusing on trying to catch the rat living upstairs. It grew to an obsession, and we've been popping out of bed at 5 in the morning when we hear him scurrying up there, and running upstairs with brooms and flashlights to try getting him. We set a bunch of traps, but he is a master at getting the bait off without springing it. But this afternoon when we got home from church, we celebrated victoriously, because he was stuck in the mousetrap we bought at the local marketplace. We've been walking to the girls house each evening for dinner, but today the truck finally arrived with furniture for our house, including a refrigerator and stove for preparing food.

This week, we are still in language and culture studies as we prepare to start doing ministry here.The internet here is prepaid, so we need to monitor our bandwidth and how many photos we upload, but I'll try to get some photos of our houses up here asap.

See you next week!

Kai