Village Life...City Life

About a week and half ago, my partner, Haley, and I headed for the mountains. We left with my language helper on a night bus and 8 long hours later we arrived. We dropped Haley off in a nearby city and my language helper and I drove for another hour and a half until we arrived at her village. Upon arrival, I was greeted by her father, mother, older sister and the majority of the other people in her village. They were very kind and welcomed me with open arms. The rest of the day was spent with them, mostly them looking at me, watching me eat, me smiling and speaking the little bit of the language that I know which was usually returned with laughter and smiles. They were precious. We walked all around her village and then I was able to go on her roof and relax a bit. Friends, the view was amazing! That was the closest I had been to the great mountains thus far, and they were truly breathtaking.
Okay, I know you're probably wondering...did anything funny happen? Well, I'm glad you asked. The first night as I was in the kitchen with my language helper and her sister, her father comes in and asks me to come outside for a minute. I follow him right outside the kitchen and he asks me to sit down. He tells me that I should wash my feet and then I can eat. (Just a brief aside: I had been given a "heads up" on what to expect culturally when I went to the village, and this feet-washing thing was not included in any info I had received). I sit down and start to wash my feet, but because I am a foreigner, of course, I am not doing it right. So (you guessed it) he starts to wash my feet. A man that I had just met about 12 hours ago is now washing my feet. One word: Awkward. I tried to take them back and wash my own feet, but he wasn't having it. Needless to say, I felt much better eating my dinner knowing that my feet were so fresh and so clean. The rest of my time was spent visiting various places around her village, hanging out with the villagers and telling them about myself and...eating. Below are some pictures of the villagers.

I met up with Haley and some other friends in the city on Saturday and we spent the rest of our time doing touristy things, eating chocolate and banana pancakes, chicken fingers, and mac and cheese, and trying to figure out where all the non-nationals were from (apparently the shoes are a dead giveaway). Haley and I returned to our home city on Sunday and back to city life we went.

This past Saturday, we had a girls day and Haley, Brenn, and I went to get our eyebrows threaded. Have any of you heard of this before? (Picture below) Basically they take thread and twist it up and then they thread it over your eyebrow and the hairs get caught in the thread and out they come. Slightly more painful that waxing, but I have to say, I think I like it better. It's strangely accurate. We spent the rest of our time cooking, breaking it down, watching American TV (on DVD) and just having a really good time.

The rest of my time here has been spent in language study. The picture is actually me trying to study, which Haley took...trying to distract me. No seriously, I have been blessed with a great partner and I am so thankful for her! (Pics below). As for language, I'm getting there. I can only say sentences in the present tense, for example, "That is a wall," or "This is a small chair." I'm practicing though, so hopefully it will pay off!

Thank you for asking Him for me. I thank you for your continued diligence and support. Blessings!