"Till the Cows come home..."

Maybe you knew this, but I didn't...Cows are pretty smart animals.  We live in an agrarian and herding community and twice I have witnessed big cows out walking by themselves.  The first one was a rather large heifer walking down the sidewalk of Main Street.  She hung a quick left at the corner market and continued heading home.  I was astonished, but everyone else just went on with their business.  The picture above shows my last experience with unsupervised cattle.  This time I was standing on our dirt road and I saw a mother and her calf coming towards me.  They took a left at our corner, headed down about 4 houses, stood at the gate and let out a deep MOO.  The gate opened and they walked in.  I couldn’t believe it.  I’ve been told that cows have very good sense of direction, but now I’ve witnessed it…weird.

Trip to the Capital....Take 2 (Amazing Race Style)

So we did it!  It took riding in scary vans, buses, metros, and taxis, but we finally made it to the capital on our own to pick up more of our packages.  Stephanie and I have watched the Amazing Race on CBS for the last couple of years, and every season we say, "we can do that."  Well, we got our audition today, and I really think we could do it.  


Our morning started at 5:00 after a short night of tossing and turning (guess who was in bed with us again last night).  We headed to the bus station and ended up taking a "private" conversion van (and when I say private, it had blacked out windows and curtains that swung back and forth with the potholes in the road). We were packed in with 18 other people (no joke), and the van kept pulling off to let people in and out.  It made me feel like we were heading for the border or something.  Anyway, a trip that normally takes our teammates almost 3 1/2 hours, only took us 2 hours!  


Once we got to the bus station in the capital, we had to find another bus to drop us off at the metro.  The metro experience was just like any of the ones at home except for purchasing your tickets.  There are no actual people to sell you a pass, everyone (meaning half a million people) all crowd around three automated kiosks to refill their passes.  Finally after being pushed to the side and almost giving up, an attendant came over and took us through the turnstiles with his ticket.  He was exactly the person that we had prayed for to help us through the day.  The metro was packed out, but every time we boarded someone would give their seats up for us.  The metro cars look like they were from an old movie during the soviet era.  We caught a couple connectors and made it to our destination station.  After wandering around the city for about an hour and asking a handful of polis that had no clue where the central post office was, we found it.  


We had a awesome lunch at a small park-side restaurant and then headed to the "post" for the next leg of our adventure.  Since I was there last week, I kind of had an idea of what to do, but now I was on my own.  When it was my turn (meaning I finally made it to the front of the glob of people) I stepped right up, pulled out my Google-translated dialog and let it rip.  How'd it go?....hmm, she just looked at me with disgust.  Now, I am sure this woman has a reputation with the locals too. She makes the people in our post office back home look like Mother Teresa.  After finally figuring out that I was asking her to get our packages, she threw a stack of receipts on the counter and motioned for me to go through them.  Guess what...our names were not on any of those pieces of paper...I'm thinking to myself "dadgumit, now I'm going to have to try something else."  When I told her there was nothing for us in the stack, she looked at me as if to say oh well, and started helping the next person.  I told her we already received a call, the tracking numbers showed they were here, and I'm not leaving here without my packages.  This seems pretty bold, but I was safe, it was all in English.  Finally, a familiar face from the previous week came out and helped us find our packages.  


We grabbed a taxi and headed towards the bus station.  On the way back the surujusu (driver) gave me a piece of his fruit.  Many of these people have very little, and they are constantly giving to others.  He got us back to the station, and helped us fight off other annoying drivers heckling us for our business.  We jumped on a slightly larger bus and headed home.


We asked for safe trip, people along the way to help us out, and the ability to accomplish what we set out to do, and all of our needs were met.  PTL!

Our Plans Changed to HIS Plans...

Today was a day to remember.   We received news the other day that our Christmas packages arrived in the capital.  This was a much-anticipated event for us, as well as those who sent them.  We have all been watching the tracking updates to see if and when they would arrive.  Once we knew they were here, Stephanie, Veta and I made plans to take a 3-hour bus ride into the capital.  From the bus station we would jump on another bus and take it to the metro and a couple of stops later we would be near the post office.  The trip home would be much of the same, but would include a taxi ride (Mario Andretti style).

For the second day in a row, the power was off for more than 8 hours.  This time the power went out at 6:00pm and didn’t come back on until 9:30 the next morning.  Our computers were dead and our cell phones were right behind them.  We decided that going to the big city and attempting all the various forms of transportation without any way to communicate with teammates was not a good idea.  So our plans changed…

Our disappointment did not last long.  Shortly after 9:30 AM we received a call from a teammate that lives in the capital.  She said that she wanted to deliver the packages to us and make a day trip out of it.  She wanted to take a trip to the mountains.  In retrospect, we can now see our plans changed to His plans.

After she arrived with our Christmas gifts, we enjoyed a tasty bowl of potato soup and left for the mountains.  This was our first trip to the snow covered mountains.  It was nice to get outside of our little town and into the country; it was so peaceful and simple out there.  It was rejuvenating to see the beauty His creation. 

After we left the mountains, we decided to take a 20-minute drive to the coast of the Caspian Sea.  We drove out onto the beach and rolled down the windows.  Hearing the sound of the waves crash on the beach and the smell of the water was calming.  Being far away from family during Christmas is hard, but something as simple as spending time witnessing His creation helped.  He knew that changing our plans was just what we needed.  For a moment in time, we allowed everything to slow down…way down.  We praised his name in prayer and remembered those around us that did not know Him.  It reminded me of the beginning of Psalm 19:1-4:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

Our Creator has left evidence of Himself.  I don’t think anyone can witness the beauty around us and not recognize there is a creator.  But it’s not simply about recognition.  His word tells us where salvation is found.  It is found through His Son, Jesus Christ.  And it is through the witness of all believers that His glory and story of forgiveness and redemption might be shared.

I’m glad that our plans changed...to His plans!

Not exactly Dasani quality

(This is a jug of water I filled up from the tap)

I hope our filters are working, because three years of ingesting rust like this and we're not going to be able to pass through the TSA metal detectors to get home.

The Feast

The last couple of days were LONG.  We were up late last night cleaning the house and preparing food for our lunch party today.  Many of you (I'm not actually sure who "you" is at this point....I'm starting to wonder if anyone reads our blogs:)) knew that we were having my language tutor's family over for lunch. This is the family that had us over a couple of weeks ago.  We really enjoyed our time with them, and wanted to continue to get to know them.

Our morning started at 10:00 with teammates coming over for Sunday fellowship and then we rolled right into final preparation before our guest arrived at 1:00.  The ladies did a wonderful job with all of the food choices and preparation.  The lunch started with Chai tea and some sweets (brownies, cookies, chocolate candies, and pumpkin muffins, and then the courses started.  The first course was similar to meatball soup, then the salads came out.  The first salad was a beet salad, where all of the beats are pureed and mixed with walnuts and garlic.  The next salad was similar to a potato salad with carrots, mayo, sour cream, egg, chicken, and walnuts.  Then the heavier dishes started to come out.  Baked chicken in a lemon and herb basting, a pot roast type dish, and then a chicken and rice dish.  Then another round of Chai, homemade apple pie, and fruit.  I thought they were going to have to roll me away from the table.  All in all, it was an awesome day of food, fellowship and sharing.  I plan on sharing more about today and our work in our next newsletter.  There are some exciting things happening here that we would like to keep you updated with and this isn't the best way to share them.  

PS....If you read our blog, join our group by using your gmail/Yahoo/Aim account or setting up a gmail blog account.  It is pretty easy and will notify you when people post on blogs that you follow.

The Stash

The Story:  Some of you might remember that I like to grow a beard in the winter...after all it keeps my face warm.  The problem here is that people with beards are either mourning the death of a relative or they are religious extremists (this is the PC way of saying this...get my drift).  I was hoping that since I don't look anything like them, I wouldn't be held to the same stereotypes.  I was wrong.  So while trying to shave off two and half months worth of beard with what felt like a piece of broken glass, I came up with this little number... What do you think?  Stephanie said I wasn't allowed to leave the house.

Bob's Baracades could make a ton of money here!

The picture is blurry, but you get the gist. When they resurface around here, they're always thinking ahead to alert the drivers of wet concrete.  Too bad this patch job is on a one lane road and hidden after a sharp curve.  I'll put money on it that at least five vehicles hit these.

Heat

We got our gas heater installed in the bedroom yesterday...wow what a difference.  Now we just need Veta to get the memo that we don't need her in the bed to keep us warm anymore.

We've made an addition to the list of burned up appliances

That 'ole girl has burned up the brand new mixer...she's been baking and cooking so much.  Homemade chocolate chip cookies tonight.  She had to make her own brown sugar and chocolate chips.

Now if we just had a tall glass of Milk (from the states, that is).  Milk here just isn't the same.  Not bad, but also not too good.

Stephanie Homemaker Cunningham

Yes, we have left a lot of modern conveniences back in the states...especially when it comes to cooking, but Stephanie has been working her magic.  She has figured out how to make a lot of familiar dishes with substitutions and work arounds.  

We've had: Homemade donuts, cinnamon rolls, banana bread, pumpkin bread, apple pie, homemade buns, and rolls, homemade pizza, corn pudding, and the list goes on.  

I'm pretty proud considering everything is from scratch and one minute the gas stove is barely squeaking out the gas and the next it is blowing out like a fire hose...and without any temperature settings or indicators.

As Martha (insider-trader) Stewart would say, "It's a good thing."

:)

Late night pick-me-up

I've made a couple comments to my supervisor about the Chai not cutting it caffeine-wise.  I've been struggling to stay awake to study at night (well shoot even during the day I can't stay awake!).  He brought over his espresso maker for us to borrow until we can find one of our own.  Man I miss coffee!!!

Christmas Wishlist/ Supplies

Merry Christmas!
I can't believe how fast the year has gone.  I was thinking about our Christmas last year with family and in retrospect, I don't think I realized that this year we would be spending Christmas in another country.  As can be imagined, there are mixed emotions about not being with family, and missing out on all the family traditions that come with the season.  But He has blessed us with extended brothers and sisters while we are away.  With each new Christmas we will remember past seasons and start new family traditions of our own.  We are very grateful for His provision for us, our health, and ability to serve Him here.

Some folks have asked us if they can send us anything (supplies, Christmas gifts, etc)  this was kind of hard for us to think about when we first got here, but as the days go by, we have come up with a list.   Because of where we live, and all the regulations with shipping, we cannot give out the shipping address.  Everything will need to be mailed to our parents, and then they can ship it to us.  Please don't feel like you need to do anything, because we know its expensive!

Ship to:

Cunningham

14064 Jennifer Terrace 

Largo, FL 33774

Below is a link for the USPS flat rate shipping packages.  So if you want to send us something (especially after you see how much it costs) please include a check for the amount inside the box mailed to our parents.

http://ircalc.usps.gov/?country=10027

Thank you so much!!!!

Games of any kind... card games (old maid, go-fish, anything easy we can teach the nationals)
Bisquik
Coffee
Espresso
browny mix
muffin mixes
chocolate chips
Instant sides (rice, pastas, etc.)
oatmeal (individual flavored packages)
Peanut Butter
Foil
Ziplock Bags (Freezer especially and quart size)
Indoor/ Outdoor thermometer
DVD's
Excedrin Back and Body
Seasonal Tablecloths (simple seasonal/ holiday patterns, just from raw fabric thats been hemmed) (5 x 10)
long underwear bottoms (Mens Large)
Tools- Channel locks, vise grips, cordless drill (they sell these here, but the quality is cheap and they burn out) 

Good Eats

                                           At our house: Veta helping herself to some bread

                                         Pictured above: Lunch at Adam's language tutor's home

On Sunday we went to Adam's language tutor's home for lunch. The table was set beautifully as you can see from the pictures. They prepared a feast for us! Everything was delicious. The above pictures just show the first course of our meal. After drinking chai and eating various pastries, out came plates with tomato, peppers, pickles, beef and lamb kabob, grape leaves stuffed with rice and ground beef, eggplant, pepper and tomato stuffed with ground beef, rice and a beef and fruit sauce to put on rice. After eating all that we had more chai, fruit, more pastries and cake for dessert. We really enjoyed our time with his family.

Mom and Veta trying to figure out a Korean washing machine with the control panel written in Russian

By the way we do our laundry in the kitchen...

Eventful day: 1 burned out regulator box, Adam got shocked by 220v, and "Gun shots rung out like a bell" in the bathroom!

Since we don't talk about business on this blog, we have decided to bring you along for all of the adventures that we are experiencing learning to live and adapt in a 3rd world country.

Today was one of those interesting days... The regulator box that I mentioned in the first blog, the one that is supposed to keep our electric current normal-- yeah we smoked it.  Apparently even devices that should be used to taking extreme voltage (260v+) give up.  While I was trying to disconnect and reconnect the wires ever so delicately (kind of like playing that game operation in the dark), my watch touched the box and dang son, I felt it!  To be honest with you it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be, but it did tingle for about 15 minutes afterward.  We went without power for a while and then ended up getting a new box the next day.  

For those of you who are wondering what Vanilla Ice had to do with our day, this is the deal-e-o.  We always leave a lighter on the top of the Hammam (hot water cylinder/ wanna be water heater).  I never thought twice about this habit until last night.  I was sitting on the toilet studying my language note cards and all of the sudden, BOOM!!! I'm serious, it made me cower down a little bit.  I thought it was a gun shot it was so loud.  Stephanie came running out asking me if I was ok.  That's when we realized that the heat had melted the lighter and ignited the butane in the lighter.  We're still picking shrapnel out of the walls :)  

Plumbing in my Italian Suit

I did a little plumbing work this morning in my Italian tropical-lightweight wool suit.  The frustrating thing is that the sink leaked more with the new part installed!  I’m really struggling with patience and finding satisfaction right now.  I’m finding that everything in my daily routine is testing both of these…. Or maybe it is Him trying to teach me something.  This could simply be an answer to me asking for more patience and love towards others—I’m just too dense to recognize it.  Sometimes I wish that things we needed to learn in life could just be "downloaded" and not learned through recognition, repetition, and hard work (language learning included!).  Please be thinking about us and me specifically with things like this.  

By the way, the sink leaks because the parts over here are all rejects, not because of my plumbing abilities!

Details on the Wedding...Who's wedding? I have no idea

This is Adam.  I went to my first local wedding yesterday.  I wasn't invited, the bride and groom had no idea who I was, and I had no idea who they were.  The invitation was extended to me by my language tutor. Others have told us that weddings here are slap down parties with great food and dancing so I went.  
The guest list included the "who's who" of our town.  Actually they invite all the neighbors and everyone they know (and apparently don't know).  Traditionally when people get married here they have two separate weddings.  A groom's wedding and the bride's wedding, but the couple attends both.  Before the wedding starts, a motorcade of cars decorated with flowers and ribbons drive through the streets blowing their horns to announce the wedding.  Everyone goes to the wedding house, which is like a big banquet hall.  The wedding house is packed full of people, food, loud music, and vodka.  The women all sit together on the ground floor, and the men all sit upstairs in the balcony.

I tried everything that they put in front of me...except the vodka.  I ate so many different dishes I can't even remember their names, so I will describe them.  We ate something like a beef brisket in soup with potatoes, lamb, beef and lamb kabob, plenty of fresh veggies, some kind of potato salad, and chicken.  They love fruit juices here, so we had pomegranate, pear, cherry, and various other flavors to drink.

In-between the food and dancing, the MC would announce different family members who would come up and give a toast to the couple. There were videographers and photographers snapping pictures left and right.

The dancing was amazing, the closest thing I can think of to describe it is my friend, Franklin's wedding or that movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, with the sprinkling of cash being thrown up in the air.  These people can cut the rug.  The music was a mix between big band with an out of control, out of tune clarinet, and the repetitive beat of bad techno...with the out of control clarinet.  All jokes aside about the music, I had a great time.

 

This will give you a little more detail about the snow pictures. Sunday evening it was raining and extremely windy. The wind gusts were so strong they kept blowing the heater flame out. When we went to bed, the gas heater was running. However, in the middle of the night the wind cut it off again. Needless to say we woke up during the night freezing!! We tried turning on the gas heater again, but it just wouldn't work. We went to turn on the electric heater and discovered there was no electricity. So we all just snuggled in bed together during the rest of the night to keep warm. We usually do not like the occasions when Veta sleeps in bed with us, but last night we were thankful for her warmth. When we woke up this morning, there was still no electricity and when I went to turn on the water, there was none. Adam went outside to check out the water situation and discovered snow! It was quite the surprise! We are still without electricity and our pipes are frozen so not sure when we will have running water again. Adam had to go to the bathroom so bad this morning that he went out in the snow with a bucket to dip water out of our cistern to fill the back of the toilet. Picture this...Adam sitting there all bundled up in his leather jacket, beanie and wool socks. It was quite the sight to see. When we woke up this morning we were able to get the gas heater up and running so our house is now warm. I also cook with gas so being without electricity has not really hindered me from being able to prepare our meals. We also have our cistern where we can dip water out to use in the house. We thank Him for always providing. Hope you enjoyed hearing about one of our adventures and that it brought a smile to your face as it has ours.

Update as of 10:45pm (here).  Still no electricity or water. Steph made dinner under candle light and we have been studying language by flashlight :)

We wondered why the power went out! No heat throughout the night, and our pipes were frozen this morning!

Our Living Room and Kitchen

We Have Arrived

So here is the blog that I have been talking about starting for months now. I wouldn't call myself the blogging type, but will do my best to keep it updated regularly and make it interesting.  I wanted to tell everyone a little about our life in Central Asia thus far. A majority of this blog comes from an email Adam sent to our family, so sorry if it is a little redundant for some of you. It has been non-stop since we arrived on October 1, if it hasn’t been one thing, it’s been another.  You all know that we like to go to bed early, and the earliest that we have laid our heads down has been after 12. 

Some have asked about the living situation here.  The house is finally starting to turn into a home.  We cook on a gas stove that smells like we are camping, and wash all of our dishes by hand.  Keep in mind everything here runs about 50-60 years behind the states.  Our water heater resembles the core of a water heater in the states without any insulation.  Its basically a big steel cylinder with a stove on the bottom where a broken gas line heats the water.  We are not thrilled about it, but it does heat the water well, and keeps the bathroom warm when you are showering.  Showering is interesting, there is a tub, but it is too nasty to stand in right now (even after scrubbing it).  Plus, the way the locals do it, is to stand in the middle of the bathroom floor and shower.  There is one main drain that everything including the bath tube drains into.  

Oh, by the way, WE HAVE A TOILET (one that you can sit on) and it’s brand new!!! Adam and the other guys had to go through a lot of sick stuff to get that to work.  Some of which included Adam snaking the old line, sticking his arm shoulder length into the trap to clean it out.  After they finally got that cleaned up they had to chisel the tile around the base of the toilet to lower it by 2 inches. They had to re-run a “white” water drainage line.  The original line had settled and was trying to run up hill.  So you guessed it, it was backing up and in some parts bringing other peoples white (which really resembled brown water) back in our house.  This was about a week and a half project to correct.  They had to chisel out all the bathroom tile and set a new drain and run the new line out under the concrete foundation and make sure that it had the proper drop to prevent a backflow.  In theory everything that they have done to the house could have been easier if they had the right resources and tools.  Needless to say, it was quite a job for the guys! We’ve been using it for a couple of weeks and it seems to be doing fine.

As for the electricity...oh daddy, this is some scary stuff.  All of the wires in the house are the brittle aluminum kind that the States outlawed 50 years ago.  The guys have gone through and run new lines that are heavier copper gauge so they hopefully won’t heat up and catch on fire.  We have a special power regulator that will (hopefully) prevent surges from blowing the lights and computers off of the wall.  Another couple on our team said they watched their power indicator reach well over 640 volts before it literally blew up the light bulbs, and fried their refrigerator, microwave and everything else that was plugged in.  The other issue is that sometimes the current is below 220, so over time, that too will ruin the appliances and electronics.  This gadget is supposed to store up current and supplement it when this happens.

As for the heating, the guys installed a gas heater in the living room and plan to do one in the bedroom. This was quite a job as well. The gas man was suppose to come and do the installation, but he never showed so they had to do it all by hand.

You might remember us telling you that the culture as a whole dresses up.  That is definitely the case.  The men wear coats and blazers at all times and the ladies always have on skirts and sometimes dress pants.  This presents a problem when you are working on the house.  Since there aren’t any scrubby people walking around, it becomes necessary to change before leaving our property.  So returning to the story earlier, Adam sticks his hands down the toilet line, realizes he needs another part to finish the job, changes into his dress clothes, and heads to the store.  Only to have to change back into his work clothes when he gets back to the house.  For those of you who have worked on plumbing, you can only imagine how many times he has changed!
The other night when we went to bed, we heard something that sounded like someone was digging with a shovel outside our bedroom wall.  We then realized after hearing it run back and forth behind the wall and under the floor that it was a giant RAT!  Seriously, we have heard that they are as big as the rats in the princess bride movie and that they could be saddled and Veta could ride one down the street!  This hoss sounded like he was going to saw right through the wall.  Needless to say we didn’t sleep well that night.  They have now joined us inside the house. A mouse scurried across our kitchen floor and a rat was perched in our entrance to the bathroom the other day. Needless to say, time to buy more rat poison and set some traps. 


Adam and I recently started language study. Wow is all I can say....it is going to be tough. My language tutor is great and really drills me. We both have language lessons with our tutors 5 days a week for 2 hours each day. By the end of the two hours we are both mentally and physically drained. We then do personal study on a daily basis and will soon start practicing in the community as well. 


The food is excellent, and the fruit and vegetables are so tasty compared to home.  I made my first national meals with the help of my language tutor. They were both delicious and I enjoyed spending time with my tutor and getting to know her better. 

Outside of all the “issues” and funny happenings, we are having a blast and really enjoying life here!!!  We have been really encouraged by our teammates.  They have been such a blessing to us during the this transition. The people here are very warm and helpful.  We are excited about building friendships with them. We look forward to what He has in store for us. 

Thanks for your continued support and encouragement.