I have so often wanted to post something over the past couple of days, but have not been able to. Our internet line has been disconnected since this past Wednesday, and will not be reconnected until sometime this coming week (hopefully). I am posting this from our co-worker’s apartment, which we are presently using as an office. (Thanks David and Erin!) Hopefully I’ll be able to post again from our apartment sometime soon!
I will try to give you a brief update about what has been going on here the past couple of days.
First of all, Thanksgiving. We were really looking forward towards Thanksgiving, even though we didn’t know how we were going to celebrate. I wanted to make some-kind of traditional meal and, since we have been blessed with so much, we really wanted to share it with someone. Yet, we didn’t know who to invite. (We weren’t sure who would enjoy trying American food. :D)
On Wednesday, David had the wonderful idea of inviting his English class to enjoy Thanksgiving with us. (It could be a cultural experience for them.) So Thursday morning during his weekly class, David invited his students over to our place for a traditional (as much as possible) Thanksgiving meal. There are 15 students in David’s class and we had no idea how many would come. We thought that at least our language helpers, who are in that class, would come, yet we weren’t sure if anyone else would. So, in order to be prepared if they all came, we did our best to make enough food.
When our doorbell rang at 5pm Thursday evening, we were totally thrilled when eleven students filed into our apartment! We had such a great time with them. They are a lot of fun and so easy to talk to. I can understand now why David has so much fun with them Thursday mornings! They are a great class!
Even though all the food was very different to them, they were good sports and tried everything. They seemed to enjoy the Thanksgiving meal (at least they were polite and said they did :D). We had chicken (no turkey here), mashed potatoes and gravy, filling balls, baked corn, orange-spiced carrots, rolls, pumpkin bars and a frozen pumpkin pie for dessert. (I was so thankful for the pumpkin I still had!) They liked the baked corn, filling balls and frozen pumpkin pie the best.
After the meal, David showed the guys an American football game. (What is Thanksgiving without some football???) My dad had recorded a game last fall (Steelers vs. the Bengals) and had sent it to David. (Thanks dad!) So, David tried his best to explain to the guys how the game is played. They really enjoyed that, although admitted they still don’t understand the game. :D
Well, us ladies weren’t all that interested in football, so we had a great time of talking, looking at pictures and exchanging recipes. We were sad when it was time for them to go, as we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them. Hopefully we can have them all over again sometime. It was a very long and busy day getting ready for our guests, but we are so thankful for the opportunity he provided to have them in our home and to have gotten to know them better.
Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving day, but unfortunately, I did not take many at all. I was too busy entertaining, socializing, and watching kids. :D
In the morning, the girls made some Thanksgiving pictures.
Here's a picture of 8 of the students that came. The young lady in the red sweater in the middle is Snyezhana, my language helper, and the young man beside her is Asis, David's language helper.
The students brought us this chess game as a gift. We really like it, as it's made from sheep's wool and the chess pieces are little yurts and camels... a great gift from T-land!
Friday afternoon, David went to the city’s national museum with his German-teacher friend. While they had a nice time talking and seeing some cultural things, my language helper came over and taught me how to make Tuvan soup, or flour soup, as it is sometimes called. Snyezhana says that this is a very popular soup among Tuvans and is made by them here in the city and by those who live in the villages and yurts. She said that her family eats it all the time and that her father taught her how to make it. It reminded me of Beef pot-pie, for those of you who are familiar with that dish. Yet, it does have it’s own, unique taste. In our opinion, it tastes best when it is just made. When it’s reheated the next day, it tastes a lot like flour.
Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed putting up our Christmas tree! (When we were in U-U, we had bought an artificial tree which we brought with us here. We much prefer live trees, but since they are not available to get here until several days before New Years, we thought an artificial tree would suit us just fine. :D) The girls had so much fun putting the ornaments on the tree, which they had made, and Micah had fun trying to put the lights in his mouth. :D Our tree definitely looks home-made, but is special to us. We are thankful for these fun things which we can do together as a family.
Now, it’s time to get ready for another busy week of language learning, child-rearing, and everything else that comes up! :D By the way, David did have his interview with the journalist last Wednesday. Supposedly, the article will be published in the newspaper sometime within a week or so. Thanks for thinking about him!
Friday afternoon, David went to the city’s national museum with his German-teacher friend. While they had a nice time talking and seeing some cultural things, my language helper came over and taught me how to make Tuvan soup, or flour soup, as it is sometimes called. Snyezhana says that this is a very popular soup among Tuvans and is made by them here in the city and by those who live in the villages and yurts. She said that her family eats it all the time and that her father taught her how to make it. It reminded me of Beef pot-pie, for those of you who are familiar with that dish. Yet, it does have it’s own, unique taste. In our opinion, it tastes best when it is just made. When it’s reheated the next day, it tastes a lot like flour.
Cutting up the meat for the soup...
While the meat boiled, Snyezhana made this dough out of flour, salt and water. She rolled it very thin, let it dry for a while, and then cut it up into very thin "noodle" strips. Then, it went into the soup and was boiled until it was cooked.
The finished product...
Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed putting up our Christmas tree! (When we were in U-U, we had bought an artificial tree which we brought with us here. We much prefer live trees, but since they are not available to get here until several days before New Years, we thought an artificial tree would suit us just fine. :D) The girls had so much fun putting the ornaments on the tree, which they had made, and Micah had fun trying to put the lights in his mouth. :D Our tree definitely looks home-made, but is special to us. We are thankful for these fun things which we can do together as a family.
Now, it’s time to get ready for another busy week of language learning, child-rearing, and everything else that comes up! :D By the way, David did have his interview with the journalist last Wednesday. Supposedly, the article will be published in the newspaper sometime within a week or so. Thanks for thinking about him!
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