Home again, home again . . .

I am having a hard time believing that I am already home! I arrived in America at 6:50 pm Friday, but have been "on the go" since then. But let me back up a little bit. Last Wednesday evening was the big graduation at the center from our summer classes. From what I understand, this was a wonderful time, I however, had to miss the festivities. Unfortunately I was extremely sick all day Wednesday and was just not able to get there for the graduation. Needless to say, I was very upset about missing this! On Thursday, I was feeling a bit better, but had to pack to prepare for the long journey home that would begin later that night. I was not able to do too much other than pack and rest during the day. Our flight left at 3:30ish am on Friday morning, and by 6:50 pm I was back on American soil. I had (and still have) mixed feelings about being back but am starting to get back into "the swing" of things here. I hope to see or hear from many soon. I have so many stories to share!!!!! Thank you for all your love and support throughout the trip!

Picnics

Picnics are wonderful! Picnics are such a summer thing to do, especially if you can find a nice cool spot to have one. Here, it is not too easy to find such a location. But, the students at the center were determined to have a huge picnic with as many students and teachers as possible. We accomplished this task this past Saturday. The day began at 6:30 am when we headed to the center to meet everyone that was going to go. We had so many going that we rented a bus to take us, as well as filled several cars. Michele, Christine, and I were privileged enough to be riding on the (packed) bus. What an experience as music was BLARING and much singing, clapping, and laughing was happening as well. It was a pretty fun ride to our designated picnic spot. Once we arrived, we all piled out with our loads of food, drink, and other picnic supplies. After finding a satisfactory location, we began the set up then ate breakfast. All I can say is there was anything but a lack of food for the 42 people that were there! Following breakfast, a bunch of us headed up the (rocky) mountain on a little hike (this ended up being much longer than any of us bargained for, but the views were amazing!). The bad thing about this . . . very little shade, much sun. We returned from the hike to relax for a bit, but ended up going to the parking lot for some soccer and ultimate frisbee. This was interesting as cars were driving through, we were getting yelled at by taxi drivers about hitting their car, and we were on an angle too. I found out a whole new meaning of "street soccer." Then came lunchtime, as if we didn't eat enough for breakfast, I think lunch was twice as big! All in all, it was a wonderful day, relaxing with amazing friends and just having a great time!

getting the site ready

unpacking everything

two friends

resting at the top of the hike

a small part of the huge group

Ladies Day

Many of the team that came over this summer were women, plus 4 women already here makes for many more women than men! Woohoo! But that also means that we have a huge responsibility to take over, showing the women here in K'stan what it is really like to be Loved. Christine's mom is into beading and thought it would be a great idea to send beading kits over with her for us to use. There were many, which meant we were able to hold a ladies day and teach them how to make bracelets (or simply just beading techniques). It was a HUGE success with the women, they all were able to experience the Love that we all experience each day! Of course we did many other things than just beading; like yummy treats, fun games, and just talking. I do not have words to express how bl'ssed I feel to be able to be a part of this! Here are some photos of the day . . . .




getting everything set

what a beautiful model

the line up

beading

what a happy group of women!

The last coffeeshop (at least for now)

Last night we celebrated our last coffeeshop for the summer session. It is hard to believe that it is almost over. Only three more classes, then graduation! Our students have been so grateful and amazing this summer. The relationships that many of us built will be lasting, what an awesome feat! I have to say that our last coffeeshop was quite a bit livelier than the rest of them (not that the others were bad, just a bit more subdued). There was, of course, K'rdish dancing (sorry B, no pictures of that, I promise them next week during graduation). Then one of the guys taught our students how to do the Macarena. Here are a few photos:

Teenagers . . .

Teenagers are teenagers around the world. I can't say that this is a completely new thought in my mind, but I guess it was just solidified these past few weeks, especially today. For the past 5 weeks we have been teaching English 2x a week for a Kids Club. It was a pilot program for the Center, but was a HUGE success! There were three levels offered based on ages (with a few exceptions): 8 - 10 year olds, 11 - 13 year olds, and 14 - 16 year olds. I was lucky to have the opportunity to work with the oldest class. I learned and grew a lot from this short experience working with teenagers. Although I thoroughly enjoyed it, I now know for sure that teaching elementary school is where I should be! It was wonderful to learn and stretch my professional self during the last 5 weeks, but I also have to say, I'm happy it is over. Teenagers are still teenagers here, they love to talk, not pay attention, fool around, make jokes, be moody, not do the work, play games, etc. And of course, even if they are enjoying themselves, they can't let you know that! Also, they are not big fans of having their parents around (which was a little surprising since family is so important here). I found this out as we were preparing for our mini-graduation ceremony when one of my students grabbed my arm and said "Oh, that's my dad! I didn't want him to come!!!" All I could do was laugh.

The graduation itself was a great time. Of course it did not go as we originally planned, but then again, nothing here actually does! It turned out ok though, so that is all that matters. Here are some photos of my class and the graduation chaos.

My class and I

The Human Knot

Teaching me how to tie Jamana

Graduation Chaos!

Three little ones

Amazing Bl'ssings!

Who knew that 3 men could do so much work in such little time. Seeing as there are less than two weeks until we are all departing (some for Jordan, some for home), time is precious in trying to get the new center ready as much as we can. The new center is huge, and will be awesome for many, many reasons. The new team arrived late on Thursday night and have been go, go, go, go since then. They have accomplished such an immense amount of work in such a short amount of time so far. Their list of items to finish/fix is almost complete already, which means we can being moving things from the old center(that we are not using) to the new center little by little, instead of one huge move! Hooray! The men have been such a bl'ssing for Darrell and the rest of the team! Here are a few shots of the painted rooms and working on the arches . . .

the plasterer working on one arch

one of several "bright" rooms

another "bright" room

these rooms definitly have a K'rdish aspect!

The Office

Did you know that you can use episodes of The Office for English classes? Well, I figured out that it is a great teaching tool. The Office has not really been introduced in K'rdistan yet, seeing as none of my students knew what it was. However, the seasons are available at the Bazaar, which is quite amusing. I even had one student ask if he could burn the disc I had in the computer. They really seemed to enjoy it and really get much of the humor. I had to give them a lot of background information, but that helped greatly.

The episode we watched was from season 2: The Injury. I chose this one because we had been talking about health, wellness, and medicine (disabilities, etc.) during the previous 3 classes, so I felt this would fit in well. Those Office fans I know should know how this particular episode ends; with Michael trying to get his foot in the CAT scan with Dwight. Well, my students had to split into groups and write the ending to the episode. This proved to be quite amusing. One of the groups had the doctors diagnosing Michael with a mental disability and sent him to the psych ward. They are quite imaginative here in K'stan. I have found a new way to teach!

just another "normal" day

Each day here pretty much starts the same . . . get up, make some phone calls, try to get some type of exercise in, breakfast, then off and running the rest of the day. Today was not any different. After we were all up and ready to go, a few of the girls headed out to the "mall" (I use this term VERY loosely) to meet some of our friends (none of which ended up coming . . . hmmmm), then we went to the other end of town to enjoy some smoothies. While we were there, we were invited to a K'rdish family's home for lunch. Of course, this means not only an hour or so, but the whole afternoon is then spent with the family. It was such an enjoyable time and the family was wonderful! It's really a neat experience to be with an entire family (I'm talking, grandmother, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, everyone!) who don't speak too much English. It can get quite difficult to follow conversations, but it is so neat to learn from them! After we left lunch, we were off to the new center for the hanging of the sign! What an awesome thing to watch. Thanks to Darrell and all the team members (especially the Salem team) for making this happen!



a ton of food

just the ladies

unveiling the sign

working up to the top (this was a process)

great job!!!

What a "Bazaar" day!

Yesterday was termed 'Bazaar' day, and did it fit nicely! The day began with a departure breakfast for two of our team members, then quickly sprang into action with four of us heading to the Bazaar to do some shopping. I can honestly say, that the Bazaar is bazaar! I'm not quite sure how to explain this place. 1) It is HOT! 2) It is very overwhelming 3) Bargaining is not my strong point, but this is how you shop for everything. The Bazaar bombards all of your senses with stimulus, so by the end of a trip there, you are exhausted from all of the new smells, sights, etc. I unfortuantely did not take many pictures, but here are a few. Maybe I'll be able to better explain it when I'm home.

the 4 of us getting ready to head out

making the kabob skewers

on the way into the Bazaar

yes, there were 5 of us in the backseat of a compact car

yek tawaw

In English, that would mean one finished! We finally have one room finished (at least as far as the paint is concerned). I am sorry to say though, that there was no dancing involved in painting this time. Oh well, there will be many more rooms to come. There were only three of us that ventured down to the new center the other morning to tackle one room. Since there is only g'vt electricity in the new building right now, we only get electricity for about 3 hrs. at a time, then it's off for 3 - 4 hours. So, we were only able to get one room finished the other morning.

Tomorrow, our first two team members depart to head back home to the states, but then we have three new people coming to help out at the new center. This is a huge bl'ssing because we are all so busy with classes and the old center right now. We still have the Kids Club two mornings a week, evening classes 4 nights a week, and coffeeshop one night a week. And now, Christine and I have the privilege of tutoring a 13 year old in math 8 hours a week. He is such a joy to work with and is so excited to learn more! Needless to say though, we are all running our separate ways most of the day, which is making heading down to the center to do lots of work a difficult task. With new team members coming (specifically to work on the new center), I am confident that we will get the center (mostly) put together before we all head out on Aug. 7th or 8th! I can't believe there are less than 3 weeks left! Cr'zy!

Almost finished!!!

All done!

Painting away!

Now that we have the "big cleaning" out of the way (except the 2nd floor) it is time to start the painting process. We were given a blank canvas in which to create a home environment on the 1st floor of the new center. The other day, the 7 of us headed down to get the process started, which basically meant priming the walls. I do not think I have ever seen so much of something soak into a wall!! It is so dry here that by the time you take the brush out of the bucket, the primer is almost dry before you hit the wall. Since the rooms are fairly large, there was much to be done, so thankfully we were all able to pitch in and get moving!

Seeing as we do not yet have AC in the new center, it was pretty hot and stuffy in these rooms. Well, you can only imagine what the paints fumes were like about 10 minutes into our painting adventure. There were several rooms that needed to be worked on, so once one room was "cut in" the rollers got to work finishing the walls while the rest of us headed to another room to get it started. Since we all enjoy working with music playing, we opted for my iPod for painting. Those that know me know that I have quite an eclectic taste in music, so you can only imagine the random mix of songs that was blaring throughout the 1st floor. After several hours, "Can't Fight the Moonlight" came on and Michele had the brilliant idea of heading to the other room to perform for Ross and Lara. (sorry there are only photos, not an actual video). I have to say, it was quite the performance, to which Ross replied, "I think the paint fumes have done their work!"

K'rdish Lessons

Ever since we have arrived, we have been going to K'rdish lessons once a week. Although they are not "official" lessons, they are extremely helpful with some basics, not to mention highly interesting (to me at least). We have not ventured into any written language yet (mostly because it is very difficult and to me it all looks like squiggly lines), but just some basics of speaking here. Not only do we get language lessons, but we also have many discussions about culture here vs. stateside, as well as the reasons for all of us being here. It is a wonderful time for us to get together and learn about life here, both the struggles and the triumphs. One of the couples that is living here has us over for lunch together then some study time, it is definitly one of my favorite parts of each week. I am really going to miss lessons when I come back home, but I hope to be able to still study somehow once I return to the states.

Hanging out with the "Zeke-man" before lunch

Our own little study group

Prenatal Clinic

One huge undertaking that is happening right now is getting the new center ready to go. We've done the cleaning to get all the construction stuff out (minus the second floor where the men are still breaking down walls). Earlier this week, a few of us headed down to help Cheryl set up her clinic. She has a special place in her heart to serve pregnant women and help them through this amazing experience; she was so excited to get her clinic set up! Now she has some medicines, an exam table, and an ultrasound machine to use in her clinic. Please p'ry for this clinic and the work that Cheryl will do here for the women of Ir'q. Here are a few pictures, but there will be more pictures to follow of the clinic once it is completed (we still need a sink, counter, cabinets, and fixed curtains).

The ultrasound machine

Christine on the exam table

Ross getting ready to hang curtains

A Special Day

Although I have only been here a short time, my heart has grown immensly for the people here in Iraq. I have had many conversations with many different people about many different things. I have heard what is on their minds and some of their hearts. Today we were able to celebrate Cheryl's birthday with some of our K'rdish friends. It was decided amongst the women that we would just simply "pamper" her for the day. This day began with making sure that she did not do any of the work she normally does to serve us in the house. I made breakfast and had items prepared for lunch. The guys did some cleaning and the rest of the house pitched in to clean dishes and help prepare the main lunch meal. Following the meal it was set that we would all head our separate ways (but end up in the same place as a surprise). We managed to mostly surprise Cheryl with manicures, pedicures, and massages for her and the rest of us.

Our "spa" supplies

We were privileged to have three other women join us for this mini-party. What we were able to offer them was simply care and compassion through service. We all took our places to give them manicures and pedicures. In this region, feet are considered to be disgraceful, and these women were shocked beyond belief that we, Americans, would sit on the ground and wash their feet for them. One even commented on the "atmosphere" that we created, but none of us was willing to accept creating the atmosphere. It was He that gave each of us a servant's heart for these women. It was an amazing afternoon to be able to sit and serve by simply "pampering" others.

Kirsten's dining room transformed into a "spa"

Cleaning Party!!!

Hoorrayy! It is finally time to start getting the new center ready! This means LOTS of cleaning and work, but hey, that's what we're all here for anyways. While the men were on the 2nd floor working on breaking through concrete walls, the women were on the 1st and 3rd floors sweeping, cleaning windows, squeegeeing, scraping, etc. We worked for about 4 1/2 hours solid, and we all feel like we didn't even put a dent in the work. Here are a few pictures of a bit of the progress:

There is much more work yet to come, keep checking back to see how we are doing. And just an fyi, these walls are 1ft thick concrete and these are the tools we have . . . glad all I have to do is the cleaning and painting parts.