Home Sweet Home

I wanted to share the things about living here that are different than in America. Just different, not necessarily bad or good. People who have traveled to foreign countries can probably relate to a lot of these.

- the apartment doesn't have air conditioning, but the weather is nice enough that opening windows in the morning and evening does the trick.

- We have no idea what the name of the street we live on is (neither does anyone else), we have to give directions by nearby landmarks

- We can't throw toilet paper into the toilet, there is a wastebasket nearby for that

- We turn on the hot water for about an hour a day to take showers, wash dishes, etc.

- We live right behind the neighborhood mosque, so the call to prayer sounds like it is coming from our living room. It's not bad really except at 4:45am, but we'll get used to it.

- our stove runs off of a gas cylinder that has to be changed when it runs out. A truck blaring tinkling music drives by every day (kind of like the ice cream truck) that you can buy new ones from.

Those are the ones I can think of for now. We all are still getting adjusted, Ellie is starting to sleep better, in longer stretches. Jason's suitcase STILL hasn't arrived yet, so that is very difficult on him. I am okay, cooking meals is my challenge right now. I tried to make my semi-famous homemade spaghetti sauce last night and it turned out more like chili (different ingredients here). Oh well, it was good if not a little weird on pasta. Jason and Ellie gobbled it up still. I'll just have to learn to make new dishes :)