"I wuv you"

Tonight after Ellie took her bath, she ran excitedly over to me (completely naked of course), hugged me really tight around the neck, and said very clearly "I wuv you!" Oh my gosh!! Jason and I just stared at each other, shocked. Of course, I got all teary eyed and was like "Did she just say I love you?" I am so surprised, this is definitely the first time she has said this, and usually I say to her "Mommy loves Ellie," not "I love you." We couldn't get her to say it again, but hopefully she will pleasantly surprise us again soon!

Squitos, squitos

Ramadan is over! We just finished out the holiday celebrated after Ramadan, it is kind of like their Christmas (giving gifts, seeing family, etc.) Jason had a break from school, but we decided not to go to Petra. Ellie's been kind of sick, and we just wanted to rest at home. We've been pretty creative in inventing games for us to play in the house. Ellie loves to hide from us (running away and hiding in a corner when we ask her to come) so we introduced her to the game of hide and seek. After having her hide with Jason the first time, we realized that she is too little to hide, so she was a seeker with one of us each time. It was really funny for us to hide in very obvious places and watch her find us.

It has been getting cold here!! The temperature drops pretty low at night and it's rained a couple of times recently. We are excited to see snow here, but also nervous about getting around town with the snow. Since the city is built over many extreme hills, I'm worried about cars slipping all over the road. We are hoping that the cold will kill the mosquitos that keep sneaking into our house. I routinely check Ellie's room and our bedroom before going to sleep each night; I must say I am a little obsessed with killing each little bloodsucker. Is it bad when your toddler walks around the house banging on things and slapping the walls saying "squitos, squitos?" I wonder where she picked that up :)

Small video of Ellie, cute, but trial run so not good quality

Video of nephew Bryson... so cute!

Posted By:Tara

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Everyone see Ellie's little age chart on the top of the page?

The iftar (dinner with Fulbright people) was fun. None of the VIP's showed up, but it was good food and a night out without Ellie. There was a huge buffet including appetizers, main course, and dessert. It was nice to get dressed up and head out for the night. The best part is that Ellie loved being with Alex and Kendra. She didn't mind at all that we were gone! Ellie has started to call me "mom" a lot. I have no idea where it came from, except maybe from one of her books. Isn't she too young to be calling me "mom?" Every time she does, I repeat whatever she said with "mommy" instead of "mom." I don't want her to give up on "mommy" so soon! Pretty soon she'll be calling me "Kirsten."

My first session of Arabic classes are now over. We had to take an oral test last night to prove to the teacher if we are ready for the next level. I was surprised to realize that I knew every single word she tested me on. I guess all my practice with taxi drivers and Ellie's preschool teachers is paying off. The next session doesn't begin for a couple weeks, so I have a break for now. Jason also has a break soon, for 5 days or so, so we are thinking about going to visit Petra. This is an ancient city from 6th century B.C. created by Nabataean Arabs, a nomadic tribe. They carved many of their buildings into the surrounding sandstone, so they are supposed to be very beautiful. It is the number one tourist destination in Jordan, so we figured we better go while we are here! It will be nice to see something besides Amman.

The little chatterbox

Well, Ellie went back to school. And she seems to enjoy it more each day. She has gone three days so far, and the last day she was not upset at all when I came to pick her up. This was definitely a good decision, even though she already has a runny nose. Hopefully she will not catch anything too serious from the other kids. She has a new favorite word; it is "beautiful." Ellie walks around saying "Ellie bee-uful" all day, every once in a while throwing in "mommy bee-uful" or "picture bee-uful." The last time she was painting I said her picture was beautiful, and she grasped that word quickly. She has two other "word games" that she likes to play. One is pointing out who owns what around the house/taxi/street. It goes like this: "Mommy's chair" (point), "Daddy's chair" (point), "his seatbelt" (point to the taxi driver). She makes sure she has everything covered before she will stop. The other game is naming who she knows and saying whether they are a boy or a girl. "Mommy girl, Daddy boy, Ellie girl," etc. Then there is the occasional "Daddy girl...noooo, Daddy boy." As you can probably tell, she really likes to talk.

There are 9 days left of Ramadan. Tomorrow Jason and I are going to an "Iftar," which is the big party-type meal when they break their fast. This one is hosted by the Fulbright office and held at a really nice restaurant in town. Some very important people will be there, including His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal
and the American ambassador to Jordan. I am excited to be able to go and will let you all know what it is like.

School Days

The entire family goes to school now. Ellie started today at a nearby nursery. I dropped her off while I went grocery shopping, so it was a short trial visit. She went quite willingly, didn't care when I kissed her goodbye. However, once I returned she saw me and her little lower lip started to quiver and she burst into tears. They said she did cry while I was gone, but I'm sure that will get better with time. We'll see if she goes willingly tomorrow :) The school is within walking distance (about 20-25 minutes) but when I return home after picking her up, I will take a taxi because it is all uphill. Jason is good with the hills, but I have some trouble pushing Ellie's stroller up the steep ones. It is only 50 JD (about $75) a month for Ellie's school, which is extremely cheap. Even though she won't even be attending half of the time, it is still worth it for that price.

I have about one week left of my arabic classes, but the plan is to take the next level after that (and the next one after that). Jason was paid $50 today to take an arabic test from the US Department of Defense. All of the students in his classes who spoke English fluently were given this opportunity. There is the possibility of more tests in the future. They told him that the tests were trial Arabic placement exams, but I think they are looking for future employees! Wouldn't that be funny. I hope the government doesn't hunt me down for posting this :)

Update on packages

We have received a couple of letters so far (thanks Autumn!), and we have one package waiting for us at the parcel post office. I need to clarify the address for anyone planning on sending us a package.

No one in Amman gets regular mail sent to their house. Everyone has a post office box that they pick mail up at, and if they have a package they get a slip saying to go pick it up at the parcel office. Only places like UPS, FEDEX, etc. bring mail directly to houses. So, any mail through the regular post office needs to go to this address:

Jason and Kirsten Tatum
c/o Fulbright
PO Box 850215
Amman 11185, Jordan

Please put both of our names so either of us can pick it up. Thanks!

(be sure to read the posting under this one, it is new as well)

Friends!

Ellie and I have been looking at nurseries in our neighborhood, so that Ellie can make some friends. I've just gone in a couple and let Ellie play for a little bit; both times she did not want to leave! In the first one I put her down, she walked right over to some kids and started playing, and she didn't look back at me once. I could have left her and she wouldn't have cared! Thankfully they are extremely cheap here, no more than $100 a month, so hopefully we'll find a good one that Ellie can go to a couple of hours a day. She will love it!

The Thompsons came over today and played cards with Jason and I. It was so good to hang out with them! Ellie always talks about them ("nra" and "Alec") so she was excited to see them too. We played spades (which Jason and I won in a close race to the finish) and golf, which Kendra dominated.

I attempted my first baking trial, and it turned out well. Our gas oven only has two settings, heat on top or heat on bottom. You can't designate what temperature you want, so I was pretty skeptical about baking with it. But, I made some (healthy) oatmeal/date/banana cookies that tasted really good. They were so good that I doubled the recipe today to snack on while we played cards, and they are already gone! We have been eating a lot of dates here, since they are plentiful and not too expensive. They are one of Ellie's favorite snacks.

I will try to post more often; I have received hints to do so, or else people think something happened to us :) It's just hard to think of what to write when we don't really do too much!

One month down...

It's hard for us to believe we have been here for a month already. Only eight more to go :) We are enjoying our time here, but this is definitely not a permanent move! Although there are many American things here (we had Popeye's chicken for dinner last night), we miss being in America. We truly are lucky to have all that we do!

Our Arabic-learning is going well. Of course Jason already had it mostly down, but I am proud of my mini-conversations that I have with shopkeepers, taxi drivers, etc. And once in a while I can teach Jason a word that he doesn't know. I'm really enjoying getting to know my classmates as well. One girl in my class picks me up and takes me home, which is awesome, since I don't have to hunt down taxis and hope they know where my class meets. Jason has been taking the bus to his classes, which is very cheap and easy, but I am wary of taking the bus by myself (as a foreign woman), especially since my class is at night. Also, I have to leave for my class right when the fasting ends for the day, so the streets are almost completely empty. Everyone is eating! I wouldn't be able to find a taxi or bus if I wanted to.

We need to find Ellie some friends. I really think she is getting lonely and too attached to us. Last night she had trouble sleeping, so I had to sleep in her bed with her. Hopefully we can find some kids soon! She sees some once a week when we meet with some American friends, but it would be nice to find kids her age that she can play with. There's only so much painting and reading books with mommy and daddy that a toddler can take!

We started a water delivery service yesterday, and it is great! They deliver 19 liter bottles (like the 5 gallon ones) once a week. Jason drinks more water than anyone I have ever lived with (even Nichole!) so we were having to buy a ton of 1.5 liter bottles a week. It was getting too difficult to go to the store that often and lug them home, not to mention the empty bottles filling the dumps. This way is easier and actually cheaper, so it works out really well.

Ellie's masterpiece

Here is Ellie enjoying her new favorite activity, painting! She calls it "colors." Mindy, we put that blow-up bath to good use as a multi-purpose mess container. She also uses it sometimes to eat in. If you look closely, you can see that she is also wearing a swim diaper that she put on herself. Actually, I helped pull it up after she waddled out with it around her ankles. We put this picture up on the fridge, and she is so proud of seeing her "pitchure" every day.

School Days

There have been 3 days of school so far. Jason says his classes are going well. He has three teachers that switch off; one of them okay and the others not so good. Hopefully he will be placed with a conversation partner soon that will help solidify what he is learning in class. He goes to school 5 days a week, 4 hours a day. My class is also going well. There are about 14 people, 5 of us Americans. I only have it 4 days a week, 2 hours a day. That is nice, but the class time isn't. I have class 7:30pm - 9:30pm, which means I don't get to bed until about 10:30 or 11:00pm. That may not sound too late, but when Ellie wakes up between 6-7am, it feels late. Although, I can handle it now that Ellie sleeps consistantly through the night. It only took over a year!

The Islamic holiday Ramadan is coming up very soon. It is supposed to start around September 24th. For those of you who don't know about it, it is a month-long holiday celebrating when the first verses of the Quran were "revealed." The fast is from dawn to sunset each day of Ramadan. The fast involves refraining from food, drink, and (for married people) sexual relations during the daylight hours. We obviously won't be fasting during this month, but it means that we shouldn't eat or drink during the day in public. Since we have our own apartment, this should be fairly easy, but things will be very different here. Businesses have different hours, restaurants close, and there are celebrations every night to break the fast. I'm not exactly sure what it will be like in our neighborhood, but we live literally across the street from a mosque, so we have had problems before with noise coming from their celebrations during the night. Our friends have also mentioned the possibility of someone coming through the neighborhood before dawn each morning, waking up everyone so they can eat before the sun comes up. Hopefully that will not be the case! I am focusing a lot on the inconviences for us, but also be in prayer for all the muslims here. Part of the fasting is in order to please Allah and seek his mercy; if only they knew that God does not require good works or sacrifice in order to obtain His mercy; it is freely given. Pray that perhaps Jason and I can share this with Muslims we come in contact with. A good website for those who are interested in Christians praying for Muslims during Ramadan is http://www.30-days.net/.

Bugs, Those Thugs

Question: How do you kill a line of ants crawling from your bedroom window to your kitchen, all without bug spray? Answer: You stomp them out! Jason and I had quite a time on waking up this morning, trying to kill all the little critters. It required a quick foot and some furniture moving, but we got the job done. Ellie was upset at all the noise and commotion, until Jason made a tap dance routine out of it. She found that hilarious.

An update on sending us packages. We have heard word that sending packages to Jordan from the US is a little pricey. Honestly, there is nothing we really need right now, so no one really needs to send us any packages. But, for those who insist, here is some advice. United States Postal Service (regular mail) is apparently cheaper than UPS, DhL, etc. Don't send us diapers or wipes, they weigh too much and it is better for us to just buy them here, even with the extra price difference. It just costs too much to ship them. Also, books can be heavy, so don't worry about those. There are books at the Fulbright office that I borrow and read, and we found a sesame street website with online books on it that Ellie likes. We revised our "wish list" to things that are lighter and more wanted.

DVD's ( Jason requests any TV show seasons, like Lost or 24. Ellie is really into Elmo right now)
Hidden Valley ranch packets
Chili packets
pasta sauce packets
Instant grits packets
Oatmeal (for baking)
Plain cheerios
Cream of wheat, malt o meal
Pictures of you, Ellie loves to look at them and point out everyone (Nikki is now Kikki)

Any food can just be put into ziplock bags or something to make them lighter. Also, we don't have a lot of room to bring things back to us, so keep that in mind. Most of Ellie's clothes and toys will be donated somewhere when we leave.

Our little girl

Everything here is going well. Jason his placement test today and tomorrow he'll find out what level class he'll be in. He starts class on Sunday. Guess what? I'm taking Arabic classes also. Mine start Sunday night and they are at a cultural center in Amman. The difference in ours, other than I'm a beginner and he is not, is that my classes will be the spoken Jordanian dialect of Arabic and his is Modern Standard (or written). I am excited to start.

Ellie is really growing up fast. I counted today and she knows over 100 words! Some words, like drink, she only says the last syllable of, but most words, like backpack, she says perfectly. She also says quite a few phrases, like "Ellie do it" and "climb up." Yesterday our friends Alex and Kendra Thompson came over and Ellie kept telling Kendra "sit down" because she wanted Kendra to read her a book. Gram, you said you miss reading to her, boy we wish you were here to take our place! Her hunger for knowledge is insatiable. She points to EVERYTHING and says "that" (what's that?). She will not stop saying it until you tell her the name of whatever she is pointing at. She also is officially weaned, having not nursed at all for 4 days. That didn't stop her, however, from grabbing my chest and saying "Milk" over and over in front of our friends. She really enjoys her mattress bed, especially since she can just walk right out of her room whenever she feels like it. That is very annoying when we are trying to put her to bed, but very cute when she walks out after her nap, or when she walks into our bedroom in the morning.

We love and miss everyone; thanks for all the emails and comments!

Today we had a couple of unexpected and uninvited guests to our apartment. This morning I was opening the curtains in our bedroom when something fell from above me and landed on the windowsill. I always wondered if I would be one of those screaming girls when a mouse ran across the floor, or if I would calmly take care of it. Now I know. I didn't so much scream as squeal and jump onto the bed. Jason came running and I was so startled that I couldn't even explain what was wrong. Finally I was able to tell him that a lizard had fallen onto the windowsill. Of course he was unphased by it, actually a little excited because it was a gecko. Immediately after I had seen what it was I laughed at myself, but it is just a little frightening to have something alive fall from above.

Tonight as I was fixing Ellie's bed, I found another visitor. Since we opted not to bring our heavy and awkward playpen, Ellie sleeps on a full size mattress on the floor of her room, with many blankets around the edges to keep her from rolling away. I picked up one of those blankets and a centipede crawled under the rug. I yelled for Jason (our knight in shining armor once again) and he shooed us out of the room while he dealt with the beast. Thanks to all of you who are praying for our safety, because Ellie very easily could have been bitten last night or even tonight, and you all know how dangerous they can been for babies. I've been hunting for mosquitos in our rooms every night before bedtime, now I know to check the ground as well for other creepy-crawlies.

Ellie is enjoying learning to dress herself. She walks around the house with mismatched shoes, or even just one shoe, and lately she has taken to putting on my underwear (clean ones of course). Here is a picture of her latest

Hooray!!

Jason's suitcase finally showed up! We were beginning to think it had disappeared completely. We can't pick it up until Sunday (it's the weekend now), but at least we know it is back. Jason will be glad to have his comfy tennies, clean socks, and more than three shirts.

So, a lot of people have asked about sending care packages, so we've thought of some things that could be sent.

Ellie: goldfish ("doldish") crackers, cheerios, books (any children's books, she loves to read them....over, and over, and over), diapers size 4, wipes

Jason: "can't think of anything" too bad, guess he's missing out

Kirsten: fiction books, sauce mixes (like alfredo sauce, taco seasoning, etc.), granola bars

That's all we can think of for now. Keep the comments coming, we like to hear from everyone!

Pictures

Left - Our place in Amman. Our apartment is on the right downstairs. You can't see our door, it's under the stairs.

Below - The view from outside our front yard

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 :)

Getting Settled

Before I go into details, just let me tell everyone who has heard about the shooting in Amman, we are fine. We heard that a man just started shooting random people downtown and one person has died, others injured. It was just a random crazy guy, so no one get worried (okay, mom?).

On to better news. We found an apartment! It is near the university where Jason will be studying, though not within easy walking distance. It is two bedrooms and very spacious. We are just happy to have one so soon. The Fulbright office had a bunch of apartments researched, and they've been taking us around to see them the past couple days. Without them it would have been much more difficult!

Back to not so good news. I forgot to mention that one of our suitcases, Jason's to be exact, was lost on our way over. We have not received it yet, but supposedly it should be coming. He has been living on two pairs of clothing, and luckily his toiletries were in another suitcase. Also, Ellie is not adjusting as well as our trip to Egypt. It has been a lot harder to get her sleep schedule back to normal, which makes her cranky during the day. Hopefully in our apartment she will adjust.

For those who requested it, here is our address. It is not the one to our apartment because we can't receive mail here, but this is to the Fulbright office where we will be contacted if we receive any.

PO Box 850215
Amman 11185, Jordan

If anyone sends through a courier, like UPS, FedEx, etc., use this address:

19, Al-Mahdi Bin Barakah Street
Shmeisani
Amman 11185, Jordan