The last two weeks have been filled with many goodbyes, packing up everything, moving to a new city, unpacking (still working on that one), and trying to learn a new town and meet even more wonderful people. The last two years have been incredible. Above is my closest friend holding Lauren at Regan's piano recital. Regan did excellent by the way!
We were showered with gifts of lychee fruit all week! They really are good, but we could not eat all of them. They are only good for about a day or two even if you put them in the refrigerator. I had never had them before moving here, but apparently there are some parts of Florida that you can get them as well.
Each night on that last week we were in our "old city," we had friends drop by wanting to spend some time with us before we left and wanting pictures. This little girl came over and didn't want to leave :) We had another boy that wrote us the sweetest note saying that the times he had spent with our family were the happiest days of his life. His mom later told me that he asked if they too could move to our "new city." It was much harder to leave all of our friends here than I had expected 2 years ago.
Benjamin spent the last week catching frogs with his buddy from school. They had such a good time being boys together :) The frog catching has continued in our new city. I'm really glad, too. Benjamin was afraid that there would be no frogs here and we already had a plan of action in our heads to go down to the local market to buy some frogs (and tell them not to kill them that we could do it at home...they are for food) and then release them outside for him to find :) So glad we didn't have to go that route!
Benjamin said he taught the frogs a secret handshake.
I had gone outside to check on him, he had been looking for frogs all morning with no luck, when I saw him playing with his friend. They were running around having a good time. I asked him if he found any frogs yet. He started pulling them out of his pockets and said "YEP!" with a huge grin :)
He is such a good big brother. He did not want his little sister to feel left out, so he caught a baby frog and put it in a container for her. She was a little afraid at first, but has warmed up to the idea of looking for them.
The movers came and literally saran wrapped our entire house! They said nothing leaves the house if it's not in a box or wrapped. They even wrapped our suitcases and backpacks. It was a site to see.
We are very thankful that everything got to our new apartment in one piece. They did an excellent job.
Jonathan said that if they could saran wrap the chairs then he could saran wrap the syrup. :)
I would not have wanted to live in our building on moving day. We had the elevator tied up for much of the morning. At least we didn't have to carry things down eleven flights of steps!
I just wanted a picture of the actual moving truck. The only story I have about the truck is that when it was leaving the complex, the security guards were chasing after it. Our landlord was supposed to give them a note saying that none of the stuff was his, but he thought it was too much trouble. I wish I could have actually seen them running after the truck :) We just got a phone call and description form others.
We had a driver take us to our new home since we had all the luggage, a dog, and a truck already on the way. A few of our dearest friends came to see us off.
So, I had high aspirations of making a flag cake for the fourth of July (2 days after we moved), but I could not pull it off. My wonderful family (mostly my husband) all pitched in on the FIFTH of July to make the cake :) I guess if we want to be technical, it was still the fourth in the States :)
I had wanted to make one last year, but could not find strawberries or blueberries. So this year when I saw them, I bought them and froze them and moved them with all the rest of our things..haha! I never thought that would be on the packing list to move.
Four days after we moved, we all packed bags again and went BACK to our old city for a wedding. Our language teacher's daughter was getting married and we needed to be there. It was very interesting. They tried to incorporate some western aspects into the wedding. When the guy doing the ceremony said, "Who gives this woman in marriage?" The dad said, "HUH?!?! Hugh?! Oh oh. Her mother and I." It was quite funny.
This was the actual ceremony. I couldn't see a thing! Everyone followed her down the aisle taking pictures and then just stayed at the front taking pictures the entire time. I had not seen that one before.
Also, it is very traditional here to get married in a restaurant. So the aisle goes down the center of the tables and then they get married at the front. The spread of food on each table was HUGE! I have never seen so much food.
After the wedding we headed back to our new home. Sitting in the bus station, Katherine was a little over all the picture taking, so she kept her head covered with a bandanna. They really do good with all the attention that they get here, but when they need a break form it, they sometimes have to get creative.
I only have one picture from inside our new house. This is Lauren and Katherine's new room. The girls went form all sleeping in one bed in one room to each having their own bed. We really like the new house and will try to show you pictures as we get the rooms "box free" :)
Our favorite part about the move so far? The BLUE skies! We can see the moon and stars every night and during the day the skies are blue and the sun is bright! It's a welcome change!
