Time out of mind

Today has been a good day.

Where to start?

Yesterday.

Yesterday, we had the science teacher's kids come down to D's house and we baked cookies for our guards for Eid. Since the kids are 7, 5 and 3, it was an adventure.

Next, we went over to our friend's house for supper, and then played some on a Wii that they had borrowed from other friends. I did pretty decent at Wii bowling. But Wii tennis was really fun.

Then we came back to campus and helped the science teacher's family decorate their Christmas tree. That was really fun. It's nice to feel at least a peripherally a part of someone's family.

Then, today, it was D's birthday! YAY!

This morning we went visiting some of our local friend's houses for Eid. This was the first time in over two years here that I have been visiting for Eid, and it was fun! I don't speak near enough of the local language to be able to communicate, but I can almost pick up on things. One of the places the father, a very kind man, kept trying to make me eat! I said, "Five Minutes" [in the local language], hoping that I could take a break for 5 minutes because I had been eating. He laughed, and then said that since I was a guest, I needed to eat every minute! So I had an apple. It seemed to placate him.

When we came back, we had lunch and then I got ready my surprise for D's birthday...

A scavenger hunt!

She liked it. At the end were some gifts that I had worked with her mom to send over, including two seasons of a TV show she really likes. So we watched some episodes. Next we worked on starting to pack some clothes that D is going to take back to the U.S. at Christmas. Then we went out to eat for her birthday. We went out with friends to the Indian Restaurant. It took an hour to get there, and included driving up the side of the mountain to try to avoid a traffic jam! Then we had dinner which was really good.

Finally, while D and I were sitting on my couch after we did Advent reading and candle lighting, I saw a mouse in my room! Arghh!! So I trapped him behind my dressers and hopefully can try to get him out later. I won't be like my friend and try to shoot him dead with a shotgun.

So that was today. It was a good day.