After a month and a half the five of us girls are finally together in our flat. Today consisted of unpacking, rearranging, and situating ourselves in order to let our roots begin to grow. It’s all a bit surreal still, especially having a “permanent” address here. This is our fourth and (hopefully) final move since arriving in October. It is such a good feeling to have my belongings on shelves and hangers rather than in a backpack.
Our team is regrouping after two weeks of living at separate boarding houses. Before we can truly step into roles forwarding the “project” we came to partner with, we have to learn the trade language here. In an effort to expedite our language and culture acquisition we lived as paying guests along with women nationals around our age. Most of these ladies are studying or working fulltime away from where their parents live. Because this demographic is highly educated, all spoke at least some English. I was grateful for this, but also glad they were anxious to help me improve my language abilities as well. Sometimes they even insisted I not use English. That’s when I really see how limited my vocabulary is. It’s much more encouraging to test my comprehension of their sentences.
Living there was quite an experience including sneaking around the kitchen at 1am to make tea while suppressing laughter, watching as some girls attempted to make a cake without a recipe and frosting without powdered sugar, and also gaining more insights into just what religion means to these people and how entrenched it is in their culture. My flat is close to the boarding house, and I look forward to keeping up the friendships that have begun.
One answer to prayer really struck me during all of this. I found myself loving people. This may sound silly, but let me explain. When I boarded to the plane headed east in October I knew I loved God, adventure, travel, language, new foods, and the idea of working amongst people abroad. It was easy to be excited about the country as a whole and have a “love” for the “people” as a fascinating group. What I didn’t know was whether or not I’d truly be form relationship bonds and love individuals. Often times the idea of a people can be attractive but the reality of individuals with different worldviews, habits, opinions, etc., can be tiring, frustrating, and annoying. I’ve only known them two weeks, and I know they are not faultless; but I care for them and feel the friendship is mutual. Please pray for strengthening of these friendships along with the creation of many more.