Saturday, July 23, 2016

What I Do Differently Now

Hi!  Here's a little cuteness to start the post with!

They escaped from their classroom to greet me!
It's wonderful!  The joy on those precious faces lifts me up every day!

Anyway, we are fine and thankful for all our blessings.  However, it's 15 months
post-earthquake, and I still do some things differently than I did pre-earthquake.
This may or may not be interesting to you!  

Anytime I think I will lighten up, we get another aftershock--like today:

and yesterday:

So, I don't know about other people, but I never fully relax.
I still "start" when I hear a noise like a dropped book or something.
I look around and wait to see if it's an aftershock.
Will it stop or keep going...like the earthquakes did?

So, yes, every morning this is me:
(photo credit:  pinterest.com)

Now, I don't think my brain has changed,

 although some people might challenge me on that,

(photo credit:  cliparting.com)

but I do some things differently now.

I don't lounge around in my pajamas and robe anymore, either in the morning or the evening.
I get up and get dressed right away, and don't take my shower and get into my pajamas
until right before I want to go to sleep.
(photo credit:  pinterest.com)

Speaking of showers, we still take the fastest showers we can.  
Of course, we have always had to take fast showers here!  The water can run out at any moment,
so you always have to wash your hair first to make sure you can rinse it!

Then we had the earthquake, and taking a shower during aftershocks is a little shocking, 
so you don't want to fool around!

Of course, this past winter, during the fuel crisis, we didn't want to run out of gas, so...fast showers had to be the norm!  Lucking we had experience. and 
we were blessed that we didn't have to wait in line like so many had to do.

We're still taking fast showers--it gets to be a habit here!
However, when we were on vacation, we took very long showers!
(photo credit:  cliparting.com)

Another thing I do differently, is walk back and forth into the kitchen in the mornings to sip my coffee which I keep on the kitchen counter, until I've drunk enough so that I'm not
afraid that this will happen:
(photo credit:  dreamstime.com)

During a recent aftershock, this happened:

 Luckily potatoes aren't breakable!

Anything else?  Yes.

I keep a set of clothes right near our bed in case we  have to jump up and go outside.
(photo credit:  thelittlehoneybee.com)

Our shoes are near the front door.

By the way, while looking for that picture, I found my dream closet:
(photo credit:  dawn.com)

Anyone else love this?!?!?!

We also keep a backpack by the front door with a water bottle, cookies, and toilet paper!
 We're not this organized, but it's a good idea and something the American Embassy
told us to do when we first got here.
(photo credit:  ebay.com)

Lastly, as soon as dusk starts, I put my Energizer headlamp flashlight around my neck.
(photo credit:  headlampflashlights.com)

When the lights go out, I don't have to fumble for a flashlight, as it's always around my neck!
I love it!

Here's a really interesting article about preparing for natural disasters:

We have both survived other natural disasters, and are certainly thankful to the Lord
for His mercies!  Those stories will have to be in another post!

Have a nice and disaster free day!  Blessings to all!

Saturday, July 9, 2016

A Few Current Scenes

Well, here it well into July already!  Boy!  Time is flying by!

So...here's hoping everyone had a ...

(photo credit:  pinterest.com)

If we were home, we would have been at my family reunion!  Happy day!
However, I'm happy that I was able to video chat!

I love it!  We didn't even dream of this in the '80s when my parents were in Africa.
Maybe those who did dream of this had relatives living far away!  Anyway--THANKS!
How we would have loved it then like we love it now!
Letters took two weeks, if we were lucky, and phoning in those days was so expensive that
we mostly only phoned when there was bad news.  Yikes!

By the way, letters and packages usually take two weeks to get here too--most of the time!

Anyway, it's now the monsoon season.

This was a rather light rain.  It can become torrential!  It was so bad a few weeks ago
that crops were tragically destroyed.
https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/banepa-downpour-destroys-crops-worth-millions/


One of Ramon's patients, a very elderly man, told him that he couldn't remember such a storm
since he was a boy!
I admit that it was a little scary and we prayed!

The past three months have been difficult:
https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/47-killed-floods-landslides-across-nepal-3-months/

Look:
Swollen Bhotekoshi near Barhabise. Photo: Nepal Red Cross Society, Sindhupalchok


Man!  These two pictures are from this article which I give the credit to:
https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/58-rescued-flood-hit-tatopani-bordering-tibet/

Here's the road to the church:

Yep, flats are the way to go!
I'm very happy to say that the cars and motorcycles wait for you to pass so they don't splash you!

This is on the outskirts of town,

and thankfully they're working on it,as there are potholes in the potholes of the potholes!  (Not kidding!)


It's also HOT and HUMID!  Of course, that's to be expected.
Everyone stays in the shade as much as possible,

unless they have to work outside--and they work hard, all day long, day after day,
week after week, month after month, year after year!

I was happy to find these ladies who were able to work while sitting down--at least for awhile!
They were very happy for me to take their picture!

Now we haven't heard that fuel is in low supply again, but we have seen very long lines at the
fuel stations again, like we did during the crisis.  This is only a small part of a very long line and we have recently seen very long lines.  Let's hope everyone just accidentally had to get fuel at the same time!


Sometimes I wonder why I took a certain picture--like this one.  Perhaps I was
wondering if Deep Stationary was selling nice and thick notebooks! 

Look!  Here's a truck driver who is a fan of the Titanic movie! 
Do you think Leonardo, Kate, and James know they have a big fan in Kathmandu?



It looks nice!
I have seen Che, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, AC/DC, and others many times on the trucks
and buses, and have put some pictures up before.  This was the first time I've seen scenes from a movie!

Well, I'll end for now with two pics from school.  The other day I found some of the third graders
relaxing by their door after recess while waiting for their teacher to show.  I told them I liked
how calm, cool, and collected they were!

Then I found the fourth graders at study.  They are as sweet and nice as they look!


More later!  I hope I'll have pictures from Ramon.  He's been so busy and hasn't even
taken any pictures since we've been back.

Have a nice day and thanks for your prayers!