"Busy"

Another day and a half, and we will be out of town, "busy" spending time with relatives and friends. Think of it - a Christmas "holiday" or "vacation" with people of your own culture (we're talking both North American and Christian). Is this selfish or what? But I'm really looking forward to it!!!

A Child's Hug

A tight squeeze from a child ... a blown kiss ... a little body burrowing into your arms ... nothing equals it here on earth.

I just finished putting my two youngest kids down for their naps; the youngest had to be disciplined because of disobedience, but was very willing to cuddle afterwards; and the older one hung tightly to my neck and then blew kisses.

I'm trying to learn "intentionality" - and one aspect is intentionally looking for things that are more important than the hustle and bustle of "normal" life. Things like the snowflakes sparkling like stars as they fall in bright sunshine; the wonder of the weekly garbage truck; and hugs and kisses from little kids who will very soon grow up.

Guest or Family?

How do we treat people in our house, and how much of this treatment is culturally influenced? And would you rather be treated as family, or as a guest?

I personally am a bit confused on this - over the past couple of years, some people not of my immediate family that I have decided to invite into my "inner circle" and treat "as family" have complained of their treatment. Do I treat my family that poorly? They don't seem to complain.

I'm inclined to think (self-righteously??) that we want all the benefits of being "family" - familiarity, run of the house, ability to drop in whenever, etc. - without the responsibilities - doing some of the work, serving others instead of getting served all the time; and we also want the benefits of being the "guest" - politeness, being served, being entertained - without the awkwardness and time limit (at least the polite time limit imposed by North American culture).

So where does that leave us? I'm not sure. When we first visited our neighbors in Cameroon, they treated us as guests - talking with us, giving us a gift of some fruit even when they didn't have much food in the house, etc. Now, I think my neighbors, my friends, treat me as family, or at least like they treat their other friends - when I drop by, I have to go find them, they don't come to see me; and I need to sit with them and talk with them where they are, as they continue on with their daily tasks; and I'm welcome to stay as long as I want to, as long as I let them keep on with their work. You know, I think I've adapted to this part of the Oroko culture, as this is how I prefer to treat my good friends and family.

But what if they don't like it? I don't know. Time will tell. Maybe I'll find a better balance eventually!

Christmas shopping mania

Well, we get to experience, once again, "Midnight Madness" - that shopping extravaganza that continues until midnight, with many stores having bigger and better sales the later you want to visit them. Having small kids, we'll go experience this cultural festivity, complete with special music and a bonfire, but we'll come home well before the "big" sales begin.

And you should see all the advertising that goes along with this. Half of the weekly newspaper seems to be devoted to it, plus all the store advertisement flyers in the mail. How many trees were cut down for the sake of Christmas advertising?

So what is our response? Human nature says, "Great, a sale; let's see what I want to buy." Most of it looks pretty good. Fortunately for common sense and our budget, we're limited to what can fit into our suitcases going back to Cameroon! But it is hard not to get sucked into the blatant materialism, especially when we have been away from it for a few years. It's important to remember the focus - on CHRISTmas....

Eastern Christianity?

I spoke for probably over an hour a few days ago with a Chinese man who was my classmate in high school. One of his opening comments was, "you probably think I'm a heretic...", but as I listened to him, I really don't think so.

We are so used to our "Western Christianity" with all its terminology, and this man wanted to get back to his Eastern roots and how Jesus applies to his culture. He has "turned away" from all the terminology that we are used to, such as "accept Jesus into your heart", and even words such as the names for God and Jesus that we use; instead he tries to use as much Aramaic and Hebrew as possible. Is that "turning away" from God? I don't think so; in fact, it might please Him more than our Western trappings.

And if my friend is willing to help our translation project in Cameroon with whatever research he does (he enjoys digging into original texts to explore meaning), all the better. Go for it, Ben!

Is it "Bad" to be "Different"?

For those of you "mature" adults, the answer might be "Of course not!"; but how about if you are in grade 5 or 6?

Last week we had parent/teacher interviews, and we came away with the following impressions:
*Our girls are doing very well academically, in fact they know more than most of the other students.
*Our girls are very young for their grade (probably the youngest), and sometimes it shows.
*Our girls are not afraid to raise their hand if they know the answer to a question, and they are willing to "sing out" the national anthem when the rest of the class might just be mumbling.
*The fact that they are not "TV-ed" (we don't have a TV in our house - at least not one that we can watch TV programs on) is very obvious.

So what do we do with this information? Some of it we can't do much with (like their age), some of it we are happy about but didn't necessarily have a choice about (TV is not practical on solar power in Cameroon! But it IS our choice not to have it here), and some of it we have worked quite hard on (giving them a good education and trying to teach them to participate as much as they can). But the fact remains that they stick out a bit from the rest of the class. Is this bad?

You know, it kind of reminds me of myself. Funny thing... I was an MK. And I felt like I really stuck out when we came back to Canada. And it was really hard at times, and yet I really didn't want to be just like everybody else. After all, this world isn't our real home, you know; we're just strangers passing through. When we get to heaven, we'll all fit in, and we'll all be ok with that!

Dryers and Static Electricity

I'm not sure what the change in humidity is (in numbers) from rainforest to Canadian prairies, but it's pretty drastic. You can tell the difference in not-so-subtle ways like:

1) In Cameroon our clothes could take 3 days or more to dry, depending on how much room you had in the house to spread out your damp clothes while there was a tropical rainstorm thundering outside. Here in Canada, even jeans and sweaters dry relatively quickly. And when you add in the component of a clothes dryer, which was definitely not feasable with solar power, it is no contest! (note: in Canada you might have to worry about clothes becoming too small from shrinking in the dryer; in Cameroon, we worry about clothes getting too big from the elastic disintegrating!)

2) Celebrating birthdays can be done wherever you are in the world, but certain things don't "translate" into a different climate. One big example is the age-old tradition (for some) of rubbing a balloon on some unsuspecting child's head (hair is definitely needed for this!) and then sticking the static-electricity-charged balloon on a nearby wall. Try that in our tropical setting in Cameroon, and you will a) not get any noticeable static electricity, no matter how hard you rub the balloon, as there is too much humidity, and b) pop the balloon as you attempt to stick it to the wall because the bricks or painted walls are very rough. There goes another tradition!

Chinese Food on the Canadian Prairies

Well, I'm certainly not Asian, but after having gone without Asian food for many years in Cameroon, the Chinese food we ate tonight really hit the spot! Let's see... Mike had egg rolls and ginger beef with rice, and I had ginger beef and brocolli, and sweet and sour pork with rice. Mmmmm.... Is your mouth watering yet?

Our grey-haired angel dropped by again today, with bread, salad, fruit, more eggs (I think we'll have to freeze some - oops!), and lots of yummy dessert-type things. And people wonder why I don't bake very much here...!

We also have a long black-haired angel who babysits for us for free - a wonderful grade 12 MK! Thanks, Lord!

Short Grey-haired Angel

One of the "angels" in our lives right now is a short, slight, grey-haired man who drives up with his little red car every couple of weeks or so. He goes to stores and picks up things like day-old bread and muffins (all perfectly good), cracked or odd-shaped eggs that are unsaleable, and occasionally fruit; and then he stops at various houses like ours and we get to choose whatever we want (and however much we want), absolutely free of charge. Good weather or slippery roads, he does this service for free. Thank you, God, for these servants of Yours!

Frosted Flakes and Sesame Street

A neighbor calls up: she has some left-over Frosted Flakes from when her grandchildren came to visit and would we like them? Well, another new experience for our kids - a bit different from the stale Corn Flakes which were the kids' only "special" (as in, expensive) cold cereal treat in Cameroon. Yes, we really enjoy our Raisin Bran, Shreddies, Cheerios, and Rice Krispies while we can!

And good old Sesame Street games - now fully available on the internet, as long as your computer doesn't keep "freezing"! Elmo and Big Bird are regular visitors to our house....

Marshmallow cars and snow angels

Kenneth and Laura are having a snack - a very un-Cameroonian snack of marshmallows and chocolate chips, both of which are rare treats there. And, of course, every food object is a vehicle to 4-yr. old Kenneth, so they are having races on the table with their marshmallows!

And the snow! Kenneth didn't remember snow, being just a baby last time he was in North America, and Laura had never seen it, so they are having so much fun. Snowmen; snowballs; snow angels, sledding in in the snow. Endless hours of amusement!

If only we as adults would be so easily amused. Instead, we surf the internet (oh, how I love high-speed internet, a dream when we're in isolated Bekondo, Cameroon), play computer games, and misuse our time in other ways. Makes you think....

Scrapbooking - an encounter with American culture

So... we use these fancy papers, try to figure out how to cut the photo, decide which of these hundreds of stickers to use, and then try to figure out how to store these treasures so "moth and rust" don't corrupt (more like MOLD!) and "thieves" don't "break in and steal" in Cameroon.... I think I'm decisionally challenged! At least I can expose my older girls to this form of American art and see if they're interested - and if some rich relative has passed away and left a fortune to cover the expenses of this art form! Oh well, another day!

Getting started

How do you catch up on 4 years' worth of technology when you come "home" for furlough? And is it worth the time and effort when you have so many other things tugging at you....

Well, we'll give it a try, and see how it goes. Gotta try it once, right?

For all those of you who do your own blog, advice is gladly accepted :)