Are you eating with a fork?!?

Emily here.  A bit sniffly - probably from the haze - but doing well.  The husband and I just had a scrumptious lunch of Chicken Rice, which I know we are going to miss in ten months when we head back home: rice cooked in the chicken water, topped with moist flavorific chicken, two slices of cucumber for good measure, and sprinkles of cilantro that are easily picked off and discarded... Mmm... Life is good!  Of course, this is eaten with either (1) a plastic flat spoon, or (2) a spoon and fork.  This makes me really happy!  Mostly meals in Malaysia are eaten with a spoon and fork, the latter used to shove food onto the spoon.  Even if the last few bits of rice are clinging to the fork, you often see someone brush them off onto the spoon and then sayonara into the mouth.  Shortly after we arrived we were out to eat with some church friends (shocking, I know), and someone laughed at Zach: "Ha!  You're eating with a FORK!"  Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.  It still makes me happy :-D  Silly Shipman outsiders... what do they know...

After two months in, many things have become normal routine that once seemed strange.  Though the heat still feels like we are walking through a lava field, and the humidity makes us question whether we are land creatures or are swimming through the sea, it is now becoming old hat that we shower in a tub with no shower curtain, that the haze makes my nose run and my throat hurt, and that movie theaters offer the option of caramel corn or salty (heavier on the caramel).  In addition to the caramel corn option there are other joys - the most frequent being my daily joy of finding an empty bathroom: each time I hold my breath to make sure I don't scream if I find a cockroach.  (I'm still surprised the neighbors didn't come knocking after my first night of screams.  Poor Zach came home at 1:30 am after a meeting to find me curled up on the couch attempting to sleep under the timer-set fluorescent lights, disturbed by the war zone in the bathroom.  I had given up on killing them after four missed attempts and discovering my inability to smack without screaming...  Turns out I married a knight in shining armor!)  Lately the creepy crawlers have been on holiday :-D  Praise God!  As for the lizzys, I appreciate the chirps they make, especially when they coincide with amusing moments in the movie we are watching, or when they provide entertainment for us in other ways...

My childhood aversion to rice is no more, and I happily eat it 2-3 times daily, and am developing a taste for spicy foods as well.  Our schedule is predictably unpredictable - which I'm still getting used to.  Nights run really late, which is getting easier.  And of course our vocabulary is changing: We call air conditioning "Air-Con" rather than "A/C", and getting a ride with someone = "follow me" or back home = "I'll send you", while "last time" refers to pretty much any point in history.

Beyond all that, we are meeting some really fun and amazing people.  Both churches are very welcoming and often we are both invited along to cell groups, events, and fellowship at each other's churches.  We are truly being exposed to a lot and have a lot on the books for the months ahead!  We are so blessed to be here in this place, and to be walking this road of discernment for what God is calling us to.  Life is good :-D