Let the Games Begin!

Well folks remodeling has started and we wanted to give you a look at some before shots. We will post the finished product later.

First are a few pictures of the kitchen before they started to rip all the tiles out.

Of Course there are always problems you discover when remodeling, and here is a picture of what the counter of the sink looked like when they took out the sink. It was pretty gross.

A couple of pictures to show you some of the upstairs bedrooms

The bathroom, is now looking a bit more bare than this picture as most of the tiles have been stripped.

We can't wait to see the finished project!

Let me just have an Eeyore Moment!

I must say that I miss spring in Kansas. Let me just tell you what spring is like here, grey, wet, cold, and disgusting! Every now and then we get to see the sun, and we are thankful for the little bit of brightness we can get. Here is what I miss about spring vs. what it like here:

Waking up and hearing little song birds out your window, with the sun shining in your room.

(Here the birds sound like they are crying because it is cold, and they migrated too early.)

When you look out the window in the morning to see a little bit of frost left on the ground, being melted by the sun.
(Here we see massive puddles of standing water.)

The crisp clean air you breathe in as you walk outside in the morning.
(The air here just doesn’t have that crisp smell to it, and it is often scented by cows and exhaust.)

How the air warms with the day and getting to shed layers throughout the day.
(I’m pretty sure I will be wearing my coat for a while longer.)

Maybe I’m being a little dramatic right now, but it is currently snowing and all I know is I miss spring in Kansas!

Marvin's Excursion

We had a friend from the states come a couple of week's ago and wanted to take him to see some of the local scenery, so we asked on of our language teachers about public transportation to see this part of our area. He quickly suggested that he would borrow his brother's car and take us. He also suggested showing us his village, something that he has only offered one other time. I skipped this excursion, due to the nausea I already am having I didn't think it would be wise to give my stomach one more reason not to agree with me, but Marvin and our guest had a great time. They stopped by a lake near our city that is crystal clear and incredibly deep, that they still don't know how deep it actually is, and then they went to my favorite part of our area the tunnel through the mountain. There are literally 180 degree drop offs. Unfortunately it was cold while they were there so they couldn't enjoy it for very long before freezing. We are hoping to be able to take the summer team out to this area and go even further as there are some ancient houses still standing if you keep going past the tunnels.

On the way back home they were able to stop at our language teacher’s village. Marvin was able to meet his mother, aunt, and uncle. They had tea, and of course our teacher's mother wasn't happy that he didn't tell her that they were coming. In the end Marvin left with a lovely sweater his mother knitted, and a huge jar of pickles and a huge jar of tomatoes. She even threw in a little candy for the road. What a sweet woman. .