The Souq and House #2

We have been here for four days now, and we are just starting to get accustomed to the schedule here! Jack and I still have a hard time taking naps during the day…waking up from them, that is. I think our bodies think it is nighttime sleep rather than a nap! And Jack is always up by 5:30am or 6, perky and ready to play!

On Wednesday night, we went downtown to the souq to have dinner and see all of the shops and people. Once Jack woke up from a nap in the car, he was mesmerized by the lights and all of the people. We had dinner at a Morroccon restaurant (in tribute to my friend Mi Tran who just came home from a Peace Corps tour there) and then walked around. It was something to see! I found a shop with lots of spices (like coriander, fenel, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin and some unlabeled ones…I’m still looking for tahini so I can make my own hummus) and Jack was totally entertained by the animals for sale: brightly colored birds and, oddly enough, tiny rabbits wearing little dresses of all things!

Thursday was our first day alone, when Josh went back to work. Our Home #2 took some getting used to. To be entirely honest, I was a bit overwhelmed at first. It is a cold, tile room and bathroom with two twin mattresses on the floor, one night stand and a book case. We had to do a lot to make it feel like a home for me and Jack. Josh dropped us off in the morning, because I wasn’t quite comfortable enough yet to drive…so we were there all day without anywhere to go but walk around the small compound. There was construction taking place just outside, so Jack loved to sit and watch the big buldozers and trucks go by. We had a strange day – we were finished cleaning and setting things up by 8:30am, took a short walk and played and then took a nap from 10:00am-2:00pm. We had a PB&J on our balcony, played some more and then took another nap from 3:00-10:30pm! We entirely missed dinner time with our landlord and had to sneak down stairs at 11 to have a bowl of cereal for dinner instead. We read and played in our room until 12:30 and went back to bed….waking up at 4:15am, falling back asleep for an hour or so and then waking up for good at 6:15am….whew! We slept something like 19 hours. I think my son definitely has the Kerger sleep gene! :-) But I know we just needed a day to catch up on so much missed sleep. Our tenants are a lovely Filipino family. They are friendly and absolutely love Jack! We got to talk to them this morning as they were headed to church – the Catholic church. (Here, Fridays are the day when everyone is off and people attend church/mosque. We are going to find a church to go to on Sunday, though.) When they heard we were Christian, they were very excited. Tess told me her driver during the week is a Christian and would help us find a church. God is so good….Josh had prayed for a place that would be safe, close to our House #1, affordable and with a good landlord…and the Lord provided. It was a little lonely during our time by ourselves, but when you are in a situaion like that, you can realize even more that the Lord is always with you. Jack and I put on some praise music, spent time reading my Bible (and his Bible story book) and just rested.

Today I got to practice driving to the park/mall area and I did really well – I think it is better when you are in the driver seat as opposed to the passenger seat. Of course, traffic wasn’t bad at all since it is Friday. I’ll practice a few more times with Josh before I do it on my own on Monday when he goes back to work. We just came back from playing in the play area of our compound. A Filipino nanny with three Qatari children were outside –and of course Jack wanted to keep up with them playing with a ball. The older brother (only maybe 6 years old) accidentally kicked the ball which bounced off Jack’s head. He showed no remorse…but the younger brother (maybe 4) came over to Jack, gently touched his head and offered to play with another ball with him. There are lots of children around and I love being in a place where despite language barriers, you can smile and reach out to kids just by playing with them. Josh hid in one of the small play houses and the children would run up and try to open the windows or doors without him getting them. He was a big hit. I have a feeling many of these kids are starved for attention from their dads…and maybe moms, too. So many of them have nannies. You’ll see Arab women (or even Western women for that matter) walking in the store and behind them is the nanny pushing the stroller with the child. Very strange.

Hugs and Prayers from the Middle East,
Josh, Kam and Jack