Ahlan!

I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to write about, so here's some highlights

Getting Some Work Done

Okay so this week has been a little hectic; still figuring things out. Finally got my bank to let me use my card, which is a huge relief. I also learned I need to talk to the police (who are very intimidating here) about my current address for my visa. But I'll deal with that later (tomorrow).

The local team and I have been getting to know each other a little bit, which is interesting when I don't speak much arabic. They've asked me to help with some technical stuff. It's exciting to be able to use my skills for something meaningful. I'm starting to work on a bookkeeping app for the crew to save them a few bucks on quickbooks.

My schedule is getting figured out as well. Haven't made gym time yet, but we have a schedule for me to work with the team and for me to work at my job/go to language school.

School

I've tried out a couple different language schools here. One is very structured, has clear agreements, and well-organized lesson plan. The other is a guy renting a floor of a building with a ping pong table and a white board. You already know who I chose. School today was a ton of fun. I'm learning masculine and feminine pronouns and sun vs moon words. I'm learnin that a lot of it seems to be vibes. 

The culture here is very strongly tied with honor. My instructor offered me one of his schwarmas, but I had just eaten (a large meal). But it would be a dishonor for him to eat without me, so he forced me to take the schwarma, and gave me a small cake snack to eat instead.

My new instructor sent me home with a set of paddles and said "go home and practice." That's quite a tall order, because the game wasn't even close. It was like playing against Forrest Gump but he yelled the score in arabic.

Repeat after me: "Laban is NOT milk"

Oops, I did it again... I bought a bottle that said "100% cow's milk." The issue is, above that it said "Laban made with..." These types of lapses in common sense and general perception are the only things causing me trouble this trip.

At least Laban is just yogurt, so it still pairs well with my cereal. But I really was looking for milk. Honorable mention in the background: salty milk whose label I lost so idk what it's actually called.

Prayer Request:I'd appreciate prayers for a local family that is planning to move back to their country soon. I met them my first time here and they have strong faith and hearts for serving others. I pray that they'll be safe in their travels and keep the Lord close to their hearts.God Bless!- Trystan Bennett