Hello, hello!

Dear family,

I enjoy seeing the pictures that many of you have sent and maybe some day I will get a digital camera so I also can send pictures. Sometimes I think about dating through the internet, and most people want to see a picture before anything else. Beyond that, I've never really been that interested in taking pictures.

I don't think I mentioned before that I have a house mate named Elizabeth, who stays in the back room. She moved in during the first week of September. She hadn't been here even a full week, when she had what looked to me like a stroke. I found her on the floor in her room. She was conscious, but kind of jabbering and did not have the strength to get up, even with my help. "What's up with you?" I asked her. "Mental problems", she said. "Can you tell me your name?" "Yes" "Please say your name for me." She struggled to say something, but couldn't, and after consulting with Halima on the phone, I called the ambulance. She was released from rehabilitation on Thursday, and seems to be her old self (seventy some years). But she's still pretty weak and it's a struggle for her to walk, even with her cane. They're supposed to send a social worker out here two or three times a week to see if she needs any help and to check that she's taking her medications. She says the doctors in the hospital never could figure out what happened to her. It wasn't a stroke. It probably wasn't a spider bite, as she thought it might have been. I enjoy having someone around the house that I can talk to. I cook, as does she, and she does all the dishes. She also has nice friends, who come over fairly often. Still, I worry that her being so frail like she is could be a liability for me.

Love,
Stephen

Baby You Can Drive My Car!

Hi All, I hope you are enjoying Autumn and all that comes with it. I wanted to share a picture of our new 1966 car. We just got it today and this is how far it made it into our driveway before it couldn't drive anymore! It seems that the emergency brake was rubbing against something and boy was the smoke heavy. Hopefully we'll get it all fixed up soon and I can drive it.
Love,
Lisa, Amman

Still more from Asia

Hey all, Trale here making my first appearance. I agree, this is a great way for us to all keep up with each other and its sure interesting seeing all these posts!
I'm in Balikpapan now, still working for Schlumberger, lets see how long that lasts. Our client is Chevron, and I get to do quite a bit of offshore work- I like that too. Balikpapan is a center of activity for international oilfield and coal mining companies- the natural resources here are plentiful. This results in an abundance of ex-pat workers and business visitors, which in turn results in the highest prices of living of any city in Indonesia. Food prices are I would say comparable to prices in the States. The cost of housing is supposedly high too, but as I do not have anything to do with paying for my lodging I can't say exactly. I'll take this moment to note that I am only relating a fairly watered down and un-offensive version of whats really on my mind.
In general, I enjoy the environment here, and the chances for local adventure finding are phenomenal. The people that I work and associate with are ok, but too normal, and in general too focused on performance, success, financial and material achievement. Thats a big turn-off. A lot of the locals are so damn poor that all they can see about me is the sickening difference in our salary.
I am managing to keep pretty active->Basketball, Rugby, Running, mountain Biking, and I hope to soon add to that Sailing! My motor bike is finally on the way here from Jakarta- It took sometime to get the process in motion, and then to actually get the thing up here.

I really enjoyed Ramadan, and the very evident observation by many locals. Most here are Muslim and observe Ramadan- of course this makes for dangerous situations when ppl are trying to work in the sun during the day, with no drink. And usually, by the end of the day, even my co-workers who typically would sit in the office most of the time would be making sense about half the time. But, breaking fast was good, and the town was always alive with ppl celebrating and basically being jolly. Banners and signs abounded, wishing all a good month.

The pictures show the offshore production facility, and the corner of my home (on land).

Keep the posts coming!
Love Trale

Great Wall

Here's a picture of the Great Wall. We had a nice cool day which was really lucky. We took cable cars to the top from the parking lot and then a slow roller coaster type ride down again. Touristy I know!

Hi Everyone

Hi All,

Well this is just great, I love this idea and thank you Karl for setting it up for us. Well we are enjoying a week of vacation here in Amman. Ramadan ended on Monday and the kids have off until Sunday. We had some visitors yesterday which was nice. That's the traditional thing people do after Ramdan - visit eachother and say happy Eid. The kids will be back on a regular school schedule now which will be nice for everyone. They were getting out early for the whole month of Ramdan. AJ moved to Laila's school this year and it has gone fairly well. One of his good friends from his old school is in his class and that helps a lot. He's never had homework before so that is the biggest change. He's supposed to write down the assignments in a homework book and that seems to be a big challenge for him. We realized that he hadn't been doing homework for the first three weeks of school! Hopefully it will all fall into place soon. Speaking of fall :) , we've had some nice cool weather and even some rain this past week. It sure is nice to see clouds and put on a sweater. I'm sure it will warm up again but it's nice to get a taste of what is to come in the winter. I put a picture of us in China on the blog but need to figure out how to put it with my post. More later and lots of love to you all,
Lisa, Amman

Mowafis in the Nest

Fall and all that comes with it!

Today was the first day I had to dig out the suitcases under my bed and pull out a sweater to wear. It served as just another reminder that we are already into the month of October and Fall is upon us! it makes me very happy because I love everything about the season: beautiful fall leaves, Halloween and pumpkin carving (yes you can still carve pumpkins in college!), sweatshirts and campfires, the smell of pumpkin spice candles, and of course some Illinois Football!!
I'm especially excited for Homecoming this year, because I made it onto the Homecoming Court! It was quite the process of applications and interviews, but being selected to represent my senior class was an amazing honor and I am so excited for all that it entails. Next week the festivities begin with a number of receptions, alumni events, the parade and pep rally, concluding of course with the game. Woooot! Go Illini! It's been a really exciting week for me, and I just wanted to share my big news! Hope everyone stays nice and warm in these chilly fall days!