Hasta

Here's a little E-man this morning, watching Lion King and laid out with a fever. Poor little guy is feeling really crummy. JB said that he is seeing 4-5 patients a day with the same thing that laid me out last week. And most likely, this is also what Elijah has. It appears to be about a 48-hour feverish illness. Please pray that Isaac skips it as right now he is appearing to be doing great. Elijah just wants to lay on the couch, on me, or in my bed with me. He did sleep though the night in his crib last night other than two wake-ups where he was crying in his sleep, burning up, and we gave him some more medicine.

Unfortunately, this small Base leaves sicknesses to run rampant. We are all congregating in the same places and with the same people. When an illness hits Base it often runs it course pretty successful. I'd appreciate extra prayer that our family stays healthy during our time here.

I'm glad I knew the word "hasta" for sick so I could try to explain why Elijah wanted nothing to do with the attention being showered on him yesterday at the Turkish Residency Offices. I even resorted to giving him a pacifier and when one of the men asked that he take it out so he could "see" him better, I said "hasta" and he immediately understood.

Our residency passes were complete so we had to go pick them up. JB doesn't need one, but the boys and I do. So he drove us there. Wednesday is JB's "admin" day in the afternoon. A time that he can catch up on all the things he needs to do.

There are things I am still adjusting to each time we go off-Base. People kissing my children is one of them. I don't really mind it, but it is just so different from our culture where really, if you aren't family or close friends, you don't kiss people's kids. The other thing is the men in this culture. They are just so different from men in America. They are very "touchy-feely" not only with each other but with the children. They congregate in groups to drink tea and play cards. The women are much standoffish when we venture out, especially the older women. But the men and young boys are incredibly outgoing and kind.

While we were waiting to get our passes, tea was served. We were offered tea. I don't care for tea of any sort, but JB readily accepted. And Isaac, as usual, was excited to eat a sugar cube. They also brought out chocolate for the kiddos. This made a huge mess. People are always quick to offer napkins when they see one of my boys is messy. But a dry napkin on dry chocolate isn't exactly a successful combiantion.

Driving continues to surprise me. Yesterday we witnessed a fight between two men on the side of the road, apparently due to a traffic incident. JB turned to me and said, "See, this is why I don't want you off-Base by yourself." It isn't the incident so much that is the problem. It is not totally unheard of to see tempers flare in the USA as those of us in South Florida definitely know.

It's the fact that you can't understand the language. You don't know what the fight is about. You don't know what they are saying or what they are planning to do. While we carry a card with us that we can use to get a translator on the phone, if we were to get in an accident and people were to start saying things to us, we'd be hard pressed to remain cool under the pressure. Language is such a barrier. My twenty word vocabulary isn't going to be enough in that instance.

Such is why Babel was never built I guess.