Getting Ready

So, we actually have quite a bit going on these days, but we've been neglecting our camera a bit so I can't show you most of it. It's OK; most of it involves getting ready to move! I know, I know, I'm a bit excited about it, and most of you already got the email about our imminent move, but it's still pretty exciting for us.

After so long studying Russian, we get to move on to ... well, studying T, I guess, but still, it's progress! As you probably know, we've heard word that our residency is approved and all that remains are some paperwork and some formalities. This means that in the next few weeks we're planning to pack up everything and head East.

Most of what we've been doing is geared toward that end: buying some of the furniture we'll be taking with us (all we lack now is a stove and kitchen chairs!), meeting with friends for one last meal with everyone, and getting our language and culture levels checked. That last one is a big "thought request," if you're reading this in the next few hours. We are both scheduled to have a full language and culture interview tomorrow, to see where we're at (the scale ranges from "Beginner" up to "Proficient"). It's pretty nerve-wracking, so if you think about it, lift us up!

Other than the move, we don't have a whole lot to show you. We have been enjoying our new coworkers a lot. It's a shame they came so late in our sojourn here, but it was good to have their fellowship for the time that we did. Here we are cleaning shrimp for some shrimp fried rice. B found somewhere the recipe for that white sauce you get at Japanese steak houses, so we decided to make shrimp fried rice. Unfortunately, cleaning shrimp is not a simple (or clean) thing to do, but we just dove in and had fun regardless.

The boys are getting huge! Well, I suppose they're growing at a normal rate, but it just seems to go by so quickly. Matthew has decided he's done with crawling and has been walking everywhere lately, and Steven might be getting over the "Terrible Two" phase. He's been a very sweet and obedient boy lately; makes me wonder what's happened to him!

And so, lacking further interesting pictures, I thought I'd post another one of those jungle pictures from my childhood. Here's me and my two brothers with a large yopero-jobobo (fer-de-lance in English) that one of our friends killed with a machete. That link says that they're normally only around 1 meter; obviously this one is a lot bigger, and I think is the biggest one I ever saw. I would guess that these kill more people than any other snake in Bolivia, but they make nifty skins and this one was full of babies. While you're admiring the snake, don't neglect to appreciate the fine jungle fashion sense we had.
And that's about it, I'm afraid. Since this is a short post, I thought I'd leave you with two of my favorite entries in a recent online Photoshop contest. The title was "Great Historical Moments Ruined by Modern Technology."

Which would have really changed a lot of things, but even worse might have been if Moses had an I-phone:

See you next week, and thanks for thinking of us!