Holidays

 I'm too lazy to write much, so I'm just going to let most of these pictures speak for themselves.  Above is obviously family game night, with a tense game of Candyland won by, if I recall correctly, Matthew.

Except maybe these pictures I'll write something about, because they won't make much sense without an explanation.  In an effort to get more time in the language, I've been trying to make some contacts in a nearby village.  Finally, I was able to arrange to live with an older gentleman there in his one-room home.  It gives me lots of language practice, and until he moved back to the city very recently, I was trying to get out there several times per week.  Here's where he lives:

 

The inside looks like this:

I sleep next to the bag of potatoes, he sleeps on the bed where I'm standing to take the picture.  It really is a very cozy affair (note the wellhead inside the house, so it doesn't freeze!).

This is the kind of thing we do there; go out and look for firewood to cut up and haul back.  The coal trucks have been slow to come around this year for some reason, so everyone's trying to find enough wood to burn to heat things.  It gets rather cool this time of year.

Back in the city, Steven's been working hard on learning to read, and he's doing really well.

Though he does take frequent breaks from his studies to wrestle with Dexter.  By the way, Matthew seems to be allergic to Dexter, so he'll probably be leaving us as soon as we can find another home for him.  It will be a sad day for poor Steven, who will lose his wrestling buddy.

Getting into the Christmas spirit by baking cookies,

and putting up the tree and the ornaments!

Merry Christmas from the Wandering Family!