It's been awhile...

But we're back! Hopefully we can get our reader count back to up to the... five or so we had before! Just kidding... we hope this can serve to be a blessing to our friends and keep you guys updated on some of the aspects (oftentimes unique) of our life here.
Can't believe it's November! That got here so quickly! The weather has been getting colder, which has meant the return of our electric blanket and the start of Ho Ho sleeping on the bed (at the end of it, though that didn't stop her from climbing up to Dave's pillow and sleeping beside his head a few nights ago!) Our bed is a happy place. What else... there has to be more to update on from the past 5 or so months...
School has been going well. I really like my teachers and feel like it's still very helpful. I'm still taking basic language classes, Dave is in a higher level- he is studying regular classes (that still have to do with language, ie, linguistics, etc.) but in the language. We also love getting together with our friends and practicing with them. I can't get over the patience of some of our friends to spend a lot of time with us, especially in my case, knowing that it's got to be pretty frustrating sometimes listening to me stumble through...everything! But I have been really blessed to have sweet friends who are patient and more than willing to bear with me.
We are loving our "new" (we've lived here 2 months now) apartment. It's similar in size to our old one, but we have a porch/balcony with a table and chairs and christmas lights that Ho Ho can hang out on, a big kitchen (really rare here in EA!) and dark wood floors and nice furniture. We are really thankful! The landlord is really good too, which is also really important and can be hard to find, just like in America. He is always very glad to help us and takes his responsibility very seriously. Oh, and we have window seats! Yes! The apartment is in a nice neighborhood with lots of trees and lots of other dogs, so that's great...
We like banana bread and pumpkin raisin muffins lately. In the words of my mom, "I never met a carb I didn't like"... yum. We also like homemade apple cider- apple juice, cinnamon sticks, and cloves and then heat for a little while.
Well, that's all for now, but I'll be back to update soon, I promise! I'll keep my eyes peeled for something interesting to share, and did I mention that we are so THANKFUL for you!!!?

-M