Moving up in the world!

Yikes! Let me apologize right up front to anyone who thought I was dead. I don't think I've updated my blog in at least a month! But, have no fear. I'm still alive and kicking!

I'm moving up in the world. I've managed to go from a bucket shower to an actual real shower-head. It's nice! I can actually take a shower without lifting a bucket over my head. Oh, and I haven't had to kill a rat in about a week. I think I finally got them all!

Matt's back in town now, which is really nice. He was in the States for a couple of weeks checking on his mom. I thought I would enjoy being here on my own, but it was actually really tough. We had just moved into a new part of town when he took off. At first things were really cool, but then I had a couple of really tough conversations with some neighbors. One of the guys in my neighborhood told me "get out of here foreigner, you don't belong here." It was actually a pretty tough thing to hear. But, things have calmed down since then, and people seem to be reacting to us a little better.

Oh, I also learned how to use the water pump in our flat, which means that we now have running water most of the time instead of only some of the time. All you have to do is fill up a storage tank when there's water. That way you can divert water from the tank to your flat when the water goes out. Cool, huh?

Okay guys, that's most of the news for now. I'm planning to travel to the Netherlands in about two weeks, which should be a good time. I like living here, but it's always nice to get out of the culture for a little bit. I'm also meeting my family in Amsterdam, which should be a really cool time! Hope you're all doing well . . .