Getting resettled

Thing have been good lately. Besides having a house full of sick people. We have been back in Tunis for over 2 months now and the time has flown by. Hunter is so comfortable in school and it is so fun going to visit her class and to hear all the kids calling her name and saying hello. She has friends from different Kindergarten classes and different grades (although she often doesn't know which grade or their name) but also seems to be getting into her own little group of friends who play often play together at recess. I have volunteered a few times in Hunter's classroom and being able to see her in that environment, away from home is wonderful. She is a quiet, polite, hardworking girl. Her teacher says that she is great at cleaning up and even helps others with their mess without being asked. I have also been told that she doesn't get as frustrated when she doesn't know how to spell a word like she did at the start of the year. A great accomplishment. Hunter has been learning so much in school so far. She can spell most words that she can sound out and is constantly wanting to write. She makes up words, she writes the same things as she wrote about at school, she will copy words off boxes or she will just write lists of names. It is fun to see how interested she is in learning her letters and different words. She is also bringing home a book a night to read to us. She is so proud when she finishes a book! She also enjoys singing her songs from her Arabic and French classes. I can keep up with the French and I know if she is mispronouncing something but I have to let her do her own thing with Arabic. I have no idea what she is saying! I do know that she is getting her throaty sounds down. She isn't afraid of a little throat gurgle! ;)

And Elliot is still enjoying her time at home alone. She does like to follow Hunter's lead in drawing pictures and can draw a great banana with a face and moustache! Now that the weather is a little cooler and wetter we aren't going on our adventures as much but we really should get back to our walks. Sometimes she is soooo slow that it kills me, but I know she enjoys touring around the neighborhood and seeing everything. The new stuff and the familiar, like the guards, coffee shops and kitties. We are still going to Elliot's gym class on Tuesdays and, although she seems to pick that day to be the most difficult to get out of the house, she comes home telling me how much she enjoyed the class. We are realizing that other people in the class do speak English so we have both been making some friends. The teacher, Petra, speaks German, French and English, although the class is mostly in French. One day we were playing with the parachute and Petra was counting in French and I heard Elliot mimicking the numbers. She had no idea what she was saying but liked the rhythm of it. So she is picking up bits of other languages too.

We are excitedly getting ready for our first guests in Tunisia to arrive on Sunday! My parents will be coming to stay with us for bits and pieces of the next two months. We hope they spend a lot of time here but they are also planning on seeing more of Tunisia and possibly taking a trip to Europe. We are so close you have to take the opportunity! We have been busy getting the bed ordered and buying extra towels and dishes. When we started rebuilding our home we just bought the essentials and now that we know we will have extra people here we are slowing getting more. I have also ordered a book shelf and a dresser for the girls' room to be made by a local carpenter which is exciting. I have seen a couple pieces he made for a friend and they were very nice so I'm crossing my fingers I was able to communicate my wishes to him! We will see in the next few days!

We have an extra long weekend coming up with Aid El Idha, a religious holiday celebrated by the Muslim people 40 days after Ramadan. It seems to be similar to our Christmas in that it is a big family holiday with a LOT of food. Delicious food though! We are starting to see the pens of sheep all over the city in preparation for Aid. Families will start buying a sheep to keep in their back yard this coming week and they will then slaughter it on the night before Aid (Friday night maybe?). This is to commemorate Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son, but instead was able to sacrifice a sheep. It is all very interesting. I am hoping we will be able to get out of the city and go to one of the resorts down the coast of the country... but we will see what Travis' work schedule is. As usual. I am just going to have to start leaving him at home! ;)