{"id":3401,"date":"2015-01-06T16:20:44","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T16:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=3401"},"modified":"2015-01-06T19:21:46","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T19:21:46","slug":"welcome-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2015\/01\/06\/welcome-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome Home!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We have arrived! \u00a0Jet lag was worse this time for all of us than when we first arrived. \u00a0Life here is still really surreal for us. \u00a0Things still seem unnatural, but I have had to remind myself to just give it a little time and we will readjust. \u00a0 Here are a few of the interesting things about returning.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Effects of Ebola\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; When we got off the plane before going through immigration we stood in line to have our temperature taken. \u00a0When picking up our kids from school we have to wash our hands before entering the school grounds.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Changes &#8211; <\/strong>I had a\u00a0moment of panic as I saw Tyler&#8217;s toothbrush heading toward the faucet water&#8230;&#8221;Nooooooo!&#8221;. \u00a0Or the moment when I am standing in front of the oven with the nob turned and waiting for the oven to light, forgetting that I need to light it with a match. \u00a0It is the little changes that sneak up on you.<\/li>\n<li><b>Traffic<\/b> &#8211; We came home in the middle of a holiday here, which means that we sat in traffic for three hours to get home.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chaos &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong>I drove to pick up the boys from school. \u00a0Driving here is like weaving through a sea of people, cows, horse carts, bicycles, motorcycles and cars who enter and leave the road whenever they like. \u00a0Each drive is an adventure of its own.<\/li>\n<li><b>Our Road<\/b> &#8211; They put in new pipes down our street while we were gone and had to dig up our road. \u00a0Then they &#8220;fixed&#8221; it. \u00a0Such is life here.\n<figure id=\"attachment_3407\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3407\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2015\/01\/P1050078-e1420560097138.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3407\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2015\/01\/P1050078-e1420560097138.jpg\" alt=\"This is how well they fixed it\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3407\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is how well they fixed it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_3405\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3405\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2015\/01\/P1050070-e1420560148900.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3405\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2015\/01\/P1050070-e1420560148900.jpg\" alt=\"Pictures don't do it justice, but it is barely drivable\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3405\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pictures don&#8217;t do it justice, but it is barely drivable<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<li><b>Bugs &#8211;\u00a0<\/b>Our first meal was macaroni. \u00a0The noodles where a little buggy, but not bad. \u00a0Ethan saw them in the pot and then would not touch the food. \u00a0I assured him that they were dead and that most had gone down the drain. \u00a0However he just sat there saying, &#8220;Gross&#8221;. \u00a0It never bothered him before, a few more weeks and surely it will be normal again.<\/li>\n<li><b>French &#8211;\u00a0<\/b>Tyler lost almost all of his French. \u00a0The rest of us hung on just fine, but Tyler has no idea what people are saying to him anymore. \u00a0It is amazing to me how that can happen. \u00a0He is youngest and his French was less solidified with only one year at school. \u00a0I know he will pick it up again fast as it is just buried somewhere, but in the meantime I get to see his cute blank stare and nod when people here try to talk to him.\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_3403\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3403\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2015\/01\/P1050067-e1420560296665.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3403\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2015\/01\/P1050067-e1420560296665.jpg\" alt=\"He may have lost his French, but hung on to the fashion.  Plaid and Stripes work well together here.\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3403\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">He may have lost his French, but he hung on to the fashion. Plaid and Stripes work well together here.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<li><strong>School &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong>The boys started school Monday. \u00a0Ethan was very nervous, but at the end of the day he said, &#8220;It wasn&#8217;t as bad as I thought it would be.&#8221; \u00a0Success!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Compliments<\/strong> &#8211; I am readjusting to compliments here as I have already been asked if I was pregnant and told that I gained weight in America which must mean that God was good to us. Just smile&#8230;just smile.\n<figure id=\"attachment_3404\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3404\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2015\/01\/P1050069-e1420560610111.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3404\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2015\/01\/P1050069-e1420560610111.jpg\" alt=\"Cindy, Joel's Mom, left her mark on our house\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3404\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cindy, Joel&#8217;s Mom, left her mark on our house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_3406\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3406\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2015\/01\/P1050076-e1420560715528.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3406\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2015\/01\/P1050076-e1420560715528.jpg\" alt=\"Potted plants and trees can be seen all over.  Yay for family!\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3406\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Potted plants and trees can be seen all over. Yay for family!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There have been a lot of adjustments, but through it all we have been in good spirits. \u00a0Just this morning Ethan told me, &#8220;Mom God sure has been good to us&#8221; &#8220;How is that?&#8221; I replied. \u00a0&#8220;Well we have been here a few days and I have no mosquito bites. \u00a0I haven&#8217;t seen a cockroach or scorpion in our home yet. \u00a0And the weather hasn&#8217;t been too hot.&#8221; \u00a0I know these days haven&#8217;t been easy on Ethan as sleep has been minimal, school was shocking and the food has been an adjustment for him. \u00a0Yet through it all he was still praising God. \u00a0His attitude brought a smile to my face. \u00a0Ethan is right&#8230;.God sure is good!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have arrived! \u00a0Jet lag was worse this time for all of us than when we first arrived. \u00a0Life here is still really surreal for us. \u00a0Things still seem unnatural, but I have had to remind myself to just give it a little time and we will readjust. \u00a0 Here are a few of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-updates-and-news","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}