Life around here has been busy! Paul began school at the University near by so he is learning language in the mornings and then more, with me, in the afternoons. Here's a snapshot of what our eyes are seeing a lot of:
The little graphics you see are small pictures representing words we are learning. We are supposed to take mental pictures and our tutor says the words a few times. Then we use these words in an activity. Maybe sometimes we ask a question using the words, or pretend we are going to the library or fruit market and use the word. Or our tutor uses a map of a town and asks us to find something (the new word) and tells us what to do with it (for example, the American man is at the train station). It's a fun way to learn language I think but definitely takes brain work!
Can you believe we have "learned" (I say the term loosely to keep you from thinking we can clearly recall and use properly each of these) almost 800 words in a month's time? I can hardly believe it myself. But I am encouraged to press on when my house helper asks me something and I recognize the word "clothes" or "eggplant"...little hints that my brain is s.l.o.w.l.y picking things up and my effort is not in vain! I am realizing language learning is not for the faint of heart!
In other news that is sure to make this weeks Asian People magazine (joking here of course)...remember my post about my friends talking over dinner about Asian celebrities living in my neighborhood? Get this:
Not a great photo but it is a movie being filmed right in front of my 9th floor apartment. Crazy. Lights, main actors, camera men and a directors chair are all there. I tell you, our neighborhood is prestigious.
Since our life has felt so hectic and busy throughout the week, I really need to feed myself on truth. Think about the big picture. Realize what comes out of my heart when I'm not "in control"... so I've began making my way through my favorite teacher/author Paul Tripp's messages online. Something he said this last week really grabbed me. Here it is:
It's easy for our lives to be characterized by complaining because we think we'd be better Sovereigns. If you embrace the theology of the sovereign grace of God then you would have to say that every moment of grumbling is a grumbling against God. You've never had a neutral grumble in your life. Your grumbling is deeply theological.
Ouch...letting that sink in hurts in a good way, doesn't it?
Fighting for my life to be a "hymn of praise" and not a grumble this week!
