A real update!!

Ok. It's been awhile since I did an actual real update. So, I'm going to tell you a little bit about life here in Tabuk through pictures. I hope you enjoy them!! =D

I'm going to take you to the market first...

Ok, we need to take a tricey to the market. A tricey is a motorcycle with an attached side car. It should cost about 10 pesos to get to the market.

Today we are buying veggies.
How does egg plant and ampalaya(bitter cucumber) sound?

Maybe we'll stop for some buko(young coconut) juice!

Not quite sure what these fruit are, but BOY are they sour!!

Ok, you convinced me. We'll get some chocolate dipped frozen bananas. Mmmmm!!

Now that we're back home, I'd like to introduce you to a couple of the amazing Filipino midwives that I live with. This is Anie and Marivic. Both are super sweet and great midwives!

Ok, Hairy. I'll introduce you too.

Kayla and I are both from Iowa. It's super cool having a roommate from the same state! Anyway. We decided we wanted to have a garden(though we both forgot to bring sweetcorn seeds!! What kind of Iowans are we anyway?!?!) We had to buy a bunch of tools in order to clear an area for our garden. 

This is the area we selected. It wasn't quite ideal, but it was the only part of the yard that doesn't flood. We hired a couple of guys to clear the area because we've got so much studying to do. It took them only three days to finish! And they cleared a TON of rocks(some nearly the size of a small boulder). 

This is some of the beauty that surrounds us. 

This was the sunset just a few nights ago. I wish you could have seen it in person, the photo doesn't nearly do it justice. 

So, Kayla brought this super cool cup with her, and I have to say, it's one of my favorites!!

The other day we decided to go down to the only coffee house to study all day. This is called a Chico River Mocha. Oh! It was delish!! 

This was a sad day here in Tabuk. Our french press died. =( We continued using it for about a week, but then the glass started falling into the coffee. We decided it probably wouldn't be very healthy to drink a bunch of glass with our coffee.

You can now call Kayla and I official wedding crashers. Sunday we went to church and met one of the doctors that runs a private hospital here. She took us to the hospital for a tour and then invited us to a wedding she was going to. 

We both ended up having to participate in a traditional dance. It was quite a bit different than when I danced at a wedding in Ind!a because it is just one guy and one girl dancing together. 

Everyone was so excited that we were willing to participate. It's so fun to be able to really embrace a new culture and the people. 

The father of the bride showed us his garden. He was really happy that we were there and wanted to see what he does in his "leisure time".

He even told us where we can get a bunch of mulch for our garden!

I hope you enjoyed getting to know where I live a bit. It's kind of hard to really show you the beauty that is here. Tabuk is a pretty laid back city and I love the people here!