A Story in our Complex

Here's a glimpse of our complex, but first I must share a story. Last week, we learned about "they stories." This is when something happens and you think it is one thing but your host culture defines it differently. Both cultures hear the same sounds or words but think two completely different things. Well, Monday night, around 3:30am (which was also the night Caden slept over 12 hours straight for the first time in a long time), we were awakened by some very loud noise in our stairwell. At first, I thought it sounded like a gunshot. Then, we thought someone was setting off fireworks...in the stairwell?! So, this led me to think there was some kind of party going on and people were drunk. We then heard loud chanting, which really started to scare me, and got me begging for protection against some kind of evil spirit or something. The noises went on for at least 30 minutes or more (maybe shorter but just felt that long). In my home culture, I would have deemed this a drunken party gone wild.

What was the actual story? It turns out that in this culture, it is custom for a groom and his groomsmen to go where his bride and her bridesmaids are staying and basically woo her to let them in. The bridesmaids' duty is to stop the bride from opening the door and make the groom and groomsmen "perform," hence the loud chanting. It almost sounds sweet, but not when you are dead asleep at 3:30am!!! The men really impressed with their decorations, and this is what we enjoyed the next 2 days. They rolled out a long red carpet to the door into our apartment building. We felt very regal when coming home.

I was impressed with their flowered arch.

The story ends here...thank goodness...but here are several pictures all around our complex. It is a gated community with several buildings and many amenities. Here's our view out our front window.

Our pool. It's kind of gross looking right now because it's not in use.

The back of our apartment building. If you look closely, you can see a small circle and arrow pointing to our actual apartment. Just below our apartment where all the greenery is, there is a tennis court.

This is one of many playgrounds all around.

This is the underground trampoline. I know Caden will love getting on this when he can actually jump.

This is a playground, also underground, which is great for when it rains.

We also have an area with a convenient store, drug store, foot massaging place, and a few other stores that I haven't figured out what they are yet.

Here's the tennis court right outside our balcony from our bedroom. There's another mini tennis court on the left side of the picture where a senior citizen's group meets for yoga every morning.

There are so many pretty, scenic areas. I love all the bridges and ponds. I especially like these giant frogs lounging on lily pads.

Here's one picture of the inside of our apartment. This was my first meal I made. As per tradition, my first meal to make in a new home was Ritz Cracker Chicken. It was a little different but still great. Britton said this made him feel like he was home. We also had green beans and rice. That's our really cool glass drawing thing with the kitchen on the other side.

We're still fixing up the place and decorating, but I will hopefully post pictures soon. We really like it, and it's come a long way. Hope you enjoyed the tour :o)