Higher Education & Actual News About The Eadies

Some of you may ask, "Hey Ben, what do you do with all your spare time?". Well, besides our four kids & learning a new language, I have been working on some graduate studies on the side. To be more exact, I have been dabbling in the study of "The Linguistical Cross Cultural Differences Between Common Household Pets & Farm Animals" (the future title to my paper undoubtably to be published in a distinguished journal at a university near you).

Now some of you might say, "Ben, I'm just a regular Joe, can you explain in laymen's terms what this is all about?"  Well, to be honest, I have only gathered some initial data with the help of some random colleagues at IMLAC (our language school). For instance, those back home in Canada (& the US) know that the common cat says "meow". Well, to my surprise this does not include cats from foreign countries! Check out and be amazed at some of the datum I have gathered in the field:

Indonesian cats say, "meong"
Korean cats say "neow"

Now, one starts to think, what are the ramifications of introducing a Korean cat to a Canadian cat? Or, an Indonesian cat with a Korean cat, and so on? Can they communicate? Are they capable of learning more than one Meow? What would the lack of communication do to their kitty social behaviour? Do all cats really like balls of yarn, or is this just another culturally learnt behaviour? Upon further investigation I also found the following:

DOGS
Canada "woof woof"
Indonesia "guk-guk"
Korea "mong mong"
Germany "hoof hoof"

CHICKEN
Canada "cock a doodle doo"
Indesian "ku ku ruyuk"
Korea "ku ku ree ku"
Russian...I can't remember, but more cold sounding.

I smell a government grant coming my way! The hard truth is that your tax dollars have been spent on more useless subjects, tens of thousands every year...so why not? And if not, maybe I'll just concentrate on my own communication skills, or lack there of.


Actual News About The Eadies

Amy and I are working our way through our second unit of language school, and as we are now more settled as a family, we are enjoying our school more as well. Each day I drop off Simon & Helena on the scooter (7:30am) at pre-school, while Amy walks Luke to S.I.(Sekolah Internasional) for his Grade 1, and then she walks to language school where I meet her. Charlotte is cared for by our awesome house help during the morning while Amy and I are in school. We would appreciate prayer for our kids as they continue to adjust to there time at school, as it was all new just 2 months ago. We're so proud of them!

Next week we have three new MAF families arriving in Salatiga from the US, and they will be starting language school in February. Two more families should also arrive in the following month or two. How exciting to have some new families to get to know and to also help out (the best we can) as we were helped so much when we first arrived!

Life here is slowly becoming more normal, as each day and week that goes by we become a little more familiar with the people, the town, the language, & where stuff is. Our home is also feeling more and more like home. Amy and I thank God for His faithfulness to our family during our first couple months overseas!

Okay, time for some pictures as no blogpost of mine is complete without them...

My neighbour is much braver than I. A couple of days ago I noticed him about 50ft up a coconut tree, hanging on with one hand, and using a machete to hack coconuts down with the other hand. Here, he's making his way back down to terra firma. No rope, no harness, no WCB, no problem! Further more, I figure he's at least in his early 50's. Impressive. I've heard fatalities from falling out of trees is not uncommon, as climbing up trees for picking fruit is common.

Luke & Si checking out a pipe hole (meant for playing in) near the soccer field at Luke's school.

Charlotte eating pancakes this morning, yum yum!

Being our 4th child, Amy and I would not exactly appose a 'late bloomer' in the mobility department...But, Charlotte is not that. She crawls very well now, and is starting to climb up on everything too. The 'barricade-your-kid-in' stage is in full swing for us once again, but since it is our last we'll be a little sad when it's done!