My Top 12 Books from this year

I had a fairly successful year of book reading.  I aspire to read more of course, and find it is mainly a matter of cutting back on other sources of entertainment (i.e. Facebook and movies).  I've recently read a few articles of various people reading a book a week.  I was about 1 book every other week.  Lets see how this next year goes.

I picked my top 12 books from this year to share (#1 being my favorite):

12.  Kim- Rudyard Kipling.  I don't get to classics often, so it was good to get one on the list.  I enjoyed it because it fit in with my goal to read books about this region.

11.  Cross Cultural Servanthood/Cross Cultural Connection- Duane Elmer.  Two books, but of the same genre.  insights in living and serving in another culture.  Helped me in this very transition this year.

10.  Introducing Medical Anthropology- Merrill Singer. A basic intro to this science.  I have a very strong interest in the weaving of cultural values/beliefs and medical practices/beliefs.  People view medical issues differently here.  I want to know how to understand this!

9.  An Artist of the Floating World- Kazuo Ishiguro.  A random read as the book was left at my house by a friend.  A story of a Japanese artist during the reconstruction era after WWII.  I feel like the book gave me insight into my dad.

8.  A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khalid Hosseini.  Lets be honest, this guy knows how to write captivating novels.  I just feel so bad for the plight of women, knowing too that it really is a reality.

7.  Respectable Sins- Jerry Bridges.  I always like Jerry's practical theology.  This book was convicting and enlighting to sins that I know I brush off as no big deal.  I begin pondering how different cultures may have their own sets of respectable sins.

6.  Revelations of a Single Woman- Connally Gilliam.  Quite entertaining, but also, I feel, really hits the mark on describing the single life.  While I am no longer single, I can appreciate what she talks about.   I desire to stay connected to that time period in my life and be a friend to the singles around me.

5.  Urdu: An Essential Grammar- Ruth Schmidt.  This may have been the most enlightening about myself.  I found studying this grammar book fascinating.  Sadly I am learning my first language in my mid-30's.  Never did I know how much I would enjoy it!

4.  Freedom at Midnight- Larry Collins.  History of the partition between India and Pakistan at the time that they gained their independence from Britain.  Many interesting characters involved in this true story.

3.  Urdu Bible.  To read the Bible in a new language with a new script is seeing things in a new way.  I can't wait to go deeper.

2.  The Memory Keeper's Daughter- Kim Edwards.  The tale of a man who makes a huge decision that effects the remainder of his life as well as many around him.  Amazing job at character development and the impact of a split second decision.  The book was profound for me.

1.  The Great Game- Peter Hopkirk.  The history of the fight for Central Asia between Britain and Russia in the 19th century.  It was a huge scope of history and seemed like it gave so much understanding even into events of today.  

Earthquake

  

An earthquake happened October 29th in the North.  166 killed and at least 10,000 left homeless.  On November 8th we arrived in the area to join our friends serving here. (This is the exact day Joe arrived in country 3 years earlier to help with the earthquake of 2005)  We distributed heaters, water holders (non technical term for something that holds water), and a couple of other essentials.  Today we are consulting with one community about clearing their land in preparation to re-build in the spring. I have had the opportunity to sit and "be" with the women and children which they often say is a neglected need after a disaster.  We continue to feel blessed to be here and to be available to serve in so many different capacities.

Joint Family System

Last week I did a homestay.  I wanted to stay with a local family while Joe was out of town for a meeting.  For me I wanted to live in the culture a bit closer and as well as being immersed in the language.  I'd have to say it was successful week in both of those regards.  It also allowed me to face those DIFFERENCES in the culture and reflect how I respond to them.  Sometimes I get irritated because I just don't understand why people do or believe in the way that they do.  I can write on some of those more specifically another time.

To get back to the title of the post . . . families here have a joint system.  Essentially meaning sons live with their parents after they get married and have kids.  What that meant for the family  I stayed with was that 35 people were living together.  I never got everyone's name down, but I always found someone to talk to.  This family has 11 sons so that is why the number is so high, and why the number could get much higher.  I've attempted to explain our system of moving out of our parent's house often after high school.  It is a completely foreign concept.

where there are no mini vans

 

This isn't the best picture as it was taken when they were passing on the highway.  I saw these 4 kids riding in the trunk while the car was loaded with adults.  We were driving on an unpaved dusty road in a 4 wheel drive, and this car sped quickly ahead of us.  

Yellow Bride in the Corner

Its wedding season!  We've received a few invites and are getting to know the routine.  Last night I went to a portion of the wedding ceremony called the "mahndi".  The bride sits in the corner of her parents' home for a little over 36 hours.  She keeps her faced covered while relatives apply henna and other spa-like treatments (i.e. ointments and creams and lotions and potions).  I don't fully know yet the meaning behind keeping the face covered.  Anyway, I walked into the room where she sat not having seen this before.  I whispered to Carrie, "Can we talk to her? What are we supposed to do?"  I am not so savvy on cultural things at times.  The bride heard me and said, "Mary, you can greet me.  Now come here and sit with me!"  We enjoyed a lovely veiled discussion.

The next day the groom will come and take her back to his home in a procession.  And then they will begin their new life together.

Grief

I just listened to a short podcast from NPR.  A man had lost his infant son and talked about the grief that followed.  He went on to say that grief is "showing honor to the one that you love".  I can't help but to agree.  If we would see someone who just lost someone and they weren't grieving we might ask or think, "don't they care?"  Grief seems to be viewed differently here.  I shouldn't say much on this as I don't fully understand the culture yet.  But I can tell the story of sitting in a local home and a woman came in.  She began to cry because her teenage brother had been killed the night before from a gun shot.  Nobody said anything, and I was waiting for the cultural clues to know what to do.  After a minute or two, the woman of the house said, "Enough!  This was Allah's plan!"  To grieve here seems to indicate a lack of trust in God.  So grief is discouraged, at least publicly.  

Anniversary Boat Ride

For our 2 year anniversary, Joe organized a boat ride for us in the Arabian sea.  We went along the coast for a couple of hours westward.  He arranged it through a friend's cousin who knew a fisherman.  We both enjoyed it especially because it was another adventure together.

Enjoy more pictures when you press "my photos" to the right.