Greetings,

This week I have decided to do something a little bit different than I have been doing. Rather than break my week down day by day I am going to give a brief overview as I did with my vacation because I would like to spend some time talking family dynamics. You see, the house is going through some changes and I need to do a bit of complaining but I am also thinking it might be interesting because it is a subject that I haven't really touched on in a while.

So this week our two new dutch roomies arrived. They are Sjoert (Stewart) and Marten. I think in my past post I messed up their names quite badly. Most of this week has been spent hanging out with them and showing them around PMB. We have played alot of Risk because Marten is a huge Risk fan and I cannot tell you how excited that makes me because I am always looking for people to play with as well as people who share my passion for the game. We also went out to dinner last night. So that, in a nut shell, was my week.

Ok, so now to talk about the "family". Anne has strongly taken on a parental role in the household in the past couple months and it has cast her in a very different light to me. In fact I even noticed myself missing Rose this past week which is something I never saw coming. But Anne has been particullarly difficult for us English speaking Americans to deal with. Now in the past couple weeks she has very much distanced herself from the rest of us and almost never does activities with our group. She has become increasingly selfish in the house itself and even threatened to move out when the three Irish come here. Anne also has been speaking as little English as possible as of late. This is something she knows greatly offends me because it was becoming a problem with others in the house before and I have mentioned on several occasions. Now the other day we were talking groceries as a group and all of a sudden she stops midsentence and starts speaking Dutch. Even when the other Dutch people spoke English in response to her, she continued in Dutch. At dinner she doesnt even speak English at all except if she wants Aerin or myself to pass something. So I'll stop by complaining about Anne now that that is off my chest but let me continue with the rest.

Annalies and Esmeralda are actually sisters and they are also the oldest people in the house. Though they are quite quiet they are very friendly and easy to get along with. I cannot say that I have any problem with them at all infact except to say that Esmeralda and I sometimes dissagree on how to do things. This is not even a problem though. Their personalities are actually very like my own because they are flexible and easy going enjoy some quiet time to their selves.

Now the two new Dutch guys have brought a new spark into our house. Though Sjoert is much more low key than Marten, they are both a lot of fun and love playing games. Aside from the Risk, we had a 10 o'clock cricket match in our hallway. We have also invented several ball games with them that we play in our living room. Let me tell you I didn't realize how much I missed having other males around until they were introduced back into my day to day life. And let me also say that the women are adjusting quite well. That is too say, all except Anne. She utterly refuses to take place in anything with them other than a quiet conversation (in Dutch) unless she is the one coming up with the activity. Apparently the ball games are too much for her or something.

Ok, so to wrap this up quickly we have Aerin and Thirza, the two youngest females. As a result they are always goofing off with one another and frequently get into laughing fits. They are currently working on their six packs together. I cannot really say anything more because they are the two constants in our household.

Ok, so that is done and I am actually really starting to get low on time. I will be gone to work in the bush bush at L'Abri from tomorrow until next Sunday so it will be a little while until you all hear from me again. I hope your coming week is good.

To my dad, I am planning on calling you next Sunday so be prepared.

To the rest of you, Sala Kahle!