Okay…so this one’s not in the promised “Beauty” series…but is a short anecdote regarding recent experiences with beauty products. Tianjin’s winter weather is the kind that makes your skin feel extremely dry, to the point of cracking and peeling. So, around Christmas time, I was overjoyed to find some wonderful Olay brand lotion that did a great job helping me feel more human and less lizard-like. Fast-forward two weeks…in the middle of my month long bout with bronchitis and a bad cold, I suddenly develop bright red splotches behind both knees and in my elbows. These spots were itchy, hot to the touch, and extremely uncomfortable. Fearing that I was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotics I had started to take, I asked a nurse friend to take a look at the red spots. She felt like it was a topical kind of reaction, and together we decided that I either might be allergic to my new lotion, or maybe my body was just overwhelmed with having been sick for too long and more sensitive to the new lotion than normal. Her advice? Stop using the lotion.

So I stopped using it, and (after several layers of skin had peeled off) the area behind my knees and elbows slowly returned to normal. One month later, being fully recovered from my illness and once again suffering from extremely dry skin, the lotion began to beckon me to try it again. So I did. Three weeks later, everything seemed just fine and I was beginning to hope that the first reaction might have just been a fluke. Until one night, when my legs began itching so fiercely that I thought I might wear off my fingers trying to scratch through my jeans. Peeling off the jeans and my long johns, I discovered…angry red hot patches behind my knees, and a prickly red rash all up and down my legs. Wonderful.

Then, a stroke of genius/suspicion struck. A stroke of genius/suspicion that should have hit me way back in December when I bought the lotion, or at least when I had the first reaction. I grabbed the bottle, sat down at the computer and painstakingly looked up all of the characters on the bottle. Fortunately xuezhongwen.net (which saves our butts on a regular basis) has a little sketch pad where you can draw in characters that you don’t yet recognize. I used that function to find all the characters in the dictionary, then used the translator…

…and discovered that my “lotion” was not lotion after all. It was body wash…intended to be slathered on in the shower, foamed up, and then (probably most importantly) RINSED OFF. Not, mind you, rubbed INTO the skin twice a day for several weeks in a row. How could I make this mistake? Easily enough, when you’re functionally illiterate. This bottle was located in the lotion section of the body wash/lotion aisle. The English on the bottle said “Silk Moisturizing”…and the texture of this stuff is really thick, like a nice body cream. I didn’t know most of the characters on the bottle, so I just took location, texture, and the few English words to draw a conclusion as to what the product was.

Suddenly, it all made sense…and I dashed off to the shower to rinse away the soap residue that was making my legs so itchy. Five minutes later, the itchiness was greatly relieved but my ego was still feeling a little bruised over the whole thing. Of course I had reacted to this product…it was never intended to be left ON the surface of the skin for that long!

Which makes me wonder…will I still be allergic to this stuff if I’m using it properly? I’m not sure…once my legs have peeled and returned to normal again, I may be tempted to try it as a body wash and see how it works. Next time I buy something, I’ll certainly be paying closer attention to those characters on the bottles, and running them through the translator before I go deciding how to use a certain product.

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Also, we’ll be gone for two days/one night starting tomorrow…we’re going north of Beijing to hike one of the less restored (and apparently most beautiful) sections of the Great Wall. It’s supposed to be a pretty challenging hike, but we’re looking forward to it. This is a just a teaser to let you know that the next post will probably involve lots of beautiful pictures. Other upcoming posts will (most likely) continue the series on beauty.

Today I was told that I’m beautiful. Not only because I’m really white (this actually was said with a sigh and a slightly envious tone…and I’m NOT exaggerating at all), but because I have “双眼皮” (double eyelids) instead of “单眼皮” (single eyelids). Actually, thanks to my Native American ancestors…I’ve always thought that I don’t really have much in the way of eyelids at all…eyeshadow is just about useless for me. I tried to tell my friend this, but she refused to believe it. So, after making me take off my glasses and close and open my eyes a few times, she pronounced that my eyelids are indeed double eyelids, though maybe not very deep. I guess that depth isn’t the most important criteria though, what counts is that the double lid is present.

Now, this “double eyelid” is not to be confused with the triple eyelids of the camel…there really is only one eyelid, and the term double has more to do with the shape of the lid and the presence of a crease in the middle of it. For those of us who don’t pay much attention to people’s eyelids at all (most of us, I think) I’ll post a couple before and after pictures of people with “single eyelids” that got surgery done to create the apparently beautiful and extremely desirable “double eyelid.” Since Asians tend toward “singleliddedness” this is also (reportedly) the most popular cosmetic surgery in this part of the world.

There…now I’ve passed on my recently acquired beauty knowledge to you. Why does this matter? Well, Chinese believe that “double-lidded” eyes are much more beautiful. I’ve heard from several friends that some Asian born actresses and models that have become famous in the West are, in their own part of the world, not considered beautiful at all…and the lack of a double eyelid is sometimes part of the criteria for this. These friends also told me that they couldn’t understand why foreigners think that Asians have beautiful eyes, given the dominance of single-liddedness. When I tried to explain that most of us are referencing the “exotic” (to us) shape of the eyes, and that many people may not have even paid much attention to eyelids or lack thereof…my explanation was met with a bit of amazement and a hint of disbelief. How could such an important beauty standard not even register on our radar screens? How could shape be a more important factor?

Some of me wonders how much this is a classic case of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence. We’ve got “double lids” and they want ‘em. They’ve got the “exotic shape.” Neither side is satisfied, and people on both sides go get cosmetic surgery done to change what they’ve got. Fortunately, since my eyelids have been pronounced “sufficiently double-lidded” by a Chinese friend, and “slightly exotic” by Western friends, I guess I can rest easy in both beauty standards. :D Living in a world where some more obvious beauty standards (body size and shape, in particular…more on that in the next post) are decidedly NOT in my favour, it’s nice to at least have one or two things that are.

Okay, I know it’s been a while. I won’t promise to turn over any new blogging leaves, because every time I do…I don’t write again for six months or so. However, Joel bribed me into writing this one (he’ll arrange dinner if I write) and if he keeps making deals like that, you may hear from me a little more often.

This may actually end up being a post series…I keep getting into these really interesting conversations with some of my Chinese friends and keep uncovering more and more fascinating little tidbits that just beg to be shared. Lately, most of these have been regarding the differences between what Chinese and Westerners think of as “beautiful” or “attractive.” I’m not presenting any textbook facts here, or citing any surveys to support anything I’m about to say…just sharing a few anecdotes from recent conversations that have been pretty interesting.

In Taiwan, it was not unusual for some of the older ladies to come up to me and make a big fuss about how white my skin is. At first I thought, wow…I must look really sickly for them to be making this big of a deal over it. Then it dawned on me that I was white and that they LIKED it. It’s nearly impossible to buy any kind of moisturizer or beauty product over here that doesn’t have added “whitening” components. There are whitening creams for parts of the body that I had never even dreamed might need whitening. When friends (foreign or Chinese) go get facials, even I can tell that they have become whiter. It’s also not unusual to hear ladies that haven’t seen each other for a little while say something along the lines of (in a very excited tone of voice) “你变白了！” （You got whiter!)…or (in a “What happened to you?” tone of voice) “你变黑了！” (You got darker…).

My best joke lately has to do with what happens if someone as white as me goes and gets these “whitening” beauty treatments that are available everywhere. I tell my friends that I’m afraid I’ll turn clear…and then they won’t be able to see me. I also have another foreign friend (who is also pale) that recently got engaged to a local guy. On hearing that she must (as part of her preparation for the wedding) schedule a whole round of these beauty treatments, we joked… “What if she turns invisible? Then her husband won’t be able to find her!” Okay, maybe you have to be here and be surrounded by the obsession with whiteness for it to actually be humorous, but we thought it was a knee-slapper.

Having never paid much attention to my own skin color, or that of those around me (except for “working on my tan” while camping in the summer), it’s a bit disconcerting to know that one of the first thoughts that run through the minds of people here (mostly other women, I think) when they meet me has to do with how white I am. I don’t know why this is so disconcerting, except that from my viewpoint, the difference between my skin color and the color of my Chinese friend’s skin is minimal. But from their viewpoint, or at least judging from the things that are said, it seems like this is a very big and important difference between us.

It’s also been fun to watch the reaction from my Chinese friends when they hear about beauty ideals from the Western side of things. Though the idea of a “healthy tan” may eventually get more popular, at this point the idea of intentionally trying to get darker is not only a beauty crime, it’s viewed as borderline insanity.

I’m participating in the Bright Future Project at a local university again this semester. It’s always a good way to practice listening, and I get to pick up some really interesting vocabulary. This week’s topic was “True Love” and we did one of my favorite small group activity/discussions with the students. After being divided into a few same-sex groups, we ask them first to write a list of what they are looking for in a boyfriend/girlfriend. Then, after several minutes of letting them create their wish-lists, we ask them to write a list of what they think the opposite gender is looking for in a boyfriend/girlfriend. The answers are always interesting – and their reactions at finding out what the opposite gender thinks/desires are also fun to watch. This is one of those discussions that I can’t wait to hear over and over again as my Chinese continues to progress. Meanwhile, I’ll just give you a few bits and pieces from it that I did understand.

Surprisingly enough, most of the girls did not want a very handsome boyfriend. They stated pretty clearly that they felt like having a “too handsome boyfriend” was definitely unsafe (meaning, presumably, that he’d be a target for other women to hit on and therefore more likely to cheat). Also, I was even more surprised that the girls in this class didn’t say that their boyfriend should have a lot of money. Previous ladies in other classes have seemed to think that this was a pretty important quality.

The guys said that the girl should have long hair, big eyes, a good body, and “give him face.” I talked to one guy about the eyes, and he said “The eyes are the window of the heart/soul.” I was excited to discover both that I understood him, and that English and Chinese apparently share this saying. The guys also said that she should be “一般聪明” which means “smart enough” or “ordinarily smart.” There’s a definite thread in Chinese culture that says that smart, clever, and independent women are threatening or something to be feared, so the guys tend not to want a girlfriend that might be smarter than themselves.

Obviously, both groups mentioned a lot of other characteristics as well…it definitely wasn’t limited to the ones that I’ve written about here. Unfortunately, many of those desirable characteristics tend to be very poetic or abstract, which also makes them well above the reach of my current listening comprehension skills. Just think of it this way, if my eyes are the windows for you to see into the heart/soul of this discussion, then I’m the small-eyed undesirable girl for the time being. But it’s better than not having eyes at all, eh?

It’s not unusual for bicycles to disappear around here. Especially if they’re parked in the “free parking” areas at any of the local supermarkets. Most of the foreigners we know have lost multiple bikes during their stay in Tianjin…it seems like every week at least one person that we know loses one. So far, we haven’t lost any bikes…but ours are older and mine has a really pretty paint job from it’s previous owner to make it a little more noticeable (and harder to resell, I’m sure).

This past Saturday, one of our friends lost her fifth bicycle. This one was parked and locked up next to her husband’s bicycle, right next to their own apartment building. Sunday morning they discovered that his bike was still there, while hers was gone…locks and all. That afternoon, we went to their house for some dessert and coffee, and as we were locking up our bikes I realized that one of my locks had been stolen! We had parked them just outside our building for an hour or so earlier, and I’d left one of my locks in the bike basket (because we had used Joel’s locks to chain our bikes together). There were no keys in the lock, but this is the kind of lock/chain combo that could still be used as long as the original padlock could be removed and a new one put on.

I was a bit frustrated, but mostly at myself for leaving the lock where it could so easily be stolen. Our neighbourhood just feels so safe that I’ve become a little relaxed about things like that. I think I was also frustrated because I felt that our neighbourhood had just proven itself to be not quite as safe as I had thought.

Later that night, as Joel and I returned home, I made a few cynical and suspicious comments about the missing lock. Something to the effect of “I’m going to be watching these bikes (belonging to our neighbours) parked right here by the stairwell to see which one turns up with my lock on it.” I also said, as we entered the first floor and started the long climb up to our sixth-floor apartment, “Hmmph. I wonder which one of these apartments has my lock in it?” I did realize that the loss of the lock was my own fault, but I was having a really hard time feeling charitable toward my neighbors.

Till yesterday afternoon. Joel came home from studying Chinese with my missing lock in his hand. Our first floor neighbours had seen it in my bicycle basket and were worried that someone might steal it (it is a really good lock). So they took it and put it in their apartment for safekeeping. When they saw Joel coming home they ran inside, brought out the lock, and explained it all. I was so thankful that they were looking out for us and felt really bad for my snide and suspicious remarks the previous evening. What had looked like petty theft was actually a matter of our neighbours taking care of us and helping us to continue to feel safe and welcome in the neighbourhood. When you’re a stranger in a strange land that kind of consideration feels really nice.

To be fair, it doesn’t always turn out this way…after all, plenty of bicycles are still missing! And even though I recognize that, I’m very thankful for the way it turned out this time. I learned a bit about my neighbors, and continue to love the area in which we live. However, I also learned a bit of a lesson…that even though we feel safe here, it’s just not smart to become careless about leaving things around.

When I first began to think about living on another continent, far away from our families and friends, it did occur to me that we would probably miss out on a lot of things over the years. It wasn’t pleasant to think about, but seemed like it might be something we would just get used to and learn to accept. Last year, when we lived in Taiwan, our friend Brian got married and I realized then that this might just be (emotionally) one of the most difficult things about living half way around the world. The weight of missing his wedding impacted me far more than I had expected or prepared myself for.

I started to write this post then, but just couldn’t. I felt like I needed more time to process it…hoping, I guess, that I might be able to wrap my thoughts into a neat little package that explains how one goes about getting used to and accepting that we really are going to miss BIG things (and small, but still precious things) in the lives of those that we love from afar. Six months later, I’m no closer to having that neatly packaged explanation.

This past week I thought about it even more as a double-dose of emotional shock washed over me. First, with the birth of Miriam, Ryan and Tami’s daughter and the first grand-baby on Joel’s side of the family. And later in the week, with the wedding of my dear friend Alisha. These are the kind of events that we would never dream of missing. And yet we have.

My friend (and Starbucks Angel), Meredith, recently posted the following on her blog. She has applied to join the Peace Corps for two years and was writing to a relative to explain how she feels about it at this point:

“…it does seem a little crazy to me at times that I would want to pick up and move to another country for not just one, but two whole years. To be completely honest, there have been times when I’ve considered calling the PC office and asking them to rip up my application. But I don’t think it’s because I’m really scared to go…I definitely have fears…what if I can’t learn the language, what if I commit every cultural taboo there is and turn everyone against me, what if I’m terrible at the job, what if I don’t know enough to even do the job, what if I don’t know enough about world events for the PC to even want me. But even more than fearing what will happen over there (where ever there turns about to be) I also fear what will happen here at home. More specifically, what will I be missing out on? What will my family and friends be doing that I won’t get to join in? Why would I want to leave them for two years?”

I made the following comment in response to her post. Complete, neat, and concise it isn’t (even though I DID edit it for length)…but maybe it will be at least a small window into the thoughts I’ve been trying to process:

Nice post, Meredith. And really poignant for me. Partially because I’ve had, still have, and am in the midst of most of the fears you mentioned …The whys and whats are never ending…and often difficult to quantify.

However some parts of the cost are much easier to count…especially in weeks like this, when Joel’s brother and his wife have just had their first baby and an amazing friend is getting married on Saturday. It’s not that I don’t want to be here…but some parts of me wish that things in the States would remain on hold for the 2, 10, 15, 25 or however many years I’m going to be here…and that I would never have to miss out on anything in the lives of those that I love.

And so I’m living in the midst of a bittersweet tension…joy at the thought of new life and a new marriage, and sadness because my participation in these events is limited to what I can type or say from a distance. And the realization that this is only the beginning and that there will probably be many more events about which I will feel this way.

Would I really want things to remain on hold? No. I guess not…after all, I want my friends and family to continue growing, maturing, journeying, flourishing. And even though much of me wishes I could see all of those things, I’m also starting to realize that had I stayed at home I would’ve never known some of the joys and struggles of life here (which I’m only beginning to know now). How many people’s journeys will I get to be a part of from here? What of their lives would I never see if I were elsewhere? And, what growth (in myself) would I miss out if I weren’t here? …Obviously those questions are impossible to answer.

I ended my comment by telling her that she wouldn’t regret the choice to go and said that “Even in the midst of this week’s fresh realizations about what I’m missing out on, I still don’t regret it.”

And that is true. I don’t regret the choice to come here, but I do wish that we could somehow be present for these important moments as well. Obviously, the birth of a child or a wedding are not about us, and not about our presence or absence. I’ve even wondered, is it just extremely self-centered to be thinking so much about how WE can’t be there? It’s not like our absence sucks all the joy out of the event by any means (for which I am VERY thankful!).

At this point, I think I have grown used to the idea that living here means that there are things elsewhere that we miss. However, I’m not entirely certain that I’ll ever really be used to or fully accept the way that it FEELS to miss out on these important moments in the lives of our family and friends. When it comes down to it…no matter how happy we are here, or how certain we are that this is where we should be…there’s really no substitute for being there. And even though I still don’t have a neatly tied package explaining how we’re supposed to handle this, I think I’m growing more comfortable with living in the midst of the bittersweet tension. Part of this is the realization that it would be far worse to be so used to it that we don’t miss anything or anyone, and don’t feel like we’re really missing out. And part of it is the realization that we really do miss people and that we really are, in some important ways, missing out.

Since Joel promised, more than a week ago, that I would write the third post in the “Stayin’ Alive” series….I figured I’d better get on it! Plus, one of my recent acquaintances told me that they enjoy checking our blog, but noticed that Joel seems to be the primary writer. That is true…or has been, but I’ll work on remedying that a bit over the next weeks and months.

Well….this will be short and sweet. Last year, when we first went to Taiwan, I had a few brief and terrifying weeks during which the only coffee I could find was of the instant variety (and I call that stuff coffee only in the loosest sense of the word). Then I found inexpensive coffee at the local Costco, and even better our “Starbucks Angels” (Meredith, and Joel’s sister Julia) started sending the occasional box of much better quality coffee our way.

My first week or so here was also coffee less. I didn’t even resort to the instant stuff (okay, well, I did have ONE cup of instant!). Joel said that it was getting pretty desperate, but really, I think I was quite well behaved overall. Especially since I hadn’t had any for the whole last week in Thailand either (because of being sick….even the lovely smell of coffee was enough to make me want to toss my cookies!)

However, after asking around a bit, we were finally able to locate some relatively inexpensive…and REAL coffee! Better yet, the stuff isn’t even imported! It’s actually grown in China! I had always heard that there was no coffee grown in China…and while that may have been true for many, many centuries…coffee is now grown in Yunnan Province. It’s no Starbucks (it’s a breakfast blend, so it’s actually pretty mild as coffee goes) but at 15 kuai (about $2 US per box…about half a kilo) I’m definitely not complaining. :D

NOTE: This post should have been written almost a month ago now. I meant to write it within the first week after we visited Yangmingshan, but I was still feeling burned out about writing anything after finishing all of our stuff for grad school in December. However, that’s no excuse for it being almost a month late. :D Anyway, here it goes – better late than never, I hope!

The week of Jan. 14th – 21st was almost like a week long celebration for us. The 14th marked not only our one-year anniversary of being in Taiwan, but also my birthday. Joel made me breakfast and snuck out to the local wet market early in the morning to buy me a dozen gorgeous red roses. Later that night, we also ate lots of delicious food at our favorite all-you-can-eat hot pot and barbeque place with Yang Mama, Mingdaw, Zhi-ling, and John (our Canadian boss). We even tried barbequing some snails…though they turned out a little tough to chew…and very hard to pry out of the shells with chopsticks. :D

One of the coolest things we did that week was take a trip to the northern part of Taipei with our friends Charles and Angel. We drove up one of the mountains there, called Yangmingshan. About halfway up, we rolled the windows down to smell the fresh air. It was wonderful to be away from the traffic noises and exhaust fumes that fill the Taipei basin. The mountain was beautiful, but different from the forest covered mountains of New Hampshire and British Columbia. This mountain had only a few trees, but was covered instead with grasslands.

We got out of the car and took a short hike around the summit area. At some points, the grass was taller than Joel! It was pretty easy to imagine that we were walking through some kind of savannah and that we might encounter a lion stalking its way through the long grasses. But instead of lions, there are buffaloes that live in the grasslands of Cingtiangang. It was really beautiful. There were even several couples up there getting their wedding portraits done. Yangmingshan is also famous for its hot springs. After we finished exploring the grasslands, we drove to another part of the mountain that has sulphuric hot springs bubbling up from the ground. Apparently this mountain is an old volcano, though it is inactive now – except for the hot springs that bubble to the surface and the smell of sulfur that fills the air. This area looked totally different from the grasslands – more like the surface of the moon than the African plains.

We finished off the day with a great lunch at a restaurant that is partway down the mountain. They serve some of the wild mountain vegetables, which seem to have a sweeter flavour than those you might fight in the local market. We ate in a room of the restaurant that had old stone walls – on some areas you could see a light covering of moss growing. The atmosphere was amazing and the food tasted wonderful. However, the company of our friends, Angel and Charles) was the best part of the meal (and the whole day). We had a great time hanging out, laughing, joking, and practicing our Chinese on them. We’ve been blessed to have many great friends during our year in Taiwan, and even though it took me so long to write about our trip up to Yangmingshan with Charles and Angel, it was a day that we’ll remember for many years to come. :D

See more photos here!

One month after my birthday, I got the best birthday present ever…a chance to attend a one-day cooking class at the “Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School.” This was the first cookery school of its kind to open in Chiang Mai…and I’d have a hard time understanding how any of the schools that have opened since could compete. Sompon Nabnian (and his British wife) are the owners of the school…he’s a world renowned celebrity chef who has even done cooking shows for BBC and National Geographic. He has eight assistants, some of whom have already attended cooking school before coming to work for him, and all of whom undergo a special training course (over a year) under his supervision. The school offer five days of courses (with five different menus to prepare), but our schedule for the week only left one day open for me to attend.

The price of the class includes transportation, teaching, all ingredients, meals (you eat what you prepare), beverages, and a cookbook (with pretty colored pictures) including the recipes from all five days of courses. It also has detailed lists of what you can substitute when ingredients aren’t available in your neck of the woods. For example, if you can’t find any palm sugar in Canada – you can simply substitute some maple syrup or brown sugar.

The menu for my course included:
(morning)
Chicken in Coconut Milk Soup (Tom Kha Gai) – one of our favorites!
Red Curry with Fish (Gaeng Phed Plaa)
Fried Mixed Mushrooms with Baby Corn (Phad Hed Ruam Khao Pod Om)
Fried Big Noodles with Thick Sauce and Pork (Raad Nah Muu)

(afternoon)
Papaya Salad (Som Tam)
Steamed Banana Cake (Khanom Kluay)

We started off the morning with a market tour led by the assistant chefs – An and Piim. They showed us the most essential ingredients for Thai cooking, explaining for us the differences between coconut cream and coconut milk, the different types of basil, different kinds of rice, and lots of other stuff. Then we took about a 20 minute drive into the countryside to Sompon’s home, where he has a special area set up for the cooking classes. They also have classes at his restaurant in town, The Wok, but I thought it would be more fun to go out of town and see a little bit of the countryside.

The flow of the class was like this. We would go into an air conditioned demonstration room, where the assistants (and later Sompon) would show us how to make the dish. Then we’d head out to our individual cooking stations and prepare it ourselves. I was surprised at how quickly most of the dishes were cooked! Of course, it helped that most of the ingredients were already prepped for us – fish was sliced, papaya was grated, etc. After we finished cooking each dish, we’d take it over to the dining area and eat our results. It was awesome! For our third and fourth dishes (the red curry and the mushroom stirfry), Sompon himself was on hand to do the teaching.

All of the teachers were great – very professional, relaxed, and seemed to be having a great time. Each of them had their own style for the demonstrations and made lots of jokes throughout. One of my favorites was that every time we used garlic or chilis, they would use the flat side their giant knives (like a cleaver) to smash the ingredient on the cutting board. They’d say something like…”Now for the garlic…Kill it!” SMACK…down went the flat side of the knife. “No Mercy!” BAM BAM…then they’d pound a fist onto the flat of the knife to smash the ingredient even more. I guess you kind of had to be there, but it was really funny.

They were also always joking around about the garnishes added to the food after preparation. One teacher said, “How much you pay for this bowl of Tom Kha Gai? 10 Baht?” Then he stuck the garnish on it and said, “Ah…there we go. Beautiful…Now, you can charge more. 300 Baht!” Sompon also had this great bit about curry that illustrated perfectly why Joel and I love Thai food so much:
…so many curries, so little time!!!

Class went from 10 am – 4 pm…and it felt like we did far more eating than cooking, though I’ve definitely picked up lots of tips to improve my own Thai experimentation. I can’t wait till I locate a wet market in Tianjin and see if I can find the ingredients there so that I can try out my new cooking skills on Joel. I wish my sister Shauna, friend Kelly, and Joel’s mom could’ve joined me for the day, since they all like to cook Thai food too. I was SO full after the class that I couldn’t even eat dinner. I took lots of photos, so everyone can see what it was like…including photos of my own personal creations. Well, all except for the banana cake. It was so yummy that I finished it off before I even remembered that I should take a picture…oops. :D So much good cooking, eating, and laughing made for a great experience and wonderful day…one I’d highly recommend for anyone else passing through Chiang Mai. I wish I could take all five days of classes…and if we ever make it back to Chiang Mai again, maybe I’ll get the chance!

Somehow, Calvin’s expressions seem to capture perfectly my emotions and the way my brain feels right now….beyond exhausted, and feeling more than a little goofy. My last few papers were a little rough…but I don’t really feel bad about it. Given that it feels like every single academic tendency or urge I once had has been sucked out – far past the point of dryness, it was the best I had to give. And, for once in my life…that’s good enough!

But, I’m very happy to report that after months of seemingly endless homework, I’m finally finished. That probably makes all of our friends and family happy, because now we’ll have some more interesting posts and no more than whining complaints about our homework. :D Thanks for bearing with us. Joel is close behind, with one more paper to go.

Now, on to the baking of Christmas goodies!!! :D