A Good Day

Today was probably the best day I've spent in Laos so far. It was one of those days where the place you've been visiting and where you feel so out of place actually begins to sort-of, in some small way, feel like home. It doesn't feel like home yet, of course, but today it had the first glimmer of feeling like home.

We're not exactly sure when we start teaching - and I'm sure to your Western mindset, that seems a little bizarre - but really, even the head of our department doesn't know when the first day of class will be. But, what we do know is that whenever that first day is, we - the teachers - are expected to be dressed appropriately, which in this culture means wearing the traditional Lao skirt called a sinh. I've written about that on here before - when we went shopping with Mon and Jiam a few weeks ago to get the material for our first sinhs. I didn't want to buy them all at once though, because it was just too overwhelming and I didn't have a good feel for what was fashionable and such (disclaimer: I can't say that after four weeks I have a good feel for what is fashionable either; I mean, I lived in the US for 27 years and never could figure it out there either!).

So, today was the day to buy the rest of the material for our other sinhs. Last time Christa and I went with Mon and Jiam who translated and bargained for us. Today it was just us. And that was a little bit of a scary thought. Before leaving I quickly wrote down some phrases I thought we'd need that we'd learned in language school. For example:

Beung kon - I'm just looking
Beung kon dai baw - Is it ok to look here?
Lut dai baw - can you lower the price? (bargaining is common here, and I'd dare to say even expected)

Armed with these phrases and a whole lot of kip (Lao currency) - sinhs are actually pretty expensive (approximately $30US for a silk one) - we biked to the market.  The second place we looked the lady was really friendly and kind and spoke a fair amount of English (which was unexpected). We tried to explain to her that we were going to be teachers and asked if the sinhs we were looking at were appropriate for a teacher (little random side note: I found out from shopping with Jiam last time that the sinhs I liked the best - dark blue or black with dark embroidery were actually the kind that junior high and high school girls wear...So glad to have found that out before showing up to class on the first day wearing a school girl's outfit!). After we both found one that we liked, we asked her how much. I was a little bit worried - I had been prepared to bargain in Lao, but now that she was speaking English I wasn't sure if we could bargain in English, but we went for it anyway. After she said the price was 300,000 kip for one, we pulled out the lut dai baw? She smiled and typed in another number into the calculator. It was still more than we wanted to spend (with Mon and Jiam bargaining for us last time, we got our sinhs for 200,000 kip), so I asked her to give us a 2 for 500,000 kip deal, and she agreed, with a smile. We left feeling like we'd made a friend and thinking, wow, that was way easier than expected.

The second sinh I bought from a different vendor and although that lady didn't speak any English she was very friendly and helpful too. I don't know if you're familiar with the differences between shopping in America verses some Asian countries (I hesitate to speak too generally, so I only speak based on my experiences in Japan, Vietnam and now Laos) - in America, after about 10 minutes of looking or something, someone might come up to you and ask if you need help, or ask if you want them to get you a dressing room ready or something. But in general, clerks are pretty hands-off and let the customer look independently. Here it is completely opposite. The minute you show interest, it's like they pounce. And I don't mean that in a negative way, though I realize that word has negative connotations. For example, in the store where I bought the second sinh, once I showed interest in red sinhs with stripes, there were numerous red striped sinhs at my disposal. If I looked at a blue striped sinh, then there were suddenly many other similar selections right there. The clerks are super attentive and helpful. Sometimes to my American mindset it is a little overwhelming, but in their context it is completely normal, and I'd wager to say expected. Anyway, when it came time to buy the second sinh I pulled out my trusty favorite phrase thao dai? and she said 300,000 kip. Lut dai baw? I asked and she laughed in surprise. The game had begun. I couldn't remember how to say 250,000 so I held up my fingers and she countered with 280,000. Once I heard her say that, I remembered how to say the numbers and asked for 250,000 again. She countered with 270,000. How about 260,000, I asked (which in Lao is pretty long.... saang seen haak sip phan kip). She got a big smile, pretty entertained I think that this bumbling foreigner was bargaining with her and gave me the skirt for 260,000 kip which was only 10,000 kip higher than what I'd hoped to spend. I left feeling really excited.

Ok, this might sound like an awkward exchange to an American. And, a while back I would've thought so too, but that interaction gave me a window into Lao culture. They expect you to bargain, and they respect you more when you do. They don't expect you to pay the first price and if you do, then you're not seen as a savvy shopper. Seeing the store lady's face when I countered her offer in Lao made me understand - it is part of being Lao and part of fitting into the culture to play the bargaining game. After we left the store I felt like I'd taken one small baby step towards fitting into Lao culture.  They were glad that I didn't pay the first price and glad that I was trying to do things the Lao way.

I'd expected our shopping to take forever and a day, but it was actually one of the least stressful shopping experiences ever - here or in America (I generally despise clothes shopping in America anyway!)

After taking our loot back home, we went in search of a place to eat for lunch. We ended up eating at our favorite little place around the corner from our villa. We've probably eaten there about 6-7 times in the last few weeks and the food is really great. It was rather late for lunch - about 2pm - so we were worried they weren't still serving lunch, especially since there were no other customers in the shop. But the lady recognized us and came over to take our order. One of the reasons this is our favorite place nearby is because the food is really yummy. But the other reason is that there is a cute little baby that is always around and both Christa and I love kids, so we like going there to see the baby too. I feel like babies can overcome any language barrier...everyone loves looking at babies and saying how cute they are! Well, today the mom brought the baby over and for the first time, started talking to us...in Lao. She saw that we had our Lao study book with us and was just really patient in trying to talk to us and ask us questions. We told her we were studying Lao and when I said study (hian) with the wrong tone, she gently corrected me by repeating it in the higher tone. We probably talked to her for about 5 or 10 minutes, and granted, I only understood about 40% of what she said, but we were able to converse. The nice thing about there being two of us, is that sometimes Christa would understand something that I didn't and vice versa. Christa had her dictionary out and we were just trying to talk to her as much as possible. We found out that she has two sons (son was a new word for us!) and that her baby is 2 months old. We also learned her name and the name of the lady who took our order, and that they are sisters.

This might sound really simple, but it was a mini breakthrough. Finding someone who actually is patient enough to repeat or rephrase or even just say something even though you don't understand is not that easy. In our language and culture class, one of the recommendations was to become a regular somewhere and to frequent that place when it is not as busy. Today really showed me why that's so important - when you become a regular, they realize you're not just some random tourist who's there for a week or whatever, and when you go during a down time, they actually have time to talk to you and you can get to know more about them, learn their names and start building a relationship.  As we were walking back to our villa, Christa and I were just talking about what a good day it was. For the first time it really felt like this is where I live now and that doing simple things like buying clothes or eating at a restaurant can give a really insightful window into people and culture.

Here are the sinhs I ended up buying... I'm such a creature of habit and of course bought two blue ones. Oh well, maybe on the next shopping trip I will venture into other colors!

Cooking Lao Style

As you probably know, I love to cook and it just so happens that my Lao buddy, Jiam, is an awesome cook! So on Friday, Mon, Jiam, Christa and I had a cooking adventure...

We started out by going to this pretty huge outdoor market that had tons of vendors selling fresh vegetables and really fresh meat (as in, the fish were still jumping/swimming, and the chickens were still alive...though they looked rather sedated). Once I got past the overwhelming smell of the place, it was a pretty exciting outing. Jiam taught me how to ask for certain amounts of the foods that we needed and all the sellers were super patient and kind with my haltering Lao. 

The first thing we bought was the fish. It was still swimming in the water and the lady picked it up, put it on the scale and when she decided it was the right size, wacked the fish with the knife and started scraping the scales off rather vigorously as the fish continued to flop in her hand. Eventually it stopped flopping and the innards were no longer inside and the fish was ready for us. Mmmmm. It was actually really shocking and I couldn't watch most of the process, but I imagine after a few more trips to the market, it will no longer phase me. After that, we split up and Jiam and I bought the ingredients to make an egg dish that Jiam really likes. So we went around from vendor to vendor looking for carrots, mushrooms, onions, etc, and each time I got to practice asking for the different things as Jiam coached me. I was really nervous about being the one to ask for the stuff, but I'm really glad she made me do it because it slightly increased my confidence (and made for a few good laughs too!). I think one Saturday Jiam is going to take me back to the market and show me how to buy things and teach me

what a good price is and everything so that I can start cooking on my own (when I get a kitchen!!!:)

After getting all the ingredients, we went back to Jiam's house to begin the cooking process, which actually started with a lot of chopping. Here is some papaya.

They love mint here...this whole plate of mint was for 5 of us!

 Lots of chopped veggies...

More chopping by Christa and Stephanie 

This is Jiam showing me how to pound the fish bones with the pestel and mortar (which was a new word for me)

Yummy...some nicely pounded fish bone paste

Here Jiam is peeling a banana flower. It's rather interesting - I've never seen it before in the US, but it really has no taste and kinda dries out your mouth when you eat it plain, but they like adding it to things... for an extra crunch maybe?

 My inadequacies in a Lao kitchen were being exposed here by the banana flower

 Here Jiam is teaching me how to make nam kaipun - which is a dish with rice noodles, fish and vegetables.  She let me do the stirring.

This is the final result of the egg dish...Jiam is so good at making the presentation amazing too. I think this looks like restaurant quality (and the taste was amazing!!!). It's basically fried boiled eggs (which I'd never seen made before) topped with an awesome veggie medley. Wish I could eat this everyday!

 

While everyone was finishing up preparations, I went out to the front porch to take some random pictures. This kind of shows a typical house style in Laos and so many houses have great front porches (which are non-existant in FL!)

Don't know if you noticed in the above pic, but the walls are lined with broken glass to deter unwanted guests. Here's a close-up 

 Basically every Lao house has a big gate in front, also to keep out any unwanted guests.

Ok, that's all I have for today! :)

Language Lesson

Friday was our last day of language class. After three weeks of studying Lao I feel like I know just enough to be dangerous, but not enough for practical everyday stuff, but I trust that will come. After this week, which consists of 5 eight hour days of team training, we'll resume language study. This time instead of going to class everyday, we're going to hire a tutor to come to the house for 1-on-1 language study. That way I can learn all the silly slang phrases that are my favorite to learn (and for which I have an over-abundance in Japanese!). I did learn how to say "that looks delicious" though... beung mang saep lai. Then Jiam taught me how to say "you look tired" and when I tried to practice saying it, I ended up mixing the two and saying "you look delicious." It was great entertainment for the people on the bus...once again solidifying the stupid American stereotype. But, as a language teacher, I always encourage my students to not be afraid to make mistakes...that is such a necessary part of successful language acquisition, and a message that is much easier to preach than it is to practice. I've been trying my best to not let fear of looking/sounding stupid get in the way of practicing Lao. Some days I'm better at that than others.

Ok, now because I know you're just dying of curiousity, here's an example of written Lao. This is from one of our in-class worksheets where we were working on tones. The first two weeks of reading and writing class focused mainly on learning the alphabet (consonants and vowels) and then this past week we've been working on tones. Oh my goodness, can you say difficult?!?! (actually, that word is nyak in Lao:)

So this worksheet tells you the tone each word is supposed to have.

For example, the top sentence reads: jao suu nyang? (what is your name?) On jao ("you") your tone is supposed to start high and go down. On suu ("name") your tone is middle and flat and on nyang ("what") your tone starts low and ends higher. There are different rules that determine the tone of each word, and some words have tone markers over them which makes the tone a little bit more obvious. I think this part of the language learning process has been the most difficult for me so far. I mean, one little change in tone can make a huge difference. Actually, if you say the same phrase jao suu nyang with a slightly different tone on suu, it means "what do you want to buy?" instead of "what is your name?" Of course, English has these kinds of similar sounding words too (fool/full, chair/share, accept/except), but we never think about it because it's our first language so we can easily hear the difference. But when it's not your first language, the subtleties can be lost in translation. There have been so many times in class when the teacher says two different words and then says, "do you hear the difference" and all I can think is there was a difference?!?! Hopefully my ear will improve with time!

Another thing that I'm hoping will improve over time is my handwriting. I think I'm about equal with a 3-year-old Lao child right about now. But you gotta start somewhere. Here is my name written in Lao:

So you might think that you read it left to right Ju-li-a, but actually, it's not quite that simple because in Lao the vowels can be written before, after, over or underneath the consonants (and sometimes in a two-part vowel they can sandwich the consonant, which is the case in my name), but they are always pronounced after the consonant they are connected to. Each vowel has a particular placement, and can only be written there so it's not like you can just place the vowel anywhere. But remembering which vowel is written where can be quite challenging!

In the case of my name, the first main letter is "j" but the "u" sound is actually written underneath the "j". Then the "ia" part of my name is actually a combined vowel which is made up of the little "6" looking letter and the last letter in my name. The "l" sound is sandwiched in between. Confused yet? I was totally at first, but it's gradually starting to make sense now, though it takes me a full minute to read like one word. At least the sound of the vowel is very clear and constant and it's not like English where you're always trying to guess which sound the vowel is making!

Ok, that was my mini Lao lesson for you! :) Free of charge...once a teacher, always a teacher, I guess!

Like I said, Friday was our last day of class, so I took a group photo. We had students from Korea, Singapore, Italy and the US in our class, and of course our teacher was Lao. This is a picture of our teacher from conversation class...Wath (pronounced more like Vat)

Here is a group photo with both of our teachers. The teacher seated on the left was our Reading and Writing class teacher, Pasia.

Dancin' Lao Style

Most people reading this blog probably know how I feel about dance. It's not exactly my fave, mostly because I have zero rhythm and grace when it comes to such movements. So when our Lao friends suggested learning traditional Lao style dance, I cringed inwardly, but determined to make the most of the cultural experience. Yesterday, we biked to their house for a morning of learning Lao traditional dances. And, I have to say, I don't know if this is a sign that this is the place for me or something, but I got it! I can't believe it, but I actually was able to follow the dances. This coming from someone who has left most dances in tears because of my inability to catch on like "everyone else." Perhaps it is due to hours of watching my best friend teach other people how to dance, and observing innumerable eight counts, but as soon as our "teacher" (Mon and Jiam's friend) started counting with the steps, something clicked in my brain. Of course, don't think that I've deluded myself with visions of grandeur. Just because I could do the steps doesn't mean that I did it gracefully or fluidly. In fact, I'm rather glad that there is no video to prove my newly-found confidence is askew.

It was such a fun morning of laughter, learning and bonding with our Lao friends. Here are some pictures from our time together.

Learning the steps from our teacher - Pai (in the middle)

The only picture I have as evidence that I actually was dancing:)

Jiam and Mon showing off our teacher :)

Demonstrating free style dance which includes lots of arm movements too

Group dancing in a circle

At the end, they wanted to learn an American dance, so Christa improvised and taught them part of Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. Here they are practicing the moves. We might try to teach them the macarena or something next time!

You'll notice in this video, that the movements they're doing with their hands look like stirring or thrashing rice. This is just one example of the dances they taught us :)

Fun Times

The first few days of life in Laos were a little crazy and emotional for me. But since then, life has settled down somewhat and I feel like I'm adjusting to life here in a rather awkward foreigner kind of way (example, we couldn't read the menu today at lunch - lo and behold, there was no English *gasp* - so we just pointed at a random item, hoping that we'd like what arrived at the table. And, just a note, we did - it was fried rice.) Everyone is so gracious at our incompetency and people are always smiling and saying sabaidee when we walk by or ride by on our bikes. In general, this is just a really friendly and warm place, and it has made the inevitable awkward adjustments really rather pleasant (most of the time!:)

So here are some pics from the last week that capture (or at least attempt to) the lighter, relaxed and enjoyable moments of everyday life. I'm really learning to laugh at myself here... it's an absolute necessity when adjusting to a new culture (and I had a really funny thing happen to me today...but more about that next post), so hopefully these photos will help you to see that side of life here :)

One of my favorite times of the day is dinner and our favorite place to get food is the Night Market I've mentioned a few times before. Here is Christa feasting on some of our purchases the other night - freshly grilled chicken, curry, sticky rice and green beans. It was pretty amazing! I'm definitely not suffering when it comes to food!

This was supposed to be an up-close picture of our food, but oh well..

Breakfast is also another one of my favorite times of the day (notice a theme here?:) We usually eat in my room - a simple meal consisting of bread and fruit and recently we've been trying some "new" fruits (as in, fruits that don't grow in the states or that we've never eaten). The one below is called mangosteen in English and it basically looks like garlic cloves after it's peeled. As you can see, it's a little smaller than an apple and it has a really soft, sweet texture. I'm becoming a big fan, but peeling it is a little messy.

September is the end of the rainy season here and I'm personally glad that we came in at the tail end. I mean, not that rain gear isn't totally the fashion these days and all, but ya know...

Just so you know... this extra mass is not from all the amazing food I've consumed. This is me protecting my backpack...and looking like a crazy American in the process.

It usually just rains at night (like almost every night there's a torrential downpour around 9 or 10 and it seems to last until around 4 or 5). But yesterday, it rained pretty much all day. Not a downpour, but at a steady rate nonetheless. Of course, yesterday was also the day we had to bike to several different places - probably went about 10 miles total - so by the end of the day I felt pretty soggy. I think I need to invest in better (and more fashionable?!) rain gear...all the rain would collect on my poncho and then dump right onto my pants making it look like I'd had quite the accident. As you can see, awkward foreigner moments are a daily (hourly?) occurence, but it's all part of the learning process.

 
Another one of my favorite things about this place is the little shops that sell things on the street (oh, I guess that also falls in the food-ish category). The other day we stopped and got exotic colored drinks from big tubs...they serve them in bags with wide-mouthed straws. It has bubbles in it and is kinda milky and kinda sweet. They were delicious, though a little tricky to drink while riding a bike. You can see below that Christa's was a bright pink and mine was a bright green.

This pic sums up my friendship with Christa...I'm looking earnest and she's laughing at me. Ok, maybe it's not always that way, but I think this snapshot captures our personalities pretty well. We were - guess what - eating at an Asian Fusion restaurant. Actually, most of my fun times here have involved Christa in some way too.  We've explored the city on bikes, tried all sorts of foods, made cookies, hung out with our Lao buddies, and just laughed and talked a ton... it's been a huge blessing to have that kind of friend here.

Bhudda

I've been mulling over this post for several days now. Friday of last week we went to three wats (temples) - I think I might've mentioned that before - and then on Sunday we went with our Lao friends to Buddha park. Both places struck my heart and brought to mind lines from Mr. Isaiah about crafting images, honoring them and bowing down before them. That is such a foreign concept in the states - we don't have images we bow down to physically. Of course, our hearts bow down every day to things like reputation, money, success, feart, etc, which is the same in the Father's eyes. But it is so much more vivid to read Isaiah's words when you see a physical representation right in front of your eyes.

One of the thousands of Buddha statues we saw at the first wat. People bring gifts and burn incense by the statues.

A broken Buddha statue. I was struck by the implications of this fragility.

I won't write out all the lines from Mr. I on here, just a few excerpts, but check out chps 44-46 if you have a chance. Here are some of the lines that struck my heart the most:

He cuts down cedars....then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a g-- and honors it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, "Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!" And the rest of it he makes into a g--, his idol, and falls down to it and honors it. He pr. to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my g--!" (42:14-17, Julia's CG version)

To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a g--; then they fall down and honor it. They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. (46:5-7)

I love the contrast between the Real Thing and the imitation. The created g--s have to be carried to their place. The lines just before those though (v4) says, "I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save." Such a difference. One has to be carried. The other One carries us. I've always known this, but it feels like it's hitting me in a deeper way by being here and seeing wat after wat and statue after statue and the power such images have over hearts and minds. He formed us, we did not form him. He carries us, we do not have to carry Him. He is altogether separate from any created thing. He existed before we were ever created, we did not bring Him into being. What a comforting thought. I would not want to put my trust in or stake my life on anything or anyone less than that.

Statues in Buddha Park

Being silly with the statues

Climbing the stairway to heaven

Lao friends - Jiam and Mon - we convinced them to do a silly pose by this statue.

As I was finishing this post, I realized that the first part is super serious, and the second is more silly. And I was thinking that to people like us who have tasted of the Real Thing, we can joke around and be free in front of things like this because there is no power in it. But for those who have never tasted or seen, it is a very serious thing and there is power (albeit lesser) in such images and the honoring of them.

They know not, nor do they discern, for He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. (44:18)

Will you join me in asking the Father to open eyes and hearts to understand that there is no such thing as a substitute?  He alone is uncreated by hands of men and therefore worthy of our lives and honor.  It is humbling to reflect on how many times I have bowed my heart to something less tangible or visible, but a substitute nonetheless. I'm asking Him to destroy those things I hope in falsely and to teach me to cling to the Rock...Is there any besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any."

A Day in the Life :)

I've been meaning to write about a typical day for us here, and am just now getting around to it. Of course, the idea of "typical" is a somewhat foreign concept as we've been learning that things often (usually?) don't go quite as planned, and they usually take waaaay longer than planned too. But that's OK - it's helping me to learn and grow (though I'm kinda slow) and to try to see things from a different, more flexible perspective. 

So, the one thing I've learned to flex about is where I store things. If you leave anything out, ants will find it. Apparently they love minty toothpaste too, so I've resorted to storing my toothpaste and toothbrush right in the fridge. It keeps the little critters from getting stuck in my teeth (ew, that's a gross thought). Though, I haven't been able to do that with one of the beds in my room (thankfully not the one I sleep in)...it won't fit in the fridge so a few times a day, I smash the ants roving around the comforter.

Here's my toothbrush chillin'...um, literally

Most mornings start with a run, or some other form of exercise. Usually around 6:30. Christa and I run around That Luang, do some aerobics (similar to my post in Vietnam) and then eat a yummy breakfast consisting of bread and fresh fruit (well, she eats yogurt too, but that's not so good for this lactose intolerant one). In an effort to add protein to my diet, I often eat peanut butter. It tastes pretty good here, actually. I was able to find Skippy peanut butter at the store.

Here's Christa using the internet one morning. We buy the wifi every few days and try to get as much done as possible. 

Yesterday after breakfast and quiet time, we hung out with our Lao buddies. We asked them to take us to a wat which means temple in Lao.  They take us everywhere on their motorbikes, so that stellar helmet I bought in the states (thanks, Mr. H! :) has come in quite handy.

 I thought this was pretty interesting...If you are Lao, it only costs 2,000 kip ($0.25) and if you're a foreigner, it's 5,000 kip.

This is Jiam playing tour guide and telling Christa about the history of Sisaket Temple.  It was destroyed by the Thai in 1828 but rebuilt and is now being renovated. I'll probably post more about the temple later on.

Here's me with Jiam standing in front of a statue of Bhudda.

Our group...l-r: Jiam, Christa, Mon and me. Man, they look so small compared to us Western giants. 

Every afternoon we head to Candlelight school for 3 hours of language class. First part is conversation, and the second part is reading and writing. Here are my lovely Lao letters (well, only the consonants)... My handwriting stinks in Lao even more than it does in English, but you gotta start somewhere. No pictures of language class yet, sorry!

 We often go to the night market that is a five minute walk from our villa and bring our food back to the room and eat it.  Elise is holding a coconut with a straw sticking out of it. Apparently coconut water is good for an upset stomach.

Christa bought this mystery food that was wrapped in banana leaves. We're still not sure what it was, but it wasn't so tasty.

We had to put down a blanket to eat on now to avoid crumbs which lead to ants. But, it feels like a picnic inside so that's fun.

We were craving ice cream after dinner, so we walked in the rain to the store at the corner to get ice cream cones. It actually tasted almost like ice cream back in the states.

So, the following is not part of a typical day, but exciting nonetheless so I wanted to share it. This morning, Christa and I went over to our team leader's house to bake cookies. I've been craving a taste of home and chocolate chip cookies are about as close to that as you can get. So, we stopped by the store to get the ingredients (and three stores later had actually found them all...even chocolate chips) set up shop in their kitchen and baked us some cookies. Actually, a lot of them. And my stomach kinda hurts now from so much raw dough consumption. But it definitely hit the spot.

Chocolate chips are pretty hard to find here, but I found two small bags (which cleaned out half the store's supply!) for about $2.50 each. Now I know why people bring them over from the states. That's ok, I probably would've paid $10 for them, I had such a craving!

 

Here's me in the kitchen... horrible picture, but it was a sweet reunion. First time to be cooking in a kitchen in 7 weeks. It's like a jockey without a horse, or an IT guy without a computer (sorry, those were the best I could come up with!)...Cooking is one of my favorite things ever, and such a constant in my life, that it's been stretching to be away from it for so long. So being able to spend a few hours in the kitchen today was such a sweet treat (no pun intended). Though, with how hot it eventually got, I think I've had my fill for a few more weeks!! :) 

 mmmm...baking in the oven