Girls Just Wanna Have FUN!

We had our friends over last weekend for an all-out girls night!The girls were so excited to come over, b/c they said they'd only seen about slumber parties in the movies. So we kicked of the night with pizza and cupcakes!Then went into spa mode!Painting our nails!Foot scrubs!Games!And facemasks!

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears her Maker is to be praised.

Look what I found!

A few days ago I was running all around the city trying to help a friend. We came across this huge market that caught my eye b/c there were huge pool floats hanging outside (that's a rarity here). So we stopped in just to have look, and some shoes hanging up on the wall drew my attention that way. As I looked over the cheap flip-flops hanging there, I had a big surprise. Right in the smack dab middle of the shoes were a pair of FLORIDA GATOR flip-flops! (Okay this is even more rare b/c collegiate sports gear just doesn't exist here, and there was nothing else collegiate in this little store). So I ripped them off the wall, put them on, walked down the entire hallway of the market and back again, and couldn't believe they were a PERFECT fit! (and good quality) The even bigger shocker came when I asked the price- I felt like I was stealing when he only made me pay around 2 bucks for them!

Duh, duh, duh, duh-duh-duh... Go GATORS!

Weekend Wanderings

This past weekend the weather was really nice, so we went for a climb up to this pagoda with some friends.

It was a little overcast but the view was pretty spectacular along the way.So many stairs!And this precious punkin' was a special blessing when we reached the top!Cat and I.Our district of the city.Luke helped us climb up onto the roof of a building, and I managed to get up and back down again safely in flip-flops. :)Finally heading back down the mountain!We finished out the day with our landlord eating Hot Pot, picnic style, on the side of a mountain.

Photo Shoot :)

Our teacher decided it would be a great idea to get all the female foreign students and our teachers together for a photo shoot! So our first assignment was to dress in modern clothes:and our second was to dress in traditional Asian clothes:These are the traditional clothes of 2 different countries in Asia. Our classmates switched clothes with our teachers in this pic:Our beloved teacher:Then Joy, our classmate, and I went around campus and had a lil photo shoot of our own, mainly b/c this was one of the only times I've worn a skirt in EA ;)

Minority Village Pt. 2

We got to tour around the exhibition in style in this buggy!Behold the beauty of the peoples of East Asia:

May all the peoples praise Him!

Minority Village

The girls and I had the chance to travel for the past couple of weeks, and one of the places we got to visit is a huge minority exhibition. Minority usually has a derogatory connotation, but it's the word used here to distinguish the different people groups of East Asia. On a normal day you probably couldn't make too much of a distinction b/w someone who is a minority and someone who is not. But these different groups have their own distinct languages, traditional housing, clothes, ceremonies, and beliefs that set them apart. So at this minority exhibition they have people from the different groups come to this one place to live for around 6 months out of the year. Each group has their own village inside of the exhibition that shows what life is like for their people. It was a really cool experience for us, since living in the big city we never see anything but fast-paced development.This post has pics of the differnt styles of homes. More pics of the people coming soon :)Farming hats!This was my favorite home, it's a tree house!We got to end the day by taking the zip line across a big lake!

Domestication

This is just a quick post to thank my roomies for joining in the task to help domesticate me! I've been vigorously taking mental notes watching them do everything from cooking to taking care of me over the past year...and I decided it was time to give back! I made cookies from scratch for the first time in my life! Like, all by myself, the girls weren't even on supervision duty in the kitchen! And most of the cookies had little to no burn marks on them :) So I'm gonna share the recipe with ya:

Banana Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, very soft
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mashed banana (1 small/medium)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips
**Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
**In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
**In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Beat in egg and banana, followed by the vanilla extract. Gradually, on low speed or by hand, add in the flour mixture. Stir in the oats (either whole rolled oats or "quick cooking") and chocolate chips.
**Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet.
**Bake for 11-14 minutes at 350F, until set and lightly browned.
**Let cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan before transfering them to a wire rack to cool completely.
(Makes 2 dozen cookies.)

Thank you SO much to those who've been a part of sending many of these ingredients our way!

And a big thanks to ALL you Pr0v3rbs 31 wives, mothers, and diligent women in my life...who've poured your lives into mine! I'm blessed by knowing yall and watching yall treasure Him!!!

Ok, so I'm gonna go learn to sow now! :)