Selections Since the Last Post

A lot has happened since my last post. My visa run did not go according to plan (well, our plan anyway) - two of my three flights were cancelled, I had a little trouble with immigration leaving the country and my plans of engaging the culture fell through - BUT God is so gracious and His fingerprints were all over my trip. He gave me grace with officials, provided me with women to hang around and gave me some time with Him. One of the highlights from the trip was meeting a girl from Sweden who was doing a visa run like me. I hope to see her again soon.

I am now safely and happily back "home." Yesterday, I received a package from my mom. The post office in itself was a cultural experience but I was so excited to get a package. She sent me some chocolate (mmm...American chocolate!), bug lotion, make-up (a few thoughts on that below), a Valentine's gift and a few other things. My mom is so sweet. She wrapped everything in newspaper so I got to catch up on my hometown news as well. hehe

Beauty: My mom is big into Avon and is always buying me a little something from their magazine. I am very thankful for this. I wear make-up (though not so much here) and like to do so, but it is not high enough on my priority list to buy myself. So you can thank my mom for making the world a better place by providing her daughter with make-up (because there are some days when it is a necessity!). The ladies here wear make-up as well, although, in my opinion, I don't think they need it. Below is a picture of one of the ladies God has brought into my path. We had her over for tea (or at least our poor attempt to make it the national way). When she saw this picture, her reaction was: "I'm so dark," which is the opposite of my reaction: "I'm so white." It's all about perspective. The idea of beauty is all about perspective as well. In this county, the lighter you are, the prettier you are. In America, the opposite is true: the darker you are, the prettier you are (proven by our tanning beds and fake-tan products). I am convinced that the standard of beauty for a culture is based on what is hardest for that culture to achieve.

Health: Eating healthy is so hard here. Most things are fried or cooked in oil and whole grain food is virtually nonexistant, so today I tried my hand at making homemade granola from a recipe I found online. It was a little bit of a challenge finding the things the recipe called for at the store, but after some tweaking, I made my first batch. It turned out pretty good if I don't say so myself.