T-Day and new (cool) hobby...

You all have been quite inquisitive (that's a good thing, I love getting questions from home) about my first big holiday here so I've included some snapshots of all our food, our beautiful table and the obligatory "kids' table." So cute!

*Note it's "T----- Day!" NOT "Turkey Day!" I think a turkey was the only thing missing. We had mashed and sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, cornbread stuffing, macaroni and cheese, corn casserole, 7 layer salad, pies, cakes and lots more I don't remember right now.









In other exciting news, I have started a new hobby! My mom sent me a scrapbook, and I started it today. It's my first scrapbook since the mid-90's before Creative Memories days. My roomie and I were talking about how scrapbooking is now intimidating since everyone has all this fancy stuff and it looks all professional. I hope my third world supplies won't be mocked when I return home and show off my book =^O. In any case, I had a great time relaxing with that project today, and I don't feel intimidated by my scrapbook anymore. Another emotional dilemma I had to face in scrapbooking was fear of mockery of my new hobby. Apparently, since Creative Memories and other such companies have invaded our art stores it's questionable where your loyalties lie now - are you still someone who wants to "stick it to the man" or are you a sell out? Since it's out of the realm of possibility for me to go to the invaded art store, I convinced my most concerned friend I'm still cool and proceeded with my new hobby. So now that all emotional concerns are put aside, I am an excited and new scrapbooker! =^)

oooh la la

Thursday was my roomie's last day here so we thought we'd get some beautiful henna as a send off for her. She's headed to a land where it's not so popular or intricate. We went to my teacher's house at 10 am and went with her to the lady's house. We got there about 10:45 and were there until 7 pm!! We even got to eat lunch with them.

After she painted the black stuff on you get smeared with vasoline then powdered with baby powder. Then they tell you that you can't shower until the morning!




















And it's not just for big people! This is one of my favorite people here:























We also had a fiesta for her going away!

We began the party by going to a photo studio "downtown" and having a few photos of all of us together made. We decided to go with the digital option and let them pick "appropriate" backgrounds. There are pictures below of the results. So here we are getting ready and at the "fiesta," complete with guacamole, enchiladas, homemade tortilla chips, salsa, bean dip, and "sparkling coconas" drinks (I didn't mistype, that's what it said on the bottle. Your basic non-alcoholic sparkling pineapple coconut soda).