They call it "Holiday!"

If it means time away from school or work, it's "holiday" around here! Vacation? No such word. It's holiday! For Thankgiving, some student missionaries were invited to a couple holiday dinners (on two separate days that is) by some gracious American hosts in the area. We even had a TURKEY for one of them, which is absolutely unheard of. In the expensive international market, the 12 pound turkey cost over 50 bucks.

So I wanted to try my hand at contributing a homemade pie to our Thanksgiving meals. Here's number one! It took me over 3 hours to make, not counting the cooking time! Haha. It was fun though, and a good learning experience. A bit discouraging at various moments, but the time I spent proved itself worthy as the second one I put out came out much better - YAY!

Jorge and I had to take a forced vacation to Loas a few weeks ago to apply for new visas. During our time there, we were taken to a Hmong village for their New Year's celebration! We were the only foreigners there meaning... it was a special honor to be able to go. The Hmong village is a hilltribe from Southeast Asia that has never had a country of their own per say, but have been forced to settle in their own separate territories throughout Thailand, Laos, and other countries. Their costumes are so intricate and beautiful! And they love having their pictures taken.

More on our trip to Laos to come!