Parties, Art and Longyis

Ok. So it's been a week and a half since I last posted. Sorry friends. I got sick again. Oh yes. More on that later. Anyways, while I was sick the FIRST time I mentioned that Matt partied it up. The reason for the parties (although who needs a reason) was to say goodbye to 6 single sisters that were leaving. So there were a couple parties at our house for them. Sunday the 29th was the first and largest. They played party games, such as "guess what is in the bag":

Barb with the girls that are leaving.(The one in pink was not leaving.)

Here is Lenny explaining how to play the "scissors game":

It took a long time to figure it out. I don't like to brag but I got it the first round when I learned earlier.

And then everyone enjoyed dessert, Pavlova and Fruit with a Fresh Mango Puree sauce. (It has been Mango season since we got here, but now it is changing.) Courtesy of Lenny. I got to try it too, Matt brought me up a plate. YUM!!!!! First time we have had Pavlova.


Monday evening they had another, smaller gathering for the girls. Matt went to that but I still had a 102 temp so I didn't attend that one either. I stayed in bed through Wednesday and took it slow on Thursday. Apparently there were like 20 people sick that week. Thursday evening there was a little party to spend time together as a house. I made my FIRST Vanilla cake from scratch ever! Vanilla, boring. But it tasted pretty good for my first try. My only other cake attempts have been my Mom's coffee cake (yum) and boxed cake at home (yum). We had a nice evening chatting. Friday was work, and 2 sisters helped me since I had been out all week and didn't accomplish ANYTHING. Friday evening is Market and then we just relaxed.

Saturday morning I went out and about with Dale and Courtney. Matt wasn't feeling well all week, although he insisted on not resting. So Saturday morning he stayed in bed getting much needed rest. The 3 of us had an AMAZING morning. Yearbook worthy. Tell you all about it someday if you remember to ask:) In the afternoon I took a nap and then went to the market with Rachel. I had to pick up 2 shirts we had ordered for Matt and also take a look at a painting. The art here is absolutely beautiful. There are 2 art gallerys here that we love to browse through. A couple weeks before we had asked an owner about getting a painting done in one style with the colors of another. So I went to take a look at it. I loved it. I bought it. Yes, I bought art. We are now ART OWNERS! Rachel and I got it in the taxi just before it started to rain.

We had to stop at the supermarket so we wrestled it in and out of another taxi, in between downpours. And when we got it home I unveiled it for Matt:


Isn't it beautiful? It makes us happy to look at it. Now, you may be thinking, how on earth is she getting that home? Ha! I have a plan. No worries. Hakuna Matata. Saturday evening Rachel and I made dinner for the 4 of us which was pretty good!

Sunday August 5th we had pancakes in the am and then went to meeting. I wore my Longyi for the first time in public:


Laday! All the sister's kept telling me that and it means beautiful in Myanmar. The local sisters really appreciate it when we wear their dress. I wore it in honor of Matt having his first talk here in Myanmar. For which he wore his custom tailored new white shirt:


He did so good. As always. After meeting a big group of us went for sushi. I stepped in mud on the way to the restaurant. Yucky. In my pretty gold shoes too. Pout:(. This is the restaurant:


In the evening we went to House 5 and visited with a couple from New Zealand and a couple from Australia. We left early so we could get a good start on our week.

The week started uneventfully...Our Favorite Snail turned up missing. Turns out he met his end because he kept pooping on the wall outside the cafe dining room. He was the coolest snail ever too. He was as big as my palm and 5 inches long with his head out too. We would look at him everyday but he did make a huge mess. Did you know snails poop? I didn't. But it's just like that book that my niece has which according to Matt is titled "Who Pooped in the Park?". Have you read it? Well it's very informative. And totally scientific;)

Poor guy. I asked the gardener about him to find out the truth about what happened. He felt bad that we were sad about it. Anyways meeting Wednesday... On Thursday I got to prep guest rooms. One room was completely out of sorts, they moved an office out and furniture in. It was a crazy day. But it was nice to do something different. Plus I learned to make some towel creations. (Snails too, sniff sniff...) I didn't have time to take pictures, too crazy but now I can practice for next time. My elephants look really stupid though. Need to get tips from Tera. Well that is all for this post. I'm nearly caught up guys!