edited to add:  I just added a few more photos to Flickr… finally.

Yesterday a couple from our home fellowship was in town. They were here to visit a friend of ours who lives here, who also happens to be from our home fellowship (she lives clear on the other side of town from us, which means bus, ferry, and taxi rides – needless to say, we don’t get to see her as much as we’d like). This couple was on vacation in a nearby country, and they decided to “pop on over” to see our country for a few days. We met them for coffee at Starbucks yesterday, before they boarded the plane back home.

Even though we don’t know them that well, it was really great hearing about Austin, our fellowship, and people we mutually know. In fact, when we left, Kabob and I were a smidge homesick – nothing major, just a little bummed that we wouldn’t be boarding that same plane to see the people we love.

It encouraged us a few weeks ago when we passed the six month mark of living overseas. Has it really been that long already?! Time really has flown by. Granted, we’ve done a lot – a lot – of unusual things we hopefully won’t have to do in the next six months. But we will be birthing a second baby, rapidly sluggishly learning another language, raising a toddler, and making friends. Hopefully that will pass the time, too.

Back to yesterday… As we were parting with our friends, we asked our friend who lives here about a store she’s rumored to know about. The word on the street is that you can buy Dr. Pepper at this store. Yep, you heard me right – Dr. Pepper. Texas Liquid Gold.

It turned out the store was only a few blocks away from where we were standing. So we went. Lo and behold, this little mom-and-pop store not only had Dr. Pepper, it had Ranch dressing, A1 sauce, cans of pork-n-beans, Whoppers, York Peppermint Patties, and… SHARP CHEDDAR CHEESE. I know. You can rejoice right along side me. It was a little slice of heaven. So we picked up about 8 cans of soda, A1 sauce, the peppermint patties, a can of beans, and the cheese…. and the grand total?

$51.00.

That’s right, $51 US dollars. Needless to say, we put most of it back, kept a few sodas and the cheese, and still walked out happy campers. We won’t go there but a few times a year, but it’s good to know it’s not too far from us. It’ll make for good stocking stuffers.

Last night we had a wee bit of cheddar cheese on our baked potatoes. Chickpea took one look at it and said, “What’s that?”

“It’s cheese, honey. Cheddar cheese.”

“Oh, okay.” She takes a bite. ” Can I have some more orange cheese?”

posted: 07 September 18
under: culture