Attack of the Peppers

Tiffany:
One of the first things you notice when you go anywhere new is the food. Before coming to China I had read about the type of food in this region but nothing prepared me for the peppers. Every dish (whether for dinner or breakfast) is full of peppers. Red, yellow, green - they are all there. Josh loves the spice but my mouth stays on fire for an hour after each meal. Peppers are used for spice (they pile on those seeds) and to eat with the meal. I have never eaten so many peppers as I have eatten these past few weeks. Once winter rolls around the price for peppers rises considerably. So naturally, everyone (yes, everyone) buys as many as they can and hangs them out to dry out so they can eat them in the winter. It kind of gives off the winter holiday feel as red peppers are draped over trees, between trees, across windows and even on the ground - everywhere.

This last picture is of a man making flat bread. It is so cool how he makes them in a barrel. He flattens the dough on the table and then puts them on the inside edge of the barrel. There is a cement slope the keeps the dough in place. Then in the middle is an open flame. When he puts the bread in he covers it with the lid and not one minute later you have bread! It's truly amazing. They actually make a meat and peppers (of course) sandwhich by splitting the flat bread and filling it. It is quite scrumptious.


Josh:
I do like the peppers, I admit it. It definitely does a good job of clearing your sinuses! Which is what both Tiffany and I need right now. My motto - "Pile on the peppers!"; Tiff's motto - "Pick out the peppers!". Works out very nicely. Many of you don't know this, but right now our apartment is being worked on so the school has put us up in a pretty nice hotel. So along with being away from our "home" (the apartment) for the past week and a half, I'm starting to get a bit sick. It's not that bad, though. Sick for me just means a cough and a runny nose.

Right now we still feel a bit in limbo because we're not yet truely "settled in". They decided to do construction work on the apartments so we had no choice but to leave. Once we finally get to move in, put up our decorations, stock the fridge (heck yea!), and maybe even get a pet (are you kidding me??), then things will feel a little more home-ey. Even right now we are writing this from the computer in my classroom because the computer at our house was built about a century ago (or so it seems from it's snail pace).

Well, I hope you all don't mind long posts. We have to go now because classes are over and we have a "banquet" with the president of the school tonight to celebrate teacher's day. We hope all of you are doing well, and if you haven't already, drop us a line! We have time to correspond personally with anybody willing to e-mail us. If you look to the right of this blog, we have put up both of our e-mail addresses and a physical address. We think of you all often thanking our Father for the blessing of great friends and family back home.