Amish Country

Last Saturday, 3 close friends from church and I took a day trip to the Amish Country in Ohio, a 1.5 hour drive from Columbus. It rained the whole day, but despite the inclement weather, it was a lovely trip. I can't believe how different Ohio is outside of the city. Talk about state-schizophrenia: once you get out of Columbus, the countryside is rolling with fields (and fields and fields) of green that are dotted with charming small towns.

This is Ohio

Our first stop was the Amish-Mormon bakery, Troyer's Home Bakery, located at 28991 Mickley Rd, Danville, Ohio 43014. Three Amish families converted to Mormonism a few years back, which led to them being ostracized by their community. These families banded together and opened a bakery and a furniture shop. It's a sad situation, and I admire their tenacity and courage.

And their food. Oh my word, their homemade pies... HEAVENLY. I tried their blueberry pie and chocolate peanut butter pie a few months ago, and could not believe how delicious they were. I'm not a huge fan of berry pies because they tend to be tart, but not this blueberry pie. It wasn't tart, and had the right amount of sweetness. And their chocolate peanut pie didn't look appealing but you don't understand how good it is until you taste it.

This time, I bought a strawberry rhubarb pie because I've never had a rhubarb pie before. It's a 9 inch pie, that should be shared among, what, 6-8 people?

Sorry, not going to happen. That pie was so good, I've already scarfed down a good portion of it all by myself. Oops!

And we picked the right day to visit, because it was Customer Appreciate Day, and they gave out homemade soft pretzels and root-beer floats to all visitors. Let me tell you, their pretzels were A-PLUS A-MA-ZING!!! Like, seriously the best pretzel I've had, and my friends agreed. It was soft, with the right balance of salty-sweet flavor. SO SO SO SO SO GOOD. It's too bad they don't sell their pretzels though-- I would totally buy some home.

Buggies parked outside of Mrs. Yoder's kitchen

Anyway, after the ton of samples at the bakery, a root beer float, and the most delicious pretzel I've ever had, we went to eat at an Amish restaurant, Mrs. Yoder's Kitchen. Yeah, maybe not the best decision, but whatever. Day trip = eat and be merry right? Their buffet was $11.99, and had a variety of meats, salads, mashed potatoes, bread, homemade peanut butter and apple butter. It reminded me of another Amish restaurant in Ohio, Der Dutchman. Der Dutchman had a slightly wider spread, but Mrs. Yoder's Kitchen has Mennonite Amish people as part of the staff. Take your pick! Whichever your selection, however, the food is wonderful! Good old American country food... especially their roasted chicken and ribs. Amish people sure know how to cook homemade, comfort American food.

We then toured Heini's Cheese Chalet, where a group of Amish people make their own cheeses. Visitors can go on tours (click HERE for more info), and those who miss the tour can still sample the eye-popping variety of cheeses they make. Think of a savory flavor (bacon? Red pepper? Onion and chives?) and I'm pretty sure they make that flavor cheese-- no kidding! Really cool, though some taste better than others. They also offer a variety of fudges.

Our last stop was at the Berlin Antique and Craft Mall, where I found this "antique" for 2 dollars:

I'm enjoying my new CD even as I'm typing this. Brings back fond memories :) And um, this time I can actually understand what the lyrics are. Lol! The antique mall was really cool, while the craft shop had tourist-y stuff. Be warned.

We then drove home, tired but oh so satisfied. I definitely want to take my family there when they visit me. If anything, the pie is worth the drive alone!

[UPDATE on 26 JUNE 2016: I am devastated that Troyer's Home Bakery has closed business. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!] 

Spring Flowers

I don't know the previous tenants of my apartment, but whoever they are, THANK YOU. Because now that Spring has descended upon us (gorgeous!), I get a kick every time I step out to my back porch where my car is parked, and where my roommate and I have a tiny (like the size of a small dining table) plot of land for gardening.

Which is great if I was interested in gardening, but I'm not (yet... maybe when I'm married and have a family to feed?). So when Miss Cee and I moved in last August, we didn't touch that plot of land at all. Nada, nothing, nope.

Then, one day, I walked out and saw...

Sorry for the poor quality picture-- photo taken on a day with bad lighting. Anyway, I couldn't decide if it was the flower of a weed or a "real" flower (you know what I mean), but it looked cool! 

A couple days later, guess what...

Holy moly, four gorgeous orange-red tulips, surrounded by small plants that I cross my fingers are not weeds. It was such a pleasant surprise! Sadly, the past few days have been sunny and warm, which is great for human beings but not so much for tulips, so the plants have all wilted. *sob*

But this morning, as I stepped out to go to church, there were new flowers!

Sunny yellow flowers just in time for Mother's Day :) I also discovered a few garlic bulbs, which I accidentally ripped out in my haste to weed the "garden," which I hurridly planted back in... oops! I hope those garlic bulbs are okay. Actually, wait a minute, were those garlic bulbs?...  Shows you how little I know about gardening since I can't even recognize garlic bulbs.

Anyway, whoever my previous tenants are, thank you for being gardeners/ flower-planters because you are AWESOME! Sorry you can't enjoy the fruits flowers of your labor, but rest assure that I appreciate them :)

Happy, Relieved, and Sad

I write this post with a mixed bag of emotions.

First, my candidacy examination is finally over, and I passed! HOORAY!!! 22 pages of writing, a portfolio, and 2 hours of grilling by my committee members- SO GLAD it's over, and relieved that I don't ever have to experience this torture again. Shout out to my family and friends for their support and wishes of good luck. So touched!

That's slightly less than half of the books required for my exam. 

Time to lug them back to the library.

The first thing I did after my exam? I came home and took a long nap. I am mentally exhausted, and now that it is over, I'm happy but it's also, well, anti-climatic, like "Congratulations, your exam is over. Yeah! Now the research and writing really begins. Sorry sucker, you still have 2 more years." 

But inasmuch as it is a minor accomplishment, my celebration is dampened by the tragic news of the earthquakes in Nepal. As the death toll rose to 1,900 over the weekend (it's now 3,000+), I was struck by how much my prayers to God sounded like I was whining over trivial "stuff." There I was, anxious and pleading for divine help to pass an exam, while thousands had lost their homes and livelihood in minutes. 

It was a sobering reminder of what matters most in life. Yes, my heart is full of gratitude that God helped me through this difficult exam, but I'm also thankful that I even have the opportunity to be in graduate school to take this exam. And I can't thank God enough for keeping me and my family safe.

For those of you who would like to help, here are several organizations in need of donations. My friend, Erin Moore, has also created a "Go Fund Me" page to raise a $1,000 among her Facebook friends, which she will donate to CARE. Her page is HERE if you would like to contribute to her efforts. Erin was a friend from BYU who lived in India and visited Nepal (more details on her Go Fund Me page), and is a wonderful person with a kind heart. I hope that you will support her efforts, or at least donate to other organizations!  

Torture Part 1... OVER!!!

Just got done with the first part of my torture candidacy exam. 22 pages in less than 48 hours.

Me sending my paper to my committee members.

WOO HOO!

I'm such a slow writer, and so this part of the exam is the hardest for me. I'm ambivalent about the oral defense (torture part 2 is on April 27!) but writing... urgh! Kill me. And write 20 pages in 48 hours? I think I rather do 300 push-ups in one sitting. Or eat 10 Big Macs.

So I was extremely nervous when I retrieved the questions. To my relief, my adviser gave me 2 questions that we had discussed earlier this week, and I had written outlines for! I got those out of the way as fast as possible before tackling the 10 page essay. This section was TOUGH. I'm anxious to find out what my committee will say about this question... and my other two questions & my portfolio.

Did I mention that I had to submit a portfolio too? I had to compile my dissertation proposal and most of the papers I've written as a graduate student into one gigantic file. *Pfft* easy peasy cutting-and-pasting on the computer.

NOT.

Let me tell you, cutting-and-pasting essays into one Word document takes way longer than it sounds. Trust me on this.

But at least it is OVERRRRR! And I SURVIVEDDDDD! And I wrote 22 pages (slightly over limit of 20 but oh well)! And I got it done by Saturday night, so I don't have to go to church as a zombie tomorrow!

In all seriousness though, God bestowed upon me His tender mercy these past 2 days. I could never have done this without His divine guidance, both in the preparation and during the writing process.

Now, I'm off to sleep. And church on Sunday. Come Monday, it's back to examination preparation and grant writing!

Exciting News!

This morning, Thomas S. Monson, president of the LDS Church, announced that they will be building a LDS temple in Bangkok, Thailand.

HOORAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!

http://www.thailand-maps.com/south-east-asia-map.htm

The (future) Bangkok, Thailand temple is not the first in Southeast Asia. The honor goes to the Philippines, which already has 2 temples! BUT, it is the first in the "main" land area of Southeast Asia. This means that the majority of members in Southeast Asia don't have to travel so far to go to the temples anymore. It will be a tremendous blessing to neighboring countries as well where many members are still living in impoverished conditions.

So exciting!!!

Plus, *erhem* it's a wonderful excuse reason to travel to Thailand! Bangkok isn't the safest city in the world, and is notorious for traffic jams. But it's Thailand!

Heartache for Home

Yearning for home during this period of grief.

Here's hoping that the overwhelming spirit of unity and service that has engulfed the nation this week will continue.* 

*Lines for the public to pay their last respects stretched into 10 hours! Yet, no one complained (for once!). Not only did the line move in an orderly manner, volunteers handed out food and water for free. LKY would have been proud of this manifestation of Singapore's efficiency and generosity. Then, today, as his casket was moved from Parliament House to the University Cultural Hall for the state funeral, people lined the entire funeral procession despite the heavy rain! I can't recall Singaporeans doing something similar (lining the roads) growing up, and was so impressed by the unity and tenacity of the crowd. 

Oops! I Did It Again

It's confirmed-- the amount of brain cells I have is inversely proportionate to my level of stress. Remember last semester when I blogged about my mid-semester slump, and how I was so stressed out that I forgot about my meeting... after being reminded of it the day before?

Well, cue Britney Spear's "Oops! I Did It Again" (nostalgia! Even though I don't care for Britney). This time, however, I did remember my meeting, only...

I was walking from the bus stop to institute (Bible study class) when I saw one of my institute classmates headed in my direction from the church building. Puzzled, I asked him if class had been cancelled. He gave me this funny look, and said, "No, we just had class." I just stared at him, unable to comprehend what he meant.

Until he said, "Class was from 11:30 to 12:30. It's 12:30 now."

And that's when it dawned on me-- I had COMPLETELY gotten my time mixed-up!!! How did I do that?! I have NEVER done that before! In my mind, I knew class was at 11:30, but somehow, when I looked at the bus schedule, I decided to take the 12:04 bus. *facepalm* Miss Keesh epic fail.

I'm telling you, examination preparation is *literally* killing my brain cells.
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Anyway, on a more somber note, a few days ago I paid tribute to Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew. His death has shaken the country, and I have been pleasantly surprised at the unity shown forth by the nation in mourning for him. Throngs of people lined the street on Wednesday when his body was moved from the Istana to the Parliament House. Now that the public can pay their respect to him until Sunday, here is a video put forth by  The Straits Times (the national newspaper of Singapore) showing how long the line was on the first day:

(Click HERE in case the link doesn't work.) 

The journey took 20-25 minutes to walk from the end of the line to the Parliament House. People stood in line for HOURS (so far the longest has been 8!). I think even the government was taken by surprise because they hurriedly extended viewing hours to accommodate everyone, and the train system (MRT) announced that it will run 24 hours on Wednesday so that people can ride public transportation home. Thankfully the second day saw lesser crowds.

SGAG, a Facebook page dedicated to satirizing Singapore, decided to stop posting jokes this week. Retail giant Metro and Singapore Betting Pools also announced that they will close on Sunday for the state funeral, while other shops have canceled events, including the official store opening of Kate Spade. Wait, there is a Kate Spade opening in Singapore?! It's official: mass consumerism has not only taken root, it has grown 10 stories deep underground.  

Anyway, aside from the fact that the whole nation has united in mourning, more impressive is the kindness shown by Singaporeans for their fellow Singaporeans. Singaporeans are NOT known for being a gracious society, despite it being hammered into us by (who else?) the government. If you want gracious, go to Taiwan. Serious.

Yet, the death of LKY has brought out the kindness in each other. According to The Straits Times and other social media sites, an undergraduate bought about 20 burgers and randomly handed them out to people during dinner time. Businesses also gave out water, paper fans, and free flowers to those in line as well. To be honest, I was astonished at their generosity. I think even the government took their cue from them and arranged for volunteers to give out snacks and water, and finally thought about giving priority viewing to the elderly, handicapped and children. Yup, I have such little faith in my fellow Singaporeans, and I am glad I've been proven wrong.

Makes me proud to claim Singapore as home.