Can miracles be made of sugar? I think they can!

Dear All,

So once again, it’s been a little while since I’ve written. It’s not that I didn’t want to write, it’s just that as every day becomes more everday-ish, I find it harder to think of things to write to you about.

Lately, my life has been very full of planning. Planning my trip to the states (WOOHOO!), planning my upcoming presentation, planning my next year here, planning one last Fulbright sponsored trip to the field, and above all, planning the deep breathe I’ll take when all the planning is done.

Mostly, my plans are progressing nicely. For a bit, I was in quite a funk, and I had difficulty accomplishing much of anything. Fortunately, life didn’t let me stay that way for more than a few days, and now I’m both busy and productive. My trip dates are set (Aug 28^th through Sept 14^th). And my flight details are in progress. My presentation is all but done, I’m registered for my class, I’ve got a decent (and perhaps even fulfilling) teaching job lined up, and my visa is taken care of. Looking back on it, it seems like a long string of small miracles.

Of course, life isn’t all work, so I’ll just finish briefly with my “sweet shop” story. I apologize for those of you who may have heard this already, but frankly, it continues to make me happy (and fat) so I keep talking about it! So there is a sweet shop very near to my house that I occasionally visit. The sweet shop sells all sorts of delicious Nepali and Indian treats. But for weeks, I’d only order one thing, the julabi. Finally, the very friendly shop owner asked me, “Why do you only order Julabi?” and with no small degree of embarrassment, I admitted, “because it’s the only thing I know the name of.” The owner chuckled, handed me my snack, and asked me to come back tomorrow.

Because I would never dare upset a sweet shop owner, I dutifully appeared the next morning. He smiled, and instead of heading toward the case where the julabi usually sits waiting for me, he ushered me to a table. In a matter of moments, I was surrounded by sweets of all kinds, each arriving with a polite introduction. I was absolutely giddy. 30 minutes later, I was absolutely roly poly, but still just as happy. And I can now say, with certainity, that dudh malai is my favorite south asian sweet, followed closely, by my old friend julabi. Now whenever I visit the sweet shop, the owner gives me a little something to take with me. Buffalo is very lucky I’m not too fickle, or I may have been swept away by sugary goodness.

Of course, this new found friend is quickly helping me recover all that weight I’d lost from being sick, but I’m taking the advice of my favorite priest, and not fretting over it too much. Once I had begun to tell say, “Well, if I ate chocolate as much as I’d like..” and he quickly chimed in, “you’d be happy.” And I think it’s an excellent point. So, in short, if you’re wondering what I’m so busy doing as of late, I’m planning, planning, planning, and eating chocolate and sweets!

Oh and in completely unrelated but equally exciting news, I’ve just received a manuscript of another much more established anthropologist’s upcoming book (yes, it’s the anthropologist’s equivalent of getting to walk the red carpet at a world premiere). Thus far, it is fantastic, and it’s both fantastically exciting and humbling to have the privilege to work with such great minds. If you ever wonder why I’ve moved to Nepal, the simplest answer is because of manuscripts like this!

Still missing you all! But I’ll see you soon.

All my love,