This evening, Keven and I took the girls to an informal pot-luck dinner with three members of the MBA program and their spouses. For my contribution, I decided to be as American as possible and make my mom's best apple pie recipe. Why shrink from a great desert custom? Kai is in Keven's cohort and does risk management (insurance), and his wife Jing is working toward her PhD in statistics. She brought these rolls of chicken, eggs & seaweed that Ilsa and I thought were great. Ilsa - of all people - ate it up. Yan is in supply chain management, and her husband Jingtao is in the middle of his 5-year stint as a biochemistry PhD candidate. Eek! They brought a dish of mushrooms and egg, some "drunken" sweetpeas (with Chinese rice wine), and some traditional sticky rice. And finally there was Rasti and his wife Katarina (Katka) from Slovakia. Rasti is in finance, and Katka taught Kindergarten in Slovakia. Now she works part-time as a private nanny and hopes to found a Slovakian-style Kindergarten in the future (in general this means more languages and physical fitness programs, she said). They brought bread, goulash and wine - excellent.
So we spent about 2 1/2 hours at the picnic shelter here at Eagle Heights (we all live here), where the girls could play on the equipment while we ate and talked. It was a really easy, friendly, accepting bunch. I felt incredibly relaxed, which is odd for me in situations with new people. We had a great mix of cultures, experiences, travels - everything to fuel interesting conversations, mostly comparative things about food, customs, weather. It was dark when we left, with the girls finally too tired to continue. They did us a great service by being so good, amiable, and generally self-contained. I felt able to relax and have a good time.
Tomorrow is the Joint Ventures opening get-together, and Katka is driving me and Jing. I like that - I get to mingle with new folks, but I'll already have some people that I know as well. Keven is watching the girls, hoping that he'll have enough time during the day tomorrow to complete the reading on his first day of class.
4 comments:
Isn't it great to have this fantastic opportunity to get to experience again the uni environment, by living in a campus and attending such a youth crowd from all over the globe? With the difference, of course, of two little ninas around, making the whole experience more challenging, rewarding and rich... ;o )
I am having SUCH a good time with these new people. Jing, Katka and I went out again last night and had dinner with some MBAs and their spouses. And yes, it makes me want to stay involved with ANY university for a long time to come, just for the people and unique experiences!
How fun! I love that you hang out with such interesting folks and the food sounds so good...I love the pie too! What's the recipe?
Mix:
8-12 Granny Smiths (or other cooking) apples; peeled, cored & sliced
3/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Put apples in uncooked pie shell.
Cut topping together w/ pastry cutter:
3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. butter/margerine
Sprinkle topping over apples. Bake for 10 minutes at 425F, then reduce heat to 350F and bake another 30-35 minutes.
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