Cedarville Magazine, Summer 2013

20 | Cedarville Magazine There are a number of ways you can benefit from a gift of land or commercial real estate while helping our mission at the same time. Consider the benefits of transferring your real estate using one of these options: Options Benefits Give Property Outright to Cedarville ▪ Charitable Deduction ▪ Tax Savings Give Property to Charitable Trust ▪ Income ▪ Charitable Deduction ▪ Tax Savings Give Property for Charitable Gift Annuity ▪ Fixed Income ▪ Charitable Deduction ▪ Tax Savings Part Gift and Part Sale ▪ Cash & Income ▪ Charitable Deduction ▪ Tax Savings Do You Want to Sell Your Real Estate Tax-free? cedarville.edu/giftlegacy 1-800-766-1115 A Cross-cultural Appetite by Stacy (Taylor) Weber ’00 I am not yet fluent in theThai language, so interactions with my Bangkok neighbors often involve sharing food over the fence. They give me fruit from their trees; I give them homemade cookies. When the Buddhist monks came to dedicate one neighbor’s spirit house, their spread included an array of fruit and various animal parts. When the party ended, they were gracious to share the leftovers — a tray of pig intestines, hooves, and bananas, which we accepted with a smile. We sneaked the intestines out of the house later that night, but we used the bananas to make bread and took it to their home along with their tray. When they sent the tray back with Thai desserts, we returned it with cookies and fruit. The tray kept coming back with new and sometimes unusual tastes to try. I grew up in a small farming community in Washington. We had one Americanized Chinese restaurant in our meat-and- potatoes town, and that was about the extent of our food culture. We knew about French toast and, of course, spaghetti, but Indian food? Never. So it was a complete shock to be in South Africa in 1999, on my first MIS trip, eating three meals a day of curry, spices, and naan ... with my hands. We arrived in Phoenix, a large Indian community near Durban, and I had determined before I left that I would eat whatever was placed in front of me. I loved curry from the start. I had never tasted food with so many different flavors. Even the fruit was interesting and new. The women in Phoenix fascinated me. They spent all day in their primitive kitchens preparing the evening meal. I wondered how, and why, they did it. I wanted to learn how to prepare their foods so I could take them back to my family. I thought I could learn by helping, and that maybe I could relieve some of their time in the kitchen. “Oh, it’s easy,” they’d say. “A little of this, a little of that ...” as they’d add ingredients with their hands. But how much , I’d press, needing an exact measurement. Looking back, I don’t think they understood that I knew nothing of what they grew up knowing. The stories behind the food could not be conveyed in cups and teaspoons. After graduation, I worked at Cedarville and enjoyed having friends tomy apartment for biryani, a rice and curry dish I’d learned to make when I returned to Durban as a student teacher. My friend, Brian Burns ’95, said, “I should call George to come over; he loves Indian food.” George Weber ’97 was a missionary kid raised in Bangladesh. We had spent time together with groups of friends, and there had been some early sparks, but I was nervous about him coming over ... he knew how this dish was supposed to taste! It must have turned out OK, because we had our first official date in April 2002 (my first time to try Thai food), and we were married the following June. In 2006, God brought us to Thailand where George teaches and coaches soccer at the International Community School of Bangkok. Around the major holidays, Christmas and the April water festival, Songkran, we exchange gifts with our backyard neighbors. They brought us the most amazing massaman curry, the best I’ve ever tasted. I’d love to learn how to make it. Our relationship is friendly, but not yet to the point that it’s culturally comfortable to have me in their home for a cooking lesson. For now, we’ll continue exploring, tasting, sharing, and passing foods to each other across the gate. Stacy (Taylor) Weber ’00 and her husband, George ’97, live in Bangkok, Thailand, with their children, Kylie, Layla, and Matthew. You may contact her at stacyandgeorge2003@ gmail.com.