Part II: Two More Videos for our "Video-Stream"

Lacey's "Inspiration-Stream" from Landon Yoder on Vimeo.

Life at Sweet Bean Coffeehouse from Lacey Yoder on Vimeo.

February Update

We are sending this month's update in Newsletter form again, directly to your email inbox. Please let us know if you did not receive the letter.

We will use our blog to share a few videos and photos from the past month.

Landon's Shave from Riki from Lacey Yoder on Vimeo.

Photos and Videos to Accompany January 2011 Newsletter: Part III

And finally, the video of us caroling on "Main Street" on Christmas Eve:

Photos and Videos to Accompany January 2011 Newsletter: Part II

A few photos since September 2010:

Lacey chatting with Monica



Christmas Eve party at Sweet Bean



Loaf of Artisan Bread from Sweet Bean



A November visit to Camp Bondsteel



Sweet Bean catered for a student Art Show



Sweet Bean's display case



Lumi i Bardhë River in Rugova Gorge



"Death by Chocolate" New Year's Cake


SB employees on local business tour



"Italian Breakfast" with homemade croissants



The beautiful fire in our woodstove



Our first big snow in December



A Canadian family visits Peja and joins us
for brunch at SB on Sunday morning

Photos and Videos to Accompany January 2011 Newsletter: Part I

In this post we offer you a photo diary (plus two videos) to accompany a newsletter that you should receive by email. If you did not receive the January 2011 newsletter by email and would like to, please email Landon or Lacey.

Because of the size of the videos, we will upload the videos separately, then include all the photos together in a final post.

New Year 2011 at the Pyles':

Back in Kosovo

It has been about 10 days since we arrived back in Kosovo. Though we miss our friends and family in the States, we are very happy to be back to work in Peja.

The smell of ajvar floats through the air, a crisp wetness settles in, the sound of children walking to school surrounds us each morning, and the leaves begin their colorful retreat to hibernation. The Kosovan Fall is a spectacular sensory experience.

Since our return, we have met with most of our Sweet Bean employees to reconnect after our furlough. We are very proud of how our entire staff solved business challenges while we were away this summer. A few quiet afternoons last week gave us the opportunity to debrief the summer with our three managers and discuss the important role that a manager plays in guiding the entire staff toward our “golden moment,” the moment in time when a customer is standing at the display case to see if any of the baked goods strikes his or her fancy. This moment is the moment on which Sweet Bean’s survival depends—and the manager’s job is to bring all the multi-sensory components of the bakery together to make that moment a success (for us, to make a sale; for the customer, to satisfy). Our managers have grown in their effectiveness even since we’ve returned, and we are looking forward to a fruitful semester with them as our drivers.

Lacey has been back to experimenting with new products, streamlining operations, and pioneering new revenue streams. Since we’ve been back, she has tried out a few recipes from the Tartine bakery cookbook (croissants, lemon bars, apple squares, chocolate squares, gingerbread); Beautiful Breads, Fabulous Fillings by Margaux Sky (goat cheese and ajvar wrapped bread); and her favorite blogs (cinnamon raisin bagels, spiced cider, coconut cake balls). The croissants, apple squares, gingerbread, and wrap bread will likely make it onto our regular menu.

Our work at Qendra Qiriazi is also evolving this month. Our colleague, Joanna, will soon return permanently to the States after 3+ years in Kosovo. We will miss her joyful, enthusiastic spirit and natural ability to connect with high school students in Peja. In her absence, we will continue Qiriazi’s weekly leadership club, which plans and executes a bi-annual community service project. We are also collaborating with another colleague to expand Qiriazi’s work with university students in Prishtina, the capital city. Landon will continue as the Acting Director of Qiriazi. In all, we sense that our work with Qiriazi will be more focused on leadership training in the next season. We look forward to developing original, simulation-based leadership curriculum in the Albanian language and training high school and university students with that curriculum.

On a personal front, we are both exploring potential Master’s programs in the States and in Europe. We would begin a program as early as Fall 2011 and are discerning how that would play into our work in Kosovo.

We wish you all a bountiful and peaceful Fall, wherever you may spend it.

Servant Leadership Camps, July 2010

First off, HELP! Are you notified whenever we update this blog? Please comment below or email l c y a l i a s @ m a c . c o m (remove the spaces) to let us know what you've though of this blog over the last year. Your feedback will help us blog better.

Servant Leadership Camp If you've been reading our blog long enough, this entry will look familiar: we have completed another pair of leadership camps. Although the format and location were the same as past years', the combination of staff and students makes each camp unique and dynamic. These camps were our last projects before returning to the US for a wedding and some R&R. Landon's Dad, Mom and youngest brother came to visit and to staff the second camp. All three of them contributed majorly to that camp's success, and hit it off great with the students.
A bonus sessions with Darko, HS camp speaker. The students were hungry to learn and attended 4 bonus lectures in their free time.	Darko fields a question. It's a good sign when teenagers are awake - not to mention asking questions - at the end of a lecture!	We use lots of games (some physical!) to make the leadership and life lessons experiential and memorable!
Landon's dad, Tom, was speaker at the second camp, which was for for University students.	In both camps, students belonged to "teams" to discuss lecture themes, applying them personally.	University students are in red and camp staff are in blue, including 4 student-translators.
The Qiriazi Center has held camps at the same mountain-lodge for over 5 years in a row, and their staff really enjoy serving us.	This game of rugby/football on the mountaintop was short but fun because nobody knew the rules.	Tom takes in the view up high, while teams meet below.