It’s funny because
living away from home you realize all the little things that you miss..
especially things you didn’t know would. On the World Race people crave the
randomest things…for our team last month it was POP TARTS! I don’t even eat
pop tarts in my normal life but someone brought up pop tarts and we all started
screaming out our favorite flavors like we were little kids. Some other random
things I miss that I haven’t eaten this year: turkey sandwiches, Reese’s peanut
butter cups, strawberries, bagels, Cheez-its, Friendly’s ice cream, etc (you
get the idea). We certainly are not suffering, they have plenty of cool stuff
overseas too…you just miss the familiarity I guess. (Thankfully my awesome
mom just sent me some goodies which I’ll get next week when I see the missions
team from my church!)
One of my favorite
candy has always been gummy bears. When I was in college my dad would send me
care packages with not only gummy bears but gummy worms, gummy fish, gummy feet
or any gummy product he could find on earth. (You’re the best, dad!) So you can
imagine my delight one day when I went to a little fruit and vegetable stand
near the community center and saw they had big bags of gummy bears for 5 rand
(that’s about $.75) This is a very good deal in South Africa where food can be
pricey. I got so excited I bought a bag and they turned out to be the best
gummy bears I’ve ever had! I shared my joy with everyone and next thing I knew
people were slipping me money and asking me to get them a bag. I went back to
the stand and was shocked when I found there were no gummy bears! So I ask the
fruit man, “Excuse me, but where are all the gummy bears that were here
yesterday?” The man proceeds to tell me that they are at his house and he
would run and get them and be right back. Next thing I know he’s hopping in his
pimped out neon green truck with the ‘Poor Man’s Pride’ bumper sticker and
driving away. Now normally I might be left standing there feeling like I’m on
candid camera… but this is the World Race, after all, and bizarre stuff
happens all the time. But it IS funny when his associate comes across the
street and says,’Can I help you with something?’ and I say, “Oh, um…..
I’m just, uh, here for the gummy bears”.. That’s right—- I’m the gummy
bear girl. (Naturally I’m buying the only junk food item in an otherwise
healthy fruit and vegetable stand).
But as the days go by
this month we literally buy this man out of his supply of gummy bears. They see
me coming and they break out the candy. People don’t want just one bag, they
want 2 or 3 or 4. I become a gummy bear dealer…I walk into the stand and say,
‘Hey man, you got the stuff for me today?’. (If you knew the context you would
see how ironic this is). The vegetable stand is located in the projects where we
are working, which has the biggest drug and crime problem in all of Cape Town.
There are gangs hanging around everywhere and people do drugs right out in the
open everyday. So there in the midst of all the real addicts comes me and my
friends, walking the streets, our backpacks filled with gummy goodness. We’ve
got an addiction of another kind…an addiction of the sweet tooth kind. Nobody
mess with the gummy bear gang!
