Have you ever had shema? Better yet, have you ever had shema as a staple food with only one other
relish (either protein or veggies)
per meal cycling through a vast selection of a whopping 5 relishes for a 3 week
period of time? Even better still, have
you had one of the main and most prominent dishes of your month whole fried minnows? Not deep fried in beer batter, just regular
pan fried? Regretfully, I must answer
‘yes’ to all of those questions.
This month we were near Chongwe, Zambia working at
Nyamphande Orphanage and School. The
funny thing was that there were only children at this orphanage/school for the first
3 days of our stay, at which time most of them went home due to the fact that
school was out of session. It was their
summer break… or winter break, as it
is winter here right now. Regardless,
the majority of the kids left, leaving only 11 or so sponsored youth still
living at an orphanage that normally hosts 150 or better and over 200 students
in classes. It was a ghost town. The few that did stay were almost all in their
teens, so no cute kid songs this month.
The house parents invited us to eat breakfast and dinner
with them everyday, and because we would otherwise be cooking rice over a fire,
we accepted. We sit down to our first
meal that night, and they bring out a big bowl of shema (known as ‘pop’ in
South Africa) and a little bowl of deep fat fried soya (tofu). Let me tell you about shema. It has the consistency of super
thick mashed potatoes and almost as handle able as bread. What it is, is fine, ground corn meal mixed
with a little bit of water and cooked until it is a thick, mushy, a-little-too-sticky-to-eat-with-your-hands-but-they-do-anyway
blob. You rip of a chunk, grab a piece
of the relish with it and go to town. It
was less than tasty. Definitely not
anything to write home to mom about, but I’m doing so anyway.
As you can imagine, we spent a lot of our downtime this
month dreaming of food back home. Heck,
there were even times that we dreamt of food back in Johannesburg. In short, we thought and talked about food a
lot. Whenever we would walk places
(which happened quite often) or sit and wait for someone (which happened even
more often), the topic of “top ten…” came up quite frequently. So to make a long blog even longer, this is a
journal entry of “top ten…” lists I thought you all might enjoy for a good
laugh. I’m sure it will change before I
get home, but it is fun all the same.
Journal entry: 8/17/09 Monday Day 225 8:41 PM
TOP TEN BREAKFAST
FOODS I MISS
1.
PANCAKES
2. Denver Omelet
3.
Donuts
4.
Honey Nut Cheerios
5.
Bagel, egg, cheese and sausage sandwich (with
spicy sausage)
6.
Pop Tarts
7.
Waffles
8.
Four Corners Mess
9.
Sourdough toast with butter
10.
Chicken taquitos
TOP TEN
LUNCH/SNACK FOODS I MISS
1.
SUBWAY
2.
Tostitos and Salsa Con Queso
3.
Trail Mix
4.
Spiral macaroni and cheese
5.
Cheese and crackers
6.
BLT on whole wheat
7.
Simple lunchmeat sandwich
8.
Ruffles and sour cream dip
9.
GOLDFISH!
10.
String cheese
TOP TEN DINNER
FOODS I MISS
1.
PIZZA!
2.
Spaghetti
3.
Steak
4.
American Chinese
5.
American Mexican (Carlos O’ Kelly’s)
6.
American Italian (Olive Garden)
7.
Grilled hot dogs/brats
8.
Jalapeno cheeseburger
9.
Chili
10.
Mom’s gumbo
TOP TEN DESSERTS I
MISS
1.
CAKE!
2.
Peanut Butter Panic ice cream
3.
Bunny Tracks ice cream
4.
Pecan Pie (note: all pies listed include whipped
cream)
5.
Pumpkin Pie
6.
FRESHchocolatechip cookies
7.
French Silk pie
8.
Hot Fudge Sundae
9.
Hot brownies
10.
Apple crisp
TOP TEN THINGS I
MISS MOST
1.
Spending time with family
2.
Church
3.
252 Basics
4.
Running with my brother
5.
My cell phone
6.
My car
7.
My couch
8.
Small group
9.
Disc Golf
10.
Routine
TOP TEN THINGS
I’VE LEARNED ON THE RACE
1.
God is truly faithful
2.
The world is beautiful, and dying
3.
The roots of pride go deep
4.
I can do NOTHING without God
5.
Humility is not what you do
6.
Love, like humility, is a choice that cannot be
faked
7.
I always have a choice
8.
Truth is not about doctrine
9.
Even wisdom can be meaningless
10.
I AM BLESSED!
