So this month has had some pretty heavy-hearted ministry that has left many of my teammates (plus Estuary’s team members) pondering how so much destruction and persecution can come upon some people.
However, this blog isn’t over that—instead this is a fun, light-hearted story about overcoming language barriers, trust, and frying fish!
I want to start out by saying that my time here in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia has been wonderful! My team has been working closely with the Kawan Center—a morning/afternoon homeless shelter ran by people with the most beautiful of hearts. And during our time with them I have been able to work in their kitchen helping prepare the lunches that we serve to anyone and everyone that show up at the door on any given day.
Over the course of my time in the kitchen (think days, not hours), I have been able to slowly gain the trust of the head chef, John, to the point where he has allowed me to man the stove top all by myself and cook all the food for the lunch! It has been wonderful and beautiful because John and I can’t exactly communicate very well due to his limited English and my zero knowledge of Malay (except for the word for friend—Kawan. I bet you can gather how I learned that one…), so we communicate with lots of hand gestures and smiles where we have the classic facial expression of “I have no idea what you are saying, so I’m just going to smile at you and hope that this works out.”
So, I am going to give you a photo-recap of my week in the kitchen there!
Day 1: I spent the first part of it chopping heads off of the fish with Brittany! We even became a tourist stop for a group of Germans and Austrians by their tour guide.
That day also, I wasn’t on the fryer (it was my first day), so Molly took charge of frying all of the fish that we chopped. Molly doesn’t really like to be in the kitchen and this is what led to the title of this blog because she (jokingly) decided that when she gets home she can start a fish fry hotline: 1-800-FRY ME UP.
Day 2: Adam and I were getting the chickens prepped for Molly and Julie to butcher at the beginning.
This was the day that I first used the wok to fry some spring rolls—which John was very nervous about (and rightfully so) so he watched over my shoulder a lot and guided me every step of the process.
Day 3: I moved up to veggie prep as well as being the person to make mashed potatoes (a part of the meal that they made specifically for us “Americans” because we don’t like too much spicy food—it was so sweet of them and they turned out delicious!)
Bonus: This was also the day that John decided that I could handle the wok and left me to cook all of the curry chicken on my own!
All-in-all, the food has been incredible and I will forever remember what I have learned from my time here in the kitchen at the Kawan Center as well as the friendships and memories that have been created.
Me and John
