i decided to dedicate the next post to FOOD! it seems like such a small aspect of this shift for the summer, but it has in fact been one of things i've struggled most with and its been one of the largest sources for laughter for me and my team.
first...the schedule of eating here:we are on our own for breakfast (and i usually wake up 2 mins before i have to be somewhere) so i usually eat toast or an apple. tea break is at 10:30 (the tea is more like warm milk with a little spice which i must admit i can barely drink without gagging), lunch is at 11:45, and dinner is at 5:15.
and although the schedule is a bit strict for me, its not so much the timing of meals as it is the meals themselves (and expectations of us at those meals.) Ugali, cornmeal mush is a staple here. We have it nearly ever other day and it looks and tastes a little like playdo! The good news is that it can take on the taste of whatever it is served with...the bad news is that it is usually served with kale and cabbage. so heres where it gets hard for me...the mama serves you your plate (and seeing that we are considered guests at the table we are given the largest helpings) and we are expected to finish the whole plate...and if we finish with time to spare, we are given seconds...needless to say i've been eating extremely slow these days. dessert is usually an orange, watermelon or avacado slice, which i've learned to cherish!
there are some meals that we really look forward to tho..like dinner roles, which are usually served with some type of bean stew. heres my first encounter with dinner rolls: i took 2 rolls and then mama lydia gave me a 3rd and a cup of tea and had filled my bowl to brim with stew...half way through i was feelin good, savoring every bite of my warm, fluffy roll when i realized people were finishing up dinner. one of the boys asked mama lydia, "when can we leave" she looked at me and said, "when she's finished!" so i started to spead up, trying to take a couple sips of tea in between each bite of stew but after 3 or 4 spoonfuls and 4 or 5 gulps i started to feel sick and i literally had to stop and pray to jesus that i didn't hurl all over the table, hahah! the boys all stared at me with sympathetic eyes...and if it wasn't against the rules i would have passed my extras on to them...but when i caught them looking away i took my last role and shoved it in my diabetes kit, haha (i have never been so thankful to have to carry that thing around with me!) when i got home i showed the girls...who thought it was hilarious and they've spent a good amount of time hounding me about it!
other fun food stories:
*today i found a couple rocks in my rice
*yesterday after lunch i ran to bathroom and vomitted 13 times...i concluded that there is such a thing as too much rice and beans
*we're not sure exactly what caused it, but we think it might be the ethiopian food we tried in town...which seemed to give me a rash ALL over my body after which we had to take a quick detour to the nearest hospital (a trip which i will tell you more about later)
HERES THE THING...i realize it sounds like a lot of complaints but i am so grateful to rafiki for providing meals for us and so thankful to the kitchen crew for slaving away all day to feed everyone. i'm simply trying to let you guys in on some of the things im experiencing and right now its that im trying to train my taste buds to enjoy these new foods and im having a harder time then i would like!
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