Friday, July 07, 2006
Culture Shock??
Three reasons why I think I might be going through culture shock right now:
1. Recently, I decided I can’t STAND how dirty Mbarara is…it seems there is TRASH everywhere! Just the other day, we were out in a village and I was giving out some gum and the people took it and thanked me and then threw their trash on the ground! AAAAHHHHH! And it wasn’t even KIDS! It was adults! What is the matter with using trash cans??
2. As I was making potato salad for the 4th of July (I’m not a huge fan of the holiday, but it was a little different celebrating it in another country!), I realized that the 35 potatoes I was cutting weren’t all the same. It’s as if some are baking potatoes and some are not. (I know that there are LOTS of other types of potatoes besides baking potatoes, I just can’t remember what they are at this point.) Anyhow, it hit me, in America, I would have bought the “right kind” of potatoes to boil, peel, and cut up to make a delicious potato salad. HERE, the only thing you get is “irish potatoes” or “sweet potatoes”.
3. So my interns are gone and I have the house to myself. Great, right? WRONG! I still have workers on my compound 24/7! Walking around the house in a pair of shorts…oops! There’s a window! Feel like I have to keep curtains and windows and doors closed to protect a little bit of privacy. But I HATE the closed up atmosphere when I do…
*Please pray for me in this time of adjustment!
1. Recently, I decided I can’t STAND how dirty Mbarara is…it seems there is TRASH everywhere! Just the other day, we were out in a village and I was giving out some gum and the people took it and thanked me and then threw their trash on the ground! AAAAHHHHH! And it wasn’t even KIDS! It was adults! What is the matter with using trash cans??
2. As I was making potato salad for the 4th of July (I’m not a huge fan of the holiday, but it was a little different celebrating it in another country!), I realized that the 35 potatoes I was cutting weren’t all the same. It’s as if some are baking potatoes and some are not. (I know that there are LOTS of other types of potatoes besides baking potatoes, I just can’t remember what they are at this point.) Anyhow, it hit me, in America, I would have bought the “right kind” of potatoes to boil, peel, and cut up to make a delicious potato salad. HERE, the only thing you get is “irish potatoes” or “sweet potatoes”.
3. So my interns are gone and I have the house to myself. Great, right? WRONG! I still have workers on my compound 24/7! Walking around the house in a pair of shorts…oops! There’s a window! Feel like I have to keep curtains and windows and doors closed to protect a little bit of privacy. But I HATE the closed up atmosphere when I do…
*Please pray for me in this time of adjustment!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
May Team Things
Well, May sure was a busy month! The first two weeks were pretty typical weeks, with school, piano lessons, ladies' Bible studies at town church and youth nights.
We started having serious ladies' meetings around the 2nd week of May in preparation for Dr. Vann Rackley to come. He has been working with our team since before they came many years ago and has made a few trips to Africa since.
Team worship on the 13th was a little different. Nick had all the children create and bring something to worship. And what a wide variety of things we got! The whole worship centered around praising God using the gifts He has given us...in ALL we do. Three-year-old Savannah Naramore praised God by being helpful and helping to change her little sister's diaper. Sarah Nell praised God by giving hugs and kisses to people. The kindergarteners and preschoolers praised God in song and dance. Several kids created pictures or drawings. Curt Baker created a crane out of k-nex; Luke Fouts created some type of motorized car; Elizabeth Fouts created a picture frame...okay, so you get the point. Anyhow, it was great!
I got to spend a day with the Glisson children while Scott and Emily went to Fort Portal to work on adoption papers for Ansley. It sure was fun! Check out our pictures!!
We had a great Girls' Night Out on the 19th, our last one before the summer. We got to see the video of Amy Naramore giving birth to Jon David--YIKES!--makes me want to have a c-section or adopt! On the 20th, we had a special farewell to one of our teachers, Amy Howard. It was sad, but funny to see Amy Naramore's acting abilities as she starred in a skit which she wrote and produced! Man, that girl is talented!!
The guys left immediately following worship to go on a "guys weekend" of rafting, golfing, etc. in Kampala and Jinja before picking up Dr. Vann Rackley who arrived on the 23rd. During this time, I stayed at the Naramores with Amy and her 3 small children. It was lots of fun and Amy said I'm a better bed-partner than her husband--in that I don't move around or snore!
So, while I was playing "house" with Amy and her family, the guys were off rafting the Nile River in Jinja. Unfortunately in their macho-ness, they flipped their raft one too many times and Danny sliced open his knee pretty badly. I guess that put a slight damper on their weekend...having to end their rafting adventure early and spend time in the hospital in Kampala. They even spent the night with the female missionaries in Kampala---since one's a doctor and the other is a nurse! Ellen and Darla were very helpful!!
They all made it back to Mbarara on the 23rd with Vann and we had a lovely team dinner at the Fouts. Then there were lots of meetings and sessions--both group, couples and individuals--with Vann fo the next 5 days.
At the same time, it was our last week of school. We had a great field day on the 26th, followed by an afternoon of swimming at Lake View. What a great way to end the school year! For field day, we had lots of great games, my favorite being "chubby bunny". I think the kids liked this one too because they got to eat marshmallows! They also loved the water balloon toss. Of course, it was extra special that Davis and Briley's balloon was the last to pop--and it was only after we intentionally threw it on the ground HARD to break it. But to hear their delighted screaming each time they threw it to each other and it fell on the ground but DIDN'T break was one of the highlights of the day.
Saturday the 27th, Terri and Amy left to go pick up Amy's brother and sister-in-law who were coming for a visit. I spent the day in the kitchen cleaning and re-organizing things. Then I rushed over to the Bakers to cook dinner for them.
Terri and Amy returned with Daniel and Amanda on Monday the 29th to a vegetable lasagne, but I couldn't eat with them because they were so late. I had to run out the door to babysit the Bakers so the SF group could have one last meeting.
Tuesday morning, I left early in the morning with Andrea and Lori to go to Kampala to shop for interns. We had a great time! Ate at a new Korean restaurant for lunch; spent the night with Darla and Ellen; visited with Heidi from Mbale. GREAT girls get-away trip...but also got lots accomplished-like buying my gas stove and food for our interns!
And that is the end of the month of MAY! PLEASE check out the pictures that go with all this stuff on my picture website.....
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bethellent/my_photos
look at the "May Team Things" folder........
We started having serious ladies' meetings around the 2nd week of May in preparation for Dr. Vann Rackley to come. He has been working with our team since before they came many years ago and has made a few trips to Africa since.
Team worship on the 13th was a little different. Nick had all the children create and bring something to worship. And what a wide variety of things we got! The whole worship centered around praising God using the gifts He has given us...in ALL we do. Three-year-old Savannah Naramore praised God by being helpful and helping to change her little sister's diaper. Sarah Nell praised God by giving hugs and kisses to people. The kindergarteners and preschoolers praised God in song and dance. Several kids created pictures or drawings. Curt Baker created a crane out of k-nex; Luke Fouts created some type of motorized car; Elizabeth Fouts created a picture frame...okay, so you get the point. Anyhow, it was great!
I got to spend a day with the Glisson children while Scott and Emily went to Fort Portal to work on adoption papers for Ansley. It sure was fun! Check out our pictures!!
We had a great Girls' Night Out on the 19th, our last one before the summer. We got to see the video of Amy Naramore giving birth to Jon David--YIKES!--makes me want to have a c-section or adopt! On the 20th, we had a special farewell to one of our teachers, Amy Howard. It was sad, but funny to see Amy Naramore's acting abilities as she starred in a skit which she wrote and produced! Man, that girl is talented!!
The guys left immediately following worship to go on a "guys weekend" of rafting, golfing, etc. in Kampala and Jinja before picking up Dr. Vann Rackley who arrived on the 23rd. During this time, I stayed at the Naramores with Amy and her 3 small children. It was lots of fun and Amy said I'm a better bed-partner than her husband--in that I don't move around or snore!
So, while I was playing "house" with Amy and her family, the guys were off rafting the Nile River in Jinja. Unfortunately in their macho-ness, they flipped their raft one too many times and Danny sliced open his knee pretty badly. I guess that put a slight damper on their weekend...having to end their rafting adventure early and spend time in the hospital in Kampala. They even spent the night with the female missionaries in Kampala---since one's a doctor and the other is a nurse! Ellen and Darla were very helpful!!
They all made it back to Mbarara on the 23rd with Vann and we had a lovely team dinner at the Fouts. Then there were lots of meetings and sessions--both group, couples and individuals--with Vann fo the next 5 days.
At the same time, it was our last week of school. We had a great field day on the 26th, followed by an afternoon of swimming at Lake View. What a great way to end the school year! For field day, we had lots of great games, my favorite being "chubby bunny". I think the kids liked this one too because they got to eat marshmallows! They also loved the water balloon toss. Of course, it was extra special that Davis and Briley's balloon was the last to pop--and it was only after we intentionally threw it on the ground HARD to break it. But to hear their delighted screaming each time they threw it to each other and it fell on the ground but DIDN'T break was one of the highlights of the day.
Saturday the 27th, Terri and Amy left to go pick up Amy's brother and sister-in-law who were coming for a visit. I spent the day in the kitchen cleaning and re-organizing things. Then I rushed over to the Bakers to cook dinner for them.
Terri and Amy returned with Daniel and Amanda on Monday the 29th to a vegetable lasagne, but I couldn't eat with them because they were so late. I had to run out the door to babysit the Bakers so the SF group could have one last meeting.
Tuesday morning, I left early in the morning with Andrea and Lori to go to Kampala to shop for interns. We had a great time! Ate at a new Korean restaurant for lunch; spent the night with Darla and Ellen; visited with Heidi from Mbale. GREAT girls get-away trip...but also got lots accomplished-like buying my gas stove and food for our interns!
And that is the end of the month of MAY! PLEASE check out the pictures that go with all this stuff on my picture website.....
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bethellent/my_photos
look at the "May Team Things" folder........
Chicken Murdering
As part of the internship, our interns had to cook dinner for the missionaries. Sounds pretty simple, right? The catch is, they can only use ingredients and things they could find here in Mbarara town.
SO, Lindsey and Bethany decided to kill a chicken--even though you CAN buy them in town already killed and frozen...if the power is working! It sure was an adventure! Jessica and Courtney (the interns staying with the Naramores) also killed a chicken in our backyard. It was actually quite "agusting!" I'm not sure if the ax was sharp enough. It took Bethany 3 or 4 hacks at our chicken's neck before it actually lost its head. And then the skinning and gutting and all that other gross stuff...almost made me NOT want to eat dinner that night. (Did I mention it was raining!?!?) Both Jessica and Bethany had killed chickens before, so they made it look easy--agusting, but easy. I was shocked at how much the insides of the chicken looked exactly like the packages of chicken breasts I usually buy at the grocery stores in Kampala! (BE SURE TO SEE ALL THE PICTURES FROM THIS CRAZY DAY ONLINE AT MY PICTURES WEBSITE:
As it turns out though, dinner was pretty good--although the chicken was really tough. I guess you need to let it sit longer or tenderize it somehow. They slow cooked the chicken in bbq and honey--both of which you can get in town!. They also made mashed potatoes and even found green beans in town! Baking soda biscuits and a yummy chocolate-flavored dessert topped off our delicious dinner.
For the most part, they made it look simple...I think most dinners were ready around the normal dinner time. (Some interns made mango cobbler, pizza--homemade sauce of course, fruit pizza, spinach salad--because they couldn't find lettuce, etc.) They didn't seem stressed out by having to cook without the conveniences of America or packaged and pre-seasoned things. In fact, I came home from a 3 hour meeting to find my girls lounging around and watching CSI, just waiting for the time to start the green beans and potatoes. Of course, they did all of this on their day OFF, where the ONLY thing they had to think about was preparing dinner!
SO, Lindsey and Bethany decided to kill a chicken--even though you CAN buy them in town already killed and frozen...if the power is working! It sure was an adventure! Jessica and Courtney (the interns staying with the Naramores) also killed a chicken in our backyard. It was actually quite "agusting!" I'm not sure if the ax was sharp enough. It took Bethany 3 or 4 hacks at our chicken's neck before it actually lost its head. And then the skinning and gutting and all that other gross stuff...almost made me NOT want to eat dinner that night. (Did I mention it was raining!?!?) Both Jessica and Bethany had killed chickens before, so they made it look easy--agusting, but easy. I was shocked at how much the insides of the chicken looked exactly like the packages of chicken breasts I usually buy at the grocery stores in Kampala! (BE SURE TO SEE ALL THE PICTURES FROM THIS CRAZY DAY ONLINE AT MY PICTURES WEBSITE:
As it turns out though, dinner was pretty good--although the chicken was really tough. I guess you need to let it sit longer or tenderize it somehow. They slow cooked the chicken in bbq and honey--both of which you can get in town!. They also made mashed potatoes and even found green beans in town! Baking soda biscuits and a yummy chocolate-flavored dessert topped off our delicious dinner.
For the most part, they made it look simple...I think most dinners were ready around the normal dinner time. (Some interns made mango cobbler, pizza--homemade sauce of course, fruit pizza, spinach salad--because they couldn't find lettuce, etc.) They didn't seem stressed out by having to cook without the conveniences of America or packaged and pre-seasoned things. In fact, I came home from a 3 hour meeting to find my girls lounging around and watching CSI, just waiting for the time to start the green beans and potatoes. Of course, they did all of this on their day OFF, where the ONLY thing they had to think about was preparing dinner!
