Thursday, June 19, 2008

Mystery Meat

So this past weekend was quite the experience. It was filled with lots
of fun and lots of stress. On Saturday we went to the river with a
bunch of the long term missionaries. There we had a relaxing time
floating down the river with tubes. It was a good destresser from the
hard week. Last Friday, I spent most of the time with one of the
doctors. We worked in the ultrasound together. It was quite the
experience. We saw many pregnancies and even a man who was quite young
in cardiac failure. It is sad to see a man who is around 31 that is
cardiac failure. We saw about 20 patients and unfortunately did not
have the time to see more. That was an interesting experience. I loved
it. Part of me thought during that time that I should go into the
military and be a doctor for it. I don't know why but that is what I
was thinking. Anyway back to the weekend. After the lovely morning at
the river, it was great because the locals were fascinated at us. Soon
we let them use the tubes and they were having a blast. In fact, I
remember rafting down the river (which boarders the DRC) with some of
local children hanging on. Then we came back and the interns prepared
for our overnight. Overnight is where the person stays with a family
in the village for a night. We were assigned to students at the Christ
School. My was a S2 named "John". John lived very far away. Seriously,
we hiked in the bush for about 3.5 hours to get to his house. It was
crazy far away. By the time we reached the house it was near dark. We
then preceded to talk about the English Premeir League. Dinner was
then served. It was rice and beans with matoake (which is a starch
like potatoes). Then I talked to his mom about my family and such. It
was intereseting to see How God can bless a family after so much
hardship. They lived fairly comfortable by the Ugandan standards here.
They had mosquito nets for every member of the household and they
brothers go to school too. His dad was killed in ADF came to this area
about 10 years ago. He also has mental handicapped older brother. Yet
they still managed to have a nice home and life. His mom was
especially happy to see me play football (soccer) with the kids.
However, the unfortunately thing about the visit is the fact that I
got sick from what was served the next day. (this is speculation but
it prob happened). I was served meat with Irish potatoes (that is what
they call them here). Meat was definitely normal beef and the other
look like muscle tissue. Sure enough, it was most likely cow
intestine. Apparently, it is quite popular here but not with my
stomach. Therefore, I have been sick for the past couple of days but I
have been in great hands here. I am feeling better now and I am
currently eating. One of the guys made a really good eggplant
parmasean. Well I am going to bed it's late (10:00) the inter-culture
dynamics make you incredibly tired…… Hope all is well

Peace
-J

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hearing about your trip thus far (sickness included) has been such an encouragement to me. I have 16 days till I leave for Thailand and checking in on your site and reading your updates is making me very impatient. Im glad to hear that for the most part things are going well. I hope to catch you after I get back and before youre off to school to share what the Lord has done is doing and will do through both our journeys.

May the Lord continue to lay a hand of protection, strength , and comfort on you and your fellow missionaries.

Home-Fry, Home Fry... Homefry?... Skillet! whats my name? :-)