Wednesday, October 26, 2011

a few random stories from life here...

last weekend, a poor village woman shared with my friend about how she and her husband had been affected by the recent flooding:

We had no money. Thank God that someone gave me 30Baht ($1), so we could eat that day. Then my husband and I prayed that God would show us how we could get money for food. Praise God, we were able to catch 2 kgs of frogs; which we sold at the market. Then we had money again. Look how God provided for us!


a few weeks ago, we had a plan to visit a patient of ours in a nearby village. we didn’t have a clear address or phone number. as we drove down the road, we encountered what appeared to be a lake; overtaking the whole road. SO much water! yet we saw another moto driver coming our way, which meant the water wasn’t too deep- we could move forward! we kept driving; stopping along the way, asking various people “do you know where so and so lives?” someone said her house had a red roof. so then the question changed to, “do you know where the house with the red roof is?” we kept being directed forward. by this point, I have learned not to doubt that my teammates know how to navigate the remote village roads. it might take awhile, but we seem to always arrive. but we didn’t arrive at the house with the red roof. instead, we encountered another “lake” that had overtaken the road. and there she was, our patient. chest high in the deep water, washing her clothes with a neighbor!


this week, my longing for fall baking in America took me to the market, in order to buy a pumpkin. I was determined to at least try to go all out and bake at least one thing this season with fresh pumpkin, since I didn’t have the option of using canned. it might have been a bit more work (cutting, boiling, and pureeing!) and the batter looked really awful, honestly. I wondered if I had made a big mistake about halfway through. but, I was delighted to remove the bread from the oven, and it looked and tasted exactly like I remembered! today I brought some of the pumpkin muffins I made to a few Cambodian friends. I was not sure if they would like them or not. they were the most interested to understand the baking process- but I think they were a bit afraid to actually taste them! In Cambodian language if you don’t like something, it literally translates to “I don’t know how to eat it” They all said that they “were able" to eat them; but I don’t know if I would say they were a huge hit. I think the excitement was more about baking a sweet using pumpkin. the best comment; “they smell like Chinese medicine.”

;)

how to describe cinnamon to someone who has never tasted it...!?


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The story of your patient is very interesting. I wish I am there working with you.

Your baking looks good. If I was there I might eat most of it. I think not a lot of people like eating pumpkin.

scottandkatie said...

love it! the stories, the baking, YOU!

Mom said...

That was a good blog! Thanks for sharing!

Zach and Amanda said...

Is it amazing how so many of American spices smell/taste like Chinese medicine! We hear this phrase so frequently! Ah, the joys of living overseas.