trip to the grocery in Maputo

I've been to the grocery store a couple of times in Mozambique so far. There is a Shoprite that is awesome. It is closer to the one stop shopping I was used to the the U.S.

Granted, there are things that are simply not available, but for other things we do have more options here than we did in Cambodia. For instance, there are multiple brands of peanut butter (a staple in my diet). There are all kinds of beef products available as beef is easily imported from South Africa. The quality is quite good and the cuts are recognizeable.

The one thing I see an obvious lack of are quality dairy products (which is surprising since beef is available). There is one thing I haven't seen at all. Not once at three different stores in the three weeks we've been here. What's that? Fresh milk. It is completely absent from the shelves, just non-existent. I'm told it is available from time to time on rare occassions. I guess that means we are converting to UHT milk in Africa. I try to avoid UHT milk because it seems to have a funny taste to me, but I don't think we will have an option here. UHT milk or nothing.

What is UHT milk? It is long-life processed milk. It can sit on the shelf for months, unrefrigerated and still be edible. I don't know how they process it, but I do understand the preference for this product in our current environment. Refrigerators are a luxury item. Electricity is not constant. No one wants their milk to go bad. So, UHT milk it is.

food craving: celery

There are lots of foods that I would eat on a regular basis in the States that are not available overseas. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a decent tortilla (never knew how many items I eat require a tortilla until we moved). I miss the variety of cheeses available in the States. I miss a good burger. I seem to be able to make due without these things.

Lately I have had the strangest craving. I am craving celery. I don't even think I ate celery that much in the U.S. Sometimes I'd have it as a snack with peanut butter. Sometimes I'd make potato soup and add celery. If it was there I would cut it up and put it in a tuna salad sandwich.

For weeks now I have been thinking, "I want celery." I don't know why, but I really want to crunch a stalk of celery. What an odd thing to crave?

We do get tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions and garlic in Cambodia and Mozambique. Haven't seen a stalk of celery in nearly a year. Really have no idea why I seem to miss it so much.

What do you think you would miss most if your food options were limited?

it's about that time again...time to go back to school

I have spent the majority of my life in school. Every two to three years, I return to school. I just can't seem to stay away. However, I am about to embark on a learning experience I never anticipated. No, I am not returning to finish my PhD (not yet anyway).

What kind of school will I be attending? Well, I have applied to take seminary courses as a limited enrollment student.

This wasn't really on my list of things I planned to do in life. I am a woman. I am a leader. The two are not usually welcome together as a package in church. I had figured attending seminary was something one did when they planned to go in to church leadership, be a pastor or something like that. Since that wasn't in my plans, seminary was off the list of lifetime learning experiences. Until recently...

My employer has requested that all field leadership complete at least 12 hours of theological training from a seminary. I suppose my learning in the school of hard knocks hasn't been sufficient?! Rather than have a bad attitude about this requirement, I decided to embrace it. I researched many schools around the world and decided on an institution in my home country of America. Last week, I sent in my application materials - including an application, fee, transcripts and a pastors reference. It is my intention to begin online classes in the summer semester. When I was looking at the course options I started to get excited about the possibility of being a student again.

I am a nerd. I know this. I own this fact about myself. I now stand on the edge of a new (and entirely unplanned) learning experience. Life is certainly an adventure!

the wonders of Blackberry

When I arrived in Mozambique I was issued a Blackberry phone. I had been using a very basic cell phone in Cambodia and the minute I had a Blackberry in my hand it was like welcoming an old friend.  I had no idea I would need it to send an SOS just a few days later.

I've mentioned before that we are living in a guest room at the office. There are little quirks in our room, such as there is only hot water in the morning hours beginning around 3am. The shower head was so caked on with crud that only small streams of water trickled out - that is until Kenyon took his cleaning powers to it and now it runs beautifully! The door knob is broken from the inside. We discovered this the first night. Kenyon said it's fine, I started to get panicky - "what if there is a fire and we can't get out, what if I need a drink of water in the middle of the night and I don't want to wake you (toilet water is not an option), what if..."

He finally gave in and jimmied the lock and we now stick an old grocery store membership card in the door latch so it can be closed, but also easily opened from the inside.

Well, I was in the bathroom inside our bedroom during working hours. Kenyon knew I was in there because he had walked in on me and my presence surprised him. He jumped, but just seconds later he turns around closes the bathroom door and then walks out of our bedroom and closes the door. I can't get out. I consider causing a big scene by banging on the door and yelling - eventually someone will hear me, right? Then I realize I had my trusted companion with me - my Blackberry.

I send Kenyon an email - "you locked me in the room, come open the door" No reply. I wait a few more minutes, still no reply of any sort. I know he is sitting in front of his computer, he must not be logged in to his email.

Then I realize that Lily is also downstairs and she is ALWAYS connected. I send her an email with a similar message. Within a few minutes I hear her laughing downstairs. Then footsteps. Then freedom. Hallelujah, freedom! Thank you, Lily, for rescuing me.

I am so happy to be reunited with my trusted friend; the Blackberry. What a wonderfully useful tool!

NOTE: Lily said I should put this story on my blog. So I did. I hope you had a good laugh at my expense.

new blog features

In case you haven't noticed, I've been making some changes to my blog. I started with a new template from Blogger In Draft. This was recommended by Little Creek Life through Twitter. There was one new addition  with the new template that I wanted to highlight - the about tab where you can learn more about me, the author of this blog.

I have also added a search button at the top, which I think makes it easier to find the things you might be looking for related to labels, post topics, or places.

I have also added a "Tweet this" feature to the posts. If you use Twitter and would like to share a post with your followers, simply click on the green "Tweet" button.

Hope the faithful readers enjoy the new features.