I have made many new discoveries about myself and my faith while on this mission...
... As I finished my teaching career and got into the culinary field, I met a personal chef, Neal Plazio, who worked for a friend of my grandmother. He ended up opening a small catering restaurant on Main Street in Williamsville, New York called The Chef's Table and asked me if I wanted to work for him. I apprenticed under Chef Neal for 5 years and he taught me most of what I know culinarily. As a side note, Neal was the originator of the $6.00 pre-prepared meals that Wegmans is now famous for, and received no credit for that... until now, that is!! Anyways, I would say that I am a fairly talented cook who loves to make food for others. Well, I have made a startling discovery here in the Philippines... I don't know if it is the altitude difference, the humidity, the ingredients or the cooking tools, perhaps a combination of them all, but almost everything I have made here has not worked out!!! From pork stew to buckeye cookies, I am a culinary flop here!! My pizza turned out good, but that is about it. Perhaps it is my perfectionist-only-type-A-when-cooking mentality, but as a cook, I stink. It's very humbling! I have to re-learn how to cook in the Philippines. Shocking!!
... I have several roommates at Nazareth Home. This may have you scratching your head if you happened to remember that I have my own bedroom there. But, alas, I find that I have to share my room with others... of the multi-legged and antennaed variety. From lizards to grasshoppers and crickets to spiders, my room is an open oasis for them as there are no screens on the windows and to shut them is about as close as I've come to h-e-double hockey sticks here on earth. Well, the other day, I opened my room and saw a mouse scurry under my bed. My discovery about myself is my response to seeing the mouse... I shrugged and went about my business. Now, anyone who knows me at all knows that I... just no. "Not ga-a doit" in the words of the fake SNL George H. Bush. From screaming to calling on others to get rid of the uninvited yuckies, I could just never handle it. However, I seemed to have taken on the Filipino attitude towards these creatures, it seems... or the Oikos' St. Francis mentality. Either way, I think this discovery is even more shocking than the first one!!!
... I recently discovered halo halo. Halo halo means "mix mix" and is supposedly a dessert and a delicacy here in Borongan. I took one of the scholars, Mariano, to a restaurant for it to celebrate his passing of the board exam for education. He was so very excited both about getting it himself and introducing it to me. So, not wanting to let him down, I ordered it as well even though I didn't know what it was really. So, halo halo is served in a coconut shell with fresh coconut and coconut milk, ice cream, jello (a few different kinds including seaweed jello), corn, black beans and ice, topped with cereal. Seriously. When it was brought out to us, I just kept on thinking this is something Pee Wee Herman would eat with a gigantic spoon and a straw! I sort of was looking around the restaurant thinking someone might jump out and say "Ha ha... fooled you! Gotcha!!" But alas, it was the actual halo halo and I had to eat it. It wasn't that bad, really. I mean, it was a little weird... but my stomach was not very happy happy with me for eating the halo halo, in fact, it was quite angry angry!! Personally, I think this is a pretty funny story, but when I related my experience to the sisters, all I got was silence... I think I insulted them! Oops... Pasensha kana (I'm sorry!!)
... It seems in the past few months, I have begun to call out to God in a very literal way. Before this summer, I would pray quietly, go to Eucharistic Adoration, thank and request things from God, but not in the way it says in the psalms. Phrases like I cried out to the Lord and He answered me, or I called to the Lord in my distress; He answered and freed me, and rescue me God my helper and my tongue shall ring out Your goodness. Who really talks that way anyways? I always thought that no one talked that way anymore, just like we don't talk in Shakespearean language. I tried it, and my recent discovery is that when calling out to the Lord, quite literally, with sincerity and love... He answers me! To me it's like finding out that the phrase "open sesame" acturally works when trying to open a door!! Who knew? Well, some people knew, like the Oikos Sisters. They are always telling me stories of how they have been distressed and called out to the Lord. I am amazed, but I guess I shouldn't be. I've been listening to and reading the psalms for my entire life, wouldn't you think that by now I would have a clue about how to ask God for help? Apparently not. Guess I had to come to the Philippines to find that out. Expensive discovery!!
... I have an amendment to #2... Today I was going to the bathroom, and stood up, turned to flush the toilet and saw the hugest spider I ever saw in the toilet bowl. It's body was the size of a silver dollar and the diameter of its legs was about 4 inches. After a few moments (it took me a while because I just woke up) I realized that monster of a spider was in the toilet bowl while I was peeing... Ok, so I have become more tolerant when it comes to insects and rodents, but don't you agree that this is crossing the line? I mean, you can't get much more in my personal space than that!! So, I screamed and threw down the toilet cover and flushed the toilet. You don't blame me right?? The crazy thing is, that when Sister Michelle went into the bathroom and lifted the cover, the spider monster was still there!! The beast was strong enough to stick to the sides of a flushing toilet!!! That is just wrong. Anyways, Michelle's response was to surprisingly but calmly say, "Oh a spider." Then, after a second flushing didn't wash away the massive creature, she took a pail and dumped water on it until it finally went down... guess I discovered that I am not as Filipino as I thought. But speaking of becoming Filipino...
... I have discovered that I am a Filipina cowboy!! Anyone know what that means? Well, it means that I can pee outside alongside the car when we are on the road. I didn't really have much of a choice, so I guess I am sort of an unwilling Filipina cowboy, but I did it! I thought we were going into the bushes when I got out of the car, but I guess going into the bushes at night along the highway near a big city isn't really the safest thing to do. I nearly lost my "cowboy" title when I began to lose my cool when I saw the second car we were traveling with (full of boys and men) approaching us. I guess I can't say I nearly peed my pants, since that was what I was doing, but you get the picture... sorry if it's a little too clear for you!! Anyways, they just kept going past us and no one was any the wiser... and I was relieved to have relieved myself. (hee hee)
So, I'll stop writing now because I seem to be getting more and more personal!! Too much more and you probably wont come back to read anymore!! Anyways it is fun to take a look at yourself and the experiences you've been through and discover little, or big, changes occurring in and around you... by the way, speaking of changes, my missionary diet is in full swing!! I still maintain that a Biggest Loser Mission Edition is a really good idea. How can we get that ball rolling??? Praying for you... please pray for me. Thanks!! xxoo
