I have found it a great adventure trying to cook from scratch. Yes it takes longer, but there is great satisfaction in buying such a thing as a pumpkin, and then having pumpkin puree. I have made some cookies and muffins with the pumpkin already. I’ve never thought of myself as a great cook, but now that I’m here, I struggle to make normal things like Taco meat taste normal. it’s something in the spices that I just can’t get quite right. Maybe they are fresher than back in America, maybe they are older or filled with something to stretch the spice. I don’t know what it is, but I’m still nervous to invite a local over for a meal for fear of the food tasting horrible. (My prayer then should be, “God make this food taste good to them, Amen.” )
As we go about our lives here, it has been a great thing to show the people we are just like them. For instance, I have been mildly obsessed about the canning jars here. They are so cheap and they come in many awesome sizes. But whenever I go to buy a new pack the person selling them looks at me with amazement that Me, the little American girl, is buying canning jars for myself. And then when I take my canning jars onto the public bus to get home, they can’t believe I’m doing that either. In reality people are people, and we have found it very beneficial to live the way people live here, even though I still stick out.
