I hope you all have a very
wonderful week and eat some rice in my honor. I don't have too many stories
from this past week so I thought I would do a special Food Edition of my weekly
emails in honor of Thanksgiving. So get ready to hear some of my gross
/funny/sad food stories of life in Philli!
Okay so first of all I eat a sad sad sad amount of rice.
With no exaggeration. The way food is prepared here is there is a little
"ulam" which is a topping of vegetables or meat that you eat with
your rice. But EVERYTHING is with rice. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. And the
thing is after almost 12 weeks I honestly have to have rice. If we don't eat
it,it's not a meal. So basically I will be purchasing a rice cooker for my
apartment post mission. 1) because I love it and 2) because that's literally
all I know how to cook haha
Back when we had six sisters living with us we decided to
measure how much rice we all ate combined in one week. It was 14 pounds. 14
POUNDS!! Is that absurd? Absolutely? Good thing I walk 12 miles a day or I
would be 300 pounds.
Another culture thing here is that when people offer you
food it is incredibly rude to not eat it, especially if you are a foreigner. So
you have to eat it no matter what. I have eaten some crazy things but I think
the hardest is when you are literally not hungry and you have to force yourself
to eat because they keep putting food on your plate. hahaha We went to a
birthday party last weekend and the mom literally made me eat 3 pieces of cake
and a bunch of pancit and chips and everything. I didn't want it and I felt so
full. She made me do it! There is no agency in this aspect It was basically
that scene in the movie Matilda where the mean principle makes the fat little
boy eat all the chocolate cake haha. Sister Mccoard and I thought we were going
to throw up but we just pushed through and laughed instead. Missionaries can do
hard things.
I think the grossest thing I have eaten on my mission is
just the sheer number of ants I have probably consumed. They are everywhere. I
remember one time this lady gave us juice and it had all these ants floating in
it and she was watching me waiting for me to drink it so I try and drink it all
slowly to not get the ants but then when I drink any at all she just refills it
haha Then I gave up and just drank them all and she went on to give me some
more juice and goat liver.(not a fan) One time I was eating oatmeal with one of
my roommates and went to pour sugar in the oatmeal and then noticed there were
some ants crawling in it and I just look at her and she goes "They don't
have bones" and I go "Hey! It's extra protein!" and we move on
like nothing happened. I AM SO GROSS. Like over here is different. Like you
just don't care and you eat what you are given and you are grateful for it and
you don't waste anything. There have been so many moments where My trainer has
just looked at me and been like "eat it all! you have to eat it!"
Most times I am okay except for once when I found this super nasty hair all
mixed in with my rice at a member's house and I literally couldn't do it so I
did probably the meanest thing in my life and i said "Sister Mccoard, this
is so good but I am just too full, could you finish this for me.?" and
then put it on her so she had to eat the hair rice. We are so scared of
offending people we do some gross stuff haha. I've had some pig face, chicken
foot, cow liver and many more. I'm not really sure the details because I try
not to ask. haha I think maybe that it why I love rice so much because I can
get away with eating just that and a little fish head or whatever they
have.
When we are home we just have eggplant and rice or eggs
or corned beef so nothing too extreme. But sometimes we try to made American
food for our Filipino roommates. It's pretty gross though because we have no
good substitutes. Our latest invention was grilled cheese with no butter or
good cheese so it was just toasted bread with fake cheese and a pack of
spaghetti sauce mixed in with water to make "tomato soup". We tried
really hard but it was definitely far from that tried and true American
Classic. I think I'll just wait 14 months to have my american favorites again
haha.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed a glimpse into my life
here. Everyday is a new adventure for sure. They do have a madco here that we
go to sometimes but even there they have rice! haha Jollybee is my favorite
place to go on pdays because they have really good spaghetti there.
Hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving and appreciate
a holiday when you eat a lot because you want to not because you have to! haha
On a more serious note, I just want to take a second to
say how grateful I am for the many blessings I have been given. The last 3
months have really opened my eyes to how blessed I was back home and how much I
took for granted. The wonderful people of the Philippines have shown me that
happiness really doesn't come from things or status in life or anything like
that. It really comes from family, and God and our own personal choices. I am
so grateful for the many tender mercies the Lord gives to me each day and for
all the friends and family who love and support me each week. This is the
hardest thing I have ever done but I know that Heavenly Father has brought me
here for a reason and that each day here in the Philippines is a gift.
I love you all, have a wonderful week!
Sister Turner:)
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