The Spice of Life

Hey friends and family. It’s Angie. I was elected for the blog today, so you won’t laugh as much, but you will be well informed! We had a good Saturday. It was a relaxing day, hopefully a lot like yours. We ended the afternoon with a swim and a walk on the beach. We had never been from one end of the beach to the other before today. It was a nice walk, and Kyndal and I brought home as many shells as we could hold. We already have quite an extensive collection! When we arrived at the spot on the beach that is just in front of our apartment, we were greeted by some friends we had met last weekend. A mother and her four daughters had come from the Main Island to play in the water (Friday and Saturday are the weekend days here. On Sunday, it’s back to work – very hard to get used to!) So we visited with them and played in the sand until dark. We are always seeing opportunities to make friends and build bridges. It is so much fun to learn about these people and the way they live life. I have traded mobile numbers with this sweet woman, so I believe we will be getting to know each other better in the future. I told them the next time they come, we will have tea together in my apartment.By the time we came inside, it was 7:00 pm. When we first arrived here and found out that the locals eat their dinner around 9 (or 10), we said we would never adapt to their evening schedule. But tonight we found ourselves headed to a local restaurant at about 8:00! Getting closer! There are several reasons we eat out more often here than we did in the States. Our family can eat for about $10 (including drinks!); also, I haven’t mastered too many of the dishes yet; and we have a tiny, two burner cookstove (no baking!). For me, those are enough good reasons to go out for dinner!! So, we tried a restaurant we had never been to. It looked cute and clean, with checkered tablecloths and neat tables and chairs. After the sweet little waitress came to take our order, we knew communication would be limited. She smiled a lot but didn’t appear to understand very much of what we said. She didn’t offer any menus, so we asked what they had. Well, that was easy – fried noodles or fried rice! Really, that’s all! We ordered 3 fried noodles (Bob, Braden & me) and 1 fried rice (Kyndal). The last request we had was non-spicy on two of the noodles and the rice. We have used a variety of methods for communicating this request before, such as “No spicy”; “Spicy, no”, all while waving a hand in front of our mouth (you know, the worldwide “my mouth’s on fire” symbol!) Usually it works – tonight it didn’t! When our food came, Braden and Kyndal each ate one bite. I tried mine and decided I could handle it. It was actually pretty good, even as spicy as it was. That is, until I got a hold of the red pepper. I put the fork full of noodles in my mouth, and as I began to chew, I experienced a kind of heat that I have worked all my life to avoid in my food! It traveled from my taste-buds into my nose, my eyes, and down to my toes, I think! I started to choke, gag, and cough all at once. The cook came out of the kitchen – that’s bad! It took my glass full of water and Braden’s before I could breathe normally! Then I couldn’t talk for the rest of the meal! It was definitely the spiciest spice of my life so far! Needles to say, we brought home two boxes of spicy noodles and rice for Bobby’s lunch for the next two days! So that’s the spice of our life for today. By the way, Bobby really enjoyed his dinner. He said it was perfect! I know I have two brothers-in-law who would have agreed with him.Also, Bobby and I walked over to have a look at the apartment that we were supposed to have moved into about 10 days ago. The owner “happened” to be there. You don’t know what a shock that was! We have tried every way possible to make contact with him. We had decided he was Superman, always on a top-secret mission. But there he was, walking around in our apartment. We found out that he has had to let many of his laborers go. They just weren’t getting the job done. He says now he will be making great progress, so we remain hopeful. Kyndal has fallen in love with one of the bathrooms – it is tiled in pink! I really like this apartment. There are two we have our eye on. We’ve decided that the one that becomes available first is the one we’re meant to have. Well, our Saturday has come to an end, and you are in the middle of yours! Have a great one!