When we were raising our support, people always asked me what I'd be doing while Sean was away flying. Well, I just experienced my first real missionary wife day and I can finally answer that question. One thing is for sure - I'm exhausted. I may have had a bit of culture shock today, although I told Sean I think it was more of reality shock! I hadn't had to worry about our meals since we got here (or shopping) because fellow MAFers have been having us over for dinner. I didn't have to do much cooking or extra work in Costa Rica for the entire past year. But today... (warning this is a long one)
The day started out at 5:30 a.m. We like to get up early, have a little quiet time and pray together before Brooklyn wakes up. By quarter to seven, I was fixing us some breakfast (I promised Sean I'd start doing that for him in Ecuador and here we finally are so...) We ate together as a family and then Brooklyn and I gave Sean a ride in to the hangar so he could pray with the guys and study for his upcoming licensing exams. Brooklyn and I came back home and I quickly cleaned up around the house and got us ready for the day.
At 9:30 I headed back out with Brooklyn in the truck to pick up another MAF gal so she could show me around Puyo which is about 7 or 8 miles away. Puyo is the "big city" compared to Shell. We stopped at the bank to get cash and then headed to a little grocery store that has good prices and more things available. HA! I must admit that the little rusty, handmade grocery cart had me worried before I even completely entered the store which had a whole 4 aisles. Brooklyn was also way out of hand. At one point she hit me with a toy airplane and now my knuckle is actually bruised. We're going through a bit of a re-adjustment on the boundaries...but that is another story.
I found a good majority of what I needed but we're not talking about much here - I still have more stops to make before I have my short list taken care of. Anyway, after shopping we hurried back home and put away the groceries before running back to the hangar to get Sean. We came back home and ate lunch together before I had to take Sean back in - need I say that I can't wait for our shipment to come in so that he can ride his bike to work?! Brooklyn was falling asleep on me by the time we got home. I laid her down for her nap and then found myself cleaning up more dishes and starting some bread dough in the bread machine (praise the Lord for a bread machine!). I spent some time catching up on paperwork and writing/making some thank you cards. I made that dough into some Focaccia bread and cleaned up again around the house before I grabbed Brooklyn out of her bed, threw her in the truck and headed over to the produce market (the truck came in today). I spent some time at the market and got just about everything I needed there. Things were very dirty but fresh and you can't beat the price. I caught Brooklyn eating some dirty strawberries...so far she's not sick! After handing over my $5 for carrots, sweet peppers, garlic, tomatoes, lettuce, pineapple, strawberries, apples, and maracuya (passion fruit that makes a great juice) I ran off to the hangar yet again to pick Sean up.
We gave another pilot a lift home and I headed straight to the kitchen when we got home to start dinner. Much to my dismay I discovered that the chicken breasts I had bought weren't quite what I'm used to. They basically chopped off the front halves of a couple of chickens and froze it. I had to skin and de-bone the chicken myself (not that hard but I wasn't in the mood). At the same time I was trying to toast some bread for dry bread crumbs and soak the lettuce in a special disinfectant, boil some water for noodles, and keep a very grumpy Brooklyn from eating all the margarine. But the Focaccia bread was already done and it served well as an appetizer while I tried to get myself oriented in somebody else's kitchen! Only a two hours, a few minor spills, several exclamations of "where is the..." or "I thought I saw...", one pulled thumb muscle, and about 500 dishes later... WAH-LAH! Dinner! Baked parmesan chicken, noodles, tomato sauce, salad and bread. Our first meal made by me in Shell, Ecuador. Whew!
The work didn't end there. Then it was time to finish cleaning and disinfecting all the other produce I bought, cut up the fruit for a fruit salad, clean the kitchen up, and give Brooklyn a shower and get her to bed. I still have a pile of dishes waiting for me but I wanted to sit down for a minute! It may sound like Sean didn't help me but he actually helped clean up the kitchen plus did about a million other little jobs that needed to get done this evening.
I can't believe how my day filled up so much with the making of one simple meal. Granted, I did pick a more labor intensive meal - although, I don't know what options I had, it seems to be you either make a meal from scratch, you eat out, or you starve! I did buy the wrong kind of chicken breast - the skinless, boneless kind is available here usually and that would have helped me get things done quicker. It was market day, so I had that added bit of work with the produce. I don't know the kitchen yet so I took lots of extra steps. And, basically, I'm a complete novice at this cooking from scratch thing. I know it will get better with practice - fortunately, I have the rest of our missionary career to figure it out. But now I udnerstand why the missionary friend I visited here in Ecuador years ago used to start dinner at 3:00 p.m.! Grandma, I know you always did this and more. I always knew you were a hard worker but now I have a new, profound respect for what you did all those years on the farm!
Tomorrow, the butcher!
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