We had our meeting with the Diocesan heads of departments this past week, and the attendance wasn’t all that good, one reason being that there was some seminar or something that many of the priests were supposed to attend. We did, however, get the names and phone numbers of most of them, even those who couldn’t attend, and so we should be able to move forward from here. I don’t really have much of anything to do with most of them, and the parish priest from our parish was there, so that contact is a good one for me. He said that he has some classes going on at the parish for youngsters of 6th and 7th grade, to prepare them for secondary school, and it sounds like he’d be happy to have me involved in that program. I’d prefer to do this on the outstation level, but one has to start somewhere.
We’ve been having a noisy and dusty and busy week around here. The landlord decided to do the job of repainting the house and so that’s been going on since last weekend. Something wasn’t done right when it was painted the first time and there were spots where the paint was peeling, so another coat of primer was applied, then something they called “white cement” then that was all smoothed and sanded, and finally the paint went on. The trim was all done as well, and the garage door was painted for the first time. The window frames are all being varnished again, so the house is beginning to look really spiffy. Of course, the wall and gates are still being worked on at the same time, and that work is really going slowly. No matter – someday it will get done, and in the meantime the spaces around the house look like a disaster area. We just close our eyes as we walk in and out, and try not to fall over anything.
That reminds me of something that has struck me many times since returning – how one has to be very careful while walking everywhere in order not to trip or fall. In the U.S. it seems like places have to be kept pretty fall-proof; I suppose to avert being liable to litigation is one reason. Here it seems like everything is on different levels, including in the house. There’s a little one or two inch step up into every room so you have to be careful and remember that when going in and out. On the streets and paths there are open pits and man-hole type places, uneven sidewalks with holes, everything on a slightly different level. It keeps us alert!
Another thing I was reminded of is the extra time and effort it takes to do relatively simple things. The other day I made some granola type breakfast cereal. Some kinds of cold cereal are available here but it’s pretty expensive, and I always think it tastes a little bit not quite fresh (aka stale!). And so I bought some oatmeal in a package and raisins in a bag, went to the market and bought peanuts, sesame seeds, and sukari guru, which is a substitute for brown sugar. It’s the sugar that comes from one step of the process in refining sugar, and has a stronger, more molasses-like taste, and is sold in a hard square or ball. The next step was to clean the peanuts, e.g. to pick out the bad ones and the stones, then to wash them and dry them, then roast them in the oven. The same process was followed for the sesame seeds (and you know how small they are!!!), then melt some of the brown sugar, mix everything together and roast it all once again. That whole process is time consuming but the result was good. And at least we have an oven to roast it all in ….
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