Getting Fattened Up

It's Friday afternoon and we have just finished our final session of orientation for the week. Only two more days of orientation to go until we "graduate". MCC is doing a good job of preparing us to meet many different cultural issue, but its tough to be so specific, since we are going to such a broad range of assignments. There are people here going to Kenya, Bolivia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Haiti, Egypt, Ukraine, Uganda, Sri Lanka and of course South Africa. All of those different places have different cultural norms, in one place its polite to shake hands, in another you shouldn't look people in the eye, in another you should never cross your legs, in another its wrong to smile in public (people will think you are insane!). I figure we will just keep our hands in our pockets, and try to blend in. That shouldn't be too hard, eh?

We have been eating pretty well while we are here. Last week Friday we went to an Amish house for supper, mmm good. I was suprised that the family spoke with a clearly mid american accent, no trace of german. Of course, the Amish have been in Pennsylvania for three hundred years. Here's an Amish tip - add a little Velveta to your buttered noodles to give them that extra creamy flavour. We ate a lot. Another culinary highlight was an early morning trip to the local grocery store. They make homemade doughnuts, so we arrived there at seven and got a dozen that were still warm. Yummy, but oh-so-fattening. I've also developed a fondness for a local brand of potato chip ("Grandma Utz") which are fried in lard. Can't be good for me, but they sure taste great. In any case, I'll work it all of when I get to Africa...by running back to back marathons for a week.

This is our last weekend in North America, so we will do some last minute shopping, for things like books (there is a used bookstore nearby), camera accesories and other little things. Tonight we are going to the "Green Dragon" farmers market, tommorow to the Target, but on Sunday we are going to the nature preserve, and won't buy anything.

We also got our airline tickets and visas, so now we can actually arrive in SA without getting thrown in jail or being deported. I have ordered a computer, so hopefully by the time we get to our new place it will be in place and the next blog entry will be from way far away. Stay tuned!