Pretty, Funny, Happy, Real (2)

Thursdays we are linking up with other bloggers at Like Mother Like Daughter:

http://www.likemotherlikedaughter.org/

So P,H,F,R is a weekly feature that I've long admired at LMLD. It's just such a cheerful way to give a glimpse into ones weekly life. I like the tagline they use "finding the context of contentment in everyday life." I thought maybe using this framework would help us share with people a little bit of what living as missionaries in Cameroon is like, so please come by and visit us on Thursdays for a peek at the Horne's home/work life. If you have a blog you should join in too! Feel free to comment, sometimes we can't reply to comments because of our spotty internet but we can almost always read them and we find them very encouraging!

So without further ado, here we go!

*Pretty!*

I thought last week’s haul of produce was strikingly beautiful. Look at those colors! We certainly don't lack at all in the tropical fruit department. *Every time* I eat a pineapple here I think "THIS  is the best pineapple I've ever had in my life!" Some interesting fruits you may not be familiar with are shown, like: the Chinese apple, and tree tomato.

Chinese apples are the big green things in the lower left corner of the big picture--they taste a little like cucumber, but without the seeds. The tree tomato also is called red/tree fruit here depending on the seller. We call it vampire fruit because you bite off the tip and then suck out the juicy red seeds. They taste weirdly like a cross between a tomato and a grape. I didn't like them the first time I had them but now I'm addicted and will eat ten at time when the kids aren't looking. We can buy like ten pounds of them for a dollar!

*Happy*

Saturday offered a beautiful respite from the rain and we celebrated by walking together to town for lunch. I realized that on this particularly nerve-wracking part of the road we have to walk, I was no longer hyper-nervous with all the kids and that made me (and Eric) really happy.

Our children had to bear with a lot of shrieking and yanking from me before they finally realized that I was serious that the cars and bikes would run them over without hesitation. Now without any prompting they walk like a neat little row of ducklings carefully down the road and are extremely mindful of their way. They look out for and protect each other too! I am so proud of their growth and new-found maturity. We are all happier and safer for it!

*Funny*

Bucket baths are hilarious to me. The truest quote I've heard from a Cameroonian is, "there is nothing like coming home at the end of a long day to your own bucket." Amen sir. Well, at least in spirit.  Sometimes I get hopeful that I can fit my entire 5'11" self into a small washtub and that it will be like a bath. Just so you know, I can't and it's not.

 *Real*

I spilled this brand new bag of rice all over the floor. Rice is a very expensive food item here, especially when I buy premo imported rice because it's just that much better! The really real part of this was the fact that there was no justifiable way I could pretend that it was Eric's fault and he should clean it up. *sigh.* The other sadly real factor is we still have to eat this now-made-disgusting food item that touched our notsospotless floors. Waste is not really an option.

Oh look. is that a severed chicken foot I see on the floor next to the rice? Cool!

I console myself with the fact the rice is boiled. We'll wash it too of course. And the chicken foot is the property of our cat.

-Logan