Saturday, March 22, 2008

A day of rest

Having come to the startling conclusion that I am in Uganda and won’t be commuting home for the weekends, I am taking today to rest. I was very glad that the readings and prayers today support me in this—so much so that it is almost funny. “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” (Heb. 4:9-11) OK, OK, I’ll rest! Happy to oblige.

Yesterday, when I realized I am in Uganda, I also realized that everything takes a bit of effort: making tea, washing dishes, getting places, paying for things, connecting to the internet, talking to people. Even going outside requires sunscreen and sometimes mosquito repellent. And I have it easy! I’m living in the lap of luxury, here, with running water and the oft-cited washing machine and someone who mops my floors. And so today my goal is to expend very little effort.

To that end, I bought milk and breakfast cereal. Milk here comes in boxes that can be stored unrefrigerated on the shelf. After it is opened, it needs to be refrigerated, obviously, but refrigeration is an iffy prospect around here, even when there’s a refrigerator, and so the packages (at least at the grocery where I bought mine) are quite small. The large box I bought holds 500 ml. I could get whole milk, whole milk, or whole milk. A low-fat diet is not really a problem here.

For cereal, I bought Honey Flakes, imported from South Africa. They taste a little like stale Honey Smacks (I think that’s what they’re called—the one with the frog). And they were good, too. I had them and some tea and I sat on my porch reading a Fanny Flagg novel, and it was good.

(In the picture below you can see the infamous gas tank, mentioned in the previous post.)

1 comment:

Bret Battey said...

Hi Laura,

Let's hear it for rest! It can be remarkably difficult to rest, yes?

I learned in India that one can keep milk w/o a refrigerator. We poured it into a bowl and but it on a gas burner and brought it to a boil and then shut off the burner. Then put a plate over it to cover. Only thing is, I can't remember if we had to do that only once per day, or more often.