Sunday, February 1, 2009

Super Bowl Sunday in Enugu

Super Bowl Sunday has rolled around once again. That special time of year when people eat their weight in junk food and enjoy a couple of cold ones. I have never especially enjoyed football but I miss being apart of the festivities. Alas, my Super Bowl Sunday will probably be much different from that of most Americans.

I had an early start this morning. Church services start at six am here. Since we were walking in the dark without the aid of street lights, we had to leave around 5:30 am. It is strange to see people coming to church with flashlights. A normal Catholic mass takes about an hour in the US. Today mass was over two hours long and Sr. Ngozi tells me we got off easy since last week it was about three. The service was also in Igbo so I had almost no idea what was going on. There was a lot of beautiful singing which I enjoyed.

After church Aubrie and I did laundry. Without the luxury of a washing machine laundry could easily turn into an all day task. In the backyard there is a huge cistern that we draw water out of in a bucket. That alone can be a backbreaking job. Then I had to scrub my clothes with my hands. Of course multiple rinses are required to get out all the detergent. After that I left the clothes on the line to dry. I don't want to even think about when I have to fold it all up. I wish we had a washer and dryer but all things considered it wasn't as bad as I feared.

After laundry I decided to make a late breakfast. When we first arrived the nuns where cooking every meal for us. Slowly but surely we are learning our way around the kitchen. Cooking is different when you don't have fresh milk, meat, or anything in a can. After I scoped out the kitchen and pantry, I decided to scramble up an egg. I also added a chopped up tomato and some garlic. It ended up being quite tasty and my first homemade meal in Nigeria was a success.

Friday all of the nuns except Ngozi left for a seminar in Edo. They returned around two this afternoon and it is nice having a full house again. There are less akward silences and more people to help translate when we don't understand each other. To celebrate we had a nice lunch of rice and goat. For the record goat meat is actually pretty good and tastes like beef brisket. It was much better than the potato pancakes with ground up fish filling that was dinner on Friday. Is it just me or do I talk about food a lot?

So that is what is new around here. I wonder if the Super Bowl coverage has started yet. Let me know if the commercials are up to par.

1 comment:

  1. Hi, Katie....

    The Super Bowl was an exciting one. Not rooting for either team during the regular season, we chose the Arizona Cardinals to cheer for during the game, as they were deemed the underdog. Too bad they lost. :\ Kurt Warner is still aces in my book though.

    If you really miss the commercials and want to see them all, and you can get on the Internet, go to: www.spotbowl.com. I learned of this website this morning. People can view the ads and vote on their favorites. Hope you can get to it....it may make you feel a bit closer to home.

    I'm thinking about you and praying that your next weekend isn't like this last one. Keep that sense of humor, girl. We miss ya!

    Peace.
    Karen Przybylski

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