Recently Jair joined a mission team that were installing water tanks at Su'u National Secondary school - so it was just Theresa and I at home for the 6 days. On Day Two - Saturday, I made some hot cakes and fried a few then kept the left over batter (and there was quite a bit left over) for the next day.
It was only while eating them that I realised quite how much food a man consumes. Theresa and I? Well we packed away 4 and then we were full. I didn't really want left over cold hot cakes for lunch, especially since I still had lots of batter, so when I went out to do a bit of work around the place that morning, I took them with me on a plate, knowing I'd come across some hungry soul.
Five steps out of the bottom of the stairs leading up to our house, we came across Gerry - and he was hungry. He wanted to do a bit of work on his bike or something, so was after the workshop keys. So I said, "Gerry, do you want a hot cake? Well, actually, do you want three?"
He gave me a big grin. That meant "yes". And, his hand shaking, he reached out and took all three and quickly ate 'em up. Then he was off, with a "Tagio tumas!" to grab the key.
I couldn't get out of my head, though, the shaking hand thing. I mean, so often his hands are shaking, and the other mechanics too, and even our office staff, their hands shake. Sarah, our office girl, said it's because she doesn't eat much sugar, in fact, I don't think she eats before 12pm.
I can't imagine going without breakfast! The locals often joke about our eating habits - you know, breakfast at 7am. Morning tea at 10am. Lunch at 12:30pm. Afternoon tea at 3pm. Dinner at 6pm - and then more tea - or hot chocolate, whatever just before bed!! They think it's crazy. I can't help thinking that not eating before 12pm and then having maybe only one other meal, is pretty crazy. No wonder their hands shake. No wonder they do everything in Sunday-drive mode. They don't have as much energy foods pouring into their diet.
Anyway, it's just different. And sometimes I'm interested in things that are different because we can so take for granted that people are actually different, thinking that their lifestyle is similar. When you start to understand the differences, then you can understand why certain things happen the way they do.
And that helps when you're a stranger in a different culture!
