Wednesday, November 23, 2011

My alarm went off at 6 this morning, and I got up at 6:30. What a great fight! I felt like two people in a pool, each trying to push the other underwater. Finally, the spirit prevailed against the flesh. This is a good sign. It used to be the flesh who only ever won. I had a good prayer time for D and Q, and read 5 chapters of Zechariah and Matthew 18.

A guy led devotions this morning…don’t know his name, probably one of the pastors or house leaders of Betel or something. I was fighting to stay awake during devotions. Maybe I’ll have to start drinking coffee for breakfast.

I was assigned to stay in the house today, and R put me in the kitchen, where I did some cleaning, made soup, fried eggs, and eels, and warmed up the potatoes with greens that we had yesterday.

We ate about 1:30 and went to the salon to rest, where I used up all the time writing in my journal. 6 hours of sleep last night, no nap yesterday or today, and no chance to go to bed early because we don’t eat dinner until 11:00 pm today.

Oh! I forgot to mention something from yesterday. We each have “extra” household chores that are assigned on a rotating basis, or as punishments, in which case the rotation picks up where it left off when the punishment is over.

The chores in this category are things like making breakfast, washing dishes, making dinner Saturdays and Sundays, and cleaning bathrooms.

I got bathrooms, so after our play practice was over, I had to clean the bathrooms before I went to bed. The bathrooms here get cleaned twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. At least I can’t say the bathroom is ever dirty. It’s cleaner than the one at home.

It’s interesting how different cultures have different priorities regarding cleanliness. Spanish women keep the inside of their houses immaculate, but what’s outside is basically one big garbage can. Our floors get mopped every day, but in the evergreen bushes right in front of our house, people have stuffed empty plastic bags and food wrappers—just stuffed them into the cracks between the branches.

After our siesta, I was assigned to cook dinner, and F helped me. She and I talked for a long time and she shared her testimony with me.

The dinner was really yummy: Fried fish in a green sauce. I want to make this at home sometime. The sauce almost turned out yucky--I had to throw it out the first try. But on the second try I just made a regular béchamel with onions, garlic, parsley, & salt, then added fish broth, a can of peas, and a blended up mixture of a little bit of the failed green sauce (which was made of the same ingredients, just more parsley, plus a can of mixed peas & carrots). I put the pieces of fried fish into this broth and let it simmer for a while. It was really good!

Also F made stuffed eggplant, and R made stuffed apples. Mmmm. 

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