Tiptoeing across the globe...: Children, please don't hate me

First I will tell a story of the FIRST time I ate something other than what I really thought it was.

No no, this isn't a crazy "I just ate a cat/dog" episode. . . but close LOL

Let us go back a couple years. To my wonderful Grandma Bradfield's house. We all know that Grammas LOVE to cook us meals and love nothing more that to feed us.

Like ALL the time.

So here we are. . . sitting around for lunch having roast beef sandwiches having a good ol' time.

Then, Gramma days "so girls, how did you like the buffalo tongue?

Uh. . . :0

What?

So my sister and I peer into the bowl, which had previously been what we thought was roast beef. . . and lo and behold. . . Yes, there is indeed taste buds on a chunk of meat.

Well! Let me tell you I just HAD to have another sandwich now that my brain knew it was tongue. Hahaha, that was interesting. It was almost too hard to eat, but I did it!

Getting back to my time in Kinshasa, spending some time with the Lind family has been great! They have a good size yard to keep some guineas (birds) and a handful of rabbits. All for human consumption at some point.

Hehe, Lisa was even tempted to buy a Turkey the other day at the Ivory Market!

Why not right!? Just need a goat to trim down the grass and a couple roosters to make the mini farm complete and have your own source of food.

Sitting down at dinner tonight at Chateau Lind, we had a delish dinner of rice and a "meat sauce"

Yes my friends.

I found out that we ate a bunny.

-Tastes like chicken, but a bit tougher-

No, I did not eat this little guy. I might have eaten his father...

The rest of the night was quite more normal (lol), played Settlers of Catan -my second time ever!-

To rewind the day, Jocelyn spend the morning finishing homework while Nick and I ventured Kinshasa. First, he took me to the MAF office and I was able to meet a lot of awesome people there. It was around lunch, so we went with the Program Director to a small food vendor down the block and had rice & beans.

Street food hut

I also got to try something called Fufu. No it wasn't someones dog. ;)

Anyone ever had Red River porridge before? Well, solidify it a bit to make a dough of sorts and that is what Fufu tastes like when it is plain.

You would usually dip it in whatever you are eating to gain flavor. But Fufu, is pretty much a filler. Not a lot of nutrients in it to make it worth your time, but it is cheap and edible.

ANYWAY, I thought it tasted like poo. So I didn't eat much of it. LOL, stuck to my beans and rice.

Later on in the afternoon, we went to TASOK (The American School of Kinshasa), and I was not prepared for this place... camera wise. *shakes fist* It was a pretty neat place.

"Founded in 1961, TASOK serves mainly English-speaking students form the international, diplomatic, and business communities. The school is located on a 42 acre campus and contains good sports and art facilities. There are 2 volleyball courts, 2 cement basketball courts, 2 soccer fields, a 25 meter pool, and special rooms for art, music, band, and drama"

HUGE snail

Needless to say, it didn't lack much. Huge towering bamboo trees, avocado trees, a botanical trail...it was beautiful. Very up to date generator, so no lack of electricity on campus.

Nick and I went for a swim in the 25m outdoor pool, but it was hard to concentrate without looking around at the place.

I could see my self wanting to come back just to hang out regularly... For photoshoots and such :P

We walked around for a bit on the botanical trail and found a fist sized snail in his shell, and some funky things on this tree that reminded me of Sea Urchins.

The green 'sea urchin' looking things in the tree

Also meeting some people that Nick new, I was approached with familiarity and hugs!

Only to greet them saying "Hi I'm Nicole!"

"OH! I thought you were Jocelyn!"

LOL. It happened 3 times that day.

It didn't help that I was wearing some of her clothes. =D

Visiting a hospital in Vanga on the first stop tomorrow

So, it is late and I have 4 hours to sleep (having flashbacks to doing this in Perú last year haha). We are leaving to Kikongo tomorrow for the weekend with the Lind Family of 4

(if you are interesting in reading their blog of another MAF family, click here!)

I am will be able to use my Canon camera more freely this weekend -yeeaaah- but no wifi connections out there in the jungle... lol I know right?

So come back monday and we will hopefully have some awesome things to share about our amazing weekend in the DRC.

In the mean time, let's focus on the most important person! RUTH!!