Cooking in Caracas

      Cooking in Caracas is different from cooking in the United States, but as I learn the differences, I honestly don't feel that it is too bad. There are lots of food shortages here that ultimately ties back to the government. It's a good day when we find milk, sugar, flour, oil, toilet paper, and other things at the grocery store. When we do, we stock up. Right now, I have five liters of milk in the cabinet because I have been finding it recently and know that pretty soon I won't be able to. Luckily, I have officially found all of these things and have a stock of flour, sugar, milk, oil, and more in my cabinet. This is a huge answer to prayer. You can read more about the food shortages in this BBC article.

 

     We shop at a few different grocery stores. There is one that is close and smaller, but it still carries most of what we need. There are a few others that are further away, where we need a ride in a car to get to. Some awesome teammates always offer for someone to join them when they go, and yesterday I took a taxi to one with a few of my friends. The other places we shop are markets. There are several open on the weekends. One is close by, and I've been to it on Sunday mornings. Last week, we took the Metro bus and subway to another, larger one, which is the one that's pictured. There were so many fruits, vegetables, eggs, and other things. I even found apples that weren't too expensive for Venezuela! At this market I also found baking soda, baking powder, and sugar, which I had been searching for. Going shopping here is an adventure. The biggest downside of some of the places is trying to lug my groceries up the giant hill to my house.



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Beans are very common here. It's not unusual to have some out
soaking at some point during the week. We have even learned
 how to use garbanzo beans to make cupcakes/brownies.

     Another challenge is cooking from scratch all the time. Cooking takes a long time and a lot of effort during our day because almost none of our food is quick and simple. We find ways to make it easier during the week for us. My roommates and I find cooking more on the weekend and eating that meal throughout the week is easier. Personally, I like freezing my meals and taking a different one out every day to have that night. 

 

     Yesterday, a friend posted an article with pictures of a week of groceries from places around the world on Facebook. Having just been shopping and since I was working on writing a post about food, I was inspired to do the same and show you what I bought or had previously stocked up on to eat for this week.



This is pretty typical for a week: fruit, carrots, bread, pasta, yogurt, a little bit of meat, eggs, milk (if I have it), and some sort of treat. One thing that is missing is oatmeal. Some weeks, I have that almost every day for breakfast. Most other people would include a lot of rice and beans, but I can only handle so much of them. What I eat is definitely different from what others around here choose to eat, but I like the choices I have.

I found a mix so that I can still have my Saturday morning
pancakes. They look and taste a little funky, but I still like them.

    


Sometimes a bird flies into our house while I'm cooking.

     Figuring out what to make and taking the time (sometimes it takes all day) to cook things can be tiring, but it is what we have to do here. I'm enjoying learning how to cook new things like the garbanzo bean cupcakes and banana ice cream. Yesterday, I cut into my chicken for the first time. I cut some of the good meat off and froze it for later. Then I used the bones and meat that was still around them to make chicken noodle soup. Thanks to help from my roommates, I figured out how to make it with what I had. In the end, it was pretty good, but I know that I need to add some more things to it next time because it still tastes a little bland.




Prayer Requests and Praises
-One student had the courage to tell me when she thought I was being too hard on them! It's a step in the right direction. Normally they won't tell me when something is wrong or they don't understand.
-The Lord provided the strength to make it through the week and the encouragement from others right when I needed it!

Cutting the carrots for my soup

-All the colds and runny noses in my classroom are gone (for now)! Our classroom tissue use has decreased tremendously.
-Wisdom for what to do for my spring visa trip. I'm narrowing down my options.
-Healing for my friend's leg before our visa trip in October
-Continued strength to make it through the day
-My principal is coming to observe me for the first time this week.
-A person from NICS is coming to our school this week. Pray for safe travels for him.
-Peace and rest for all of the teachers

Taking the chicken off the bone

-Students' spiritual growth, especially pray for the high schoolers. They seem very excited this year for the youth group that is after school on Fridays and are even taking responsibility for it.
-Our work visas to keep going through the system




    



The end result: Soup!



Yum.

 

 

 

Ok, I will show you one school related thing. Last week, our Bible verse was Psalms 1:2-3. Here is how one student wrote it:

 

Apparently, we still have some learning to do. Also, one of my roommates wrote a really good blog post about our students, their belief of God protecting them, and the crime situation here. I highly recommend that you read it (click on the blue words to read it).