This title might seem rather strange to you. "Macaroni and cheese?" you might ask yourself, "But everyone knows how to make macaroni and cheese." Well, perhaps all Americans know how to make good ole mac and cheese, but come down here, and no one even knows how to open the box.
This took me by surprise when I first got down here. So many things that we know how to do, things that we take for granted, they have no idea how to do where I live. It really hit me when I gave my first computer class. The little girl walked into the room, and I told her to turn on the computer, and she just looked at me blankly. I thought she was just being stubborn at first and refusing to do it, but quickly realized that she had no idea how to turn the thing on. I was sort of taken aback. I had never even thought of the fact that she wouldn't even know how to turn it on, because she had never even seen a computer in her life.
Another example is the lack of facts that they know, that mostly comes from the lack of a good education. Many times, people would ask me if Spain was close to the US. I would kindly tell them that it wasn't anywhere near, but to be honest, in the back of my mind would sort of think how rediculous it was that they didn't know such a simple fact that I've always known and taken for granted.
I was completely humbled the other day when I asked a man in my site how to saddle my horse (yes, I bought a horse. His name, translated into english, is Champion). I took the horse to him and told him, "please help me. I have no idea how to do this." He, with a little smirk on his face, agreed and began patiently teaching me how to put the saddle on. A few of his kids, all students of mine, were sitting around watching the event, obviously amused by my total lack of knowledge in the area of horses. Each time I made a little mistake (I will admit, it was amusing), they would start cracking up. They especially enjoyed watching me put the bridle on, which is complicated, because there's a part that you have to force into the mouth of the horse. This was something that took me a while. I have a small fear of touching the mouths of animals that could potentially bite me. But I finally did it, after about 5 tries, and a chorus of laughter coming from the kids and the dad each time.
This was a very humbling experience for me. I realized that these people have grown up surrounded by horses. Just like I've grown up having geography facts fed to me. Saddling a horse is something that they take for granted, and have always known to do, so when they see someone who has no idea how to do it, they find it almost shocking. Just like when I meet someone who doesn't know where Spain is, I find it slightly shocking. They are very intelligent, but in different ways. Obviously they can't help the fact that they were never taught in school where Spain is, and I can't help the fact that I never grew up around horses. That's why I'm here. To learn from what they know, and to teach them what I know. Even if it's something as simple as how to saddle a horse.
lunes, 7 de julio de 2008
when life hands you a mango....
Why not make jelly with it?
The jelly training was interesting to say the least. The first day of the training, the women showed up ready and excited at 9 o'clock sharp (something that I rarely see here in Honduras), only to have to wait 3 more hours until the woman showed up to do the training. It was an incredibly stressful event for me, calling the man who picked up the lady doing the training, trying to convince the women not to leave, and just stressing out in general over whether or not the idea to make jellies was grand, or a grand disaster.
Right when they showed up, though, the women went to work, preparing the jelly. I was impressed by their work ethic and enthusiasm. They also learned very quickly, most of the time much quicker than me. Various times, when I was trying to help the women cut the mangos, boil the jelly, or add the sugar, they would tell me "no, Elizabeth. It's like this, not like that. You have to do this."
The first day, we made mango jelly. As well as the second day. The third day, we moved onto papaya and banana jelly, and finally pineapple. I think I ate more sugar that week than I normally do in 2 months......but oh, was it worth it! The mango jelly is excellent. Not to sweet, not too mangoey, a perfect tropical flavor that would go well with any type of bread, or shortbread cookie. The pineapple is surprisingly sweet and tangy. Delicious, but very expensive to make, because one whole pineapple only makes about half a pound of jelly (about half the amount as mangoes, bananas and papayas). The papaya jelly was excellent as well. It has a pinkish color, and a rich, sweet flavor. The banana, although it may seem strange, was my favorite. The texture didn't really turn out to be very jelly-like, it had more of a texture of gerber baby food. But it was absolutely delicious.....a perfect topping or ingredient for chocolate cake!
So now, after making the jellies, we are trying to find a market for them. For now, we are just taking the jelly everywhere we go.....to celebrations, to fairs, etc. But I hope to find them a more permanent, steady market like at a supermarket, or even exporting them to the states! But we have to start small. And then think big........until next time.
The jelly training was interesting to say the least. The first day of the training, the women showed up ready and excited at 9 o'clock sharp (something that I rarely see here in Honduras), only to have to wait 3 more hours until the woman showed up to do the training. It was an incredibly stressful event for me, calling the man who picked up the lady doing the training, trying to convince the women not to leave, and just stressing out in general over whether or not the idea to make jellies was grand, or a grand disaster.
Right when they showed up, though, the women went to work, preparing the jelly. I was impressed by their work ethic and enthusiasm. They also learned very quickly, most of the time much quicker than me. Various times, when I was trying to help the women cut the mangos, boil the jelly, or add the sugar, they would tell me "no, Elizabeth. It's like this, not like that. You have to do this."
The first day, we made mango jelly. As well as the second day. The third day, we moved onto papaya and banana jelly, and finally pineapple. I think I ate more sugar that week than I normally do in 2 months......but oh, was it worth it! The mango jelly is excellent. Not to sweet, not too mangoey, a perfect tropical flavor that would go well with any type of bread, or shortbread cookie. The pineapple is surprisingly sweet and tangy. Delicious, but very expensive to make, because one whole pineapple only makes about half a pound of jelly (about half the amount as mangoes, bananas and papayas). The papaya jelly was excellent as well. It has a pinkish color, and a rich, sweet flavor. The banana, although it may seem strange, was my favorite. The texture didn't really turn out to be very jelly-like, it had more of a texture of gerber baby food. But it was absolutely delicious.....a perfect topping or ingredient for chocolate cake!
So now, after making the jellies, we are trying to find a market for them. For now, we are just taking the jelly everywhere we go.....to celebrations, to fairs, etc. But I hope to find them a more permanent, steady market like at a supermarket, or even exporting them to the states! But we have to start small. And then think big........until next time.
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