So, I've had some days to do some reflection on this and I thought it was worth sharing with you all.
On Wednesday, August 4th, I went grocery shopping for myself and by myself for the first time since back in the US. Before I left, it was honestly one of my favorite things to do. When I was in Hungary, it was a great way to end my walk home everyday. On last Wednesday, it horrified me.
Not only did I need to plan out food for the next three days (I am back to working my customer service/dispatch job on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for 13 hours each day - so all three meals can be eaten during that time :P), but I needed to decide how to carry and store it all.
I did fine buying some healthy-ish frozen foods, fruit, crackers, and sandwich toppings. However, as I walked toward the bakery, I had one goal: bread. I stood there looking at the choices... and after 20 minutes, I was stressed out and still holding a basket without bread in it. I couldn't make this decision.
In Hungary, buying bread was a simple process. I either wanted 1/2 Kilo (1.1 lbs), 1 Kilo (2.2 lbs) or bagged "American style" bread. Aside from that, there were only 2 other choices: half-brown or white... and sliced or not sliced.
For me it was always an easy decision - if I wanted square sandwiches, I bought the "American style" bread and there was only one type of it. It came in a yellow wrapper and didn't squish when I put it in my basket. If I wanted real bread, I always bought a 1/2 kilo of half-brown bread. It wasn't difficult at all because once the decisions were made, there was only one option. On Wednesday, once I decided that I wanted brown bread that was already sliced, I still had 389,493,249 options.
...
Bread and food is mentioned a lot in scripture. It seems that much of the time when true relationships were being pursued/formed/matured, food was involved. It's not surprising when you think about today's society - we love to meet up for breakfast or lunch or dinner... or coffee ;) Food just seems to invite conversation. I am very much looking forward to sharing times with people these next couple weeks. If you're at all interested in hearing about my year or asking questions on a personal level, let me know. We can break some bread and share stories together someday :)
1 comment:
are you finding that people are interested in your life and adventures in hungary? when i've gone home, and when friends of mine have gone home, we've just found that people ask a few surface questions, but are happy to just pick up where they left off. if anything, most of the people i know who have returned home have been a bit angry that no one cares or angry that people judge the life they had in hungary (negatively), and a bit annoyed that no one else has changed as much for the better as they have. i was wondering about your experience when you got home since you wrote some tips for your friends and family to read about asking you questions.
tell me, tell me!
Post a Comment