We have the Star link system in hand; Steve thought we were going to need a longer cable but the guy we talked to said that he did not believe that we would need a longer one. Now this man has never been to the mission house and has no idea where it will have to be mounted to get the best signal so I am confused as to how he thinks he knows how much cable we will need. The only good thing is that he said he has a contact person in the Yendi area that can get one ordered for us if we need to add another piece of cable.
We went to the cultural center this afternoon and did a little shopping. Shopping is my one weakness! Ha! We bought a cane with a lion’s head on it for the Ya-Na (the king of the area where we live). We will have to visit him when Marcus and Evan (our son-in-law and grandson) come to visit us. Traditionally the Ya-Na is supposed to sit on a lion’s skin but the one that belonged to his father went missing when he was murdered. We think that he will enjoy the cane because it has a lion on it. The kings always walk with a walking stick of some sort that has been treated with by the witchdoctor (Juju) to protect them from all sorts of things. We hunted for a turtle stool but we did not find one that we could afford. The chief/king that is over the land at Kulkpeni died last year and a new chief is going to be put into place; this chief is called “Mion” which means turtle. We thought that it would be nice to have a turtle stool to give him when we go to visit him after he takes his new position. The story is told that one of the old kings of Mion would take turtles as a gift to the Ya-Na when he would visit him. The turtles are supposed to be sacred so I am not sure why he would want sacred turtles. I guess what I consider a really good gift is not what someone else thinks is a good gift. Maybe the next time we go shopping I will find one.
We also went to the Chinese restaurant for a late lunch; early supper. We tried something different today; we got the hot pot. The menu does not have a list of the ingredients. The hot pot consists of a container of hot seasoned broth that is set over a burner in the middle of the table. The container was divided; one side had a hot (with pepper) seasoned broth and a mildly seasoned clear type broth. The broth is boiling; corn, tomatoes, squash and green onions were floating in the broth. The waiter then brings out a trolley that has lots of small dishes with all sorts of raw stuff that you add to the broth and cook to your desired doneness. The waiter asked us if there was anything that we preferred not to eat. We told him that we would try everything. We were not sure what some of the things were but we did not mind asking. It was amazing the variety of things that we had to cook. The ingredients included thinly sliced lamb and beef, small lobsters, and lots of pig parts (a sandwich type loaf of mixed pig parts, the brain, small intestine, parts of the stomach, parts of the large intestine, and part of the lining of the throat. We also had chicken balls and squid balls. We were given several different types of tofu (squares of tofu, tofu balls, wide tofu noodles, tiny tofu noodles, tofu made from corn (who knew you could make tofu from corn) and thin sheets of tofu paper). I like the tofu paper the best because it was thin enough to really absorb the soup. There were several types of mushrooms; oyster mushrooms, white tree ear fungus and straw mushrooms. We were also given thinly sliced potatoes, lotus root, fresh garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame seeds, sesame oil, fresh chopped hot red chili peppers, hot chili paste, fermented soybean paste (dark miso), peanut sauce, several types of green leaves, pickled vegetables, seaweed threads and large pieces of seaweed tied into bows. All in all the meal was delicious! I am not a fan of animal stomach of any sort but I must say these people know how to prepare it correctly; there was none of that back yard / back end taste that is usually present. We were pleasantly surprised! The worst thing we had was the lining of the throat followed by the squid balls; the throat was too hard to eat and the squid balls were too fishy!
Take care and enjoy your day!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
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