“What is it?” asked Pawkuhmooeydee when she saw the strange object sitting on the floor in the kitchen. The kids had just come home from school to find that Daddy had returned from his trip to Bangkok.  The kitchen was now filled with strange objects. They had oohed and awed over the HUGE ice cream freezer, they had asked many questions about the tofu machine, but the third object was a complete mystery to them. Before I could answer Pawkuhmooeydee’s question, Memewah told her quite knowingly that it was a “pounder”. (Mortar and pestle) All the kids looked puzzled, but they could easily see that there was a thing on top that you could pound with, but it did not reach the bottom of the clear container. I then had a chance to get in my two cents worth, and I asked Pawkuhmooeydee what she thought that it was. “Well, I think that it is a lamp”, she said hesitantly. “That clear part on top must be where the fire goes”. Trying not to laugh, I informed them that it was a blender! Blank faces met my announcement. They had never seen such a thing before, and could not imagine what in the world it could be used for, so we showed them its usage on some fresh coconut.  Destiny was none too thrilled with the new “monster”, and every time I turned it on, she would scream and try to escape just as fast as her arms and legs would carry her. But, I am thrilled with it, since I already demonstrated its superior peanut butter making capabilities! Instead of it taking us all afternoon to make a small amount of very chunky, grainy peanut butter, I can have a bowl of smooth, natural peanut butter in less than 5 minutes. It is an industrial blender, almost the same as a vita mix.

Why all this new stuff? Well, we need to have industries where the school children can work and help earn their way through school. We had noticed that there is an discouraging absence of good tofu in this area, and since we also want to get our school kids away from the chicken and fish that they currently eat, we thought that maybe a tofu industry would be nice. We can also use the machine to make soy milk, yoghurt, and ice cream, thus enhancing their menu considerably.  We still have a long ways to go before we can purchase the rest of the needed equipment, but this was a great start!

Roy was also able to purchase the rest of the violins. Now 10 enthusiastic musicians are playing “Mississippi hotdog” over and over and over and over and over….I am sure that you get the idea. I am hoping that we can teach them a real song very soon.

We have come to the conclusion that as soon as we can manage it, we also need to move down to the school. Roy finally has the teachers teaching when they are supposed to, but before and after school are still somewhat of a disaster. There is no house for us there, so building one is becoming more of a priority…especially since the water situation here is way less than ideal. I now have all the muddy water I could ever want, but it does not make us feel particularly clean after bathing, and cooking with it is only for the adventuresome or desperate.

On another note…Andrew landed in America this past week, and is now enjoying fresh, cool, Montana air, while enjoying the natives there. He was rather sick when he left, but from second hand reports that I have received, just going home seems to have been therapeutic for him. He will be in America for a few months in order to work and earn money so that he and Khen can have a good start to their marriage.