Sunday, August 13, 2017

Nutella and Crossing Cultures

The other day my husband asked me why I was buying 5 bags of breakfast granola. I replied quite sensibly that because last time our local supermarket ran out of breakfast granola it took 3 months for more to come in.  I have been learning that living in a foreign culture can cause you to do strange things. . . like hoard breakfast granola.  In fact, we were walking past the garbage bag aisle and I told Paul that it was sure a good thing I bought 2 years worth of small garbage bags last time they had them in stock because they have been out for the last 2 months.

Now don't get me wrong, all of these idiosyncrasies are a reflection of me and the fact that I am a stranger in this wonderful land, and not of what Uganda lacks.  Because, it in fact lacks very little. There are many marvelous things you can get here, amazing tropical fruit being one of my favourites.  And the local food is very good, and much more readily available than breakfast granola. I have been enjoying it more and more and discovering variations to different dishes that I appreciate. But for someone who was not born here, I also sometimes do miss things from home.

We went grocery shopping yesterday and they were out of Nutella.  Now that may not sound like a big deal, in fact I never ate Nutella when I lived in Canada. But it has become some sort of survival food for me here, and I told Paul that I must get Nutella before the setting of the sun.  And so, 3 supermarkets later, we went home with both Nutella and our sanity. In fact, in supermarket #3, not only did I find Nutella, but I found a small piece of heaven.  I found one lone container of fresh strawberries. For the first time in 8 months, I tasted the juicy red goodness of a small handful of strawberries.  Strawberries, oh how I have missed thee. I lamented last month as my Facebook Newsfeed was filled with pictures of juicy red goodness from Canadian U-Pick farms. And The Lord saw the desires of my heart, and led me to the one and only container of strawberries I have seen.

Sometimes living in a foreign land is hard, sometimes it is wonderful, sometimes I just want to stand in front of the empty Nutella shelf and burst into tears, but I am learning to take one day at a time, to be more flexible and to let things go (not always easy for me). Uganda is making me into a better version of myself, Nutella or not.

Nutella and Strawberries. Heaven on Earth.

In addition to Nutella and Strawberries, Running also helps keep me feeling like a human being when challenges of being in a foreign culture arise. I love running in Uganda.  It makes me feel alive.