YES those are my legs and NO I am not riding a chicken!!!

6/13/2010

Jarod here…wanted to give a brief update and realized that I haven’t mentioned this before. Many of my friends may get a kick out of this but oh well…here it goes. As you know, our diets here are drastically different than that of back home. In the states I was a…well…I like to call it a meatetarian. Here in Rwanda and especially in our tiny, rural and remote village of Banda, meat is rarely part of the diet. So yes…I have basically become a vegetarian. The only protein that I get is from beans that have to be soaked for 8 hours and then cooked for another 3, the occasional egg and the ever so loved peanut butter that comes in those heavenly care packages. It is a sad thing and as you all know…I can’t afford to lose any weight. The bad thing is that in the Peace Corps men are known to lose weight and women gain over their two years of service. In fact, our medical office told us that in the 10+ years she has worked in the PC, she has never seen a man not lose weight and a women not gain after their two years of service. You can only imagine how depressing this news was for me to hear…but oh well…I thought maybe I could break that terrible cycle.

Well…here we are…almost 4 months into this deal and I must admit that yes…as sad as it is…I have lost weight. I’m not sure how much but I know it is somewhere between 5-10 pounds. So…Philip…make all the chicken leg jokes you want and Mark all the “where did you go” when I turn sideways jokes you want and…you… Landon, you can send random emails at the expense of my slenderness…but you guys better enjoy it now. Just know that when I get back to the states in a few years and begin to indulge in all of the foods of the mother land, I will pack on weight (and much muscle of course) so fast you will think I am an NFL linebacker. Just joking…but seriously…I’m not!

Anyway, enough nonsense for one day…we are heading off to church now…another 3-4 hour service where we are stared at more than the pastor and have no idea what is being said. However, I do have to say that I really enjoy the music and singing…all 2½ - 3 hours of it…never before have I witnessed such vibrant, lively, joyful and pure worship, singing and dancing. Observing the people and children during praise and worship here, I can’t help but think to myself…this is what it must have been like in the Bible when it talks about people dancing before the lord. I’ve never seen so much joy and happiness as I see on the faces of people here and that joy and happiness is expressed in song and dance before God…good times! Okay…gotta run. Until next time…stay classy…but mostly…thanks for stopping by!