Themed Luches
As Sarah and I have previously mentioned, lunches are often communal or family-style when we’re at the foundation. I know we’ve shared about our time making an American lunch for everyone, as is tradition for volunteers to make a meal for everyone from their home country. However, since we’ve been here a while and haven’t had any new volunteers since the Brazilians left, Susana, Yasmin, Viviana, and us have now tried to do bi-weekly lunches in which a menu is prepared in advance.
This has been great because it gets Sarah and I more involved with knowing what’s the lunch agenda for the week. What I mean by that is we now have a better idea of when we should just bring lunch for only us, or if we should be bringing in items to make together.
Anyways – this post isn’t meant to be long by any means, but more to highlight some of the community and team building that has taken place over the last month.
A few weeks back, it was COMPLETO DAY, which as we’ve discussed before, are Chilean hot dogs. They are basically hot dogs, but with some different toppings – mainly avocado and mayo. We all brought different ingredients and I decided to make (what is now referred to as) “Salsa Susana” – since she loved it so much when we made it with our American burger lunch.
Since COMPLETO DAY had passed, it was on Sarah and me to come up with the next menu, and so we opted for handmade pizzas. Also, one lunch, we were all discussing peanut butter (which is rare to find in Chile), and asking them if they like it and if they use it on items, etc. Ultimately, we learned that they have had it (and some enjoy it), but it if far from a regular staple in their diet or menus. Therefore, in addition to the pizzas, we thought we’d amuse them by making some appetizer PB&Js and “ants on a log” – I mean, what can be more classic uses of peanut butter than that?!
All in all, it’s been fun creating these menus, cooking together, and getting to know each other all a bit better. And also, since we have a new volunteer starting on May 6th, that day has already been determined as EMPANADA DAY, which is awesome. Also, the new volunteer is from France, so I’m excited to see what his local meal will be for everyone haha.
180 Days South 