Week 17: Office- Horse and Dog

Hello Everyone!

I’m glad to report that I am alive, if a bit shaky. Nothing too crazy happened this week; actually to be quite honest the most interesting part of the week was quoting the movie "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" We had a pretty good week, just not super busy.

I will share one of the really cool experiences I had this week. I had the most indescribable opportunity to eat both horse and dog meat! So yesterday during the office work, one of the senior service missionaries brought in leftover horsemeat. I forgot what she called it, some type of cooking. Anyways, it was DELICIOUS! I ate every last scrap of it. It was like little bits of shredded steak. It was very, very lean, hardly any fat. Super delicious! I have a plan of buying some land in the mountains and letting horses breed and go wild and then we can hunt them for sport and meat. Supposedly eating horse is legal in Utah; I don't know about sport hunting. I'm sure there will be little Brice girls appalled at the thought, so maybe I won't mention it again. (But it might happen..!!..) And then I had the wonderful blessing of going to my Bishop's house and eating DOG! So exciting! When I walked in I could smell meat cooking, but I didn't know what it was. We sat down and they brought it out covered in tinfoil. When I opened it up and saw it, I knew instantly what it was. The meat is really dark; it looks almost like a Sunday roast- color and texture. I tore off like half of a rib cage and began eating it. I started with a fork and knife, but when that proved inefficient, I went to the Tongan way of hands and teeth. It tasted really good! Not as good as horse, but it fills your soul and wild man-hood meter for the day. You know the meter you fill when you split wood, wipe yourself with your hand, lift heavy things, and eat freshly roasted meat with your hands. Maybe that's just me. (BTW, I have never wiped myself with my hands, but wiping with leaves in Tonga is actually a thing) Anyway, so yeah, I can't really describe the flavor; it's different than a roast, gamier I guess. It's kind of rubbery and chewy, I think that just how it got cooked. The best part was, I distinctly remember scratching this dog's head like a week ago, and now it's in my belly! What a good day. Afterwards, I had some fruit called the tava fruit. I had some in Nicaragua, but it wasn't as good. The only problem is it causes some serious digestive issues, namely the fruit is chalk-full of dietary fiber, and we all know what dietary fiber does in large amounts. I won't describe anything else, but that's what happened. I'll include a picture of the fruit and the dog. Other than all that it was a pretty laid back week.

The language is coming, slowly but surely... really slowly, like imagine you’re stuck in a box watching a snail crawl up a wall. Its kind of cool and then realize you can't move and your stuck watching the snail and it's still going really slowly, so you’re bored, and then you get interested because its the only thing you can do, then it gets boring again. Yeah that's where I’m at. It’s hard because I’m learning Tongan in an English office, in an English ward, with members who all speak English fluently enough. But I’m trying and not giving up!! We made milk shakes with one of our members this week and he said it reminded him of when he first saw his wife. Then his wife said, "oh so I looked like a milkshake??" and he was like No, I mean the feeling! That was something funny this week. That's all I got,

OFA ATU

Elder Sitaki

Horse

Dog

Live Dog

Dog in the belly