Sometimes I pause and think, "This is my life?!!!"

Our mode of transportation unless we feel like walking

Honestly this life near the Nile is not all glamor and shine. Though I thank the Lord every day for the privilege to be here serving Him, you seriously have to be soooo flexible to survive the craziness. I am not really a very flexible person but am trying to be more so. Anyway, I wanted to share what it's like for me to go grocery shopping. Think of me the next time you go to Walmart or Publix. :)

Some of my friends who  have stalls at the market

 Once I get to the market which is only about a mile from our house, I have an order of where I go to get what I need. First I go to the butcher. I should have taken a picture but I was in the midst of the crazy crowd, pushing and hollering for the cut of meat I wanted. Seriously, when the freshly butchered cow arrives, there is a rush of women and children who have been sent to the market. They are all pushing and yelling at the butcher for the amount they want as they shove their money at him. I don't know how he keeps his cool. I've learned though that if I just stand patiently, Kamal (the butcher) will look at me and ask what I want. Usually I get 2 kilos of laham safi (meat without bones) but yesterday there wasn't enough meat to go around and I ended up giving up. They brought more meat about a half hour later, but again, there was such a scramble, I decided it wasn't worth it.

Next I go to the vegetable stalls. These days I can find potatoes, sweet potatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and sometimes even oranges that come come from Egypt. There is also a lady who sells kudra (local greens) and okra which I always buy!

a view of the market

 Next I go to the little shops which we call dukans in Arabic. This is where I go for rice, sugar, flour, pasta, tomato paste, or juice powder. We've also really been enjoying dried dates.
Joshua had been begging me for fish. He just LOVES fish. We couldn't find any in the market (which was the whole reason he came with me to the market.) So I told him we'd try to go look along the river side later.

Sure enough, around 5, a boat came from a small village upriver called Thiangrial, carrying a canoe-load of fresh tilapia. The boys and I walked all the way down the river, almost a mile I think, and bought 5 nice tilapia. It wasn't until we got home that I realized I was the one who would have to gut and clean these fish before they became the fish tacos I was imagining in my mind.

It took about an hour to gut all five fish. I made a real mess of the first one, since it was my first time, but by the 4th and 5th I was a pro. We fried them up and had delicious fish tacos for dinner.

I do admit that many times as I'm climbing into bed and thinking back on the events of the day, my life almost feels like a dream. It's not always a happy dream, but most nights I fall asleep with a smile on my face because though our life really is very crazy, we truly are living out our dream. And we are thankful.