Cleaning out the Fridge

Thanks to Jack and Hope for your answers to the survey! Most interesting.
Mine are as follows:
1. Around the world, though I'm a bit ashamed of how little of Canada I've actually seen, I've never been to Victoria, Niagra falls, Ottawa (our country's capital), or Anne of Green Gables' house (in PEI).
2. Sometimes... if it doesn't smell terrible or look suspiciously like it was an important part of some living creature's digestive/circulatory/urinary system, I'll probably give it a try
3. No, though my next trip to Korea conveniently includes staying with two friends. I've been to Hong Kong by myself, and I don't know anyone there, but I think I would have been pretty intimidated the first time if I hadn't had Hope and Marcus with me.
4. In Taiwan I love the railway system which I take advantage of 1-4 times per week. In Canada, well besides the fact that I don't actually have my drivers' license... car is much more convenient.
5. No, and I've proven that more than once. Thankfully I pick up languages fairly quickly, though right now Korean seems MUCH MUCH more indecipherable than Mandarin. I'll try to learn a few phrases though.
6. Short flight - window, long flight- aisle

I understood about 75% of the sermon this morning in church. I don't know if it was because he was mostly speaking from a story (the life of Abraham) and I was following along in my English Bible, or if the pastor was just speaking particularly clearly and slowly today. Although I followed more or less what he was talking about, I still failed to connect the sermon point or topic and opening illustration with what he spoke about the rest of the time. I suppose that happens sometimes in English churches too lol. I remember my friends relating a story about how a preacher once started off talking about Jesus and his disciples, then the role of women in the church, and wandered through a variety of other topics before finishing with, "In conclusion, God should be the center of your marriage."
Speaking of sermon illustrations, our pastor opened his remarks this morning with an account of when we cleaned the refrigerator a few weeks ago. Another peril of living in the church... even your rotten food is publicized. Actually in this case the rotten food in question wasn't mine at all, though I suspect some of it belonged to the foreigner who was living here before me....
The story of the fridge: one day when I returned from class I met the pastor in the hallway where he was talking with another girl who lives here. On seeing me it was like a light came on in his head, and he suddenly decided that the three of us should immediately clean the fridge since he's noticed yi ge guai guai de wei dao - a very strange smell emanating from it. Yan Yi (the girl who lives across from me) protested that she'd just come home from night shift (she's a nurse at the nearby hospital) and wanted to take a nap, so the pastor let us go... for the time being. Actually that evening, we both took a look inside and cleaned out anything of ours that may have been in there a little too long. Sadly this barely put a dent into the junk that was in there. Another problem with living in a church as a semi-public place is that sometimes there will be dinners, small group meeting, events, or just random people hanging out here, people who leave various types of food in our fridge and never reclaim it, thus not taking responsibility for the inevitable mold and other terrible things that happen to food when it is forgotten. Finally a few days later, we were cornered again and spent maybe 45 minutes taking everything out of the fridge and washing down all the shelves. To my knowledge this was the first time it had been done since I'd moved in putting it at about 9 months. The most frustrating thing about it was knowing that none of the stuff I was now cleaning up was mine.
Most disgusting thing: bottles of goat's milk that you could not tip over to empty because the top had about 2 inches of solid... whatever it becomes after sitting for so long. We had to run hot water on it until it softened enough to pour the putrid stuff out of the bottles. Of the three of cleaning the fridge none of us could recall ever purchasing even one of the many bottles of goat's milk in the fridge.
Anyways, I won't gross you out anymore, but suffice it to say, I had to stifle some giggles as I listened to the pastor liken our fridge cleaning experience to our need to clean out our hearts.

Comments

  1. Hey Charlotte!
    Wow, that fridge cleaning sounds like quite the adventure...not sorry I missed it ;)
    I guess I should do your little survey, too...
    1. I think that I would rather travel all around the world, to experience a wider variety of cultures etc, though I still would like to travel more in Canada.
    2. Ummm...I would have to say no.
    3. Of course not! I would like to travel with someone I know, but why limit myself?
    4. Well...since I've only been driving for a month (translates into roughly 5 times in the behind the wheel), probably public transit for now...
    5. I definitely prefer the window seat. I have difficulty sleeping in any type of vehicle, so it is nice to be able to watch something. Because I have flown so many times in my life... :)

    Sarah :)

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  2. I SO would have puked all over the fridge!

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