2/13/2009: Busy Day!

Today was jam-packed full of activity. I took off the morning to go run errands corresponding to the missionary work we hope to do and are doing here in South Africa. I drove to Pretoria and found the Archdiocese of Pretoria Chancellery (the place where the archbishop works) and spoke with the secretary there about the upcoming visit from Mark and Mike. She was excited about the possibility of a medical outreach and told me that the most needy group she could think of resides in Winterveldt. The group's name? Mercy Sisters. Yes, the Sisters of Mercy - one and the same! Coincidence? I think not!

Additionally, she provided me with tons of information about mission churches (three of which reside in Mamelodi, the township I've already visited), and who to contact to get involved. She will also try to set up a meeting or two for Mark, Mike, and I with the former archbishop and the current one as well while they are here in March. Exciting!

After I got home, we loaded up and drove to Centurion Mall's Pick 'n Pay to do our weekly grocery shopping. April made up a meal schedule and we've adhered to it pretty well and even established a basic budget. Amazing. Here are the pics - folks seem interested in seeing what kind of groceries are available here, so here we go.

Fruit 'n veg section:



Mexican food section - each of those bottles of salsa will run you $3.50 to $6 depending on the store's location (wealthy areas are priced higher, duh).



Instant coffee abounds! Why, I'll never know. The only explanation I've received is that South Africans are impatient and don't want to wait for brewed coffee. Hogwash says I - somewhere along the road everyone was raised on it and therefore ground coffee has gained no traction. Very interesting.



I. Love. This. Country! Click the pic to zoom in and you will discover that the label reads "Pork Fillet Armadillo". They must love Texas here! Well let me tell ya, this Texan loves any country that takes a strip of pork meat and wraps it in bacon and marinade and offers whole sections of said dish! You would be daft if you thought that I didn't purchase one of these - I'll post pics of the end result next week! Mmmmmmmm!



After driving home and putting up the groceries, we went for our weekly out-to-eat treat, this time at Ciao Baby's Cucina. They have excellent pizza! Unfortunately (and sorta fortunately I suppose) we left the full leftover pizza and half of April's meal in our take-away boxes on top of the machine that takes your money for parking. Not five minutes later when we returned the boxes were gone, so I hope they went to someone who needed some food rather than being thrown away. April checked all the trash cans in the vicinity, so we're pretty sure it's the former.