Going rogue (for food...what else?)

Thursday Aug 7

Working at City Hall again today.  We are getting pretty used to the morning commute and the ebbs and flows of the office.  We have been starting to try and eat more locally; for the first few weeks we have eased in to it with the local chains stores but now are trying more of the local vendors. We were told to just be careful as we get used to a new environment...take it slow!

For the past few weeks we have been buying rice based sweets from one of the local ladies who comes in every day to City Hall to peddle her wares. We always try to buy something so I am becoming one of her best customers and even though we don't speak the same language. She knows my order pretty much and just measures out 100 pesos worth for sharing.  If Becky's in the office we just have to buy more! :-)

Our local merchant!

Sweet rice cakes with fresh coconut

The morning was spent working on our checkpoint presentation we are having with Judith on Friday morning. We all have our little pieces to do and Brian is coordinating the presentation. 

For lunch we head to the local food court in search of some soup that Carina has been looking for ever since we had it last week. It reminds her of similar soups in Brazil....Arroz Caldo which is essentially chicken with rice. It is truly the soup that eats like a meal with a rich garlicky broth, rice, a full cooked egg and chicken. Of course I have a picture of it(does anyone really want to see Powerpoint slides in a blog? ) from last week when Waya ordered it for Brian. He was a hurting unit and some nice soup was well received. 

Arroz Caldo. Breakfast of Champions. 

Unfortunately it is a breakfast item and the lady is all out so we have to go in another direction. Namely rice and some pork, and some hand fried empanadas.  One thing you notice at most of the street places....meat is mostly chicken or pork. Beef is only in the better restaurants and the fast food joints like a Jollibees.  In Halifax you can't find fried chicken(not counting wings) in any place other then KFC. Here it is in every restaurant or roadside stand! A very dangerous place for me to be! 

Flea market/eating area in the market next door to city Hall. 

Light lunch and finalize some of the deliverables we will be proposing.  Carina is plowing through process mapping, Brian is working on both a brochure and Web content.....the city is planning on revamping their overall website and Social Welfare will be a part of it so we are helping out.  I have some work to do on Social Media and Facebook of all things.  Coming along. 

The usual hour's ride home is enough to sit back and think of all the things we have gotten to experience and it makes me smile.  It's always fun to listen to the conversations on the way home and makes the time pass. We go out for dinner as team and have a fun night out; I know it is hard to believe but we had not all gotten together since the weekend so it was fun to get out as the whole team and not just the pockets!


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