(repost from my other blog, see a bit of background below)
The first night staying at the Moses family in Sydney's house we were quite happy being able to make our own food in the kitchen(after 3 days of almost not eating in Malaysia for me, see below for why). They were quite late because they were in the ushering team at the conference, so had just left some food out for us.
Well the others started frying them burgers, and rolls, but when I came into the kitchen I spotted Ham! And I was so excited, cause it was for me just a taste of home, so instead of making me a burger, I sliced some tomatoes, made me a cup of coffee, and made a lovely fresh roll with ham, tomato, lettuce, salt and pepper, sandwhich to drink with the coffee, It looked quite nice so some of the others also made them. Well the ham was thicker than normal, and especially I like shaved ham, so I was prepared for extreme hammy taste, even though I dont like thick slices, I prefer it to the not eating for 3 days in Malaysia. Also it was a much longer slice than in SA, but again, there everything is bigger too! The cereal boxes, the coke cans, etc., etc. Anyway, the other girls begin to eat their rolls up and I take a bite, and it's not entirely nice, because its thick,or at least thats why I thought it wasnt tasting nice, but I continue to eat half up, the rest finished theirs.
Just then Denise walks in back from the conference, and takes one look at me with the roll in my hand and the others busy finishing their last bites, eyes with a horrified expression, and says "Why are you eating the raw bacon???"
Knowing me, I didnt finish my roll, even though it didnt taste much different, knowing it was raw bacon and all our lessons on the tapeworm in std. 9 was enough to scare me. However I went to bed really canning myself. Becuase I know that probably what went through her head was Dont us South Africans know what bacon is??? Lol. Well it was news to us too that bacon looks different in different countries, and no ways would we eat raw bacon if we knew it, but their raw bacon looked and tasted exactly like our cooked ham slices. But of course that's not what it looked like, and we would have had the same reaction if we saw someone from overseas eating our raw bacon :) I laughed till tears came into my eyes :) (My mother told me afterwards, it's because our bacon is smoked thats why it looks different. Our packet just says Bacon on it, but actually it is Smoked Bacon)
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This is one of my memories of my time in Malaysia and Australia that could have given others a funny but slightly warped perception of South Africans. But before I tell you those memories, let me first tell you that though I love cultures, and places, I am a very finicky eater, (they even joke that I'm white sometimes because I dont like the typical coloured young person gatsby meal - extra large chip/frenchfries roll with lots of sauce, and other stuff on,eg. viennas (the pink muslim type), steak,etc.) So eating was especially hard for me in Malaysia, cause I dont like asian spices... Although the others were so happy about it, at least Miriam had a hard time just like me. Also point no. 2 seeing that chicken doesnt look like Chicken in SA in Malaysia and the little fastfood stores we walked past...I am slowly beginning to become a vegetarian (slowly).
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