Somali Bantu Health Education Pic

Alive

Hello blogging world.  I realize I am not a frequent poster, but yes, I am still alive, just like all of our patients yesterday (even though some came in without a heartbeat, some with pitiful breathing, and others wounded by a chainsaw).  All alive. Good day.  Tiring day, but good day.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  John 17:3

The Sketchy Restaurant Search

Most of you reading this blog have heard about my friend Heather.  Well, she recently had a friend from Kansas move down here to the great city of Nashville.   Her name is Kierston.  Kierston and I have become friends and have embarked on a new and exciting quest to find the most shady and authentic restaurants in town. :D

(Kierston, Carly, and I outside the Hidden Habibi Café)

I love discovering the international parts of Nashville.  It’s like being able to travel to other places without spending any money on a plane ticket or taking time off work, lol.  Nashville is not only home to a lot of other well-known cultures, but many more lesser-known ones, as well, since it is a refugee settlement city.  The zip code down by my hospital has one of the most diverse populations in the multi-state area!

Anyway, the first place we went (here’s a picture I snapped during the day) was at night.  I have been salivating over this meat cooking every time I go to work!  This Mexican place had an amazing green sauce for their meat (which said “pollo,” but was not chicken…I honestly think the owner tried to tell us he was out of chicken and gave us something else, but since neither Kierston nor I speak Spanish, we didn’t figure that out till later :P).  The only English word in the joint was “yum,” but thankfully there were a lot of pictures of all the meats hanging up so we could have an idea what everything was.  Call me crazy, but I like being surrounded by people speaking another language.  I like even better when I know the language, but hey, it’s cool either way. ;)

Before our next adventure a couple weeks later, we stopped at the International Market before heading over there.  Carly was my beautiful model demonstrating to you all how the process of live animal to meat works…

While I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that’s not “real” crack, I see no reason to eat the hearts or uteruses of animals.  Maybe this is just since taking Anatomy & Physiology, but really?  

The Hidden Habibi Café & Hookah Bar pictured at the top was SUCH a cultural experience as the man who owns it and “keeps it open from 11a-3a every day” wasn’t there when we arrived at 5pm.  We gave the locked-up, dark restaurant a call and it went straight to his cell and we found out that he was headed over.  I really think he came in just for us because it was over half an hour later when he arrived and the cooks didn’t get there for another couple hours (not that he let that stop him – he did just fine making some yummy falafel and hummus!).  It was funny because when he got there, the three of us ordered Dr. Pepper and he walked out the front door and across the street…and came back a few minutes later with a 6-pack of Dr. P!  There were a couple times throughout the night when certain members of our party had sword and knife scares, but we exited safe and happy before the nightlife even fully began.

We didn’t do hookah, for those of you who were wondering, because it’s bad for your lungs. :P

I did learn that “habibi” means “my love” in Arabic – just another word to add to my slowly-growing list! :o)

If anybody thinks of any good places you think we should try, feel free to let me know! :)