"I Am A Responsible Adult" And An Errupting Breakfast

Those two things really shouldn't go together.

And yet, here I am writing a blog about them, so here goes.

Yesterday Hae Young went into town for the weekend off, leaving Eduardo (age 20), Miriam (age 19) and me (age 24) alone with the kids. And then we realized that this is the first time that there hasn't been an "adult" at the Villa with us.

When Hae Young was in Korea we either had Rosa (who cooked for us) or Fofo (Elvia's brother-in-law) or some other adult from the ministry.

Not that I don't qualify as an adult...
I know that legally I have been an adult for 6 years and yet I still that I have a lot to learn and a lot more to experience until I can really call myself an adult. So I like to refer to myself still as a "joven" (or a young person) although I think I'm pushing it since that's the term we use to refer to the teenagers here.

So yesterday I jokingly said to Betsy and Hae Young: "no adults at the Villa, let's party!" to which Betsy responded "Katie, you are an adult". She then proceeded to have me repeat "I am a responsible adult, I am a responsible adult" (all in fun of course).

More than capable
Of course I think that we are more than capable. I've been out at the Villa for a year, Ed and Miriam have been here 7 months and nothing is going to happen to us out here. Even if it does, it's only for the weekend :) We've lived through water shortage, no light, food shortage, broken-down cars, etc...I think we can survive a weekend with 9 kids!


Which gets me to the errupting breakfast story. I guess this showcases the "responsible adult" part?

The girls and I decided to make rice and milk (arroz con leche) a few mornings ago. It's very simple. Make the rice, boil the milk, combine the milk, rice, cinnamon, sugar and there you go - yummy breakfast.

Well, Lesli was scooping the rice from one bowl into the pan of milk...one-spoonful-at-a-time...and I was getting impatient so I (being the responsible adult) suggested that she just dump it all in.

Any ideas what happens when a large mass of rice (which is heavy) is dumped into a large pan with about a gallon's worth of hot milk?
Well anyone with basic science knowledge can tell you that the rice displaces the milk, and that the force with which the rice hits the milk makes an EQUAL AND OPPOSITE reaction.

So you can image my surprise when the milk literally errupted (up and then down) causing a HUGE mess on the kitchen counters, floors and of course all the people in the kitchen.

The girls looked at me, I burst out laughing and then like any responsible adult, I threatened discipline on any of the girls who told Hae Young what had happened.

I guess the secrets out now.

So there you have it: Katie Hutjens. Missionary. Chef-in-training. Responsible Adult.