Matt's Bar

Yesterday morning Derek and I went back to the clinic to meet Dr. Steve and Bob (pseudonyms, to be sure), the physiotherapist. After not getting used well the week before, we thought that we might explore other options if Monday didn’t go well. But it did. It was almost like the previous week was a test of commitment, or maybe over the weekend the doctors ruminated on how to get the most out of our services.

Anyway, they split us up so that we each got one-on-one attention. I stayed with Dr. Steve, while Derek shadowed Bob. Dr. Steve actually had the flow of patients come through me, where I took blood pressures, pulses, temperatures and so on. This streamlining was much needed because the waiting room at the clinic is standing room only all day long, and a single doctor can only see patients so quickly. There are no appointments being made, and so patients show up and just wait, sometimes for hours.

There was kind of a cool scene on Monday, as well. A man came in with his pant leg torn and full of blood and a huge gash in his knee. The doctor labeled it an emergency, and brought the man back in front of all the waiting patients. I got to assist while the doctor cleaned and stitched the wound. I handed to doctor the local anesthetic, poured out more antiseptic scrub, gave the man pain pills and so on. It turns out the man is a professor at UB and he was actually running in the rain to get to class that morning (a rare breed in Botswana – I haven’t had a professor come on time yet) when he fell and cut his leg. He didn’t give up on his class, either. He went and gave the hour-long lecture, saving the trip to the doctor until after he enlightened the students.

After the clinic, Derek and I grabbed lunch at the ‘African Mall’ (Interesting name – but I suppose we have a mall called ‘Mall of America’…) I picked up groceries for my turn at family dinner. I teamed up with Jürgen again, and the Minnesotans in the house will be honored with the dish we selected. I brought this dish up to Jürgen (the culinary school graduate from Germany) last week and told him it was my hometown’s culinary gift to the world. Others laughed, but Jürgen said, “we must make this and share it with everyone.” Anyone guessed it yet? We made Jucy Lucy’s.

I was just planning on putting cheddar and onions in them to keep them simple like the Matt’s Bar original. But of course the chef couldn’t help himself. The filling ended up consisting of cheddar and feta cheeses, with onions, garlic, olives and a dash of chili powder. We added egg, onion and seasoning to the ground beef as well. They came out as true masterpieces. Some busted open from too much filling, but it was a good problem to have. They were as Jucy as a Lucy could be and the combo of cheeses and spices had the whole crowd raving.

Jürgen had people over to his room afterwards, and we relaxed to some German hip-hop and YouTube videos of lions and crocodiles and African wildlife.  Here’s one of the favorites: (I also recommend a YouTube search of “Battle at Kruger”)

Jucy Lucy’s with ketchup, lettuce and more cheese on top, served with German-style ‘oven potatoes’ and a fresh garden salad for dinner…