Would you like some salt with your pineapple???

Thursday was very quiet.  I had hoped to do some work on the computer but, with no internet, I was limited in what I could do.  The students got up to pray at 6am and went to school in the Diocesan Seminary where I normally live.  I gave myself a lie-in and didn’t get up until 8am – Luxury!!!

I really did nothing for the morning and was actually quite bored by the end of it.  Lunch was very simple – fried eggs and rice.  We were given a slice of pineapple as dessert.  Pineapple here is incredibly juicy and luscious – not like the ones we get at home which, even though they may seem juicy, are nothing like the really fresh ones that are available here.  Most people don’t realise that pineapple doesn’t grow on trees – rather like money!!!  Pineapples are root plants and the fruit grows under the ground.  As a matter of fact, if you want to grow a pineapple all you need to do is to cut the top off  (the end with the cactus-like leaves) and leave about a half an inch of the fruit attached.  Next, just stick it into the ground with the leaves above the ground, and wait – this may not work in Ireland unless you have a greenhouse and take a lot of care!!!

What really amazed me about the pineapple, however, was that they all started putting salt on to it – and I don’t mean a pinch of salt; they were piling it on and making sure it was soaked up by the juice.  I didn’t try this but I will the next time, just to see what it tastes like – today, the pineapple was just too delicious to risk changing it in any way.

I said Mass for the students in the afternoon and it was nice to be able to spend time with them.