Hash Brown Deluxe!

January 30, 2009

I love being out on the shoot! Editing is OK, and there is a certain sense of satisfaction in completing a project and getting it into the Fedex box. But the shoot is where it all happens for me! Editing is predictable, tedious and boring. I wake up, make the short commute down the hall to my edit suite and begin a day of endless, mind-numbing edit decisions, with the stroke of a mouse. Whereas, when I am out on the shoot, I wake up to the crow of a rooster, in an exotic location, where I can step out into the world and experience life! Anything can happen! I spend the whole day capturing the beauty of people, places and the icons of culture. I record the story of people living lives with challenges we can’t imagine! I put a mic on people who for a few minutes lift a veil into a life-experience we have only read about.

Today I interviewed people who have lived their whole life in Burma. Even though I could tell that they were being very guarded about what they said, for fear that the video may be seen by government representatives of Myanmar, it was still fascinating to read the story written into the faces of a people that have experienced so much!

I learned that the Adventist church began in Myanmar in 1905 when two colporteurs came over from India and found two Baptist ladies who were keeping the Sabbath because of their own study of scripture. With the help of other missionary legends such as Eric B Hare, the church experienced growth and today there is a membership of 28,000 throughout the country. As far as Christians go, Adventists have a good working relationship with the military government. There are restrictions in place such as limited evangelism, but the government appreciates the Adventist lifestyle and for the most part allows for freedom of worship.

My day ended in delight as I was given the opportunity to make my famous hash brown deluxe! The idea was that I would make enough for the whole group to have a taste, but the huge batch took so long to cook in the wok that by time it was ready to serve up, the students had finished eating and had departed to their evening meeting. Still, a good portion of the wok-full was consumed and by all accounts enjoyed, by the foreigners that were still there!



I doubt that I will see it again while I am here, but for tonight, all is well with my world!