Things I’ve learned in Kids Church. Part 1: The Eggsperiment.

Many a young person leaves home for the unknown world of university and with this, move into a dorm/ residence.

As an only child and the daughter of a very practical man, I was not one of those fortunate few who had the opportunity to share my living space with other people and learn to survive with just the basics.

Being the social butterfly that I am, I did however make friends with loads of people living in res and it was through these friendships that I started hearing all kinds of rumours about some very unconventional cooking methods. Eating 2-minute noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner was something I heard of often, but the kettle egg was a concept new (and really strange sounding) to me and something that I vowed never ever to try at home.

Turns out, I didn’t have to try it at home…but, tonight, I did have to try it at church. You see, I am a leader at Kids Church and sometimes we have to improvise and do some really random stuff to keep things running smoothly…ish.

Yesterday, after a very successful day of Olympics, our Kids Church leader took the big tray filled with boiled eggs home. (Who knows that boiled eggs in an unventilated room tends to make things smell interesting?) Sometimes when you are amazing at a whole lot of big things, little things (like a tray with 48 eggs) get left behind...at the family home...in the fridge. (Guess what her family will be eating for breakfast next week? And on sandwiches and in salads…) We needed boiled eggs for our night’s program, so she bought a dozen eggs that needed to be boiled.

When she called me over and told me that the eggs needed to be boiled in a kettle and that there’s one in the “Parent’s room”, my first thought was that she expected me to go up, put the eggs in the big silver urn (in front of the mommies with babies) and wait for them to boil. Say what? But of course I went upstairs to see what could be done. Luckily they had a small black kettle, waiting for me to take it downstairs and boil the eggs in it.

Having only ever heard of this strange method of boiling eggs, I was a bit nervous to try I out. But I filled the kettle and slowly dropped 6 eggs into the water. I plugged it in, switched it on and sat there holding my breath. Finally the kettle boiled and I could open it up and see how this experiment went down. Slowly we poured the hot water out, spooned the eggs into a bowl…. Lo and behold! It was a success. The eggs were boiled! Someone wondered out loud if we should maybe put them in for another round, but then we decided that that would only be a waste of precious time. The eggs shells were hard and the eggs were fine. Perfect for the planned egg-and-spoon race! Next batch in. I saw 2 eggs bouncing on the surface. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard the voice of some teacher I once had, saying that if a fresh egg floats, it might not be so fresh… A bit of inner conflict followed. I decided to leave the floaters right there with the others. After all, no-one was going to eat them!

Bubble bubble toil and trouble, it’s all fun and games until you get a suicide egg-bomber in your church’s “Parent’s room” kettle! (Let us close our eyes and take a minute of silence for the egg that sacrificed itself for a bigger cause.) Needless to say, after pouring the water down the drain and removing the 4 whole eggs and one headless (at least I think that was it’s head) from the kettle, I spent another 5 or so minutes trying to get the egg goo out of the kettle so I could return it to it’s rightful spot with the new (and most likely caffeine needing) mommies. (Um…any mommy who might have been upset about the sour milk making icky white stuff in your coffee, the bad new is this: that might or might not have been some leftover egg… The good news, however is this: it’s still protein! So it’s all good.)

 

We got the kids al psyched up for the egg races. Boys against girls, of course. They had their spoons, they had their eggs and OFF they went! BOOM! The girls dropped their egg once, it only cracked a bit, but they were able to pick it up and continue crunching the opposition. They boys were not as graceful (or lucky?) and lost 2 eggs to the cause. The girls won and all was good in the world.

But, boys and girls, there are lessons to be learned from today’s eggsperience. This is what I learned in Kids Church on August 19^th 2012:

1) Egg-and-spoon races on carpets is not always a good idea.

2) Eggshells are naturally hard. Just because the outside is hard, doesn’t mean the inside is hard too. It might be a good idea to double-boil your eggs.

3) Toilet paper, when used to clean runny half-boiled egg from a carpet, tends to make little paper balls and form an alliance with the runny half-boiled egg. Also, although you might not hear them, they are laughing at you!

4) When using a wet cloth to remove the egg and toilet paper mess that you have created, make sure you scrub really hard.

5) You might not necessarily get everything out of the carpet…but will the die hard remains of the toilet egg-paper start smelling terrible if left there? Only time will tell….watch this space.