Eating Soil

One of the English teachers at Camp Umeda is six months pregnant. She is funny, straightforward, open, and kind. She has become a good friend of mine, even though we've only been here for a week.

Last night, I saw my friend getting ready to leave camp. I asked where she was going. "I want to go on a walk," she responded. I insisted that I go with her, as it was getting late and soon it would be dark. We went back and forth on the issue, until she finally said,

"I want to eat some soil."

"You mean dirt?" I said. "You want to eat dirt? Like you've offended someone and now you feel bad?"

"No, I want to eat some soil. Like some stuff from the earth. I want to eat that."

I had heard of pregnant people liking to eat strange things, like chalk or pickles and ice cream, but never soil. I told this to my friend and she said, "Sometimes when I'm driving or walking, I see some soil and I think that it looks really delicious. I have to go find some now." I asked why she didn't just eat some of the soil at camp, but she replied, "I don't like the soil here; it's not so delicious."

So we walked. Sometimes my friend would spot some potentially delicious soil and would sample it, but nothing seemed to satisfy her craving for the right kind of soil. I recommended a place where I had seen some nice smooth soil, across a bridge and up the hill about 10 minutes. We went there and she sampled it and found it to her liking. She filled a plastic bag with soil (for later) and we walked back to the camp for Evening Activities.