No More Complaints
When I get home there will be no more complaining about things I previously took for granted. Probably not a true statement, but I choose to believe I will be grateful for them for as long as I live!
Laundry. I spend 2 hours on what would be one load of laundry at home. 2 hours of scrubbing, soaking, wringing, rinsing… and in the end I still feel like they aren’t as clean as they should be. I just hope they will be dry by morning, because I need my skirt for ministry, but I’ve been wearing it almost every day since we got here! Water itself is a blessing. Those of you in America who have no worries about IF the water will be working, consider yourself blessed! Most days it seems to be turned off during the middle of the day.
Toilets. We are lucky this month, we have toilets. But with 30 people living in this building we don’t want to overwhelm the system or waste water. So the whole “If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down” that’s a reality. Also, it’s a bit weird, but no seat on the toilet. And we are all becoming more aware of how much toilet paper we each use.
Showers. When I walked into the bathroom on the first day I saw the shower head on the wall and thought it was going to be normal showers… but then I noticed the bucket. We are not supposed to use the shower head for traditional style showers, just for filling the bucket. This uses less water, also helps with less splashing since there is no wall or curtain to separate the shower from the toilet area.
Sinks. Out of the three bathrooms that the 30 of us share, there is only one with a sink in it. Hand sanitizer is a must. Also, we really need to be cautious about the water… shouldn’t drink it, but it apparently is ok for brushing teeth? Back at home drinking water out of the sink is fine… here we have to actually go to the store to buy water. And that is not as easy as it is at home either. Also, our last week here the other 3 teams who are staying in other places right now will be joining us, but they started remodeling one of the bathrooms, splitting it into two so we will have another one when we finally get all 50 of us together.
Shopping. It’s an all-day (slightly stressful) adventure. Walk about a mile to where we can get transportation. Wait for someone who is going in the right direction. Definitely need a French speaking guide with us. Our guide makes sure the people aren’t charging us more because we are white. Squeeze everyone into a bus/van thing. No seat belts, open doors, quick and frequent stops to pick up more passengers. Get off about a block from the store. Open purse for inspection at the door. Find the ATM to withdraw cash. 1st one doesn’t work. 2nd one also doesn’t work. Will have to try the card at the register. The actual store is similar to any common grocery store in the US, except if you want bread you actually have to go to a bakery next door. All the labels are in French. And Chinese. And Thai. But not as much English as I thought(hoped) there might be. Check out-either bring your own bag or buy one here. The cashier doesn’t speak English. I show her the card, she rolls her eyes but gets out the card reader. It doesn’t work. Try not to panic. Dig out all the cash you have with, look around for team mates and borrow cash from them. Write down how much you owe whom… Go next door for bakery, but have to let a team mate buy it since I have no money. Now the whole transportation thing in reverse, only add an armload of groceries. Try not to attract too much notice.
Transportation. See above story. Just the general lack of freedom as well. At home I have my own car and can go where and when I want, it’s a bit different when we need a translator/guide/security escort just to leave the compound.
Garbage. I don’t think they do garbage like we do. It looks like they burn their garbage. Which is probably why it is often smoky/smoggy and smells a little weird.
Wifi. I didn’t have that at my house at home, but any place I go it was there. Also just using the data on the phone was way easier. We are supposed to do a 6 week social media fast, and I feel like that is easy for me because I didn’t really use it much at home, but the little things like when we have a random question and want to google it… and then can’t. We get 2 days a week where our team gets access to the wifi. But even just the 6 of us on my team is enough to overwhelm the internet… so we have to take turns.
Uncertainty. We are the first squad from the World Race to be in this country let alone this ministry. We are learning a whole new culture as well as them learning about us. There have been a few misunderstandings and a lot of confused looks exchanged. We are learning that they don’t like us to do so much for them, but just like I learned on my trip to Slovenia, they love the relationships. We are learning not to DO but to BE. We automatically are searching for all the things we can improve or help with to fill the hours when we have nothing scheduled, but that’s not how it works here. They have had previous missionaries stay here and all they did was speak in the church services, that is all that seems to really be expected of us. We are learning to just spend time with people. There are usually kids running around somewhere to play with, or youth who love to practice English.
Actually, there is probably a lot more of these little things, but I am already starting to get used to it all. It just adds to the stories I will have to bring home.
Some things I am loving that are different from home: the goats (and all the animals, but mostly the goats). They are so cute and fun to watch. There is one pregnant one that we really hope has her baby before we leave. Yesterday they were getting bold and tried to come join us for supper. There are also lizards everywhere. I love it! (not everyone does.)
Haven’t seen any scary bug or snakes or spiders yet.
The prayer. We have a daily prayer meeting for an hour and a half. I always leave feeling so refreshed.
Dancing in church. I may not know the words to the songs, but the joy is infectious
Learning new songs (in French!) (hope to have a video up soon! Its hard with this wifi, but I do have footage!)
Living in community with these wonderful people!
Surprisingly the food. We are in charge of our own lunch as a team, so it has mostly been peanut butter and jelly or tuna sandwiches. Breakfasts have been either cereal with yogurt or flat bread with Nutella. Supper is at the church’s restaurant and it is all the traditional foods of the country. Which means rice bread and pasta and potatoes… all in the same meal. Usually chicken or fish or some other meat that looks like it might be beef, some people think it might be goat, usually in some brown sauce that is sometimes spicy, but not too bad. Occasionally some strange sea food mixed in… Brandon found a baby octopus. And he ate it. Veggies are mixed in some things. Lots of onions.
Ministry has been lots of fun too. Read my blog about Street Evangelism if you haven’t yet.
The colors. They love colors here! The clothes, the buildings, even the dirt is colorful!
No mosquitoes! Or at least not around me!
Ok, really I just love it all. Everything is still new and exciting, so even the stuff that is inconvenient is novel, so it’s kind of fun. Hopefully that feeling will last the whole 11 months!
