- As you go down the street you pass many “Beauty Saloons”.
- You get excited when you see your first Christmas tree of the season on December 19th.
- Your new ministry contact tells you: “You will sing a song and tell a story after dinner.”
- To the request above you reply by playing the only song on the guitar that you know well and panic by telling a story about jumping through a window to avoid an extremely boring college professor.
- A typical day of ministry includes 1-2.5 hours of walking up and down steep hills.
- You walk 30 minutes to visit someone (on Christmas Eve), wait for 15 minutes because they’re not home and walk 30 minutes back. Sometimes Africa doesn’t have the highest scores for efficiency…
- You pass a man on the street that is walking while balancing 13 trays of eggs on his head. Each tray holds 25 eggs. That’s 325 eggs!
- At dinner your contact usually picks the person closest to him, dumps a huge scoops of food on their plate (regardless if they’re already full) and shouts “Take Courage!”
- After many of the aforementioned occurrences your teammates start making excuses about how their courage has failed, it may come back up again soon, etc., etc.
- Your off-day consists of walking another 45 minutes one way to get to a hotel where you order a Coke and get free and somewhat reliable internet.
- Your running shoes get stolen off the roof of an outhouse/squatty potty where they were drying after being washed.
- In an attempt to replace said shoes you find a ridiculously disorganized “shoe store” that has nothing in your size. At the next place there are 2 options. You take the second and resume running the next day in a very dorky pair of Power Rwandan shoes. Hey-oh!
- Bigger grocery stores become overwhelming because of the options and different brands that are available. I found myself debating between two types of apple juice for 3-4 minutes and ended up leaving the store with an apple juice box, a small pastry and some new (and quite cool) safety scissors. I can only imagine what kind of basket-case I’ll be in a Wal-Mart or Target!
- Breastfeeding in public is so accepted that you have to come up with a code name to warn your male teammates ahead of time. “Green eggs and ham” coming up! Watch out! When the coast is clear it’s “Sam I am.”
- You stop abruptly because a man in front of you shoots a snot rocket that lands 6 inches from your foot. That was close!
- Ritz crackers with cheese and knock-off brand Teddy Grahams bring great enthusiasm for travel day.
- All of your movie nights include your computer screen propped up by your pack and dirty laundry.
- Any time you take a break from walking on the sidewalk you are immediately surrounded by 5 guys on motos that want to drive you somewhere, anywhere.
- Meal time is a chance to wait for a YouTube video to buffer.
- When looking for the right bus at the bus depot everyone wants you to get on their bus and they lead you that way regardless of where you want to go.
- You go with your teammate to get her hair cut and no one speaks English well. The name of the place is the Adonai Unisex Saloon. That's right – Saloon. The end result is a bit shorter than what was anticipated.
- Your teammate can agree one night before to preach on a 40-minute radio talk show.
- Grammar and spelling go out the window as you forget how to write simple English words and sometimes use “international” or broken English to communicate.
- Carbohydrates becomes a profane word among the women on the team. No more carbs!
- Your team buys Bibles off the street corner for some ladies at church.
- The pastor tells you that you don’t need to take the bus because you’re “almost there”. An hour and a half later you reach home. 🙂
- Riding in the trunk with two other people suddenly becomes luxury as you realize you haven't ridden in a car (personal vehicle) in over 3 weeks.
