1. Receiving my first offer of marriage. I was so caught of guard, I forgot to ask how many cows the man was willing pay. (The bride price in Swaziland ranges from 12-18 cows.)
2. Being told I looked like a Swazi .
3. People dancing up and down the aisles at church to give their offering. Church is definitely viewed as a celebration in Swaziland.
4. Being able to drink the water. The water is salty, but safe to drink. In most countries that I’ve been to, I was warned to only drink bottled water. I did not expect to be able to drinkable water in Africa.
5. Green fields in the distance. We were surrounded by sugar cane fields which were lush and green because of the irrigation.
6. Babies tied on to their mothers (or siblings) back by a towel, blanket or whatever other spare material was on hand.
7. Not having to walk everywhere. From all the world race blogs that I blog stalked before the race, I had the impression that African roads were terrible and you had to either walk or ride on public transportation everywhere. Apparently I was wrong on both counts. Swaziland had some of the best roads we’ve had on the race, and the ministry that we were working with had vehicles.
8. Short travel days. Again, thanks to all those blogs I stalked, I was ready for loooong travel days. Our travel day from Swaziland to Mozambique was half a day.
9. American food. My team cooked for ourselves all month so it was pretty American.
10. Gorgeous sunsets. There were easily some of the most glorious sunsets that I have ever seen in Swaziland. Evert night I would be amazed anew by God’s wonderful handiwork.
(A Swazi sunset. My camera doesn’t do it justice.)
