- You’re in the airport bathroom when a man walks out of the stall in front of you, suddenly realizes he may be in the wrong place and simply says, “Oh, pardon” in a French accent as he leaves.
- Your teammates see a herd of zebras as your bus drives down the road.
- You ask your ministry contact if the toilet paper can be flushed and they laugh at you. You also have to be taught how to flush the toilet. Even after it’s ok to flush, you still find yourself looking for the trashcan.
- Dinner makes you want to cry tears of joy. Green beans and carrots, beef (without the bones sticking out everywhere), green peas and noodles. It could’ve been mom’s home cookin’.
- On your first walk down the street you end up eating sugarcane and hoping your teeth don’t shatter.
- The first morning breakfast is served: hot milk and water to mix with tea or cocoa powder (I made hot chocolate!); toast with plum jam, honey, butter or peanut butter; bananas and of course…popcorn!?
- As your group is walking down the road a car full of people passes laughing and shouting, “Mzungus!” (White people!) This happens quite frequently.
- You stuff the preacher in the back/trunk of the vehicle with the guitar on the way to church.
- You have to smell your clothes to see if they’re worthy of a wash or if they can hang on for a few more days.
- The translator just laughs along with the congregation and doesn’t translate. Even though you know it’s about you, you smile nervously and laugh anyway.
- You pass a pothole that could pass for a small pond.
- You go for a run each morning and people laugh, smile, or yell at you to run faster.
- Fitting 6 people and a driver into a Tuk-Tuk that’s smaller than your car back home has become normal.
- Over the course of 2 or 3 days you sit with your contact and his family to watch the 1956 film The Ten Commandments.
- After an afternoon of hospital visits with the local chaplain, he asks your teammate about his tattoos and wants to know if they’ll wash off in the shower.
- You want a group picture and ask the landscaper nearby if he’ll take one for you. He misunderstands, almost sits with your group in the picture, then asks you to take one of him with his garden tools afterward. Awkward.
- Breastfeeding becomes much more public…or should I say it just becomes public. This can turn into some slightly awkward situations.
- You get caught in a monsoon then run into another Mzungu who is 68 and going strong for the Lord. She sits down with you for coffee and gives an incredible testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness.
- At church, the pastor has a tie bearing Sonic the Hedgehog. Indescribably awesome.
- The offering consists of money as well as huge sacks of corn, grain, and potatoes. There is also a motorcycle that is wheeled in and dedicated to the Lord.
- When something unusual or exciting happens you no longer think, “Wow, that’s a great facebook status…” Now it’s, “That’s definitely going into a blog.”
- As you come home from town you see a yard full of church women with all the gifts they’ve brought, including a sheep.
- You find out that you’ve brought more from Nepal than just extra rupees and your new green pants. Lice. Again…grrr.
- Many people are wearing shirts with English writing and they have no idea what it means.
- On your morning jog your male teammate gets offered Chai while you receive a marriage proposal (and a pretty sorry one at that!)
- You get to make mud bricks and help to mud the wall at a local orphanage.
- Your teammate gets her hair done one day and it takes 8 hours!
- You visit an orphanage where you find the biggest rice and bean cookers ever… We're talking like 4 feet tall by 2.5 feet wide!
- Your team visits a local men’s prison only to see the Lord bring 18 of them to himself! Praise the Lord!
- You see your dinner alive only hours before it’s on the table… (video below)
This video covers the entire killing, plucking, and cutting of the chicken. If you get easily grossed out, don’t watch it. If you do, don’t blame me…I told you so!
