A Few of My Favorite Things

Right now, the electricity is out. Its pitch black and you can only see when the lightning flashes, but it’s not really a problem because the lightening is incredible, it’s so consistent. Thunderstorms are so much better in Africa. Always being covered in sweat isn’t uncomfortable anymore. My hair is 3 times longer than when I left home, and so is my beard… People here have asked me if I’m Jesus, and one lady said Judas Iscariot, no lie. Everything tastes better because they use real sugar and it’s just more authentic. One man even told me the weed is better out here, and then asked if I wanted to go clubbing with him. Taking care of bleeding people is exciting, because chances are they have HIV/AIDS. A crazed “Spear Man” has been hunting down some of my Swazi friends, with a spear; hence the name…Soccer is basically life out here. Me and Jon have gotten invited to play in an old man’s social league. The World Cup games are getting heated up. Pastor Gift who is the soccer coach and our ministry host told me that he is gonna register me to play in the new season, which is in a month or so. This is a professional soccer team. To put it in comparison, they are an AA Minor league baseball team. Other things with soccer, the guys and I have been becoming better and better friends, and God is really working through it in many ways. We play “Settlers of Catan”, during our team time at night. I really miss all of the other Novas teams that I was with in Mexico, they are in Nicaragua, South Africa, and two teams in Uganda who are moving to Kenya. Pray for them. Africans have a different smell than normal smell of sweaty people, I smelt like it once, I was pretty stoked on that too. We have given jobs to some of the people from the community, like cleaning and washing clothes, so they can have some sort of an income. Here’s what food looks like, morning: cereal, lunch: peanut butter and J, dinner: 1 can of beans, 1 can of veggies, some rice, and sometimes we will splurge a little and eat some sausage! Simplicity. I’ve lost probably 15 pounds already, this is a problem. We don’t have any more propane to cook with. Speaking with a clicking language! Hearing Blink 182 over the loud speakers is a good time. Showers are such a luxury, actually having a towel that get doesn’t leave you soggy is a luxury. Our back yard is a mountain range and on the other side is South Africa. We live in the hottest place in Swaziland. The waves in the Indian Ocean are so good. Driving on the left hand side is fun. There is not really a speed limit and you can pass whenever you feel like it. There is a language of the road using your headlights and hazards. There is a water shortage here. The water that we get, we boil it, and then filter it with paper towels and a strainer, this gets about half the salt out. I can’t tell if I’m getting tanner, or if it’s just dirt. What do white clothes look like? Public transport is a controlled system of someone picking you up on the side of the road, we give free rides sometime. The country is the size of New Jersey. Swazi handshakes. Every day in my free time I play soccer with the boys around here, the balls are flat. I’ve gotten kicked in the not too general crotch region a few times…The girls on my team get proposed to every time we go out in public, the men are opportunistic hunters, right when Jon and I turn our backs, and they pounce! Most guys have more than one girlfriend, so late night conversations about manliness happen. You pay your girlfriends family 17 cows when you want to marry her, actually the whole Swazi wedding ceremony is outrageous.. I’ve learned how to cook and eat grasshoppers, they’re delicious too! The kids at the Care Points are hilarious. The people love to watch and hear me play my guitar, a crowd always develops in front of me, then I hand out spoons, pots, and a cheese grater, and we have a huge jam sessions. The soccer team stays the night on Fridays and wakes up in the morning for the game; we wrestle on the mattresses sometimes. I’ve started a compost pile for the garden here. We have to burn our trash because there is no where to put it, and the kids will play in it. I have a bunch of siSwati inside jokes with the people around here using the a few words I know, “Enyoga!” (snake), “Uya Papa” (your crazy), “Uya/Ngiya Suta” (you/ I farted), “Ehwena” (hey you) “Eish” (just make the noise when something isn’t going your way). The guys don’t really understand the point and shoot concept when it comes to peeing in the toilet, probably because we can pee outside. Everyone puts on this “too cool for school” attitude. It makes you feel like they don’t like you or think you aren’t cool, but I’ve been told from a Swazi source that they just don’t want you to think they aren’t cool and are actually scared for us to talk to them, that explained so much for me. Old Afrikaans men where short shorts and have those good ole’ pasty white man thighs. Bucket hats hanging over your eyes and capri pants are the “ghetto” style of Swaziland. This is just scratching the surface of random little things…I’ve fallen in genuine love for the people here and every little thing I just told you about. I’ve been really diggin this place, and leaving here is going to be a train wreck.