I didn't experience much culture shock going to Africa. There were all the same differences, but they didn't really stick out to me. Coming back, I noticed, but it wasn't so bad I wanted to hide under my covers for the next year. As soon as my team got to US customs, we couldn't look anywhere without seeing something that wasn't normal anymore. We were harshly reintroduced to the "me first" mentality by a customs official who yelled at us to get in the shortest line. "We're Americans! This is what we do!" I wish I could say I went out of my way to show that woman love, to tell her about Jesus, but I didn't. America is a mission field, though. That's for sure.
This is a list of differences that caught my attention after being in Africa for two months. Some relate to South Africa, some Zambia, and some to my team's general culture and GE rules. Some are heavy, some make me laugh. Many are only skin deep, but some reach to the heart.
- In America, it's not normal to greet everyone you pass.
- Bursting into song is not socially acceptable, let alone a regular part of life.
- The water is safe. I questioned the condition of the water in every faucet for a week after being back in the US. In South Africa, most running water was safe but, in Zambia, the water is full of parasites.
- Americans don't smile nearly as much as the people in South African squatter camps.
- American chip flavors taste like they're supposed to. They have the same flavors in South Africa, but they taste different, as does pretty much everything else that we also have in the US.
- Chocolate sauce tastes like chocolate and is brown. South African chocolate sauce is red and doesn't taste like chocolate.
- Every restaurant has ketchup (which they don't call tomato sauce) and none have peri peri.
- There is an abundance of free internet and no Internet cafes.
- The prices look low. 5,000 Zambian kwatcha = 1 US dollar
- Prices are actually very high, comparatively.
- People think you're weird if you start conversations with random strangers.
- The highways are free of speed bumps.
- The police don't set up checkpoints in the middle of the highway or pull you over to check your first aid kit.
- I can communicate clearly without a translator. Most of the time.
- Drivers use their brakes. In Zambia: Why use the brakes when you can just accelerate and go around the car you're about to hit?
- No one builds their own house out of scrap metal or mud, sticks, and grass.
- My bedroom is bigger than the average shack in a South Africa squatter camp or hut in the Zambian bush.
- Pop cans are lighter. South African cans are made of a different metal and significantly heavier on the bottom, so you think there's more pop, but it's really just the can messing with your mind.
- It is NOT okay to walk away with a stranger's children.
- Gambling is perfectly legal.
- You don't get proposed to on a regular basis because you're white.
- The worship team at church doesn't lead dancing as well as singing.
- Conga lines during worship are not a regular occurance, to say the least.
- Whoever is preaching or helping to lead a service knows it before said service commences.
- Credit cards. 'nuff said.
- Americans have many goals and desires, but not many Americans spend their whole day, every day just trying to find enough food.
- The accessibility and ease of obtaining water. I don't know anyone who walks to a well, draws water, and carries a full, 5-gallon bucket of water back home.
- I can go places by myself.
- No one I've met in Washington uses "y'all" on a regular basis.
- I'm not constantly surrounded by 19 sisters, all with different accents, but the same fiery passion for Jesus.
- American children don't point, shout "mulungu" ("white person" in Zulu), and run after me, nor do children grab my hand and walk with me wherever I'm going. I so miss that.
- Time zones. 5 hours, one country. Not including Hawaii.
- I'm allowed, even expected, to do my own dishes.
- Dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers. No need for bars of laundry soap.
- Showers with consistent pressure and temperature.
- Mainstream media and secular influence. Violence, sex, drugs, materialism, idolatry, repeat. It makes me feel sick.
- Most children I see have two living parents.
- Carpeting, wood, etc. instead of dirt or cement floors.
- Options. There is so much to eat, do, or buy, and every choice leads to five more necessary decisions.
- The majority of the population showers every day. At first it was weird and I would find myself thinking, I'm not covered in dirt! Why would I take a shower?
- No one understands when I say "unkulunku uyakuthanda", "mulungu ndi wabwino", or "takwaba uwaba nga Yesu". (That's "God loves you" in Zulu, "God is good" in Nyanja, and "there's no one like Jesus" in Bemba.)
There are a lot more, but I think that's enough. With all that being said, it is good to be back because I know God has a purpose for me here for the time being and, of course, I get to spend time with all of you!
I am excited to tell many of you about my experiences in Africa, tonight. For those of you who can't make it, I'll be posting the video I made either tonight or tomorrow morning and we are going to try to record tonight's sharing time.
You are still absolutely welcome to leave a question in the comments!
Drawing water from a well for a woman during hut-to-hut ministry in Zambia.
