Here In Swaziland…

• You Learn to go the bathroom on a squattie.
• You take a shower once a week because it’s just to difficult to wash your hair and body in a bucket.
• You get used to your feet being dirty all the time and having dirt tan lines.
• You don’t get flattered when a man asks you to be his wife because they ask ALL Americans. They all need “just one”
• Washing dishes doesn’t work very well at night without a headlamp because there is no outside lighting.
• Instant coffee is drank because it’s needed not because it tastes delicious. 
• You fall in love with the children everyday when they run down the road to greet you
• You learn to rely on 21 other girls that you’ve known only a few weeks to comfort and grow you spiritually.
• You ask more than one Swazi for an answer because if they don’t know the answer they will just tell you what you want to hear.
  
• You lean the full meaning of This Is Africa as you hurry up and wait.
• You realize how much your family means to you.
•  Carrying a 5 gallon bucket of water on your head for a 1/2 mile is not easy.
• It’s normal for people to walk in during worship or meeting time with your team and ask for something or just sit.
• It’s normal to fall asleep in a hut every night.
• When you watch a futbol game, but it has to pause when cows are being herded across the field.
• Peanut butter is a staple to your diet.
• You become addicted to fat cakes.
• You realize how much you don’t need in life.
• Laughter and smiles are the universal language.
• You can always fit “one more” in public transportation.
• You can’t trust the headlines in the news paper because it doesn’t always mean what you think it means.
• The conversation of food comes up at least 20x a day.
• You become fascinated with a dead cow.
• It’s common to chase chickens, cows, dogs, goats or other animals out of the kitchen or away from the water pans.
• Traditional food is amazing.
• It’s common to open the front door and see cows walking by.
• When you go to an “American Party” you realize you’ve lost all social skills.
• There is no space limit between cars or people.
• You panic at the prices at stores and forget the 8 to 1 ratio.
• You feel like you are in a never ending parade.
• You look forward to seeing the “Sunset Crew” every evening.
• It doesn’t even phase you to see one of your teammates going the bathroom in front of you.
• You realize God’s love is so great that it reaches even the middle of Africa.
• You learn your Swazi name and try to pronounce everyone else but fail.
• You aren’t protective with anything except your food.
• The sketchy bus stop is the worst place in Swaziland in your mind.
• You are able to see your 21 teammates be transformed by God daily.
• You use your shadow as a mirror.
• There is nothing quite like worship with 21 other girls in the dark in the middle of Africa.
• The one place you felt safe in town (Riverstone Mall) find out there was a shooting and a riot there 2 hours earlier.
• The once a week internet stresses you out because you watch your time tick down as you madly try and communicate back home.
• You forget how life goes on while you are half way around the world.
• You witness the power of prayer.
• Multiple speed bumps on the road are very common.
• Wearing clothes covered in dirt multiple times is common and washing them in dirty water is even more so common.
• You learn to cross the streets quickly because cars come first here not pedestrians.
• You learn that communication is usually very confusing and easily misunderstood.
• You learn to rely on God for your strength and protection because you know you have no control over most situations.
• You forget your passwords to everything online because you haven’t used them in so long.
• You learn to eat without tables and most times without chairs.
• You treat your vitamins like candy.
• You tend to go a little crazy.
• You realize how blessed you are in America.
• Your teammates smell bad, but you can’t really tell because you smell just as bad if not worse. You fall in love when a sick child falls asleep on your lap and don’t get mad or mind when he pees all over you.
• Squattie potty parties seem to always happen at least 5x a night without fail.
• You learn that just because you go to bed doesn’t mean you will actually sleep.
  
• You have dance parties without being able to hear the music because the laptop speakers don’t go that loud, but you don’t care and go crazy anyways.
• You learn a lot about yourself and learn to accept yourself the way God made you to be with His perfect purpose and plan.
• When you have a birthday in Africa you realize you are pretty lucky.
• You have so much more joy because you aren’t being weighed down by life’s problems.
• Saying goodbye is harder that you expected it to be.
• You know for a fact that once you leave, part of your heart will always be in Africa. <3