Only in Africa…. Vocabulary

“African Facial” - when the steam hits you in the face after you’ve boiled a pot of water for filtering and drinking.
“African Time”- you say “I’ll meet you here at 9am”, they hear “I’ll meet you here at 11am….ish” (who knew all this time I was just on African time in America!)
“African Hobbies” – move over scrapbooking, hello sweeping, dishes by hand, scratch cooking and, yes, more sweeping
“African Hospital Ground Crew” – goats to keep the grass down (and leave their droppings everywhere:P), chickens to peck for bugs, cats to keep the rats at bay, cattle because the mission center is apparently a good place to leave them if you have to go somewhere and can’t graze them yourself. (We have had to shoo cows out of our yard- it was a surreal moment to say the least. Thank God for Patience being here to help us! Sometimes this “city girl” is out of her element!) 
“African Meatloaf” – it is only made with oatmeal, because you would never waste your American saltines on meatloaf!
“African perfume” – mosquito spray
“African Russian Roulette” – eating meat that has been prepared by candlelight
“African Surprise” – “It actually works”: the thought you have when something so illogical actually works.  For instance, yellow lights blinking in all directions at a busy intersection in Harare. (If you are curious how it that works: the driver slowly fights their way through the mess of cars and pedestrians by forcing their car into the intersection. The passengers pray with their eyes closed.”
“African Facebook” – the extremely large and extremely fast grapevine here in Sanyati
“African Robots” - a robot is a traffic light here… well, actually it is a “scan each light to find a bulb that is working” light. They occasionally work, but if not the power may be out in that part of town or it’s just plain broken. If it doesn’t work, check traffic from other directions to see if theirs’ work, pray and work your way through the intersection
“African Mall” – when the 10 local ladies come and set up a sale in my front yard for the teams… very convenient- No parking headaches, car seats or strollers needed
“African Transportation” - a minivan with 5 rows that 20-30 people cram into. For only a few dollars, you too can ride squished up to a window on one side and to a sweaty man on the other.  (AND you’d be blessed because at least you got a window seat!) 
“African Romantic Meal”- any meal eaten by candlelight because the power is out
“African Gold” – the US salsa that the last team brought us
“Africa Fast Food”- since it’s all scratch cooking… it’s anything that takes less than an hour to prepare
“African Vacation” – any illness that does not allow you to work
“African Restaurant”- your dining room
“African Hot Showers” – there are no bad feelings that a hot shower (aka: bucket bath) won’t cure. Granted it involves heating pots and pots of water on the stove, but there is nothing like a hot shower to make you ready to attack the day!
“African Mail”- coordinating by email with your family and friends to mail packages to the next team that then carry the package in their luggage to us. It takes a lot of planning and time, but at least it is hand delivered! 
“African ‘Hot New Ride’”- a brand new scotch cart (cow or donkey pulled cart) you bought at the “scotch car lot”
“African Sore Throat” – what you get when you are stuck somewhere without filtered water… “Anybody know where I could get a Coke around here???”
“African Waterpark”- Victoria Falls
“African Roofs” – Just below the roof at the hospital Ryan has found all kinds of “special” prizes: snakes (told multiple times that they might find a python up there but only found small skins so far), bats, kitten skeletons, owls and their digested prey, lizards, spiders, rats, ticks and all kinds of bugs
“African T.I.A.” – Something said often by missionaries from the States when something doesn’t work out as it would have back home… “This is Africa”
“African Grass Fire” – nothing special here, just a common site... No one even tries to put them out. We’ve decided that it’s how they mow their grass.
“African Christmas”- every time a team brings us items from America … We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you…
“African Babysitter” – having your children (as young as 3, if accompanied by a (young) sibling) walk the cows around to 
graze them 
“African Friends”- anyone within a 3 foot radius of you- they are very friendly here
“African Strangers” - apparently I haven’t met one yet…. Except for… (see below)
“African Terror” - When a mother throws her toddler into your arms and the child screams and cries because he or she has never seen a white person before. 
“Africa Ants” - otherwise known as “army ants”. Gigantic black ants that march out like an army, conquer something like a fresh pile of dung and return home with it
“African Milkshake”- what you have after one of your children, who shall remain nameless, forgets and puts your $11 tub of ice cream in the refrigerator instead of the freezer… Grrrr!
“African TV”- watching the dvd’s you brought from home over and over and over again. (but, honestly, I love my Golden Girls and could have quoted it before I left town anyway!) 
“Africa Lawn-mowing” - set it aflame, let the goats in or thrash it by hand…choose your poison
“African Reasons to Stare”-1) talking like this y’all 2) having 2 kids with v e r y blonde hair 3) being THIS white
“African Sparkling Lights” - when you go outside at night and see tiny sparkles reflect on the ground from all direction. Get close enough and you realize it the eyes of spiders everywhere looking at your light.
“African Fog” – the dust in the air that looks like fog or smoke
“Africa Creepy Crawlers” – “It feels like something is crawling on me” … “Something probably is”….
“African Treasure” - Wrecked car on the side of road- axle -> new scotch cart  /   scrap metal -> supplies for the blacksmiths
“African Mosquito control” - Flat spiders all over the walls
“African Zesa” – the term used for power.  The girls scream “Zesa! Power!” when it returns.
“African Right Hand Turns” – no, there are no cars going to t-bone you from the right because you are turning from the wrong side of the road
“African Baby Swing”- a mother ties her baby on her back with a large piece of cloth. It has the same results too…Zzzzzzz!
“African Dedication”- walking 3 hours one way to go to church, twice a week. I don’t know many Americans that would even consider that. Their dedication to their Lord is breath-taking at times and humbling as well! May we all continue to do more with what we have been given. 

Rashel & Ryan