Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

American Dreaming

There is a slight possibility that the Sojourners will get to go "home" to the US for a short vacation in November-December and to say that we are excited about even the possibility is quite an understatement.

We miss our family and friends a lot.  It's been 16 months since we have seen any of them.  16 months is a long time.  It's about 1/3 of Little Sojourner's life.  We hope that this slight possibility turns into getting to hug the necks of those we love very soon.  If it doesn't we'll be sad, but we will still rest in His love for us knowing that He will carry us though.

So, since this possibility presented itself the Little Sojourners and I have been singing.  It's not very pretty (we will not be the next Brady Bunch or anything like that), but it is a lot of fun.

Do you remember the movie An American Tail?  If so, do you remember the song "There are no cats in America"?  Well, the Littles and I have made our own fill in the blank version of that song that goes something like this: "There are no _________ in America and the streets are filled with ______________."  The first blank we fill with things that we don't quite appreciate about Africa.  (Please forgive us, we are in no way perfect.  Though there are many things we love about Africa, there are also many things that drive us crazy, or drive us crazy some of the time.  We chalk it up to culture shock.)  For instance: garbage, beggars, motos, pot holes, foreign language, to (pronounced toe; kinda like congealed bland grits), dust, malaria, etc.  Then, the second blank we fill with things we miss and can't wait to see/have.  For instance: family, friends, air conditioning, reliable electricity, clean running water, Chick-fil-A, Disney World, English speakers, shopping malls, McDonald's, grocery stores, Dr. Pepper, chocolate chips, bacon, etc.

"There is no garbage in America and the streets are filled with Chick-fil-A!"

At least like Fivel and his family we can pretend until our bubble is burst.

Dreaming of America,
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Friday, September 10, 2010

Picture Time!


When we go to the village it is culturally appropriate to show respect to the chief by going to visit him in his courtyard.  Each week we go and spend sometime with him.  He is very welcoming and enjoys helping us with our language.  A couple weeks ago I took this photo of the chief and one of his daughters and Mr. Sojourner and Little Sojourner.  The contrast that struck me in this photo was their demeanor in being photographed.  Mr. Sojourner and Little Sojourner have their biggest smiles on ready for the picture.  The chief and his daughter have serious faces on in anticipation of their photo being taken.  This is just a cultural difference.  African just tend to take photographs like that (unless they have been around and been influenced by lots of Westerners).

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