A staple of food in Africa is pap. It looks the same as mashed potatoes, but is kind of flavorless and comparable to rice. It is meant to be handled with hands and many Zulu cultures eat with their hands. I did this at some investigators' home and burnt my fingers. That was fun. Anyway the food here is really good, and most often involves curry, and chicken. Chicken meaning that they throw in a whole chicken, bones and all into the pot and they put out plates to put the bones on while eating. Indians always serve curry and its always spicy and I love it. So far I havent come across anything ridiculously weird that I am reluctant to try. My comp was talking about the whole goat head thing and that scares me but its been good so far.
I'm learning Zulu! Slowly and steadily I'm learning the basics like hello, goodbye, how are you, etc. Now basically 90% of the time we greet Zulu people in Zulu, and some are surprised when they hear the "white man" saying it. I would recommend that anyone who wants to hear what Zulu sounds like should look it up on youtube or something. They click and make some sweet sounds with their tongues and I'm falling in love with it. If the person is Indian I say "hows it". So yeah and I've learned a couple phrases and a sentence that specifically is built to sound cool. It's the frog jumped over the fence. And it's spelled "Ixoxo ligxuma ucingo". X's are clicks from the back of the tongue and C's are that tsk sound I think. With the very front of the tongue. Also H's make a weird SH sound but it sounds like you're getting phlegm from out of your throat. Sala kahle means stay well, and I love saying it.
As far as people we are teaching, we havent really added to our teaching pool much and our progressing investigators are still the Tembos, and the Mtiyanis. The Tembos' situation is still pretty complicated, but hopefully the mission president who is getting involved will be able to solve them. Anyway, the Mtiyanis ask more questions than we do and our lessons become interactive conversations so that is a very fun experience. And I often see how little I know concerning the Bible. I know what I'm studying now.
So the other day was the end of the semester, and kids in school had their prom. Here it's called the Metric Dance, but its crazy like prom nonetheless. We were driving that night and traffic got so backed up we would have sat there for hours if we hadn't just said forget it and loop back around to where we came from. We saw Ferraris and Aston Martins and all kinds of sports cars taking kids to prom. I also got stopped in a roadblock and breathalized which was sweet.
As far as service goes, we don't. We do service at the hospital and Clinic, but we sit there and label the whole time. I've put on my tennis shoes twice. Twice. I wore shorts in public once and my jeans once. By the way, my slim jeans fit in here. Everybody wears skinny jeans and button ups and fancy shoes. Even most of the poor people.
The Lords work is hastening and I'm so glad to be on a mission, and thank you to all who are supporting me back home! I hope your Christmas is a great one, and ill try and enjoy it as we attend our back to back dinner appointments on Christmas, sipping our cold soda in the hot sun. ;)
Much Love from Africa!
Elder Preator
Sala Kahle (stay well)
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