Culture Shock

We usually think of culture shock in regards to heading overseas and eating goat intestines and the like.

It is harder to think about strolling the aisles of Wal-mart and staring blankly at the many choices looking back at me.  However, that is what I found myself doing as I searched in vain for PLAIN TEA and instead considered the many flavors available.  This included hot chocolate in new varieties including WOMEN'S WELLNESS HOT CHOCOLATE.  I thought I had heard of everything!

Watching Musa's reactions to things has also reminded us of how far apart our worlds are.  Imagine coming from a land where you carry every drop of water on your head to a land where (in the Minneapolis airport) there are fountains that run all day simply for visual enjoyment.  And from using precious wood to boil the water so that you can drink it, to being able to drink from that same entertaining fountain if you needed to!

While in South Caroline, we went to another astonishing place.  As Musa said to Kate, "Katie, you and me will see something amazing, called ZOO."  Musa stared at the aquarium of sea creatures and all he could say was, "God is very wonderful!"
Lauren and Megan were at the giraffe area and one zookeeper lady pointed out the baby giraffe that she said we were lucky to see, as sometimes it didn't come out.  The girls, having seen their fair share of giraffes, told her excitedly, "We saw a SQUIRREL EATING AN ACORN!"  She wasn't as thrilled as they were. :)

Musa started Bible college yesterday.  Last night I asked him what he noticed or what was different for him.  I thought he would be astonished most by the library (which was incredible to him).  But what he was most taken aback by was that the teachers and the students sat together at lunch and they even ate the same food.  In Tanzania, a teacher wouldn't lower himself to be with the students, and if they did happen to be in the same area, the teachers would be eating better food.  "We were there together, reaching for the same pizza."

One of the biggest blessings for us is just seeing our friends and family again.  The kids' friends welcomed them back like they were playing together just yesterday.  Aside from them being about a foot taller, we wouldn't know anything had changed!  And our Bozeman family had everything ready for us.  At the beginning of December, we didn't have a house or a car.  By the time we got here, we had three houses and so many vehicles we had to say no thank-you!  God has been so gracious to us in every way!  And so have you all!