There are so many things that make East Africa so unique.
Everything Can Be Carried On The Head - women carry absolutely everything on their heads. We think we've seen it all and then we notice a new and unique item on someone's head. We've seen food, firewood, pineapples, pots, entire banana stalks, shopping bags, umbrellas, and just yesterday we noticed a woman carrying an entire backpack on her head. It was the size of a backpack we would carry on our backs to travel the world.
Clothing - women all wear bright coloured sarongs. They may wear completely different ones on their tops and bottoms and even different ones to carry their babies in slings. It is always a colourful sight! Men wear ordinary pants or shorts. Many men wear sandals which are made from tires.
Names - most of the first names of people are very similar to western names. Last names are always a trick to figure out. All of the young boys we've met in Malawi have chosen a unique name so we can remember them when we want to buy something from them. So far we've met Christopher Columbus, Julius Caesar, Mel Gibson, Donald Duck and Dr. Love to name a few.
Fascination With The Mzungu (White Person) - it doesn't matter where we go the locals will stop and watch us silently for as long as we are there. We will stop our truck for lunch along the side of the road and before we know it, we have half the next village or the entire school standing around us watching quietly. One day we stopped at a swimming hole for a quick dip and they watched us for hours. They are fascinated just to hear us talk to one another. They look like they are standing still watching a film.
Constant Selling - the minute our truck stops in a village, town or city the round tubs of goods come up to our eye level. They are filled with cookies, drinks, nuts, samosas, sunglasses, crafts. We are often interested in getting a quick treat. Half of the fun is bargaining for the best price for the goods, but we are always offered a "very good price" or "special Christmas price".
The Waving - one of my favourite things about Africa is the constant waving and thumbs up. As we drive along in our truck, we can spend hours waving at the children and adults along the side of the road or in villages and towns. We have experienced nothing but friendliness from everyone we pass. You can usually hear crowds of children before you see them because they start yelling "jambo" or "hello" about 200 metres before we pass. You can look around the truck at any given time and see one of us mzungus waving to the locals.
The Children - the minute children see you walking in their village they are running to hold your hand or to talk with you. As we walk, we each have two to four kids on our arms. They love to tell you what they are learning at school or show you around their village. They also love it when we take their picture. When any of us take a digital picture of them, we always show them the picture, which leads to many giggles and lots of crowding.
The Landscape - the terrain has been diverse as we've travelled through Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi. We enjoyed the plains of the Serengeti to the extremely lush land of southern Tanzania. We are currently in Malawi and have spent the last week on Lake Malawi, which takes up 20% of the country.
Towns and Villages - one of the most unique things about the towns that we pass through are the store signs. First off, everything is in English and there seems to be a fascination with western names for all signs. We've seen Hollywood Haircuts, Miami Beach Restaurant and Bar, and the San Francisco Salon.
African Time - we quickly realized that everything in Africa takes at least an hour longer than you anticipate. When you're on the Internet, expect for the power to go out or network to go down at least twice. On Sunday, we hurried to the local village to make the 9am mass but weren't surprised when it finally got started around 10:15. However, while we wait, something unique always seems to happen to keep us very entertained. While we waited for the service to start a group of about 20 local children sang to us to keep us amuzed. It's all part of the adventure we came to experience.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone at home!
Jill