T.I.A.

T.I.A. This Is Africa.

Africa is another world. A world far from the fast paced life of America. People often say "T.I.A.", or "This is Africa" when certain things happen.

Ordering at a restaurant is a perfect example. Most times, the menu is out of the majority of what is offered. When you do order, it takes 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours to get your meal! In Zanzibar we would joke about ordering dinner immediately after finishing your lunch because of such a long wait! As they say in Swahili "pole pole" (pole-ee pole-ee), which means, slowly slowly.

Power outages are another example. Africa's power supply is not reliant and constant. One time I was at a grocery store, standing in line for 5 minutes (the clerks are quite pole pole), and the entire store's power went out. Only one register was on a generator. without any order, people had to rush to that one register without any regard of who was actually first. Also, we were at a restaurant when the power went out. We had to figure out the bill in the dark and gave up on the rest of our food that didn't come out.

Cold showers and warm beverages.
Getting a warm shower is such a rare luxury! I have accepted cold showers. You just have to jump in like you would a cold pool and get used to it. hard to shave your legs in it though! Warm drinks, on the other hand, are the norm. I miss ice! I did have a chocolate milkshake the other day and it was so nice!

I am getting used to it all and am going to be in culture shock once again when I return home!

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