Q&A

Hey team! I was kind of at a loss for what to write this week (hence why I've put it off for so long). But this morning I decided it'd be really interesting to do a Q&A kind of blog with some of the questions my family and friends have been asking.... hope you enjoy!

Q: What kind of food do you eat?
A: Actually, we tend to eat a lot of American food! We eat mostly at our house, and we thus generally get to have things like spaghetti, chicken, lasagne, and potatoes. The only difference is that everything has to be made from scratch... no ready-made pasta sauce here!
But we also get plenty of opportunities to eat African food. One really popular staple is attieke (it's not pronounced how it's spelled). It kind of reminds me of rice or couscous, but it's not really like either of them at all. It's made from cassava, and people usually put oil, peppers, tomatoes, and salt on it. When we have it, it's often served alongside fish. Another African dish is called foutou, and I believe it's made with ground plantains. The texture of it is very different... almost like mashed potatoes. It's usually served with some sort of meat in a peanut sauce or something comparable. Africans also eat a lot of rice and yams, both of which I really like.

Q: Do you see any wildlife?
A: I actually don't! However, there are a lot of over-sized bugs. Yeah... bugs are definitely bigger in Africa. Cockroaches, giant months, huge snails that come out at night time... This past weekend, we supposedly ran over a really large black snake with the land rover... we had the opportunity to go to one of the village churches that was in a village a couple hours into the bush (which was really cool!). On our way back, we ran over the snake. I didn't get to see it, but Andy, our host missionary, say that black snakes usually mean pretty deadly snakes. I have no love for snakes, so it really didn't bother me.
This past week, Kelsey and I watched The Ghost and The Darkness, a movie based on a true story about two lions in Kenya that terrorized and murdered railroad builders in the late 1800's (we've been watching lots of movies about Africa while in Africa, haha). If you've never seen the movie, I promise I'm not ruining anything by telling you it's truly a horror film... terrifying. So, naturally, I Googled whether or not lion territory runs this far west. To my immediate relief, there really aren't any big cats like that here (but it's also kind of sad -- read on about lions in west Africa here).

Q: Do any of the people speak English?
A: Nope. People speak French in Cote d'Ivoire. There's also a lot of native languages still spoken, especially in villages. Such languages include Djoula, Agni, and Baoule. People may learn English in school, but they're just as likely to study Spanish or German as they are English.

Q: What interesting cultural differences have you seen?
A: SO MANY!!! Examples... people walk slow. People always shake hands upon greeting, always with the right hand; also, it's a sign of respect if you touch your right arm with your left hand while shaking hands. Some men may have more than 1 wife.... there's countless other things, some of which are kind of hard to explain by typing. Really I could just go on and on. Ask me in person some time!

Q: What's church like?
A: Church is church! Just like in America, there's worship and music, offering, communion, teachings and sermons out of the Bible, and plenty of people to greet and talk to after! So all the big things are the same. But all of these things are done a little differently than what we see in the states... they're done according to African culture! So although they have singing and drums and keyboards and a sound system, it's all very African sounding.. and in French! It's loud, up-beat, and very exciting. People usually get up and dance during worship time, kind of like a follow-the-leader march type of dance (I can show you some time). Offering and communion are done backwards... that is, we get up and go to the front to give offering, and communion is brought to you in your seat! A little different, but really that's nothing too crazy. But everything else, it's the same Bible, we still do announcements, and there's still plenty of after-church talking and visiting (my mom's a pro at that kind of thing; she'd do well here).



If you have other questions about things in Ivory Coast, email me or leave me a comment and I'll try to include it in my next post. Love you all, continue praying for me and for the mission!

Danica