Chocolate pie, colored people, and homemade guitars

My internet connection is barely working right now. When I saw barely, I mean I can't do anything simple in under 30 minutes. Complicated things, like responding to email messages won't be happening anytime this century at this pace. That's why there's no picture with this post, I was going to post a picture of the adorable penguins that I saw the other day...

So, the issues with the internet has got me thinking about major differences between here and the States. I thought I'd compile a list for your viewing pleasure.

1. Chocolate pie does not exist. I was trying to explain it to my friend Folker (a native to South Africa). First, we had to establish what pie is, SA has a large Dutch influence so most meat filled pastries are considered pies. We decided that it's like a mince meat pie, but without the top crust. The bottom crust is made from biscuits (similar to graham crackers), the filling is chocolate flavored custard, then you top it off with some cream. It was a fun conversation.

2. Everyone drives on the wrong side of the road around here. You get used to it but I still find it difficult to remember which way to look when I cross the street.

3. Racism. In SA there's so many different ethnicities and mixes that they've broken things down to a simple level. If you're Indian, you're Indian. If you're Asian, you're Asian. If you're skin is black and have no other ''color'' in you, then you're black. If you're black but you have anything else (white, Asian, Indian) then you're colored. You'd offend a colored person by calling them anything but colored (such as mixed race). Beyond it all though, no matter the skin color, if you were born in Africa, you're African.

4. Drugs and begging. Ride the train for more than 5 minutes and you're bound to come across some of the more entrepreneurial beggars. They sell anything they can for whatever price you'll pay. Ice cold soda, knock off Ray-Ban sunglasses, superglue (for getting high), razor blades, even socks. I refuse to buy anything from the people who sell glue. Blind people will be lead (usually by a small child) from train car to train car singing a song while holding a cup for spare change. I saw a boy playing a ''guitar'' made from a milk jug, a 2x4, and fishing string while singing a song. He was quite good and made everybody laugh on the train. We also have the normal beggars who sit somewhere and ask any white person for money.

5. Salt shakers always have rice in them (because of moisture in the air).

6. Most words that we consider ''cuss words'' in America are not considered bad in SA. The ruling theory seems to be (as far as I can tell) that if English isn't your first language, the words aren't bad.

I'd like to start answering any questions you might have in a weekly blog post. From the practical to ridiculous, feel free to ask away! Questions about culture, religion, food, sports, past blog posts, or anything else you can think of. You can leave questions in the comment section below, or if you know another way to contact me you can use that method. If I don't know the answer I'll find someone who does.

One last thing, I've been under the impression that my outreach location would be Thailand but I was wrong, it's India. I'll be going with a team of 4 other people plus 2 leaders (7 people total) from the end of March until the beginning of June. We don't know any details yet, so there's not much else I can say (except that I'll be needing prayer to receive all the money I need before I leave).