WHY IS EVERYONE LAUGHING AT ME?

I’ve been living here in the city of Kolda for almost 3 weeks now, and things are going great. I would be lie’n if I said that I’ve loved every minute of it, but I am glad that I’m here. One thing that I was warned about by a lot of people was culture shock. I remember talking about it many times at orientation. I may have experienced bits and pieces of Culture Shock, but I still have not experienced it in the degree that I have been told about by many friends and colleagues. As I look back over my past years I can see that God has been preparing me for this my whole life! I remember many challenges and tests that God put me through that gave me the experience and knowledge to be here in West Africa. One of the things that God has prepared me for greatly is being laughed at! I’ve learned that being able to laugh at yourself is needed to survive while learning a culture and language. I thought I would share some of those stories where people were laughing at me and all I could do was laugh at myself too.
Everyone always laughed when I said the Pulaar word for bicycle. I would point to a bicycle and say the word and everyone would laugh. This week it happened three different days. I asked my new friend “Why is that funny?” and he explained that I wasn’t saying the word “bicycle” - I was saying “condom”! What else can I do but laugh at myself!! I can see a long relation with this new friend I’ve made. He speaks some English because he spent some time in Gambia, but he says many times to me “Don’t speak English to me, speak Pulaar.” His family’s compound is less than 100 ft from my house and I have been spending a lot of time with them. The Sheriff (my nickname for him) has been teaching me a lot of the language and his whole family is great and excited that I want to learn their language and that I’m here to study and research the Fulakunda.
You should have seen them laughing at me when I found Top Ramon. Well, if I would have seen my face I would have probably been laughing at me too. Man I love that stuff!
Another story that I will be laughing at for a long time is what happened to me on Friday. I had a perty long week and was doing a lot of different things. I walked to another compound where I made have made friends and started hanging out with them. It was great practicing the little Pulaar that I know, and just hangin with them. Then I started to feel kind of sick. If it wasn’t for my great non communication skills of putting the eyes in the back of my head and being covered in sweat they would not have known to take me inside, put a fan on me, and get me some water. I laid down and fell right to sleep. I was just a little dehydrated, ok.. maybe a lot dehydrated!!! I do know that this is something that this family and I will be laughing about for a long time. I pray that the relation with the family will begin to grow and once I learn the language I will be able to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them.
The people across the street from me sure did have a laugh when they watched me trying to start my motorcycle for like 5 minutes. Yeah, that’s right I got a Motorcycle! I will use an even bigger and cooler one once I start making research trips. Anyways, it was like five minutes of me trying to start the thing and finally someone comes over and he gets on it like he was going to start it. He couldn’t start it either. Within the next 5 minutes there were about 10 guys all trying to start the thing. The people at the shop had to install a whole new piston. But it’s all good now!!!
There is one thing that has happened to me at least three times that the locals sure do get a kick out of. I am learning from it, but I will never laugh along with them. I will share a story about a dude my age that speaks English that I met playing soccer. He introduced me to his family and made the statement: “God is One.” I replied, “Yes, God is 1 and 3.” He asked me and I explained to him that I believe in a God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He and his family sure did think that was funny and asked me “How can God be three?” The conversation didn’t go any farther than that and we started talking about other things.
I’m having a great time here in Kolda. I’m reminded of a quote that a fellow Journeyman told me back at orientation. He said, “Erik, the Africans are going to love you.” Well, they sure are laughing a lot! (That’s a good thing, right?) Pray that I will continue to learn from experiences and that both the locals and I will be able to laugh together. Please continue to pray for my language learning as I am now starting classes that will be 5 days a week. Also pray that God will continue to give me opportunities to share my faith with the Fulakunda and eventually be able to share to the stories of Jesus Christ with them.