So I'm filling out this Study Abroad experience book that was assigned for our id course.  We always kind of make fun of it while we fill it out.  It just has never felt like it was directed completely to our experience.  We are different.  Ours is a weird program.  Even the pictures on the front are all of western study abroad experiences.  Tonight I figured out why it feels so odd to fill it out and why so many questions seem not to apply to us.  Let me see if I can explain.  First, part of the book is about language learning.  We are lucky because our language learning is set out for us here and is really necessary as many of the places we go only speak Kiswahili.  Second, GMCS is awesome so they have us doing projects here already that help professionally.  For instance, I am studying practices of hospitality in everyday life and most especially, in the Church community.  How does welcoming the other reflect the local understanding of God?  Finally, the reason I write this is that we are forced constantly into cross cultural situations.  Both those of religious origin like the Ninian Smart book discusses and the things of every day life.  No tree here is like a tree at home.  The language is all around us.  The villages visits are obviously vastly different from anything even remotely like home.  A lot of the book is about getting the most out of the experience by actually having a cultural experience and not staying within our comfort zones.  Kwa mfano, it reminds the reader to pay attention to things like the transportation.  If most people take public transportation, don't take a cab door to door.  Well, for us the only way to get around is the dala dala.  These small buses packed with people who all want to talk in Swahili about Obama.  Even the cabs are a cultural experience as we can barter with the driver to lower costs.  Internet and communication is different.  The pace of life is different.  The way classes are taught is different.  The way people treat each other in church is different.  Everything is different.  I mean, the people are like people back home at their base.  I'm saying, at first glance everything is so different.  It is more of a struggle to do things like we do at home.  The only way we could not have a cultural experience is if we locked ourselves in our rooms and stayed on the internet all the time.  Which is not even possible as the internet is way spotty and there are somewhat frequent power outages.  And concerning the places that Pr. Hafermann takes us, we are thrust into these absolutely different situations and constantly live as "the other."  I am not complaining about the book.  It is no big deal.  All I'm trying to get across is that I am beginning to appreciate these things and see that everything we have done is something new.  Hey, by the way.  Let me know if you all have any questions about life here or anything else.  I would love to answer them.  Ok.  Thanks for letting me think for a while.  Bye now.