1. Minibuses. Lots of things about minibuses. One of the things that I love about minibuses is that you can easily fit 16 people in them. And they are the size of a minivan. So when people say that a mid size sedan is not big enough for a family of five, I will laugh in their face. Another thing I like about mini-buses is when the "conductor" (thats the guy who opens the door while you are still screeching to a halt on the side of the road and closes the door while you are screeching away) is wearing a Spokane YMCA shirt. Little touch of home. Another thing I love about minibuses is when the driver takes it upon himself to decorate it. For example, the spiderman minibus that I rode in last night that had a decal of spiderman and his web that literally covered the car. And the inside upholstery was the same color as the decal. I believe I commented on coordination in a previous list of things I love.
2. When you order fish here, they bring a giant fish. The whole fish. Head to tail. Fried and covered in onions. So good.
3. The absolute astonishment of the staff when I revealed I had a belly button piercing. Lots of grabbing of my shirt and showing it off, pointing, and giggling ensued.
Something I DONT love... Americans preachers coming to Africa to hold rallies preaching that praying to God will cure AIDS. I cannot even begin to explain how detrimental this kind of activity is. I am not trying to say that prayer has no place in a coping strategy, but to tell people that there are documented cases of people being "cured" by prayer is well Im sorry... but its disgusting. It is detrimental to the health, spirituality, and mental well-being of these individuals and puts entire populations at risk by thinking that practicing risky behavior is ok as long as you pray afterward. There is no greater barrier to effective HIV control than evangelists telling people NOT to use condoms, NOT to see doctors, NOT to learn about HIV but just pray pray pray. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!
I cannot begin to explain how angry this makes me. How can people be so blinded by the belief in "one true god" that they turn a blind eye to what is directly in front of them? Does science have all the answers? Clearly not. Does religion have a place in every society? Yes. But when religion covers the very real experiences of millions of people and touts the miraculous curing of a few (who lets be honest, probably were given the wrong test result in the first place), it is destructive. Pure and simple.
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