Here are some questions Carrie McNew's students had for me and I thought they were really good and wanted to post them here.

What kinds of food/drinks do you eat there? Food: Ivorians eat a lot of rice and sauce. I eat rice and sauce almost every day. There are different kinds of sauces. One of my favorite sauces is like a peanut sauce. Many Ivorians love to use a lot of oil in their sauces. They really like to eat fish because it is cheaper than beef or chicken. They use many vegetables that we have in the states. They have something called ignam that is a lot like potatoes. I really like something called Atteike that to me tastes almost like McDonald’s french fries. I put onions, tomatoes, a little oil, hot peppers, and alco. Alco looks like bananas but they aren’t as sweet. They cut it up and fry it.  Drinks: Water is the main drink because it is very hot here. They also have coke, sprite, fanta, tea, coffee, and something called beesapp that is really good.     

What kind of transportation is avaliable? Many people walk or ride a bike. I have a bike I use to get around. There are also car taxis and motorcycle taxis that we take a lot. If we travel a long ways we take a bus or when possible we travail in the Land Cruiser my mission director has. 

Do they have candy? Yes, there is a lot of candy but most of it is off brand stuff. I don’t buy candy because it is a little expensive. They have sugar coated peanuts here that I eat as candy. They also have little cakes many women sell, but they aren’t very sweet. Many Ivorians don’t like really sweet things.

What kinds of holidays do they celebrate? All the Christians are getting ready to celebrate Christmas. But what they do for Christmas here is eat a good meal and go to church all night to party. I’m pretty sure they celebrate Easter as well. There are much more Muslims in Cote d’Ivoire than Christians. So, there are Muslim holidays like the month of Ramadan where they fast during the day and eat at night. The last day of Ramadan they have a big party, eat lots of food, get their hair done before, and get new clothes made before that day as well. They just celebrated a holiday not too long ago called Tabaski (probably spelled wrong). All the Muslims sacrificed a ram on the same day in remembrance of God providing a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of his son Isaac. Then, everybody has a feast that night.    

Do kids get presents for Christmas/birthdays? I think it is rare for them to give/receive gifts for Christmas and birthdays but it does happen sometimes though nothing like in the states. They give/receive gifts for many other occasions like weddings, funerals, and a new baby.

What is the weather like? They have 2 different seasons here rainy and dry. We just finished the rainy season and now we are in the Harmatant which is the beginning of the dry season. During the Harmatant it is cold at night and very hot and windy during the day. There is a lot of dust that just gets blown everywhere. The dry season is hot all the time day and night.

Have you been asked to participate in any dances/ceremonies? Ivoirians love to dance. Every church service they dance together. They dance at weddings, funerals, or just any time many of them are together. I have danced at church and at weddings. I have only been to one funeral here so far and for some reason they didn’t really dance, but I’ve heard they normally do. This past Sunday my church have about 6 new people accept Christ and after church they burned the fetishes they had and I got to dance with many women around the fire. Fetishes are like charms or things they believed had power to protect or harm. After they accept Christ they burn these things because now they know the truth and put their faith in God instead of in these things.

What kinds of animals are running around? Asking what animals are running around it a good way to phrase this question because they don’t really pin up their animals here. There are cows, goats, sheep, cats, dogs, chickens, lizards and I have even seen a few camels.  

Do people have pets? What kind? People really don’t keep pets here. Most of the animals they have here they are going to end up eating. They do not eat cats so sometimes they might have one or two. Almost everyone has a dog. But these dogs aren’t really considered pets. Instead they are used as a security system. Dogs protect your home. 

What do people do for entertainment? TV? Many people do have TVs they watch. The kids normally don’t stay home during the day. They wonder around the neighborhood playing together. They don’t have many toys so they might play with a ball, trash, or tires. It is actually pretty safe for kids to wonder around here without parents because there are always adults around. All the adults in the area take care of the kids they see and disciple them. They are all about community. Also, sometimes stories are told for entertainment, but not as much now since there is television. The older people don’t have much time for entertainment, because there is always a lot of work to do. They love to visit each other and talk while they work.    

DO they have swimming pools? There are very few swimming pools and if they want to use them they have to pay. So many of them have never been in a swimming pool and therefore don’t know how to swim. I live with an Ivorian host family and all of my siblings don’t know how to swim. So, one day I’m going to take them to a hotel here in town that has a pool and teach them.

Do they have I-Pods? Yes, there are people here who have i-pods. They love music. Also almost everyone has a cell phone.

Is there electric? Do you have running water inside? Many people here have electricity but there are some families that don’t. In town there are some areas that have lights, but many areas don’t have street lights so it’s hard to get around at night if you have to walk or ride a bike. Just this week I went to a party in my neighborhood celebrating some new street lights.

What kinds of music do they listen to? They like pop music. They watch music videos a lot with African and American pop music. Also, in the area I live in they listen to Senoufo music that is more traditional. My family is Senoufo and they play that music sometimes at home and we dance. 

Do you speak their language? I have been learning French because that is the main language of Cote d’Ivoire. I really struggled in the beginning with French but I’m much better now. Also, I have learned some Senoufo and Joula. There is something like 50 different languages in Cote d’Ivoire. Almost everyone here knows several different languages. French is the language that is taught in school. Many of them learn English and Spanish in school as well, but they can’t speak it very well.

What kind of house do you live in? Most people here live in houses made of cement. The floors are always cemented (no carpet). It’s a good thing they are cement (easier to clean) because of all the dirt and dust outside. Out in villages their houses are made out of something like cement but not, and their roof is made out of long grass they tie together.

What was the biggest change from living in Indiana to living in Africa? That’s a hard question. There are many things that are different. The hardest thing for me I think is being white because I can’t change that. I went from Indiana where there are lots of white people to Africa where almost everyone is black and I stand out. Kids are always pointing at me and saying white girl. Many people try to talk to me especially guys. Here it is a little rude for a guy to approach a young woman but because I am white they do it. I have men asking me all the time for my phone number, if they can visit me, will I marry them. Being a young white woman I am seen as a ticket to America. I had a chief of a village once tell my directors wife to give me to him and he had to be at least 70 years old. Many times if an older person says they want to marry you it is just a complement/joke, a way to tell you that you are pretty. In this culture it is very rude to tell someone no strait out, so you have to say things in a way that they know means no without saying it exactly. Like if someone asks me for my number I say my number is for work. If someone asks me if they can visit me or marry me I say he has to talk to my 3 fathers (my host dad, my mission director, and my dad in America). 

Have you ever been to a place that was very hard to get to? The roads here are very bad. There are many dirt roads big and small, but there are many holes. Even the paved roads have many big holes. So when people drive they are swerving all over the road to miss the holes. It is a little difficult to get anywhere. Other than that I haven’t had any difficulties getting around. 

What kinds of jobs do people have? There are many farmers here. They don’t have any machines to help in the fields. They do all the work by hand and that is why they are always working, because they don’t have the convinces we have. Also, many people have small businesses selling things like fruit, meat, vegetables, and material for clothes (they buy material here to make clothes and then take it to a tailor).   

Do kids go to school like we do here? How long (day and year)? Yes, many kids go to school here. There are some kids who are not able to go to school though. Their school system here is set up differently than ours. Each school decides when the kids have school. All of my siblings go to different schools and they go almost every day like we do and have the weekend off. What is pretty different is they all walk to school or their parents’ take them and they go home in the middle of the day for a couple hours for lunch and a nap if they want. Everyone here (adults and children) take what they call a pause in the middle of the day when it is the hottest. I love this so much because I am encouraged to take a nap.

DO people wear certain things or dress certain ways? (like people wear jeans in the US) Men here wear usually a tee-shirt and pants. If you have a nice job you wear nice pants and shirt. Many Muslim men here wear a certain type of outfit that is a long baggy shirt and matching color pants. Pagnes are very popular here. Everyone has clothes made out of pagnes. There are many different pagne designs. They are usually colorful and busy. You can get shirts, pants, dresses, etc. made out of them. Women usually always wear pagnes wrapped around their waist and it goes down to their ankles. If girls wear jeans and a short shirt like we normally wear in the States they are thought to be prostitutes. There are women who wear pants but if you do it is more modest to wear a long shirt to cover the private area. It is very scandalous here for women to show their knees. It would be like women in the states showing their chest.  Here it is perfectly normal for women to breast feed for example in public. There is no shame showing that area especially if you have children or if you are old. It took me a while to get used to that. Another fun fact is women use pagnes to attach babies to their back, because there are no strollers (the roads aren’t go for them any ways).