Shellin' Peas...I Think.

TIA (slang): Acronym standing for the commonly used phrase 'This is Africa'. Usually uttered by missionaries to keep from being non-Christlike while at the same time totally exasperated with third world life. Can also be used when no words can describe the scene at hand. Example:" Is that woman breast feeding, with nothing covering her, in church? TIA. TIA."


So a few months ago we had two really awesome college kids here who love Jesus and almost love Africa just as much (shout out to Holly and Sam!) They were much need companionship at a time when my arrogant thoughts that I could be a pretty happy hermit were quickly being proved wrong by my ever increasing loneliness. Besides their friendship they also gave me a wonderful new phrase to help express my feelings during 'it can only happen in Africa' events (which will later turn into very witty anecdotes) with more ease. TIA (definition above) has totally and completely changed my descriptive-language vocabulary. I would now like to share with you the story that lead to it's maiden utterance from my lips.

Holly and I walked through the craft market. Each stall sold the same exact wares as it's neighbor the only difference being how well one could haggle. Holly was a pro. As she went quickly back to a woman selling African shirts to let her know she had found someone who could sell her the shirt at 20,000 shillings instead of 25,000, I lagged behind my attention caught by something that made my heart smile. There sitting in the doorway of her stall was a pretty woman shelling peas. It reminded me of home. Not that I often shell peas at home but I am from the country and I hear people  think that country people do that a lot. Regardless of the pea shelling frequency that takes place at my house it made me happy to be reminded of home. Especially since it was getting near Christmas. Little did I know that my sweet reminder of home was about to turn into something very, very different.

As I stood watching the woman and her friend shell the peas while laughing about something in their native tongue, I realized that these peas looked a little different from Texas peas. In fact they looked a lot different. Actually, as I stepped a little closer to get a better look, I couldn't recall a Texas pea ever squirming like these peas seemed to be doing. I watched as the woman brought another pea from her bag and tore the shell off the wriggling pea. That's when I knew. These were not peas at all but in fact were grasshoppers. Big, green, fat, grasshoppers. These women were tearing off the wings, legs and antennas getting the 'protein' ready to fry and eat for dinner. As I walked away, my sweet thoughts of home crumbling around me, all I could do was shake my head, laugh and say TIA. TIA.