Mohammed Ali had it all wrong when he said that he “floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee.” He should have said stung like a sugar cookie instead. This is because with a one-two butter-laden combo, Michele was knocked out. Michele’s plan of making sugar cookies for our dinner guests last week failed miserably because of the differences between South African and United States butter. To be honest, I am not exactly sure what those differences really are, but from Michele’s early experiences at baking they appear to be very dramatic. Back in Charlotte, Michele frequently baked and rarely had dessert mishaps. Baking in South Africa has proven to be far more difficult for her.

Whatever the differences are in the types of butter, so far baking here requires a lot less of the South African butter. As a result, Michele’s previous knowledge of butter and baking betrays her because most of her desserts have had excessive amounts of it. In the case of the sugar cookies, they had so much butter in them they simply could not bake all the way through without burning them. Either way, burnt or raw, the cookies were a disaster and the whole morning came crashing in.
Normal baking mishaps are usually pretty easily absorbed. Unfortunately, we are not in a normal state of mind. This period in our missionary careers means that even the slightest setbacks feel multiplied by ten…times an additional one million. As you can see in the graph to the left, the traditional culture stress is at its second highest point in months three to five. This is when the flies (yes, even in the middle of winter we are still battling them), butter, left-sided driving, load shedding (i.e., regularly scheduled power outages), and three-hour grocery shopping trips (as opposed to our U.S. one-hour trips) starting taking their toll. This is when while really enjoying the friends we are making here, the longing for the friends and family back home starts increasing and we miss them that much more right now.

Eventually, our proficiency will improve. We will be better at understanding South African accents. We will improve in speaking Afrikans. We will learn the proper proportions of butter in our baking products. We will be more effective as cross-cultural servants. For now, though, we experience a small battle early in our missionary lives.

Overall, and despite the aforementioned story, things are great. We are settling in nicely and adapting well. We love our community here at East Mountain and the ministry we are about to enter into at Mitchells Plain. We enjoy the people, the scenery, and the beautiful pink sunsets and sunrises that are given to us as gifts each day. Sometimes, though, we go through our sugar cookie disaster that levels us and we might just have to take a small nap that day to rest our weary minds. The next day waits and the quest continues.

* The Culture Stress Cycle graph is from the Center for Intercultural Training training manual.