Last night a cockroach emerged from the lid of the choo (pen: ch-ohh = pit latrine/toilet) and scuttled onto my foot. This is the second time he has disrupted my ability to pee in peace. Then, this morning when I went to get my towel from the door, I saw choo roach again! He scurried away before I could do anything about it, but I have a feeling he will be back. The bathroom is quickly becoming a battleground of girl vs. roach.
In truth today was more a battle of the flies. I got home at 4:00 and helped peel some spinach stalks. I also learned how to make ugali, which was exhausting, but cool. (I learned while some random guy sat next to me. He kept asking my mama questions. She told him not to call me "mzungu" because I resent the term--yay host mama!--and explained that he should speak to me in Swahili since I'm learning the language pretty quickly. It was nice of her.) It's been hot today and every two seconds a housefly has seemed to land on me. They're all over--on me, on the food, on the ground.... I can get used to the bugs being around me, but having them land in my bug bites is just terribly annoying. Seriously. I feel like I'm a piece of dead meat when flies start just making my legs their new home...
In other news, I accidentally walked in on my bibi (grandma) when she was bathing. She accepted my apology. I'm not sure why the bathroom door was open.
Also, my neighbors/family think it's hilarious when I "dance" to the music coming from the voucher stand. Today they all died laughing when I joked that I "always" dance. Basically I just bob along to the music, but I'm happy to be the source of their entertainment. It's inevitable, so I prefer being the one who starts the joke.
I also saw my school's morning assembly today. Kids who were in trouble lined up in 2 rows and kneeled on the ground. They were then hit with a switch on the hand/butt. Most didn't make a sound, but a couple shouted when they were hit. Here at home the kitten was also hit a couple times after it daringly nabbed a fish head from a pot that was sitting on the ground. I will give the cats credit for having a lot of spunk. Often they get booted or swatted, though I do think my family genuinely likes having them around.
Lastly, tonight I met two new "kaka". I'm so confused by my family dynamic. I'm starting to think that Jackie is not actually my host sister--or maybe my host mama isn't the mama of the three kids living here...or...well, honestly I'm not sure. Tonight she introduced them as "Jackie's brothers". Not sure what the blood line is, but I'm not too worried. The two brothers were very perplexed by my ability to speak any Swahili, but they still gave me a hard time about not eating enough and being "too quiet". Ah well.
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