Nzeze?
That’s a greeting in the local language here, Kisambaa. Or I
assume that’s how it would be written. I wish they’d write stuff down for me so
I’d really learn it, but that’s not really the culture here.
In any case, the past two days have been very interesting to
say the least. Yesterday I woke up in a bad mood and really just wanted to burn
off some stream via exercise. I would have gone wandering alone, but I didn’t
want to get lost and not be able to find my way back, so I asked Emmanuel if he
knew how to get to Amy’s village. They said it was about an hour’s walk away
(which isn’t true, but if we actually walked an American pace, it wouldn’t have
taken us the two hours that it did to get there.) so I figured it’d be nice to
figure out how to get there while I have nothing to do. He said he would find
someone to take me, so I waited around until about 1:30 in the afternoon before
marching over to the staff room at the school. The student teacher who had hit
on me the day before was the one Emmanuel asked to take me, along with two of my
students (one of which is the student teacher’s sister). I had to wait around
for a while, eat some food that I wasn’t hungry for, and then wait around some
more. Fortunately, the walk was truly beautiful. Next time I’m bringing my
camera! They were also extremely surprised how “strong” I was because I have a
faster hiking pace/don’t need to stop to take breaks all the time. It’s amazing
how these girls can carry fifty pounds on their head, but get winded from
walking up a hill. I wouldn’t consider myself in that good of shape, but they
were astonished by how well I could climb. Kind of an ego boost I guess.
Once at Amy’s I met her favorite village elder, who is also
the chairman of my school. Her mkuu gave us tea and omelets, and I had a really
nice time chatting with the people who came to greet us. It’s colder there than
it is in my village—I actually had to keep my fleece on even when hiking up
there! We left to go back home pretty late, so we walked quite a bit of the way
in the dark. Some people took a picture of me before it got too dark, and the
rest of my group stopped to get cookies. It was pretty frightening to walk back
with just one flashlight between four people—it’s very steep on that trail. I
slid around a lot from the loose dirt. I ended up splitting my pinky toe open,
which has been really hard to keep clean/bandaged here.
Before going back home, I was also invited to the houses of
two different sets of relatives. I don’t feel like I was a very cordial guest
because by that point I was pretty tired physically and mentally. In truth, the
one big negative was that I ended up having to make it abundantly clear (over
and over and over) to the student teacher showing me the way that I was
engaged, not interested in being more than friends, didn’t plan on becoming his
wife, and didn’t like all the touching/attention, etc. I can only hope that I got
my point across since he didn’t come to see me today, but going to and from
Amy’s village was very uncomfortable because of the constant touching and
marriage comments. It’s such a weird gray area here—the lines between friendly,
flirting, confrontational, and polite are hard to navigate sometimes, especially
when turning someone down who you are going to have to work with. Needless to
say, I hope it’s not an issue anymore, because it’s very stressful.
Anyway, Amy lives amazingly close to her mkuu! They even
share a kitchen space! But he was very nice. He had us sign a guest-book and
expressed his gratitude that I walked over to “connect our schools”. I did feel
bad for the poor students who escorted me to and from Amy’s village, though I
did REALLY appreciate their company, since it was a bit of a trek.
Anyway, today I woke up feeling kind of cranky and tired. I
really just wanted a day to myself, but I knew I needed to go to the market, so
I was expecting people to show up at my house at least during the afternoon. I
spent most of the morning at my house, though it was overcast so nothing would
charge well. Later on some of my students came by and invited me to town. One
of them, Siwema, wants to learn English very badly and eventually go to
university abroad. She invited me to her house, gave me tea, cooked cassava,
and papaya, and then introduced me to her grandparents. After a bit she took me
to town to meet her younger brother, father, mother(s?), and aunt. She’s a very
sweet girl with a lot of ambition, so I look forward to getting to know her
better. I also met up again with one of the girls, Osi, who walked with me
yesterday. They came back to my house for an “English lesson”, but just ended
up looking at my photos and rummaging through my basket of hygiene supplies. I
explained sunscreen, shaving cream, face wash, and most importantly I taught
them to use dental floss! I offered to give them some but they didn’t take it.
They did buy me an avocado and some low-quats at the market, though. They insisted
on having me take their picture before leaving my house. They were shocked by
the size of my camera, but still wanted to learn how to use it. I suppose I
should impose higher privacy standards, but it’s hard sometimes to flat-out
refuse to let people look/touch/try things like using my camera.
In other news, my mkuu finally returned! The ceiling boards
for my kitchen will also hopefully arrive soon, but I guess there were a number
of bus issues, so they didn’t come back with her. She agreed to give me some
time off in September for things like the PC Super-Regional Conference and
seeing my friend Sarah Flynn from home. She is coming all the way to Zambia, so
I’m glad I will have a solid three days with her!!! All in all, it was really
nice to finally talk with my mkuu. She’s going to show me potential library
spaces tomorrow and negotiate prices with the fundis in town. She also said she
was excited to try my American cooking soon! So that should be cool. I really,
really like her. She’s a very nice lady, with very nice nieces, and she was
very understanding about all my concerns/needs. She joked around with me about
my fear of having rats in my house, and also agreed that starting in January I
may also teach Biology or Math Form 1 on top of English. Things are looking up
that way, if nothing else.
Later on I went back to town by myself. I practiced greeting
everyone and anyone I met on the street. People really get out a kick when I
throw out any of the three Kisambaa words I know. I had a nice long chat with a
guy who works at the health clinic, and informed a number of children that I am
“Jade” and not “Mchele.” Emmanuel met me and showed me the duka where I can
charge my computer/laptop. It only costs 1,000 to charge my laptop, which is
GREAT. Phone will probably be even cheaper to charge, although for now I have
been squeaking by with my D-Light.
I had dinner at my mkuu’s house and once again was given way
too much food. They’re very over-hospitable here. It’s very sweet, but I feel
like a dough-boy sometimes after eating so many carbs. Emmanuel brought me my
charged laptop (YAY) at around 9:00 and then PJ ended up having me talk to his
parents on the phone in KiSwahili. Overall, it was a very interesting day even
though nothing actually that exciting occurred. But I do feel good that I am
starting to be recognized by the community, and that an avocado here only costs
100 shillings. Woot woot!
I am hoping the PCVs who are heading back to America
tomorrow make it safely and that the two who might return, both do return. I
have been listening to Mule and Dead songs all day and hoping things work out.
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