Only a Quarter as Rediculous as I Look

... but then I do look pretty darn rediculous.

Some fun and interesting events of the past couple weeks to give an idea of whats been going on:

I have been observing classes at my primary school, often roped into helping out in unexpected ways. Besides the general sitting and doing nothing, I have been asked to draw things on the board for the students to copy down. These include, a prehistoric man's axe, an airplane, a drum and a banana. Also I have helped teach one little french song which now some of the children sing whenever they see me.

i have done a big village survey, household by household trying to start up a latrine project. So far it is still just getting off the ground, hoping to find some super funding source, or to scale back the project in a way that does not upset people.

Have been helping to peel bissap 'fruit' for drying with my moms and aunts most nights after dinner. Has made for some good bonding time, some interesting disagreements, and my sore caloused fingers. Nearly all that bissap then has been deposited into my back yard to sit in the sun, then taken to town to sell.

Have been helping out in my dads garden. Mostly I have just been the official water puller, filling up my younger brothers watering cans. I did do some weeding and they planted a bunch of eggplant where i had cleared a space. I talked to them about how good it is to water these plants regularly, and cause there are so many of them, trees and okra and eggplant and mango and guava trees, they have certain days where they water certain things, and drag me along when there is a lot of water to be pulled. Usually we all end up tired, wet and caked in silty mud, fun fun.

Walked to a far part of the village to see the chief among other people, a couple little boys, probably 6ish, ran out to walk with me. One had on shorts that were generally clean and only had one hole, only that hole was really big and right at the crotch of his pants. Pantless children are not unusual in my village, it genuinely seems to be more fun to run around, do cartwheels and generally be a kid when such stuffy adult worries are not on them. He didnt seem concerened and I didnt say anything about it. As we walked, we picked up more and more kids into our group, for no real reason, and they all followed me around, facinated whenever I would say something in Serere. Eventually they all wandered off and I brought the two kids back home. When his mom saw him, she started yelling at him for walking around with those shorts on. Other women standing around tried not to chuckle. She asked him where he had walked and when he told her, she yelled 'what?! you went to Ngodagen and back dressed in THAT?' then he ran away and everyone started laughing. Not sure if i was about to get blame passed to me i slowly backed away and went home.

One afternoon a man asked me about Canada, he wants to move there. It is cold, I tell him. Yes, he says, isnt that great! He also asks about Boston and says he has a relative working there, and asks where I am from and how far all of these places are from one another. Do I live near Celine Dion or Michael Jackson? That is too bad, they are great singers. Is it also cold in the US or is it just cold in Canada? Do I own a car? How much was my plane ticket? Lots of lots of questions. It was cool though cause he spoke in a way that made it pretty easy to understand and explained several words and expressions. Cool, just.. odd.

My dad asks me if I am buying a sheep for Tabaski. No, yeah, they are expensive. Getting a new outfit? No, yeah, that is expensive too. Are you going to the little building to pray? No? What, you are not Muslim? I think we have been over this before, like a million times, but it always seems to strike them as new information when i tell them i am not, in fact, Muslim.

And finally, there was one rediculous day where we ate lunch at like 4:40. That did not make any sence to me and since I do not know any serere word for 'late' i was left confused. 'why are we eating now?' - 'it is lunch, we are hungry' duh, of course, oh well.

There should be a Tabaski post at some point, what a crazy holiday that was...