1. Sharpening pencils with a knife. Quality sharpeners are very hard to come by and luckily knives/razor blades are not. Just ask one of the kids for one.
2.Temperature acclamation. It is winter here and so sometimes the temp drops to a freezing 80 degrees. Yup you heard that right! This means that everyone starts wearing jackets, sweaters and snowsuits. The first couple of weeks we thought this was absurd; however, last week we were actually a little chilly and considered putting on a jacket. Wow, we are really in for the 100 degree weather we will be returning to.
3.Drum making. Our friend Ibram offered to teach us how to make a drum and honestly this has become one of our favorite memories thus far. From picking out the cow hyde-yes it looked like a dried up cow-to cutting the flesh into strips, this really became an event to remember. And the best part is, we have amazing drums to show for it.
4.Kiswahili. Learning the language wasn’t easy but with a lot of practice we are now able to carry on basic conversations with the locals. At best, we are always able to order food here! Be patient with us as we readjust to non-broken English. Our skills also include interpreting what locals are saying to us in English. Example:
Local: points at you and says “What is my name?”
Us: confused look “What is your name?”
L: still pointing “What is my name?”
U: “AH, MY name is Monica/Bridge. What is YOUR name?” (pointing)
L: something in Kiswahili
5.Planning what and when you drink based on when you will need to use the restroom. Don’t get us wrong, we are not looking for posh; however, there are definitely some facilities that you do not ever want to use nor smell. BTW when we say facilities, we of course mean a hole in the ground.
6.Being a celebrity. We have never felt more love than in this place. Based solely on how we look (white-american), children and adults alike come up to us and want to talk, hold hands and sometimes just touch us. A typical conversation with an adult male:
Male: mambo!
Us: Poa.
M: Unatoka wapi? (Where are you from?)
U:Marakani (America)
M: We love you! (We love you! ☺)
U: Smile and walk on….
Can’t wait to share more stories and a ridiculous number of photos with everyone! Love you all! M & P/B
And because we know you love them, here are some pics:
Heeeellllloooo Africa!!!! This is Mom Therese and Mom Emily and Baby Ant oh and Grand-dog Moxie here saying thank you for the post!!!! We loved it and laughed a lot :) We are cleaning and getting rid of LOTS of junk (that is so that when Dad reads this post he will know we actually did it!) in readiness for the ice cream social tonight at our house. Did you get the package I sent yet???? Mom is ready for you to come home bc she misses you. Ahhh :) She does has feelings (she just hit me.) What else can we say? It is hot here...and we are NOT wearing jackets. Ant is eating mom's arm and his hand. Now his is crying bc there is no food coming out of mom's arm. I better go fix this!! We love you lots girls and keep having fun and stay safe. Can't wait to see the drums and hear you play!! Lots of TX size love!!! and KS size love too!! MOM, EMILY, ANT, MOXIE
ReplyDeleteI knew you'd poop in a hole!!!!
ReplyDeleteremember when we used to sharpen pencils with knives.....at home...when we were little?
ReplyDeleteHey girls - this is Dad. There is still junk at our house...in fact, your mother went to another house today and brought home more junk! Can you believe it????
ReplyDeleteIt is time to come home and tell me all about your adventures...I really can't wait. Leave Dallas right away and come home!
Love the pictures!! So hoping that you will bring back so many more tales and pictures. This has been a great gift for all of us!!
ReplyDeleteLove you - Margaret
yessss!!!! you finally admitted that you potty in a hole!!!! i knew it!!!
ReplyDelete