Ayoba

Don’t be alarmed by the changes, it’s still me. I just finally had some time to make it a little more…Emily-esque. The new title, Akwande Ukuthula is a Zulu phrase meaning ‘let there be more love, peace, calmness’. I love this phrase, and older people in the village often use it to greet each other when passing. I wish I could adequately describe the vivacity with which people greet, or how it can brighten my day to hear someone yelling AKWANDE MAMA! to me as I walk to work in the morning. I secretly love when people call me Mama instead of Sesi (sister), because I feel like they respect me more. It’s interesting to live in a place where old age is honored and respected, especially after coming from LA where everything is focused on the young, hip, and now. I even get nervous sometimes to say I’m 22 (almost 23!) when people ask, because I’m afraid they won’t take me seriously. Other ‘white lies’ that have become staples in my life are “I’m married”, “Yes I like pap”, and “Yes, I do know Beyonce”. The I’m married helps ward of drunk and/or pushy men who don’t understand why I’m not in love with them seconds after being introduced, the I like pap is mostly because I don’t know how to appropriately explain that I think their favorite delicacy tastes worse than dirt, and the Beyonce has come from a result of being asked WAY too many times and enjoying messing with the 14 year old girls who ask me almost daily.
Not much is changing with the village, with World Cup most everything (in the villages, towns AND cities) has shut down, or at least become virtually ineffective. All of the schools are closed, meaning most families have taken holiday and some point during the 5 weeks, or people can’t come to help you do whatever it is you need or want because they are busy watching the games. I’ve fully embraced this attitude and have taken kindly to the World Cup Fever. People in the village are getting much more comfortable with me now, allowing for more serious discussions and relationship building—this has given me more of a sense of accomplishment than I could probably attest to. To anyone that knows me well, you know I am not the most assertive, outgoing, or loud-spoken person. But that is exactly what I’ve had to do in order to get people interested in me and to take me seriously, to welcome me and to want me to be here working with them. One point for character growth!
The only other change I can visibly see (and here) is that my precious little host brother who was the most perfect baby I had ever seen…turned 1 year old this month. With that birthday came the ability to walk (right into my room, overturning all of my buckets of water and having somewhat of a 6th sense as to what exactly I do NOT want him to grab, and then grabbing it), talk (gibberish), and cry. Oh the poor baby is crying ALL the time. I still love him though.
Planning on spending these next 3 weeks (after the World Cup Finals are over, of course) on getting together all of the information, etc. that I will need to get a project or two up and running. It’s a good thing I’m patient though, because everything here takes FOREVER!

P.S. does anybody else love the Coke sponsored 'Waving Flag' song as much as we do?