This morning, I went to the Catholic Church with Glory, the other girl who lives at the house. I liked it better than the Lutheran church, but I still had a hard time concentrating on what was being said and sung. I definitely missed my church in Detroit this morning, and also started looking forward to the church in the village in Kenya. There were six students from our group at the church, which I wasn’t expecting.
After church, I helped cook lunch. In the afternoon, we went to the local market up the road where market day is Thursday and Sunday. We went to buy coconuts, but we spent a bit of time in the used clothing section. I think my mom likes clothes shopping! It was quite amusing because people were yelling out the items they were selling and the price, “dresses, skirts, dresses, skirts, 200, 200, 200.” It reminded me of being at a baseball game where sellers are yelling peanuts, popcorn, hot dogs and bud light.
Being in Usa River (the town where I’m, living), wazungu are definitely a novelty. When someone yells “mzungu” (white person) at me to get my attention, I’ve taken to answering “mwafrika,” (african) back. I’m not sure if it’s rude or not, but my host mom laughed when I did it and thought it was an appropriate response.
After dinner, we took Asha, Monie, Glory and my grandmother back to Arusha town where they all stay during the week. The girls go to school in Arusha, so it’s easier for them to get to school early in the morning from their grandmother’s house. It was nice to see where she lives and where the girls live during the week. She has a beautiful garden there.
After we got home, I went to finish up my homework for Monday and my host mom helped me with it. She started almost doing it for me until I told her I would do it myself. She watched to make sure I got everything right. When I mentioned that I was reading a book in Swahili and that I had picked on that was a little bit difficult, she said that we should sit down and read it together. I will definitely take her up on that as I really can’t understand the book without being chained to my dictionary.
1 comment:
I’ve taken to answering “mwafrika” ... that's great! I laughed out loud at that! Sounds like your host family is really neat. And, it sounds like your language skills are getting better and better. Good job!
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