Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Friendly Handshakes and Faraway Places

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I am in Africa. When I think about Africa, it seems exotic and far away. Here just seems comfortable and nearby. I don’t feel like I’m somewhere far away. I definitely don’t feel exotic. I don’t notice that everyone around me is a different color. Or maybe I just forget. Maybe it would be different if I saw myself more often. Usually I just see my arms and sometimes my legs.

I still here a lot of mzungu! mzungu! but I’m starting to tell people that my name is Sarah, not mzungu and if they call me Sarah it will make me happy. There are some kids that I told a while back and they usually call me Sarah instead of mzungu. They’re actually really fun. It’s almost like a game, especially for one girl in particular. It’s like who can shake my hand the most times. Sometimes even 10 or 15 times. The first time it was a big group of kids and they all just kept shaking my hand over and over, because it was a novelty. Then the next time when they did, I started counting. Then I called that particular girl something like my friend who greets me many times. So now it’s like a game.

Some good news – I just got a text message from Dave and he said that the Graduate School at MSU has agreed to give me money to cover my research assistants. Hurray! Plus it was just fun to hear from him.

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