It’s
often the chance encounters in the day that make them worthwhile. In the past 2
days, I’ve had 3 such moments.
1)
I was walking back
from the shop when I saw an oldish man on a horse next to a man and a woman
spreading something out on grain sacs to, I assume, dry in the sun. I decided
to wander over, mostly to see what was drying. In Sesotho: “You want some
sorghum?” the woman asked. “No, I’m just looking,” I replied. I looked up at
the man on the horse, “Lumela, ntate” (Hello, father). He greeted me back,
repeating, “Lumela, ntate.” Ignoring the fact that I was again called a man
(but at the same time wondering why people are STILL mistaking me- it’s not
that hard, people), I continued to talk to the sorghum-spreading ‘me. The sorghum-spreading man interrupted
and corrected the horse man, “No, this is ausi (sister) Senate,” and proceeded
to tell him all about me- I live in the village across the valley, I teach at
the secondary school, etc. It made me proud that this dude is so eager to
defend my identity and this just proves how integrated I’ve become here.
2 2) I walked up the
water tap hill to sit under its luscious tree to read a French book about a
herd boy that my friend Jen got from the Morija museum. Then, this woman I’ve
never met came up to me, greeted me, and was surprised that I knew Sesotho (as
is always the case with people I’m just meeting). Turns out, she’s related to
my host family, lives in SA, and is just visiting her family and her childhood
home. She took a photo of me, her newly-found relative, hugged me (strange for
a Mosotho- they’re not usually huggers), and after we exchanged complaints
about the insane heat, she went about her way. Never even met me, but once she
knew I was “related,” she immediately treated me as such.
3 3) Today my oldest ausi
Palesa was taking a day off from her summer job of cutting wood for some reason
or another, and I taught her how to play 2 card games- war and speed. She
actually beat me at speed a few times after she got the hang of it. Then she
came back after cooking papa and asked for my tennis ball. She showed me how to
play this game called “chicha” where you bounce the tennis ball under and
between your legs while chanting this song. Even my ‘me joined in to play. Even
though I really didn’t know what I was doing, it was really fun, and there were
laughs all around as time after time I messed up the sequence of bounces or
didn’t catch the ball after a bounce. Eventually I was just embracing the fact
that I was hopeless at it and just improvised the whole thing. She says I
should practice more. Yes ma’am.
Dog update: The Bo
Bo got so big that I had to cut the dog house door bigger so that it didn’t
have to crouch down so far to get inside. It even walked with me to the shop
yesterday without a leash. I think it can get around the village on its own
now, so I don’t have to bother keeping it within a 3 foot radius from me with a
leash. Though it does like to follow me everywhere- even trying to come into
the latrine with me. Nope, sorry dog. You can pee wherever you want. This is my
own space. Then it started playing fetch (sort of) with an old animal jaw bone
yesterday, and was even chasing the tennis ball when Palesa or I let it bounce
away. What started as a low-maintenance dog has become an even
lower-maintenance dog and even likes to play dog games. Woo! And PC would be
proud, as I am creating a non-spoiled, “sustainable” pet. They love that word,
sustainable. As a true Basotho dog, my dog eats papa, eggs, and leftovers.
Because I don’t plan to take it back with me after I’m done here, I think its
transition to either a new volunteer or to my host family will be quite smooth.
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