I’m in a weird mood again, probably because I have the feeling that I’m not wanted by my school, but that everyone else in my community still loves me. It’s just hard to figure out when people are being genuine and when they’re being two-faced. I’m I that kind of mood where I’m constantly checking the calendar again and again, searching for something to look forward to, hoping the mess I’m dealing with is worth it. Ahhhhhh. Anyway…
This past weekend, it was Moshoeshoe [“Mo-shway-shway”] Day, a holiday to celebrate the founder of the Basotho nation. I got out of my village and found Jen in Mohale’s Hoek. We got some quality hitches up to Morija, a town just south of Maseru, to Lisa and Ryan’s house. We are in the middle of making a pamphlet about alternatives to corporal punishment to distribute to PCVs so they can share them with their respective schools. Lisa and Ryan, or as I like to refer to them collectively, Lyan, are in the newest Education group, and they are the poshest of the posh corps volunteers I’ve encountered here. They have dream schools, stellar students, a beautiful location, and a huge, multi-roomed house. Master chef Ran made his famous pizzas, and I thoroughly gorged myself on them. So delish. And I made their cat (also named Bo, but this time for Bohobe ba metsi, or boiled bread) love me because I kept feeding it random things like French fries. Having been teachers in the Bronx, NY, they’ve had to deal with some crazy stuff, and they have some great insight into discipline and classroom management. They were such a great help in getting this pamphlet off the ground.
In Weird Basotho Encounter News, at the Mohale’s Hoek hotel, I was sitting outside working on my computer when some girl walked by and quietly said, “hi,” then kept walking through the door that went inside. I briefly looked up at her, half-smiled, then continued typing away. About an hour later, when I crossed paths with her inside, she stopped me and said, “In my culture, when someone says hi, it’s very rude not to say hi back,” speaking all condescendingly and talking down to me. Ummm, excuse me? She also looked like she was younger than me, so I just could not take her seriously. Do you know how many times a day anyone and everyone say hi to me, just because I’m white? They’re not doing this to other Basotho- just me. Ignoring this has become second nature to me by now. If I said hi and had a conversation back with everyone who tried to engage me, I’d spend 99% of my daily waking hours just having pointless conversations with random strangers I’m never gonna see again. Sure, if I know you or can vaguely recognize you, or even with anyone in my village, I’ll gladly say hi to you and maybe exchange some of those pleasantries. But if you’re just a random person, I’ll probably do what I did- smile at you in acknowledgement, then move on. So don’t get all butthurt about it. And don’t give me all that “in my culture” nonsense. I’m not a tourist. By now, this culture has become my (temporary) culture too. So yes, I understand the importance of greeting people. But I also understand that in villages it’s much more common than in towns, where I have the right and frankly the pleasure of not greeting everyone I see. Should I have explained that in my culture, people that are probably younger than you don’t berate other people like that lest they’re cruisin for a bruising? How rude. End of rant.
Well as for now, it’s a long Tuesday morning. I’m feeling too cruddy to work out as I normally do. When I get to school, I’ll ask about starting the girls’assertiveness/
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