Is The Village Life Better Than The Life I Lead?

Note: I wrote this entry hella long ago but haven't had internet access in a while. Anyhow, a post about my life in the village follows. Also, the title of this post is a terrible terrible attempt at making a reference to a song. F for me. A for anyone who gets it.

First, the village ward our SIC program is in this summer is Kingori Ward, which consists of 6 villages. I've been placed w/ 4 other volunteers in the village of Nsengony, which can be further broken down into 4 subvillages. The 4 ladies (myself included) lucked out bc our homestays are next to each other (read: only a 5 minute walk through corn and sunflower fields). THe male teaching partner is a good 25 minutes away, but he usually comes to us and steals a kid's bike to get back home at the nd of the day, so it's all good. THe first week in teh vilalge consisted of lots of walking to do village mapping, house surveys to give us an idea of both the knowledge & stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS in this communities, and duka (shop) surveys to assess condom availability.

We are also suuper in with the local soccer team (er, more like the group of guys who get together to practice every afternoon), which is mostly thanks to the male TP (not T-pain, teaching partner, foolios), who kicks ass at soccer. THe head of the team is this suuper tall guy who's clearly a baller. I have to admit I feel cool when he gives me props and says, "Mambo!" The other main guy I'm in with is the referee, He's this super smart, responsible dude who knows everything about America, never failing to remind me that Schwarzenegger is CA's governor (fml). He always comes dressed in a Boy Scouts of America uniform type thing (wonder where he got it-- the patterns of imports and random signs of globalization are very inter3esting. Point in case: Why is that in the middle of fucking nowhere one can always get phone cr3edit and a bottle of Coca Cola? Makes me wonder, if hundreds of bottles of carbonated sugar can reach far and wide, why can't medicine and clean water? What you got to say about that, Zain and Coke?? Anyhow, I digress.)

A description of my homestay: A long driveway, if you will, leading you through fields (Signs status), with cows, a well, donkeys, cute young goats, a security dog at night, and chickens that like to poop around the house. Chickens are hilarious. Also why do they move their heads back and forth? Please fill me in. It ain't just for comic relief. There are 3 little rooms and a family room. My roomie and I share a bed. Well, it's more like me 20%, her 80%. One time she accidently stole my pillow out from under my head in the middle of the night. Effing hilarious. If you're reading this roomie, I got nothin but love. Anyhoo, we've only seen our Baba (dad) twice, our Mama is a baller, her sister sorta scares me, her 2 year old daughter is cute but cries (read: screams at the top of her little lungs) a lot, and her step children are patient and endearing.

Anyhoo, since I'm short on time, here are some memorable moments from the past few weeks:

1. Planning on going to church w/ the family. Thinking we had successfully communicated with the family in Swhaili that we would be going to church w/ them, only to find that htey had left us behind. We still went, to find that our Mama was not only part of ht echoir, but part of the 4-person dancing group as well. There she was, busting a move in front of us while the lead singer was singing in the most horrible falsetto I have heard (other than my own, of course). She danced well, though. I was proud.

2. Getting called out ot introduce ourselves at church. (Er...Ninaitwa Nita. Ninatoka Americani). Then, of all 5 of us, being singled out to sit next to the pastor IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. "I'll translate for you," he explained. After a super long sentence, he turned to me and said, "I'll tell you after." He never did. Instead I just sat up there for like an hour, lying to him that I was a non-denominational Christian. At least I got a great view of a baptism and a wedding. The bride did not look happy though. I finally escaped when it was time to give donations. I guess it wasn't too different from my early days of going to Gurdwara: not understanding old school Punjabi and thinking thoughts that would be frowned upon, all the while trying to appear respectful and pious.

3. Holding my pee for hours on end because I can hear the dog outside and it sounds like it is ripping something to shreds. TMI? That's what you get for reading my blog, suckas.

4. Reading Harry Potter 6 (course not for the 1st time, in preparation for the movie, duh) outside a random house and being surrounded by a bunch of kids in 30 seconds flat. Then feeling like an idiot because I wanted to chat with them but was incapable of communicating in Swahili effectively, while simultaneously feeling honored that they were steadily inching closer to me. The feeling of incompetence never leaves, really. It's quite the confidence builder.

5. Sitting on the soccer field watching a game while referee boy asks to see my book. The image: me soaking in the African sun while my Tanzanian friend pours over Mountains Beyond Mountains. The message: BKBhatia is the biggest fucking tool alive. (Honestly tho, reading MBM now sorta helped me to stay focused on what is important and inspiring here. Yes, because I'm a tool. And because I so called that anthro and medicine belogn together. Mimi status.)

6. One of the volunteers, to me and my roomie: "I think it's so funny that the kids start thrusting when they see you." Yikes. It's true though. I think they figured out that we really enjoy dancing when we taught them the Macarena. But I feel like there's something morally reprehensible about positively reinforcing thrusting movements for 7 year olds. As if lying to the pastor wasn't enough, this will surely earn me a one-way entry to hell.

7. Hearing the donkey, goats, cows, chickens, and baby all crying out at once. You should hear the pathetic moan that the donkey emits. Makes me wonder what Eeyore is thinking. I often can't tell the difference between the baby human and the baby goat, either. I swear they're battling while the mama goat beatboxes.

8. Doing a condom demo for 40 village leaders, one of whom start4ed gesturing toward his crotch. Another exclaimed that ht edildo was huge (it is) and wanted to touch its balls. Goood stuff.

9. This is one you should all be envious of: on clear days, as I brush my teeth in the yard with a water bottle, I can look up and see the snow caps of Mt. Kilimanjaro on one side and go around the back of the house to see the peak of Mt. Meru on the other. Pretty effin sweet. Teaches me I need to remember to look up and around to appreciate just how beautiful the view and the experience is.

Alright, enough of this gooey sh--show of emotion (1000000000 cool points to whoever besides Moneek gets that reference). I'm off to Zanzibar, bitchez. ;)