Staring

    On Saturday I was able to hitch a ride into town and go to choir practice at the church. Afterwards I got to play on the keyboard a bit with the one book I brought with me just in case there was a piano! Unfortunately, there was no pedal to be found and the book I brought really kind of requires a pedal, but it was great to play around anyways! Afterwards I walked around town a bit more to look for a nice-ish jacket and some closed toed shoes for church. Although I didn’t get either of those, I bought a watch from one of the street vendors. My watch (may it rest in peace) died that morning and I can’t live without a watch! They’re a bit difficult to find, but I managed to get one that’s functional for now, but isn’t exactly the most aesthetically pleasing.

   I met up with Lipa in town and we took a combi (a bus type thing, essentially a van, that travels between the towns. I keep wanting to call it a tro tro because that’s what they are in Ghana!) back to Kazungula so that he would have transportation to the poitjie competition that evening (more on that later). As we were walking from the combi stop to the house, Lipa exclaimed ‘Everyone’s staring at us!’ He then decided that he was never going to walk anywhere with me again! Well, I guess it’s just become the norm for me. As one of not-too-many white people walking around here, it’s not uncommon to be stared at, called to, or hear choruses of ‘lakgua!’ (white person) shouted by the children. Lipa isn’t quite as used to sticking out in the crowd so much! Hopefully as people around here get used to seeing me around, the stares will be less frequent, but I hardly notice anymore. My favorite interaction so far was while I was running up a hill in the neighborhood one afternoon, a van drove up from behind me and a man leans out and yells ‘keep it up!’ What a nice little encouragement from a neighbor : )