On Monday, Miriam didn’t come around after all, or she did but we just didn’t find each other. So I just hung around and cleaned around the tent and caravan before heading off to teach later on. Yesterday morning I decided to tackle the washing myself and it took most of the morning again, but it was quite enjoyable and well on the meditational side.
After that I went to the other side and remembered the crayons and paper for Snooks and Fika who’ve now become regulars to the little class. We still have a few discipline issues every now and then, but it’s sort of under control. I’ve never been the authoritative type so it’s a bit of an experimental time for me.
I took some of the raisins that Brevan left here and everybody was crazy about it! (Brevan left a big shopping bag full of smaller bags filled with raisins). Snooks was the self-appointed raisin queen doling out to everyone in a fair and effective manner. Today I took another bag for the beading ladies and they were equally delighted by it. Take note: Raisins are definitely a wise treat to stock up on when heading towards the Transkei. The same goes for nuts, probably peanuts otherwise it can get a bit expensive. I’d say go for raw peanuts if possible.
Today I spent a nice amount of time again with the beading ladies and revised some of the Xhosa I’ve been learning. I still know quite little, but occasionally I manage to say something impromptu and make everyone laugh with my superb growing knowledge of this little bit of a difficult language.
A Xhosa man from Umtata, parked his car right there and came over to find out what’s the story with this white intombi hanging with the mamas. After talking to me for a while and finding out my name he decided that I should have a Xhosa name and that that name should be Nobomi, which means ‘life’. I have no idea why he decided on that, but I liked it and just laughed, because I always loved it when my Xhosa lady friends that used to work with me in the sushi restaurant a couple of years ago called me “Love Life!” (Remember that Love Life campaign on SABC TV? I think it was about HIV or something …)
I must say, today I’m rather craving meat. I should remember to buy some bacon when I go to Ncwanguba next. The meat they sell around these parts I’ll rather not trust. Meat is another thing to stock up on when coming here for a while, provided you have a freezer, oh yes, did I mention that my fridge is working now! Yes, on gas, I’m so happy, now my tomatoes will stay fresh too.
Another interesting phenomenon here is the bread. The shop closest to me only sell unsliced bread. I wondered why that may be. Is it that much cheaper to not pre-slice the bread? But then I think I might’ve figured it out. Cause the other night when we made those amazing braai-broodjies, I tried my best to cut slices without breaking the bread, which it did and even more when you tried to put the butter on. But, then I remembered from childhood that it’s a cultural thing to slice the bread really thick. So, that’s what you’re supposed to do. Cut it really thick and a little bit rough, so you can stack things on it, almost using it as a plate. And then you can also control the exact thickness of the bread depending on how many family members you’re trying to feed. And perhaps the father gets the fattest slice and the baby a smaller one. Not sure, but that’s my theory anyway.
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