Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Oh, You Must be Confused.

I’m in my S2 class checking homework. One of the students sitting next to a boy with lighter skin asks me if the boy and I are brothers. I ask him why. He says that we are both white.

“Oh. I’m confused.” I pick up a piece of paper and ask the class what color it is.

“White!”

I put the paper next to my skin. “Am I the same color as this paper?”

“No!”

I put the paper next to the skin of the lighter skinned boy. “Is he?”

“No!”

“Oh, so maybe I’m not confused,” I look at the boy who asked the question, “maybe you’re confused.” Then I casually walk to the next row to continue grading papers.


Later the same boy asks me, “How’s Muzumba?” Obviously this is some attempt at being clever by combing “Nsumba” (where all the Volset volunteers stay) and “Muzungu” (the word for light skinned people.)

“Oh, I get it!! You’ve put those two words together because some Muzungus live in Nsumba!! Oh, that’s clever!”

The sarcasm is always lost on these kids. Which serves me right, because I shouldn’t use sarcasm in classroom management.

-

I go to the Volset office and work on the website. I buy some soda and meet some construction workers who are in town for a few days, working on the roads. I make friends with this guy Kenny. Everyone I meet is 24 years old. We go to get some rolexes. The guy didn’t have any eggs or tomatoes so Kenny buys the ingredients and I pay for the chapattis.

We walk over to where he’s parked his steamroller. He tells me that he’ll let me drive it sometime. And I laugh. How crazy would that be?

I go back to the office to work some more. The power goes out. I can continue working, but I’m zoning out so I walk home. I run into Kenny and some of the workers on the road and stop to talk. We talk about soccer, swimming and anything else.

There are kids in the road collecting all the rocks that have been churned up by the Road Grater. I ask Kenny why they would collect rocks. He says their parents probably sent them out to get them to decorate their house, use in their bathrooms, or to make cement.

He asks me if I have any kids. I say no. He asks why. I tell him I’m not married yet. And he waits for the part where I tell him why that matters. I explain to him that in my opinion children are entitled to be born into homes where there is a mother and father that can care for them as a family.

-

Jeff and I sit outside the white house talking. Gracie walks by. She’s one of the girls living in the dorm. She’s the one who picked up Ultimate Frisbee like nobody’s business. I say, “You crack me up, Gracie!”

She is so confused and after some minutes explaining the phrase, I think she still thought I was odd.

-

We have pasta for dinner. I put so much on my plate. This is so great because I haven’t been eating a lot because of my stomach. Lydia made a sort of pasta sauce with tomatoes and green peppers. I am so happy.

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