Minor Life Update

Life has been somewhat of a routine over the last few weeks with nothing earth shattering happening. No wonder I am getting itchy feet again. In a few days I finally get to finish my four weeks of malaria tablets post-Mozambique. That will be very nice. Apparently a side effect of this medication is heightened anxiety which on-and-off I have felt over the last few weeks. Not a pleasant sensation. It feels as though I have settled into a certain comfort zone here. I realized this when I didn’t think twice about the numerous AIDS awareness posters that were being placed around campus. Messages such as “1 in 20 UCT students has AIDS” or “Nobody I know has AIDS” should really be a bit more of a marker since that is not something I am used to seeing too much of at home. Had a small child stick his head in my Shawco classroom the other day and tell us to fuck off. After chatting with some of the other volunteers I found that he had been doing this to many of the classes. Needless to say he was properly surprised and terrified when I came outside and tore into him. I only wish I could speak Xhosa so I could really get my point across but I think I got through to him. I love being big and scary sometimes. A little while ago Didi (a friend of my roommate who hangs out at our place a bunch) came over to make us a traditional Botswana dinner. This meal has been one of the highlights of the last while; not only was it interesting food but also the meal and conversation felt like a true introspective into his life and culture. The meal consisted of the following: phaletse, pap; nama, salted and boiled beef; morogo, a spinach-like dish; and (drum roll please) phane, caterpillars! Caterpillars the size of my pinky finger with many legs, spikes out their backs and a very crunchy outside. They had been cooked in some sort of spicy sauce but beyond that I cannot comment on the flavour; a fair amount of concentration was put into ignoring the fact that I was actually eating caterpillars. Dessert (or pudding as the South Africans call it) was ntshe, a type of grass similar to sugar cane or bamboo. We peeled the sharp, fibrous outside off the grass with our teeth then would take bites of the inside to chew out the juices and spit out the pulp. Such a great meal! A friend of mine corn-rowed my hair a little while ago and that lasted for a few days before the braids finally came out. Most people said it looked better than they thought it would which is a complement of sorts, I guess. I though it was ridiculous and great. I don’t think I’ll do it again because it is quite uncomfortable but worth doing once.