So we had our first homestay experience with an African family. The purpose of this was to help us practice the language that we have learned as well as learn more about the culture and what goes on in a home on a typical day.
We've got a lot of things going on right now but overall I was really excited about the experience. We got picked up around 5ish on Tuesday night by the head of the household (who works for our company). He had a friend with him. You can just see the culture differences in even the van ride to the house because he saw another friend and picked him up and gave him a ride to where he needed to go. Just atypical for Americans.
What's funny is that they crammed into the front seat when we had an entire van. This is our "holy cow.. what are we doing... we are in for it.. look..."
So moving along. We get there and it was great to see this family again (we've been to their house once before for lunch). They are really awesome. We just did the African hanging out which I absolutely love. Sitting outside - enjoying each other's company. There is a little boy that is a twin that is this family's neighbor but the boy hangs out with the family we stayed with non-stop. He literally only goes home late at night (like 10ish). His family isn't bothered by the fact that their 2 year old son is gone. The family we stayed with enjoys having him. It's just a completely different mindset. One of the sons wrestles with him like he was his own little brother. There is a lot of joking around that happens. I attempted to carry some more stuff on my head because I'm determined to do it. But the oldest son thought he'd play a prank on me and give me the largest, heaviest bucket he could find. I enjoyed the sheep (and I'm determined not to think about the fact that they are all eaten!) I also had fun dancing with the girls and acting a fool. I really just love cutting loose and being silly. The girls thought it was really funny to see this white girl try to dance. At one point, one of the younger girls turns to me and says a really long sentence.... I turn and look at Amanda and say the title of this post. It was pretty hilarious. It was just a good time!
Then we had the first of our meals. This meal wasn't bad at all. It was some kind of beans with sauce, meat (tasted like beef...?), and potatos. It was the traditional "eating around the bowl" style which I REALLY like! I just love the communal aspect of everyone is eating out of the same dish! And at EVERY single meal, Amanda and I could not eat enough to make these people satisfied. Literally, I ate like a pig and they kept telling me to eat more.
So we retire for the evening. There was no power at first so the sleeping was little. I did fall asleep eventually and the power came back on so that means... you guessed it!! A FAN! :) The eventful thing of the evening was when I did have to use the restroom in the middle of the night (as in.. you know the kind where there is no sleep unless you go...) So I venture forth with my flashlight to the outhouse squatty. Now. I'm not a veteran squatty user. I do not mind them. I just haven't had a whole lot of experience. I'm generally not squeamish when it comes to places. But in the middle of the night there were a few roaches crawling around. As I squatted to do my business, I had one prayer: Please do not crawl on me. I'm okay with you being here right now. You can do what you do. But if you get on me.. I will scream and I will wake everyone up. Because when you are squatting, you are very vulnerable and the critters in question were behind me. The story has a happy ending - they did not crawl on me so all parties were happy.
Moving along.
We wake up the next day to breakfast of buttered bread (so yummy!) and coffee. The coffee was a really strong spicy coffee that was pretty hard to put down but we did it.
Next, we travel to the market with the mother of the house so we can buy all of the items for the meals that day. There really aren't adequate words to paint a picture for you of this experience. It's hot. All of these vendors of different things are crammed into a space with very little airflow. They sell all sorts of things from vegetables, meats, fish, spices, rice, etc. So we are wading through the masses of people there with fish smell assaulting our senses. Everywhere we look are huge fish just laying out in the heat with flies swarming. Same goes for the meat hanging in the butchery sections. So while we're on that. So they just have hunks of meat from whatever they have just killed either hanging out or on the table. Again. Flies. The guy wacks chunks of meat here and there bones and all. Oh yeah.. no problem.. discarded sheep skin just chilling on a tub next to us. So we buy all sorts of things... basically everything listed above except a fish. Chunks of meat. We have about had all we can take. I start the prayer process about getting everything and keeping it all down during the market visit.
Then we walk outside to go home. We pass by a guy selling chickens. He asks her if she wants one and she says "too small." So I thought we were clear but no.. he had to go get a fat one. So he carries it out to her by the feet and it proceeds to poop on Amanda. She agrees to buy him. FPO is flashing back in my mind at this point. The guy takes the chicken and kills it right then and there and plucks it for us. I step away and cannot watch this happen. So then the chicken was given to Amanda to carry home..
We get home and start the cooking process. It is a few hour affair as we cook lunch and dinner at the same time. We had "chebu yap" for lunch and "spaghetti" for dinner. Lunch is rice and meat. So we watched as she prepared the meat. OH MY GOSH. I am so glad I do not see other meals be prepared. The grossest part: bone marrow. We ate all the meat (lamb, sheep, beef.. who knows!?) and it's bone marrow. We also added tongue (of what.. we do not know) to the mix. We also prepared the chicken. Notice I didn't say - chicken wings, breasts, and legs. The entire chicken. Every piece of it but the head that was missing.
So then... we eat lunch. And I really do love the flavoring that they use. The rice is really good. It is just putting down those meat chunks. And again.. we could not eat enough to make them happy.
We took a nap. Walked to the beach. The beach is really beautiful minus all of the trash that is everywhere.
Came home. Ate dinner. African "spaghetti" consists of noodles, sauce, the entire chicken, french fries, and ketchup all mixed together. You scoop it up with pieces of bread. As shocked as I was that the entire chicken made it's way into the bowl, I was even more shocked when the ENTIRE chicken was consumed. Literally. They ate the bones. There were only a few pieces of larger bones left.
We were told that we were "real women" as we helped cook that day. I'm not sure what I feel about that.
On a more serious note, we did get to see how dedicated they are to pryer. They didn't all at one time but they would get out pryer mats and during the call to pryer, each one would perform the ritual of bowing and saying what they needed to. The girls would cover their heads. It just absolutely breaks my heart seeing these beautiful people do this. The craziest thing is that this family has been exposed to truth often and they father is a dedicated employee to our company. It just goes to show how deep-seeded tradition is around here and what a tough place we are in! If you would continue to lift us and our team up especially in the area of our language study so that we can start jumping into sharing with people - we would appreciate it!
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