Start reading from the blog post titled "Rural Week!" below
As I ate a banana and drank more chai for breakfast, my host mom told me about Luo naming traditions. Traditionally, all names are based on your birth – the weather, season, time, position in the family etc. All girls’ names start with A and all boys’ names start with O. She informed me that my name would be Atieno (born in the evening).
After she left for work, I got the girls ready for school and then helped Caroline sweep the compound but per usual, I was much less efficient (I finished about a 16th of what she did in the same amount of time). Then, as she drank her morning chai I did the dishes. We went to drop of the girls’ tea at school and picked up Angie. Angie was making chapati with her mom when we arrived so we joined them for a while. I loved watching them being made and afterwards her mom gave me one to eat. I can easily say it was the best chapati I've ever had! Today we only did two surveys and afterwards spent some time relaxing at Angie’s place a while. Back at home we ate cooked bananas for lunch, which (like everything) was surprisingly delicious!! They almost tasted more like potatoes. I played with the girls before we gathered all the clothes and headed to the river to do laundry. I helped wash all the clothes and give Nicole a bath in the river. Several other women were also there washing clothes and bathing. Caroline asked if I would like to bathe (naked) in the river. I respectfully declined. I wasn’t trying to draw any more attention to myself than I was already getting. Back home we hung up the clothes and I played with the girls more.
After she left for work, I got the girls ready for school and then helped Caroline sweep the compound but per usual, I was much less efficient (I finished about a 16th of what she did in the same amount of time). Then, as she drank her morning chai I did the dishes. We went to drop of the girls’ tea at school and picked up Angie. Angie was making chapati with her mom when we arrived so we joined them for a while. I loved watching them being made and afterwards her mom gave me one to eat. I can easily say it was the best chapati I've ever had! Today we only did two surveys and afterwards spent some time relaxing at Angie’s place a while. Back at home we ate cooked bananas for lunch, which (like everything) was surprisingly delicious!! They almost tasted more like potatoes. I played with the girls before we gathered all the clothes and headed to the river to do laundry. I helped wash all the clothes and give Nicole a bath in the river. Several other women were also there washing clothes and bathing. Caroline asked if I would like to bathe (naked) in the river. I respectfully declined. I wasn’t trying to draw any more attention to myself than I was already getting. Back home we hung up the clothes and I played with the girls more.
We planned on going to visit Allie and her dad around 3:00 but it kept getting delayed as more people would come over and Caroline would talk for a long time or would get distracted doing other things. More than two hours later (Talk about African time…) we left. This was probably one of the only times I was frustrated this week (other than all the Mzungu calling) since this was so contrary to my usual tendency to be prompt for everything. When we got to her house she wasn’t even there but we spoke to her grandmother who lived nearby. While she didn’t speak any English she managed to teach me a few words in Luo and I was able to respond to a few of her questions in Swahili. It is so cool to find common ways of communicating in situations where neither of us spoke the others’ language. Later Caroline made chapati and I was really excited to learn how it was made.
Caroline’s sister in law (the same age as my actual sister) was there and was very excited to talk to me. Her English was very good and it was nice to have someone close to my age to talk to. She played with my hair, showed me some East African music videos, played with my camera, made me watch the video of her aunt’s funeral, and listened to some of my music while asking me questions. She was very nice and was really impressed with my Swahili, although she only asked me my name and where I was from. Dinner was chapati and ndege stew/green grams with watermelon for dessert. By the time dinner was over I was so tired and kept almost dozing off in the living room while the rest of the family talked (thank goodness it was dark and they weren't trying to talk to me). Finally, everyone else started dozing off too and we headed to bed.
Caroline’s sister in law (the same age as my actual sister) was there and was very excited to talk to me. Her English was very good and it was nice to have someone close to my age to talk to. She played with my hair, showed me some East African music videos, played with my camera, made me watch the video of her aunt’s funeral, and listened to some of my music while asking me questions. She was very nice and was really impressed with my Swahili, although she only asked me my name and where I was from. Dinner was chapati and ndege stew/green grams with watermelon for dessert. By the time dinner was over I was so tired and kept almost dozing off in the living room while the rest of the family talked (thank goodness it was dark and they weren't trying to talk to me). Finally, everyone else started dozing off too and we headed to bed.