Turning point?

I stayed up way too late Sunday night talking to people from home. I think I am slowly adjusting to not being in the loop with everyone, but I still at a point where I really need the reassurance of my friends and family and I am not quite ready to give up the internet. We ate and packed a lunch for school. This week our house keeper bought cheese and meats so that we don't have to walk home for lunch. History and Religion was a good class. Our professor is absolutely adorable. I can't tell how old he is because Africans tend to look young, thin, and not show their age. I think he is probably closed to 60years old. He tells us stories about the different clans. He is from the grasshopper clan, and when he talks about his childhood he will bounce up an down in his chair almost like a grasshopper and it's really funny. The poor guy never got to taste a grasshopper because he is in the grasshopper clan and he is not allowed to eat them. Some interesting things to note: you cannot marry somebody from your same clan because they are all your brothers and sisters. A father does not shake hands with his daughter-in-law because if they become close, the father might fall in love with her. They keep their distance, respectfully. Your father's brothers are also your father, and your siblings' children are also your children, which makes it difficult when doing introductions for guests to know who is actually the real parent to a child. It is all just so interesting!

Our lunch break was awesome becasue we didn't go home for lunch. I ate and then read some of the homwork for the next class. I fell asleep next to the pool and it felt like such a luxury just to lay out in the sun with a skirt and a tank top. Guaranteed that if I was at home, I would be bundled up and freezing. I am so glad to be away from winter, and living in what today felt like a tropical paradise. In our second class we had a discussion about whether Africans should write in English or their native language. We also talked about whether it is giving in to the Western world and colonialism for them to write in English. My honest opinion is that they should be able to write in whatever language they want without being criticized. Writing in Eglish isn't giving in. That kind of thinking is all in a person's head! Writing in English allows African literature to reach audiances around the entire world, including Africa where English is often the only language people have in common. It was heavily debated and I am really learning that I don't know a whole lot about the world or literature. It is frustrating when I am trying to state my own opinions about things and others roll their eyes and then shut down my ideas, and I can't really do anything about it because it isn't my area of interest or great knowledge. There are a few people in our group that like to argue. I've decided that I really don't like to argue anymore. I just want to feel like everyone can say their opinions and be respected, which for the most part is the case, but the classroom discussions frustrate me. I talked with a few people and we decided that we needed to have a Bible study because we don't feel like we have gotten enough of that on this trip so far.

We got back to the house and all of us vegged out for the afternoon. Dinner was sweet meatballs and rice. As usual it was an amazing meal, though I really don't want to eat my vegetables right now. I might start taking my multivitamins soon. We had pumpkin cake again, and I am so addicted to it! I had a great chat with Shelby, then Emily and Susan joined us. Janae and Cassie came in as well and we had some really great girl-talk. Then the guys came to get us for our Bible study.

It wasn't really a Bible study. It was just the Christians on our trip sitting with each other and venting how we are feeling. It was a much needed talk. I think our consensus is that we have gotten too comfortable with how comfortable we are here. We have a few experiences of seeing the poverty around us, but most days we just go to class and come back to our oasis of a guest house. We are realizing that we really need to be intentional about going out and making relationships with people. We could easily coast through this semester without putting ourselves in any uncomfortable experiences. We decided that from now on we are going to put ourselves out into the community. We decided that since we are becoming a family we will start encouraging each other more as well. I also threw in that I need more hugs :)

The rest of the evening was a lot of fun just hanging out and talking and laughing with each other.