aishaj83 - Small Steps

I'm not sure if I told you all that most nights I eat dinner with my neighbor, the boutique owner, and his family. In case I did not tell you, now you know...HAHAHAHA. Anyway, I have tried multiple times to cook dinner for myself and wat at home, but when I do he still makes me come outside to eat with them. So I eat a little at home just in case I don't want to eat To (pronounced "toe"-but no worries it is not a part of the foot of any animal...it looks like grits if you ask me. Its made out of corn or millet flour.)

It started with me eating dinner dinner, next it turned into lunch as well. ere goverenment buildings shut down from 12noon-3pm for lunch. I work at the school three days a week and when I come hom for my midday break, lunch is waiting for me. I would like to cook lunch for myself, but its there and hey, why not...

The crazy thing about it is they make dinner and lunch for me just because they want to. Hospitality is like the number one priority here. Every once in a while when I'm home during the day I rush to make lunch for them before they have the chance to prepare. They never like anything I make because I don't put enough salt, oil, and hot peppers in it for them. Most of the time they just kinda push it around in the bowl and make the little kids eat it. But the little kids usually say, "I'm not eating white people food." hahaha. But I do it because I don't want to feel like I am always taking from them, eventhough by no means do they feel like that.

Another thing I have started doing is buying food for all of us. I can afford food that has more variety and nutritional value and since this family does everything they can to make me feel a part of the community, why not share. Plus I get sick and tired of eating To with oakra sauce for every single meal...the boutique owner had a stomach ache once so he thinks that it is because his wife made a sauce that did not agree with his stomach too well. So he only wants her to make okra sauce. He thinks it was the sauce; I think it was just life, but you can't argue with everyone about everything so okra sauce it is...So I buy veggies, rice, beans, and spaghetti and give it to them as my contribution. I only buy one or two things at a time like once a week since he prefers To with okra anyway.

Anyway, I kind of went off on a tangent to get to my main point. Last night after dinner I actually held a converstaion with the boutique owner's wife and little brother. That is pretty monumental for me considering that they only speak Moore. I often talk to the boutique owner and to others who stop by to hand out and they translate for me into Moore. Last night, however, the conversation was between me, the wife, and brother. Granted our converstaion was not very extensive, but we laughed and smiled and I understood what they were saying to me and they understood what I was saying to them...using lots of gestures and over exaggerated movements...whatever works!

During the conversation, Pascal, that's the younger brother, said that I could call him my younger broter and he said I was his big sister. I just wanted to let you all know that there are tear welling in my eyes right now because it just feels so good having neighbors that feel like family. I left my bloodline in the states to venture into "who knows what" and once I got here the Peace Corps gave me a family that was trained to help me and then I had to leave them. But now in a community where I am the only american, where I call the shots about my life, a family has chosen to take me in as their own. All I can say is thank you God!

I never thought that a young boy around 15 or 16 yrs old calling me big sister would make me cry, but hey, maybe I'm turning into a cry-baby "in my old age" like daddy :-). Its not just Pascal calling me big sister, or laughing together, or the two sons (about age 4 and 1) coming over to play, or the smiles on their faces, its everything all wrapped into one.

I'm not integrated by any means just yet and things still surprise me everyday. However, there are many things that just seem like a part of life. I am just so happy that I can make this journey with these neighbors. This is going on month 2 of 24. I'm taking it step-by-step...I wonder what it will be like at the end.