Still adjusting

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Every once in a while I am reminded that I am indeed in a different part of the world. When I am tired and stressing about work, I may not see everything with a good sense of appreciation and humor. At these times I get frustrated.....for example, I couldn’t take pictures of the school (my excuse for no school blogs yet) because I have no batteries. I bought AA’s at KwaMhlanga, but the camera said the batteries were exhausted. One of my learners told me that I had to buy Duracell to work in a camera. The next time I was in the grocery store, I could only find this generic kind (I guess they are only good for clocks and such things). While there, I ran into Laze (Lazarus) Ramolefo, a teacher at Sele who lives in Kameelpoort during the school week. He told me that Duracell’s would be difficult to find and I might have to look in Pretoria sometime. Batteries and chocolate chips--haven’t seen them anywhere. Laze very kindly offered to give me a ride home and he waited almost half an hour for me, because I was further back in the queue. Lines (queues) are ridiculously long at Shop-Rite.

Because I was rested after my 17 day holiday between terms, and I had told myself to be prepared for unexpected schedule changes; I was not too perturbed by the field trip at the end of the first week back to school Term 2. This time I even had some advance notice that 2/3 of my learners would be gone. But what I didn’t know until Wednesday, was that it is customary to send learners home after lunch the day before a field trip so that they can wash and iron their uniforms. I had scheduled a quiz that afternoon, so I had to scramble to get a time to give the quiz that morning. Again, a teacher was very gracious and helped me out. Then it turned out that three people had come to our school to conduct a session on drug abuse that afternoon. I don’t know why no one knew about this until the last minute...so they dismissed the Gr 10-12 learners after lunch at 12:30, to go wash clothes, but told them to come back at 2:00 for the session.

One afternoon, I stepped to my door to brush my teeth and saw two women walking down the road carrying wood on their heads. I am always fascinated to see this. Usually it’s a very large bundle of twigs about 3 feet long. I wonder how they manage to get under this bundle so that it stays together as they walk. I don’t see anything tying the twigs together. One of the women had a bundle but the other was carrying a large piece of dead wood, at least 4 feet long. It had a beautiful twist that arched over her head and she balanced it on her shoulders. The wood is used to cook outside. I believe most people have electric stoves and ovens in their homes, but they cook food in big pots for various functions. They also brew a traditional beer in a large pot over a fire.

Walking by the petrol station the other day, I was greeted with “Hey granny!” by a man in his 20’s. Ten minutes later another man greeted me “Hey ugogo!” And then the Gr 4 girl, Grace, who lives across the street alway hollers out “Hello, how are you?” to me.. then sometimes adds “You’re beautiful!” Now two of these greetings don’t make me feel so good...I have my own preconceptions: a “granny” is the granny in Little Red Riding Hood, and “beautiful” is a movie star. But an “ugogo” I’m OK with, because it’s such a cute word.. and ugogos are respected here. Then I have to think that the man who uses “granny” to greet me doesn’t mean the word in the sense that I take it (he probably thinks it’s the English version of “ugogo”, and that Grace says “beautiful” to me because she likes to be my friend. These English words are laden with the meanings I give them from my own culture, while “ugogo” has been handed down from a culture that treats being old so differently than in the States. Interesting to think on these things.

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Comments

[Norma Petersen]

It's the thought that counts!
Dear Carolyn, I chuckled as I read about the greetings you receive. When my grandson was born, I imagined him calling me \"nana,\" which brings back fond memories of my great grandmother. As it turns out, Christopher focuses on last syllables. As a result, he cheerfully greets me with outstretched arms and exclaims, \"Ma!\" This reminds me of the \"Ma and Pa Kettle\" movies I loved as a child, but the love in his greeting is all that counts. Your positive reaction to your greetings also focuses on the sentiment and not the exact words. Godspeed.