Some days...

Some days I don't feel like going into town. It's noisy and dusty and I would just rather hang out around the house. Yesterday was one of those days. However, staying at home turned out to be just as interesting. I'm sitting in my room when I hear a bunch of kids at the gate. Our compound has a metal gate but it's only locked at night. I recognize some of the kids from the neighborhood and I hear the talking about Sianne's bicycle. One of them comes in the gate and I hear them going towards the house saying they are going to take her bike. Of course I can't properly communicate to them why this is not okay so I run in the house and tell the girls Sianne is about to get jacked. Problem solved, or so I think, until I hear them outside of the gate again talking about the bike. Somehow I managed to shoo them away.

When Frank was here last week he started talking about an egg salad sandwich and ever since then I have not been able to get it off of my mind. I had also been craving a tuna fish sandwich for a few weeks so, since lunch and dinner were going to be rice and potatoes again I decided to go to the supermarket and make these sandwiches a reality. I know I am incredibly fortunate that some of my food desires can be instantly satisfied. Frank and Brian would have to travel 3 hours on a bumpy road just to get to this supermarket. There are little vans that travel along the road going into town and they always drop off at a gas station on the edge of town. This gas station also happens to be where my stalker works. When I was fresh in town and trying to do my community needs assessment I made the grave error of giving one of the guys that I knew at the gas station my number so that I could interview him for the report. Silly me. He started calling multiple times in a day/hour to the point where I had to block his number which only made him call from a different number and ask me why I'm blocking his calls. If you have to ask... Finally I told him he is calling too much and to stop calling. Thankfully, he did. But, I still have to pass him nearly every time I go into town because that's where the tuk tuk drops off. Of course he's working yesterday. Here is a synopsis of the conversation:
Stalker: Where have you been?
Me: Here in town.
Stalker: Meet with me tomorrow.
Me: Why?
S: I want to talk to you
Me: About what?
S: About you.
Me: What about me?
S: About me and you. I want to be more than your friend.
Me: No. That's never going to happen. We don't need to meet.
S: But we can try?
Me: No.
You get the picture. I was annoyed and irritated. Ordinarily, I would just blatantly ignore the person but since I have to see him all the time and I'm the one who is new in town, I'm trying to keep things nice.

I really wanted that sandwich so I was trying to get the stuff from the supermarket and get home as soon as possible. On the way back to the gas station to get a tuk tuk home and group of probably mid-20s guys sitting on a bench decided to play the mzungu game. This game is usually played by children and it's annoying even then. It involves the participants saying "How are you?" in an incredibly annoying and nasal voice repeatedly. You can imagine how irritating this is from grown men. Finally, I'm in the tuk tuk and on the way home. But not before the lady sitting next to me decides she needs to sit clooooooseeeeee to me and then tries to fish things out of her purse, which of course means her elbows are flying all over the place in my face. Exasperated I give a look of death and move my arms so that she can't flap her wings all over the place. Ugh. Halfway home and the tuk tuk dies. Great. Now we have to wait for another one and pile in to get home. If I didn't have a bag full of groceries, including eggs in a plastic bag, I would have just walked. But I get to spend the rest of the way home with chicken lady, flapping her elbows all over.

When I got home, I decided to do a little exploring because I was tired of being in the house and desperately needed some exercise. I took a way around the back of the house that I had only been once and found a nice clearing where I could sit and read with only the sound of cow bells interrupting. It was a great two hours of peace and quiet. On the way back home (when everyone looks at the crazy mzungu who sits alone and reads) I run into the gang of kids who tried to steal Sianne's bike rummaging through trash. They ask again for her bike and I say it's not mine or theirs, it's hers. Then they ask for my bike and I tell them they are too small to ride it. Finally they ask for money so I tell them to give me something for my money. They hold up a decaying pineapple from and I politely refuse and keep heading home. For some reason these kids don't annoy me and now them asking me for things has just become a sort of game because they know I won't give them anything. Back at home I see that I missed some good fun. Apparently someone forgot to close the gate and 2 donkeys wondered in the compound. Awesome. I finally made my tuna fish sandwich but forgot how bad tuna makes a room smell. Especially a tin can one. Oh well, it was so worth it and delicious. Then Sianne and I played tag and had a dance party to Maxwell. Even though going to town irritated me, overall the day was really good and I even got some work accomplished in the morning :-)

This is a quick edit to further establish why sometimes staying at home is more fun. I forgot that last night was kind of a girls night where I was in charge of straightening hair (I know- scary that people trust me with an object of 230 degrees on their hair). The salons here use a blow-dryer to straighten, like a Dominican blow out minus the roller set. Ouch. They were amazed that a device existed to straighten without pain. I also learned that the girls are not allowed to have perms at school, no chemicals. They said it's because the teachers think the students will look better than them if they have a perm but whatever the reason, yay for chemical free heads!

Also, lately I have added bike teacher to my job description. Girls here don't ride bikes, in fact, most look at me like a crazy person for riding. But, I told Josephine she can have my bike when I leave if she learns how to ride it. This morning was lesson 2 and I'll just say it gives us all entertainment!