Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Saturdays are my favorite!!

I know I've mentioned the Middle School AA, Percy, a 20-year-old guy here in the village who would be my best friend if men and women were allowed to be friends in this culture. (If you are “friends” with the opposite sex it means you're sleeping with them.) Anyway, he has older sisters, girls close to my age. I've been missing just hanging out with friends, I miss going to hang out at someone's house for movies and games. So I've been bugging Percy to introduce me to his sisters so I can have friends my own age; Lebo is great, but conversations with 10 year olds leave a lot to be desired. This Saturday Percy finally agreed that I could come over. He gave me vague directions to his place, but a pink house isn't too hard to find around here. There were some middle-school-aged cousins in the yard who only giggled at me, and 2 sisters inside. One woman has a 2 year old boy, and he ran around like mad, humming as he pretended to drive a car. He found his mom's phone and tried to take a picture of me, so she took a picture of us together for him.
The little one's mom seemed shy, or unsure of her English maybe, so she didn't have much to say to me. The other sister, Vinnette, talked with me some, and Percy joined us to watch a couple movies. We had Coke and cookies, since guests must always be given some food and drink, and enjoyed a James Bond movie and a chick flick. The little boy fell asleep on Percy and didn't wake up until I was leaving, even then he was still too bleary to care if I stayed or went. Percy walked me halfway home, with a short cut to my house that allowed him to stop by a shop before he went home. It was a casual day, really laid back, but it was so nice to have a reason to walk around a new part of the village and have somewhere else to be. I like my family, my house and my room, but there's nothing like getting out and having plans with friends.

Walking home I passed a wedding and was called over by some of the guests. By that time of the day, the only guests left were old men and young couples, drinking away. A few people talked with me, the level of English skills and drunkenness was really amusing. I only stood outside the compound gates and let people come to me, I probably really offended the family by not coming inside, but since I was trying to get home before dark I never made it inside. A man who's somehow related to my family came out and offered me a ride home. He was only slightly drunk, and our ride was uneventful. He stayed to visit a few minutes to visit my parents and I went outside to play Uno with my brothers and one of their friends. It was a great day.

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