I have officially moved into my home! My house is fantastic…cute, brick, no lawn to mow (just sand), a rain water tank outside (not sure when I'll use rain water…but it sounds like a romantic notion). I am very lucky to have moved into a house that is only about two years old…so it's really clean by comparison of some of my other comrades! Yet, I still have to comment on how odd it is to clean a house without life's little luxuries: a vacuum, a dog (Azul) that follows you around and chases the vacuum, a washing machine (there's something liberating about dusting and then just throwing a dust rag into a washing machine which will then whisk away the dirt as if it was never there)…and the list goes on!
This past week has taught me about all of the things that go on in one's life that modern conveniences have conveniently left us out of. In my previous life, modern conveniences such as a television or a radio conveniently make it so I can't hear all of the thoughts that go on in my head. A heater or an air conditioner make it so that I never really know what the temperature is outside…or what it feels like to live at that temperature. A quick shower, while a fraction of the time, doesn't feel that same as the thought that goes into a long bath…the foresight it takes to remember to turn on the geyser to warm water, the thought it takes to adjust the temperature knobs just right, and the deliberation about whether to wash one's hair first, one's body, or just lay down in the tub and count on everything getting clean on its own...a lack of these modern conveniences have even given me time to think about these things!
Life in my new home is much different than it was living with my host family (who regularly call to check on me and make sure I know that I am missed)! There's no bucket bathing in my life anymore, no sweeping my room with bundled thatch, and no making a daily fire outside (which, I might add, I have become quite good at)! Even though life is a bit easier in my new house, I am so thankful for the chance to have experienced the way an average Motswana grows up. My family taught me how to cook traditional dishes, how to wash clothes (even though my little brothers always laugh when I do laundry because they say it looks like I am curing a goat skin…apparently that means I don't put enough muscle into it), how to speak a little bit of Setswana, and so much more. I miss all of the noise that filled my house in Thamaga, but I am looking forward to finding new noise in Mochudi!
I have met a neighbor who lives a couple of doors down…Laura will appreciate the fact that I had tea with her the other morning. I was dressed, but she was in a bath robe (which made me feel right at home)! She has a little girl who is four months old…so, since I can't have my niece here right now I have decided that I will impart all of my auntie wisdom on this little one while I wait for my niece to come visit me! I am hoping that I will be able to update this blog a bit more regularly now, and hope to hear from you all about what's going on in your life!
p.s. Did I mention that my house is two bedrooms and the government gave me a double bed for the spare bedroom! So, I am ready for visitors!
1 comment:
Hahahahahah, nothing beats talking about sweeping with thatch and getting a spam comment about how to make some money. I guarentee that it will involve having broadband internet capability. Wonder what they would think about your connection being powered by a hamster running on a wheel?
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