Today started like any other day… me waking up at some ungodly hour to take a piss. It then started a second time to my getting up for the breakfast bell. After breakfast, Colin and I got to talking again about girls of all things…We determined that of the BVC volunteers, I would be the one to come home with a wife or a girlfriend. That came up as both of us confessed that we knew what we wanted to “do” or “not do” with our lives, and as interesting and eye-opening as it is being here; this place, this lifestyle isn’t for us. We are packing up and going home. Just kidding, we are both committed to staying for the duration. I can’t leave now, I have yet to find a girlfriend/wife!
In all seriousness we are both swinging from very short pendulums and that rollercoaster ride that I mentioned a while back definitely hasn’t disappointed. Each day is exponentially more frustrating and difficult than the previous in that sense. We want to get started with the next phases of our lives and as much as I enjoy working with the students and interacting with the villagers, it would mean so much more if I had someone to share that experience with (sorry Colin, but you’re not it).
Our little chat was interrupted by one of the monks telling us that the German’s and Boniface were going to a nearby village for a traditional dance. I was all over it! Colin and I found a finishing point for our conversation and I ran off after the bus (he wasn’t feeling well and wisely chose to hang back). After an hour long, gas smelling, bumpy, and nauseous car ride we made it to the village only to find out that we had missed the main part of the dance. Damn. We then ended up driving to large house that belonged to someone important because there were a ton of well dressed people and expensive place settings. I ended up sitting next to the prefect (mayor) of one of the districts of the Kara region. Good thing I almost knocked over a table full of wine glasses as I attempted to sit down.
After the meal, during which I ate sheep intestines and either pig liver or pig heart (leaning towards heart right now, and for the record it is very difficult to turn down food from a 6 ft’ 200+ lb black woman whom everyone refers to as Mamma – pictured at right), some of the dancers made their way into the open-air dining area. Whell, I couldn’t exactly turn down another opportunity to dance so I got up and joined in. This group of dancers is in the pictures where you can see dishes. The dancers are carrying the whips used to whip each other during the dance. Think that’s bad, on Tuesday there is another dance displaying what was described to me as “true African power.” Basically it’s a type of talent show and there is supposed to be someone who eats toads, someone else who eats snakes (all animals are eaten while alive), and someone else who sticks an arrow through his arm. Yup, can’t wait for this one!
We then made our way to the town center where the closing ceremony of the day’s festivities took place. I didn’t dance in this one, but instead made my way through the dancers with my camera! The results are a little more rewarding for you this way. It is difficult to put the dance into words so I attempted to capture some of the movements with my lens and I think I did a pretty good job, but you can come up with your own opinion if you wish.
Some brief info on the dance…There were drums in the center, two crazily dressed white haired guys who danced around the drums (I think they represented time surrounding life), and around them was another circle of boys in ascending order of age representing the stages of becoming a man. Also, people here don’t know how not to walk in front of a camera (not surprising since most of them have never seen one before), but there was an African documentary crew there and even they were walking in front of me and some of the other random picture takers.
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