My homestay!!

So this weekend was my first time to stay in an African home, and let me tell you, I don’t even know where to begin. I got to the house on Friday and I met the family. They have 6 children and live in a decent home…and by decent I mean that they basically have what they need and not much more. I share a room with liz, 24, and then Stanley is 20, Sam is 18, Tina is 15, and the two boys, David and Enoch are both around 13 I believe. The parents are very kind, but they definitely make it a point to get me used to the culture, which I appreciate. I won’t have time to go into detail of all the stories from just the past few days, but I will explain a little. The first day and a half was basically torture…just sayin it like it was. I am a pretty adaptable person, but culture shock hits ya hard, that’s for sure, and home life is a heck of a lot different than university life. Everyone told me before coming here that the people are sooooo hospitable, so I naturally came expecting it. What I never realized though is that their idea of hospitality differs so much from how I view hospitality. At times it seems very rude, but they are just being as nice as possible.
So when I got there, I learned that it is part of the culture to get on your knees in respect for your elders. That was like one of the first things they told me when I met the father, or Tata. He seemed pretty cold at first so it definitely didn’t make me feel much better. Some of the other things I learned this weekend were how to squat and do all my restroom duties, to put it nicely. It’s difficult at first, but I’m beginning to master it, haha. Sorry, for those of you who didn’t want to know that. I learned how to bathe using a bucket and just splash water on myself. Me and the sisters bathe outside under the stars….once you get used to the weirdness of it all, it’s kinda nice. Haha. Anyways, so I’ve learned to eat with my hands…eat rice, beans, matoke, you name it, I can eat it with my hands. It’s amazing how well your hands work as a spoon. I’d never have guessed. I also got the chance to pee in the same stall with my mom. That was very interesting as well. 2 major cultural differences on that note…peeing with or around people is no big deal…and talking to someone bare chested or even serving dinner in the bra is just fine and dandy….and it’s amazing how you just adapt to it cause ya have to. I learned how to prepare matoke. It’s kind of like bananas and it grows on the banana looking tree, but it’s pretty different. They use their pots, but they have to cover it in banana leaves and then tie is around with the banana fiber in order for it not to burn. Then they put it in the pot and then over the fire a while. Of course I learned how to peel many things and chop firewood with the axe! Yeah, don’t think anyone back home would let me have an axe, but I must say, I did pretty well.
So, I went to a function with my mom on Sunday and dressed up in a huge and smothering African dress, which was very interesting and very hot. Hahha, but I was able to see a ceremony performed and giving presents to the lady of honor for being married for a long time. I had to speak in the microphone and talk to them, cause when they see white skin, a muzungu, they naturally want to hear that weird thing talk. It just entertains them so much. That was another culture shock. My mom came and showed me around as if I was her little prize, and when she would tell me to say things in lugandan, everyone would laugh and laugh. I felt like I was an animal at the zoo for people to either admire or laugh at or whatever. They had me get on my knees to greet the elders and say how are you in lugandan, just so they could watch me and laugh. I know deep down that they are just having fun and not trying to be rude, but I definitely got a taste of what being a minority is like in a very suprising way.
Other than that though, I have truly started becoming close to my family and love that aspect of the culture even though it was hard at first. God has definitely blessed me with a neat family with a good sense of humor that I can talk and laugh with, and who care about showing me the culture even if it is hard to take it all in. I look forward to coming back from school to see them at night, and love to hear them shouting, Nakafu, Nakafu!! Which is my new name, hahaa. Yup, that’s me, and I am now a part of the Impendi clan. Woo hoo. Ok, That will be it for this one, and I will hopefully be putting some pictures up for you to see a little bit of my home stay. Thank you so much for your prayers because I can see how God has been working through this weekend in such awesome ways to teach me so much about myself, about Himself, and just about this culture. I wish I could just type more and more and more, but I will have to save some of the embarrassing or funny stories for another talking to everyone, and I wrote tons in my journal, so I will not forget. Love you all!!!