Yogurt...

This afternoon, drinking some yogurt, one of our students, Jimmy, came up to me at my desk. He told me he was hungry (which means, "what are you going to do to stop this uncomfortable feeling in my stomach, Bethany??"). I told him I didn't have any food to give him, but he could have the rest of my yogurt.
It became a debate about whether or not he could take it from me, after all, he said the Bible says that if you have two, you should share. But if you only have one, a person shouldn't ask for it! I don't know where that is in the Bible, but it's what he said.
So I told him I would puke if I drank any more... And he finally agreed to take it from me.
And then Jimmy said, "Now I'll go walk around with this and people will think I'm a boss! A big man. I'm drinking yogurt!"
Ah God, the things we take for granted... That others would cherish. Thank you for the reminder.

Friends

This is my new friend Soki.
Actually, maybe she's my new family member - she had me call her Dada Soki - which means Sister Soki! :)
Soki is the name given to girls when they are the first born in their family.
So we're both the eldest in our families... And both Soki!

After moving back to Oicha, Shanga Roza, Ida, Sammy and I stopped to take a photo.
Shanga Roza had been living in Beni near us, but wanted to move back to her village.
Ida is the young girl who will live with her, to help her.

I posted photos earlier that were from coming down a mountain in Butembo...
This is a photo of Noe and I while we were there.
We'd gone to see a large tea plantation.
The tea leaves were so green and the sky so blue that day!

Tete and I at a restaurant.
She is a student at UCBC, a hard worker and a good friend!

Shanga Jorgette and I.
She is a sweet and funny woman!
Without fail, we always laugh when we are together.

John.
He is an English teacher at UCBC.
He also works with our Academic Dean, Honore in Administration.
John's a hard worker and a guy with a good (unique) sense of humor!

remembering

We miss you Grandpa

Three years is a long time to be without our Grandpa... But we'll see you one day soon.

xoxo

When in Rome... part 2

On particularly hot days, you always stay dressed up, in public. Especially women wear a lot of layers of clothes. And a hot day is no excuse to wear much less. It doesn't matter how hot the sun is, if you have a slip on (extra modesty for foreign-made clothes), if there is a breeze... Really, if you're in public, you stay fully dressed and just sweat it out. 

Without question, you eat whatever is on your plate. Everything. You may or may not know what it is or like the taste of it, but if it's on your plate, it better get eaten. Most of the time, eating at someone's house is a big deal (often they want to honor and welcome the visitor in their home). So the food they serve, may not be what they usually eat, it might be a special meal. Most families cannot afford to eat meat everyday. And when meat is eaten, the quantity usually isn't very large. So if your piece is mostly or all gristle, you eat it. I've been able to occasionally trade pieces with people sitting next to me, but it's discrete and with Noé or one of our international staff like Justin. However the other day, at Honoré's house, my piece of meat (served by myself!), was part of the liver... Of either goat or cow (I'm not sure which animal it was, since my piece wasn't meat!). I knew it was liver as soon as I tried to rip a piece off with my fingers, by how it easily fell apart. Noé was too far to give this "special" piece to and the others around me wouldn't have understood. So I ate it. Somehow... 
The very next afternoon, I was cooking food at Shanga Irene's house with Festo's wife Grace. Mid afternoon Grace and I stopped to have lunch. It was a very normal meal - beans, banana plantains, avocado. And then Grace plopped two pieces of goat meat on our plate. It looked soft, smooth, without bones... That's not too typical for the meat here. It was liver again. So, I ate it. Eating it two days in a row didn't make me like it any more than I had before. And I'm convinced that's why I felt a bit queasy the two days after we cooked together... Too much liver in my system!
A few hours later, Grace jokingly offered me some of the fried blood of the goat. I hesitated and thankfully did not (have to) eat it. She told me she doesn't like it, but will occasionally eat it. Blood? Ish. If I can help it, I'll avoid that one...

Another thing I've learned is that being tan is not appreciated in Congo, except by other Americans. Sitting outside doing laundry in the sun, is unbelievable to most Congolese. Since the sun is so hot, why in the world would someone sit in it? Showing someone tan lines or how dark my arms have become since November is really seen as silly. Why would you want to be like that? Men and (especially) women often use creams to bleach their skin (the market is full of skin lightening products, like soaps and lotions). **That is another topic that I should expound on separately, because it's one of the things I really think is terrible, not to mention extremely unhealthy!** 
And recently I've felt like I should protect myself from potential skin damage (hopefully it's not too late), so I've been putting on sunscreen. SPF 50, nearly every morning - because sometimes a 20 minute ride to or from school on the back of a motorcycle can be enough to get burned. My skin isn't usually very sensitive to the sun, but combining my anti-malarial and living on the Equator - I'm just as sensitive as some of my fair-skinned sisters! :)

Oh am I late?

One of the challenges that we still face as an institution is tardiness... And total indifference to it, by the students. Sometimes there is just this attitude of "so what? I'm here, aren't I?" It's certainly changing though. Since the fall of 2008, I can see a change up to now. However, the change hasn't come easily and it's still a stretching process that we're going though. Together. And sometimes it's a painful stretching process.

Well a few minutes ago I was listening to music on my mp3 player, and a song by Kanye West came on. I was about to switch it when I heard a line that made me think of some of our students here at UCBC.

"Class started two hours ago. Oh am I late?"

**This is not a song I would really suggest people listen to... But if you wanted to know, it's called "Can't Tell Me Nothing." I don't even really like this song. But I'm happy I listened to it today. It brought me to my students and it made me laugh. Thanks Kanye.

And I really do love my students. Even when they have attitudes. And even when they're extremely late to class.

a "blessing"

Yesterday we went to Oicha... A village about 25 minutes from Beni. It was a good day of laughter, conversations, playing, sharing, and good food.

Here's a photo with Mzee, before we got in the car... While in the car, this two (or three?) year old, fell asleep in my lap and after falling asleep, as Tate (grandma) told me, he blessed me. As most sleeping babies not in diapers probably would do once relaxing...

Thanks buddy. But, I still love him. Besides, I'm sure one day my kids will do the same and "bless" others! 

When in Rome...

My first few months in Beni in 2008, I had people helping me a lot. They helped me get motorcycle taxis, translated from French or Swahili for me, explained some of the things that are culturally different from the States... And were there to answer a lot of my questions.

"This is Kambale." Or "this is the mother of Julie." ... "The bathroom is there." ... "Oh, Bethany can't drink that, she needs to have filtered water." ... "Make sure you kiss the cheeks of women and tap heads with men when greeting them..." Ok that last one nobody ever said, but I observed that one right away!

Now, people totally do support me and help me and are available to me. But... As I'm about to close this second year in Beni, either I don't look like I need as much help, or I don't ask as much. Either way, I'm still learning a lot!

The guidance and direction I received at the beginning has really helped me to know how to be interact with people, to best respect them and to adapt to the culture here. And as I mentioned before, I watch people. By doing so, I've also picked up on some of the "dos and don'ts" of the culture. Often by trial and error!  Some of the things I've learned so far by observation:

When entering a room which already has people in it (in a house particularly), it is common courtesy to walk around it greeting everyone. EVERYONE.Regardless if you've never seen them before, or if you saw them 14 minutes earlier. It also doesn't really matter if you speak French or Swahili well. Not greeting people can be seen as extremely offensive. Therefore, each person's hand should be shaken. 

Of course there is modesty's imposition on living life comfortably. Modesty says that a woman's knees are not supposed to be exposed in public. However even wearing skirts that stop at mid-calf (or crop pants), I've felt scandalous - or at least maybe childish. 

Along with that, by watching the women, I've developed the habit of always carrying a wrap skirt (panya, kikwembe or sarong - as we'd call it in the States). Especially if I'm taking a motorcycle taxi. It's an extra precaution to maintain modesty, just in case my skirt gets close to showing my knees, or too much of my shins. It's come in handy at school also, when it gets cold (it's a nice make-shift blanket!). And sometimes when women (visiting teachers or volunteers) come to visit UCBC, it's also been helpful if their skirts aren't as long as... What's expected of professions here. 

To be continued...