Langa life

After rereading my most recent e-mail I feel the need to update people on their perceptions of my current conditions. My last e-mail was rather dramatic and I apologize. Culture conditions are very different and it was difficult. However, I am learning to enjoy the differences and am beginning to love the experience.

I apologize if some of this post is a repeat of previous information, but too bad, it's my blog.

The house that I live in in Langa is one of the oldest homes in the township. It was one of the homes originally built by the government when they set up the community. My mother complains that the house was built on sand and therefore there are serious problems with the foundation and the floor is rather uneven, but to be honest I don't really notice it.

The cockroaches are still present in the house but I am learning to cope. I have gotten DOOM which is a spray and have made a game out of hunting the cockroaches. One night I stayed up with DOOM in one hand an my flashlight in the other just killing the roaches. My kill count that night was 34. I think in total it is near 70-80, although sadly I have lost track. My host Mama said something about cockroaches while watching tv last night so that made me feel better. It was good to know that the Mom was bothered by them as well.

After living at the house for more than a week I am still not positive who exactly lives there. The main house is 4 rooms: the kitchen, dining/living room, my bedroom and my host Mama's bedroom. The 3 grandchildren (22, 13, 10) stay in my Mama's room, along with the 22-year-old's, two-year-old son. The 22-year-old is there sporadically and I'm not sure what her name is still. However the other kids are Nwabiza (13), Zina (10), and Lohlhi (2). The kids are wonderful. Nwabiza's english is very good and she is very funny. She makes jokes that I will be able to understand and I love her for it. Zina loves to dance and sing and I am hoping that she will teach me some of her dance moves. Everyday when I get home Zina is waiting for me and gives me a big hug and often kisses me. She then immediately requests my ipod.... I am okay with the fact that her love for me may be superficial. I often play cards with Nwabiza and Zina (So mom bringing decks of cards was a great gift).

Lohlhi only speaks Xhosa but is very funny. He loves to play and cause trouble. One morning he was lurking in the kitchen when suddenly he ran across the room, grabbed and egg, and booked it out the door. I saw the egg all over the street when I left. He loves to play and can always make me laugh. Although I cannot understand most of what he says and only sometimes will the girls translate for me. However, the majority of his comments towards me are telling me to "sit down," "be quiet," or that "he's going to smack me." His favorite game recently has been to make fun of me. The other night I was doing homework on the table and he came and sat by me, grabbed my sunglasses and put them on and then took my highlighter and began randomly highlighting my homework. He was singing songs as well. He later went into my room and dressed up in my clothes like me and then danced around. He loves to go in my room because he finds my things fascinating. However my host Mama gets very upset with him for it because she tries hard to respect my privacy. One of the conditions of the program is that we have to have our own rooms in the houses where we stay, it is nice but also hard. Since at my house 5 people share a room so that I can have my own.

Then at the back of the house there is a bathroom attached. The bathroom only has a tub instead of a shower so that has been a strange adjustment. I joined a gym near our school largly in part so that I would be able to shower. Then in the back yard there is like another living space which I just found out about a couple days ago but have not seen the inside of yet. In there lives Zina's father (my Mama's son), and his brother Joe (Mama's youngest son). Joe is 32 and a DJ at a club on Long street.