Kimulimuli and My First African Wedding

December 6, 2008

The day I got back to village I felt relieved. Lonely, but relieved. Juster and the rest of the teachers were appalled at what happened to me in Dar. Juster had been so worried since I did not answer any of her phone calls that she actually cried and hugged me when she saw me. Then she told me that I am never allowed to go anywhere again without her as my bodyguard. (Which she said in English... It is amazing the words she knows.) So on that note I told her about in-service training (IST) which is an all expense paid trip for me and my Tanzanian counterpart to attend a two week long conference with the rest of the PCVs down here in Iringa. I am not sure I have ever seen her so happy. She screamed with delight and she told me she will be dreaming about it until it happens in January.

I have been talking on the phone or texting with Roma on a daily basis this week. It has been great for my Kiswahili as he is patient and corrects me in our phone conversations and before I text him I have to write it all out and then pull out my dictionary to decipher his texts. I am in the process of planning a bike trip for me, Margaret, Teresa, and the two new volunteers out our way to go and visit him. It might not be until after IST, but he is pushing for next Tuesday... Haha. But I am glad he is excited to see us. He has already promised drumming and dancing and that he is going to come to my village to visit me soon.

And then there is Kimulimuli... Where do I start? I now own something that looks like Golom from Lord of the Rings. I have wondered often why I got into the business of helping people, when usually I prefer animals. Animals don't love conditionally, they are uncomplicated and I feel for them. Which I guess is how I ended up with a bat cat. Kimulimuli (Means firefly in Swahili) now officially live together, and everyday I am surprised that we have both made it through the day alive. Kimulimuli's soul goal in life is to drive me crazy. It is slightly bigger than my fist and the most pathetic animal you have ever met. It's eyes bug out of it's head. It's ears are abnormally large. Really it is the most ridiculous animal I have ever seen. It doesn't even clean itself or know how to retract it's claws. In fact, it can't do anything. It's mouth is always open making ridiculous noise, it can't be alone for a minute. I feed it and feed it and it eats and eats and already it has gained weight in the week we have co-habited. (But I am sure he would enjoy some high fat kitty treats from America). He climbs up me constantly... I am not sure what he would do once he got to my face but I don't want to find out. He is like a primary school student that you want to hold and love but are unsure of what you might catch if you do. It is hard to believe it is the same species and my beloved Angel Baby Cat in America. I don't know how I will ever get any work done with it all over me. Oh- I am going to get fleas. Being lonely might be better than this. I don't know why I wanted something to take care of. It is hard enough to care for myself.

I went to my first Tanzanian wedding today. I have been to eight funerals, so I am sort of an expert on those, but didn't know what to expect for a wedding. It was fun for about the first 3 hours, but for the last four I was tired and thirsty. (Yep- That's right seven hours, it took all day and there wasn't even any booze involved.) This wedding was a big deal because the man was from my village but the bride was from another one (Roma's actually, but he was not there.) So There was lots of excitement about the merging of the two communities. It started out inside the church but got too big and moved outside in the church yard and then moved again to this random central area in our village. There was a lot of singing, dancing, chanting, hooting, ululating, drumming and all around noise making. I doubt if you put a group of Americans together and told them to make noise at random it would sound good, but when Africans do it the noise somehow works and is beautiful. At I guess what would be the reception, I sat in these seats of honor with the rest of the male teachers, which was a bit weird because we are not related to the family, but the teachers in my village are considered the most important people, but somehow I always get segregated with the men. Until it was time for dancing when I was forced to dance with the female teachers in front of my entire village. Yep, that's right, Brie dancing in the middle of a random African village. Good thing the African dance classes paid off... my village loved it. I am not sure I have ever been so embarrassed, yet it was the biggest thing I have done so far to be included. I can tell suddenly now the villagers feel closer with me, like I am suddenly on there level. When I got home I found a present from Kimulimuli on my couch... and not the type you like to get.