At any given moment of any given day if you wander into my living room you’ll probably find a random kid on my couch. Most likely I will have some indirect connection to the kid but s/he will not talk to me. I’ve realized that my house has become something of a youth hostel; therefore, Welcome to Abbe’s Youth Hostel! There’s no sign on my door that says food is being served (like local soup kitchens do) but if a youth show up, they’ll probably end up eating my food. Or better yet, if they’re a school friend of Nelly’s, they will have brought along a friend of their own, and a special meal will need to be paid for and prepared for their consumption, regardless of my current dinner plans. In the past week, strangers who don’t say much have consumed more of my rice than I have!
It’s probable that the youth will stay for several hours, sometimes they’ll leave food open or crumbs on a plate and the ants will invade, and more often than not I will feel forced to ‘hide out’ in some other part of my own home. My bedroom is a standard option, but I’ve found the front and back porches to be sufficient as well. If they’re boys they might step outside to peepee by the side of the house; if they’re girls Nelly will typically forget to mention not to put tissue down the toilet and I’ll find myself working for literally hours to get the sucker to flush ‘normally’ again. When Nelly has friends or family over I find it to be the strangest because she spends most of the time secluded, cooking behind the house. Then when they eat the hot meal she doesn’t eat with them (still no one is saying much). Post-meal she will sit with them and sometimes small talk emerges. Even when her sister was here and stayed the night, I was perplexed by the lack of conversation! All of this makes me feel even more awkward because if they’re not talking to each other, I don’t start up the chatting either. African hospitality is confusing to me and if I can’t shake the ‘no need to place hostess’ approach when returning to the US no one will come by to visit me anymore!
The water boy (who occasionally smiles now) has a habit of lingering before and after hauling the water. He’ll lounge on the couch for a while before he starts making the trips and then post-work he tends to sit around for hours and usually lies down on the couch to take a nap for an extended amount of time. I don’t want to be rude and kick him out, but it’s so weird when I have things that I want to get done and there are randys (random people) sitting and watching my every move! Today is a prime example; Nelly’s young cousin came yesterday and spent the night. Nelly went to computer class over 9 hours ago and hasn’t returned! I had a meeting in town and locked the girl out of the house for a couple hours (safety never quits, trust no one!) and when I got back I was stuck with her AND the water boy just sitting around doing nothing for HOURS! Plus, in just the past couple hours she left the cereal open to the ants, put tissue in the toilet and left hair all over the bathtub! Haha so here I sit, under house arrest. Feeling obligated to not leave because then I have to lock her out and simultaneously wanting her to go away so I can just be home alone for once! Where is Nelly!?
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