Sunday afternoon

This morning started off brilliantly with a piping hot cup of coffee and chatty conversation with Gogo out on the veranda. I woke up around noon after sitting up late fooling with the computer, and the house was pretty quiet. Everyone but Gogo and Pearl was either sleeping in or already out on some kind of excursion. Gogo and I sat for a couple of hours talking, which I'll post about later. I really can't believe I have landed in the house of this incredible woman who is immediately so kind and warm and loving toward me. In fact, just as I am sitting here in the office typing this, she emerged from the kitchen with a cup of hot tea and a plate of cookies for me. Here are some scenes from this slow African Sunday:

Gogo peeling vegetables on the patio for dinner. Inside her granddaughter Lily is cooking, but Gogo doesn't trust her and keeps running inside and scolding her in Xhosa. She thinks Lily is paying more attention to the television than the cooking.

Gogo invited me to join them for dinner, and she serves up Lily's apparently substandard chicken and vegetables. "It is such a disappointment," Gogo says.

Gogo and Lily lay out the plates on the patio. Gogo adds hot peppers to every single thing she eats.

And so I add hot peppers to everything, too. And see those red dots on my face? Gogo is organizing a mosquito net for my room at the moment. The bites don't itch, but every day there is a new tiny perfect red circle on my face. Despite Gogo's complaints about Lily's cooking, the meal was just delicious and I was so grateful to be included. We had boiled potatoes, the biggest butterbeans you have ever seen, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed butternut squash (which is called just "butternut" here), rice, and curry chicken. It was fantastic. Thanks, Lily! (Who is currently reading over my shoulder.)

I have finally figured out that this dog's name is Neo. Pronounced "NEH-oh," it means "lion" in the African language Sesothu. Anyway, Neo is very respectful of boundaries. He might be at the edge of your plate the whole time you are eating, but he will never lunge for your food. And even though the meal was such a disappointment, Gogo ate every bite.

Today Pearl turned up on her purple bicycle. She is now reading this over my shoulder, of course, and she wants me to add that the bicycle is purple AND pink. Tonight as I was working in on the computer, Pearl embarked on a complicated restyle of my hair, but abandoned the project midway through. Her mother Lulu was watching from the doorway and shook her head. "Pearl is always present," she said. "Always present." But one thing that is fabulous about Pearl is that she is a very enthusiastic photographer, providing me with the picture below (along with pictures of every object in the room that was at her eye-level).

After dinner, Lily asked me if I would help her with her interview project for biology class. She is in eleventh grade at the local high school. She had been assigned to interview four or five people about their opinions on organ donations. She had already done most of the interviews, but since I have been pegged as the house's fastest typer, she asked me to help get the project into the computer and printed out. Then I became an interview subject myself. Next we interviewed Pearl, who turns out to be very stingy with her organs and would refuse to donate under any circumstances. We got everyone in the house interviewed and everything inputted into the computer in short order, while Pearl danced and sang and took pictures of everything. We were even able to connect the printer, and after a few tries, get the project printed out. It was great fun, and I was so glad to be able to help Lily. It was also neat to see that high school assignments aren't really all that different no matter where you go. Interview people, type it up, make a bar graph, design your cover sheet just so. But now at least I know my housemates' general disposition about organ donation - all of them are generous with the exception of Pearl - and I got to know Lily a little better, who really is a lovely girl.