First, I slept for 15 hours last night! Heck yes! Oh did I need it! That plane ride here is anything but pleasant, but it was the best it has been this time around. Yeah, asleep at 8 pm and wake up at 11 am! My host family probably thinks I am some lazy American, but I think they understand why I was so exhausted! I was actually fighting sleep as my host father was talking to me, rude I know, but I was really tired!
I got to ride on the taxi again today which was great! Now all of you that know what the taxis are like or have ridden one before may laugh, but it really is great. The public taxis are these huge volkswagen mini buses/vans, and all of them are on their last leg or even to the point where you awe at the fact that they actually still run. Most look as if they should be or were found in a junk yard, but they serve their purpose and that is enough! Also, white people once again do not ride these taxis, so again I am very out of place, but I am accepted. I did hear this older lady speaking in Xhosa (very vocal, loud, and excited about whatever she was talking about); I heard her say uMulungu a few times which means white person, but I don’t think she was talking about me. It is tough riding the taxis because everyone speaks Xhosa, so the driver asks things in Xhosa and the people shout out their stops in Xhosa, so sometimes I don’t really know what’s going on, so I just go with the flow (pretty much the best way to approach any situation in SA). It is also kind of weird to hear my own voice when I do shout out my stop because my accent cuts the flow and air of the conversations going on in the taxi, and I definitely don’t like drawing attention to myself. Once again I am relearning and trying to understand the dichotomy that surrounds my place in this community and country, a place that I might not ever find . . .
Sleep is good and finding one’s place is a continual struggle . . .
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