Elizabeth's House

This morning most people left early, so it was just me and Stephanie (and Jack but he did his own thing).  We decided we were bored of sitting around, so we headed to some fabric stores (since most of the women are finished with their products, they will be making extra scarves that we can buy from them if we bring them the fabric).  It was incredibly overwhelming, fishing through all of the fabrics, most of which I had no interest in, though there were some great ones mixed in.  Lots of loud colors and some crazy patterns, but some very nice.  I didn't end up buying, since I was feeling indecisive, but it was a good experience.

Medina (who is our chef and works at the Casa) and Stephanie trying on the fabric, wrapping the scarves in African and American style

Around the Casa we talked with Daniel, the artist, who might be making us paintings, which will be fun.  He also asked if I'd visit his village, but I told him I'm not sure I'll have time at this point...

Two paintings by Daniel, done in the hallway

Then we headed to lunch at Kapkwata, where they recognize us by now, and I've become friends with one of the waitresses, Annette.  The guy at the cash register also knows us and always asks how we're doing.

Work was pretty normal.  I finally had a real chat with Annette, one of the women from last year who is much quieter.  It was nice talking with her a bit more and learning more about each other.  Peace was also horribly sick, but refused to go home early despite our telling her she could, and Lofisa was exhausted from having brought people around her village, but similarly wouldn't go (she has Polio and so one of her legs is a bit messed up and walking is tiresome for her).  I had a nice time with Aidah, joking around a bit despite not really speaking the same language.  They've been talking a lot lately about us leaving, and we told Elizabeth we'll be sure to write, and Aidah chimed in "even me" aka "to me too".  They keep talking like we'll forget them, but I have no idea how they could think that.

After work we finally managed to go to Elizabeth's (I was supposed to go Sunday but between not feeling well and crazy time problems I never made it).  Pelin and I went with her to her stall at the market for a while.  It was nice going and just hanging out there, instead of just going to buy food or take photos (I already have PLENTY of market photos, though clearly I took more, but it was nice not having photography be the sole purpose of visiting).  By just hanging around for a while, we had the opportunity to really see Elizabeth in action (and the market as a whole, since it was evening so more people were around buying).  One guy even bought us bananas, the first time someone has bought me food in the market instead of begging me to buy for them, and Hellen, Elizabeth's friend who has a stall nearby, gave us each an orange.  It turns out these oranges are hybrids between orange and lemon, which is the perfect mix of sweet and tart.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth used corn husks to tie together onions to sell, cut cabbage (and let me help, too) and helped customers, measuring rice and selling other crops.  It was fun to watch her really working, and I even gave it a try for a second.  Hellen also had us watch her cook a bit, and Elizabeth described how to make g-nut paste.  It was a lot more fun just hanging around than we'd expected it to be, a nice break after work.

When two of her daughters, Resty and Fiona, showed up, we walked back to her house to meet the rest of the family.  On the way, Pelin asked Elizabeth what this thing that looked sort of like bamboo was.  Turns out it's sugar cane, so we bought some to try.  Back at the house we met the rest of Elizabeth's kids (except for the eldest who lives in the village), and we all shared the sugar cane and took pictures (as usual) and played around.  Sugar cane is AMAZING! Why in the world do we use sugar? There must be some better way, cuz this stuff was great.  It was sort of refreshing, while still being sweet.  We got to take some home but left the rest with the family.

Elizabeth's family is quite interesting.  They have a pretty small house for all of them, 5 kids living with her.  The youngest is a little girl, 1 and a half years old, who someone (Elizabeth says her sister, but again, I'm not sure if it's a sister from her mother or not) left with her 4 months ago, and Elizabeth hasn't heard from her since.  Elizabeth then rents a second house so that her son, who is 18, can live there on his own, so he doesn't have to stay in such close quarters with the rest of the family.

This visit was the perfect end to the day, and tomorrow we're headed back to Hadijjah's house.

Looking out of Elizabeth's house: from L: Elizabeth, Pelin, Fiona, Resty, A neighbor, A friend, Elijah in the doorway partially blocking his brother, Silas, and the friend's son