S. hugging a 300 year old tree in a 'kaya' or sacred forest on the South Coast. Note the black robes, designating us honorary members of the Mijikenda tribe for the duration of our walk S. is entering an age where she is grasping at abstract concepts, usually catching us off-guard on the scope of the suitable response. For instance, and as mentioned before in this blog, we often go to the hindu temple across the street for walks, yoga and roller blading classes. In a typical outing to the temple, we may well exchange greetings with the priest, see people praying, or walk by a shrine. Sofia invariably asks, what the devil is going on here? Ok, not in so many words, but to that general effect are questions such as:
- What is a temple?
- Why is the priest dressed like that?
- What does ‘respectful’ mean (this when I ask her to stop singing at the top of her lungs as we walk by the prayer hall)?
Thusly have we broached the broad topic of ‘prayer’. So far as I’ve been able to explain it to her, prayer is our way of saying thank you for all that we have been given. For instance, I tell her, I am thankful for our family, our health, my blue sweater (it was chilly), and peanut butter. In lawyerly fashion, I had organized the list from greatest to least significance. She nodded sagely. But even as I impart these gems, I am acutely aware of the law of intended consequences with S.
For the adjective ‘poor’ (another philosophical topic which arose due to Jack – of Jack and ze Beanstalk fame – and his mother being very poor because of the giant), for example, I defined as someone who doesn’t have many material things. Again the sage nod. But on a recent forest walk, S. asked whether banana slugs (which litter the path between the trees) were poor – after all, they don’t have many things.
I don't want to give the impression that we only have lofty discussions. Scatalogical humour continues to enjoy great acclaim in our household! On which point, see below the best bathroom we've seen so far (at a recycled glass factory we visited last week):
Alarmingly and unrelatedly, S. has also begun to intonate in faintly British fashion – with the last syllable of every sentence rising sharply, thereby making every sentence vaguely inquisitive in nature. “This road is very bumpy” for instance, has no business being a question but I find myself reflexively scrambling for an explanation because of the way S. delivers the sentence.
For my part, my favourite Swahili adoption is ‘sawa sawa’ – which is roughly the equivalent of theek hai, or ‘ok ok’, except for being way less dismissive, and therefore way more versatile:
- Someone cuts in front of you in line – sawa sawa (meaning you register with disapproval their behaviour, but aren’t inclined to make a fuss)
- Ending a phone call – sawa sawa
- Politely but firmly telling the bootleg dvd vendor you don’t think ‘Johnny English’ is a film you’ll enjoy – sawa sawa (may need to be amplified with a wave of the hand)
On the topic of sawa sawa/expectation management, our move date (December 9) grows ever closer. We got rid of some furniture before moving here so we have hired a carpenter to build a dining table, chairs, guest bed and armoires for us. The carpenters here deal so much with expats that they have Western catalogues (and not just Ikea, but Room & Board, Restoration Hardware etc.) from which you can pick your design. Underemployed as I am, I have married mid-century Danish profiles with a more robust country kitchen effect. The carpenter has been impossibly patient and accommodating, to the point that I am beginning to suspect that saying ‘no’ is just not in his repertoire. I’m probably gunning my Hummer of expectation directly towards the bluffs of disappointment - but I’m having a lot of fun along the way. Below, some shots of work-in-progress in Willish (the carpenter)’s workshop.
Sawa sawa!
Mvule wood office desk - local hardwood not dissimliar to oak. Note the artisan's dog Snoopy in the background! Not a labour-saving device in sight (largely because labour costs are relatively low)
Dining chair (varnished) upon dining table (unvarnished) - also Mvule wood. Upholstery will be pale green cotton-canvas.
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