Tuesday, April 8, 2008
"Nimekuja kukusalimia"
On Sunday, I went to the Catholic church with a friend. I had promised to go to lunch at another friend's house after returning. But almost as soon as I returned to my house from church, there was a knock at the door.
"Shikamoo!"
It was a kid who looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember from where.
"Nimekuja kukusalimia." I came to greet you. Followed by a further explanation: I came from town, from Peter's school.
Peter is my sitemate. He lives in town, 21 km away by dirt road. This kid is a neighbor of his, who I've met on the two occasions I've stayed overnight at Peter's. He's very polite and seems like a good kid, but we've never really had a conversation. He comes by in the evenings to greet Peter, sees me, and becomes very shy. The last time I was there, Peter invited him in, but he just stood in the doorway, too shy around me to enter.
And then, this Sunday, he showed up at my door. As far as I can gather, he rode 21 km just to come by and say hi. Despite having never been to my village, and not knowing anyone else there. He also arrived with a broken bike, which we spent 2.5 hours trying to fix. I was then going to offer for him to stay the night, but he said confidently that he could get back in an hour and a half, and jumped on his bike and rode off. No such luck--I hear from my sitemate that his bike broke on the way back. He walked the 21 km back to town and arrived a bit after dark.
Why did he ride 21 km to visit me? Was he simply looking for an adventure and thought, well, I know someone in that village? Did he have another reason for going to the village that he didn't tell me? Or did he just want to see me? I have no idea. But I wish I'd had a better greeting than "Er . . . how are you?"
"Shikamoo!"
It was a kid who looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember from where.
"Nimekuja kukusalimia." I came to greet you. Followed by a further explanation: I came from town, from Peter's school.
Peter is my sitemate. He lives in town, 21 km away by dirt road. This kid is a neighbor of his, who I've met on the two occasions I've stayed overnight at Peter's. He's very polite and seems like a good kid, but we've never really had a conversation. He comes by in the evenings to greet Peter, sees me, and becomes very shy. The last time I was there, Peter invited him in, but he just stood in the doorway, too shy around me to enter.
And then, this Sunday, he showed up at my door. As far as I can gather, he rode 21 km just to come by and say hi. Despite having never been to my village, and not knowing anyone else there. He also arrived with a broken bike, which we spent 2.5 hours trying to fix. I was then going to offer for him to stay the night, but he said confidently that he could get back in an hour and a half, and jumped on his bike and rode off. No such luck--I hear from my sitemate that his bike broke on the way back. He walked the 21 km back to town and arrived a bit after dark.
Why did he ride 21 km to visit me? Was he simply looking for an adventure and thought, well, I know someone in that village? Did he have another reason for going to the village that he didn't tell me? Or did he just want to see me? I have no idea. But I wish I'd had a better greeting than "Er . . . how are you?"
# posted by Kristen @ 12:20 AM 
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