So this morning we were all up by 6:30a. At 8a the village tap opens for business, so we took Johnson’s bakki to fill up 5 giant jugs with water for the homestead. When Johnson is not there, which is most of the time, I assume that Sem walks over with just one of the jugs, as I can’t imagine that he could handle more than one full jug at a time. The village tap is near one of the schools and is locked when the Meme who “owns” it is not open for business. The Meme that runs the tap records the number of liters that each customer takes and the customers pay for their water usage – vs. using a well at no charge. When we arrived back at the homestead, Johnson’s sister made up porridge and evander for breakfast. And, it was actually one of the best oshifima and evander meals that I have had. After breakfast, Sem took several pictures of me on his cell phone, as did Sylvia, and then we left for Oshakati so that I could check email, we could pick up Delicious’ chain and then meet Tiela to get the disc utility before heading to meet Kimberlee, another summer volunteer, and one of her colleagues, Frans, at Bennie’s Entertainment Park in Ongwediva.
Bennie’s Park has a pool, picnic area, restaurant, DJ, water slide, trampolines and springboks and peacocks that wander around. I thought that Sylvia was headed home in the morning, but she must have changed her mind, as she came to Oshakati. Johnson said that she was going to visit a friend. But, when it came time to go to Bennie’s she came with us. I ended up having to pay for all of our admission to get in, which irritated me. It was not about the money, it was about the expectation that I pay. In Namibia, if you invite someone to do something, the expectation is that it is your treat. However, I did not invite Sylvia. Kind of like the situation in Oshikango with Lavinia. At the restaurant, the 7 of us that were there split 4 pizzas and had a bottle of champagne – at Frans insistance. Frans also insisted on picking up the entire bill – but Kimberlee and I both forced him to let us contribute. Kimberlee, who was a competitive diver at Penn State, was very excited about swimming in the pool. She brought two bathing suits – one for herself and one for me to borrow (since I was not aware we’d be coming to Bennie’s when I left Edundja). At lunch, Kimberlee was trying to convince some of the Namibians to swim. There were no takers, until Johnson reluctantly said that he’d do it. I am sure that the only reason that Johnson decided to swim was because he into Kimberlee. Add another Angel to the roster! Once Johnson was in the pool, I knew that the reason he agreed to swim was because he was into Kimberlee. He could barely stay afloat and looked like he was going to drown for the majority of time that he was in the water. We left Bennie’s Park around 4:30p and dropped Sylvia off in Oshakati to hike back to the village.
Once we got to Oshikango we picked up John Delicious and headed back to Edundja. On the way, Delicious said that something smelled “delicious” and he wanted to know what it was. I realized that it was the left over pizza that Frans had insisted that we take home. So when we got back to the homestead, Johnson and Delicious came in and we shared the left over pizza. It was the first time that Delicious had pizza and it was the most hysterical thing in the world to watch. He was pointing to various ingredients and asking what they were and holding his slice up for inspection from all angles. It was too cute. Once Johnson and Delicious left, I joined Kavari, Maria and the kids to watch a movie. Of course, I fell asleep during the movie.
Random Hilariousness: I'm not sure if I wrote about this - when referring to the day that Delicious left his flat with boiling macaroni on a hot plate and came back to a flat full of smoke, he says that he “fried the macaroni to ashes”, it’s not burned.
Delicious told me that he “was taken, but came back”, meaning that he had been drunk.
Delicious wore a khaki shirt with a little pocket on the sleeve, I liked to call it a Boy Scout shirt, and I asked him what he kept in the pocket. He said “Pepper, salt, chilis, cinnamon, whatever makes me delicious.”
Johnson said that he wants a wife that cooks, not boils.
When we shared the leftover pizza, Johnson and Delicious had a conversation over the rarity of napkins and said that the only places you get napkins are restaurants, lodges and hotels. Generally people use newspaper, a cloth towel or I guess toilet paper if they need a napkin.
Village champions – people who never leave the village and are always around
Delicious wanting me to help him correctly pronounce "metropolitan".
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