The arms... awoku

31.Jan.2011

Another cultural difference I’m falling in love with… (BTW, awoku is arm in Shitzwa)

I guess I’ll start this off with a question to you… Am I naturally funny? Do you usually laugh with me or at me? Either way, really, I just hope you are at least laughing cause smiles and laughs are great and contagious. A smile or a laugh will spread faster than fire….

With that being said, I don’t want to sound arrogant because I don’t think it is just me. I think people here genuinely smile and laugh easier and I love it. It makes my job so much easier! But something I’ve noticed when they laugh at something I say or do (because, if it wasn’t already obvious, I do joke a lot and put myself in that position when trying new things), they swing their arm toward you and you are suppose to be ready to receive a low high five hand grab, but just a quick one. Sometimes you hold on for longer… The first time I really noticed it, I thought it was just that person. Nope, it seems like everybody does it…and it starts at a young age cause the criencas (kids) I play with in my community do it, too. I’m getting use to having my hand ready to receive the laughs…. J

I think a lot of the laughs come from me being a mulungu (white person) trying to learn Shitzwa for one (a mulungu speaking Shitzwa, I get amazed faces every time I say even just one word), and from me being a mulungu trying to balance things on my head, and from me being a mulungu…yep, just being a mulungu (cause everything I do is different…and if it was the same, that’s amazing!) I mean, how many mulungus do you see in Makwakwa? And then they put someone like me here. I laugh because they are probably basing a normal mulungu with me… and I’m the person who like the many compliments I get of being crazy…