When in Doubt, Tag Along

As I sit here in my room, lit only by the ambience of the very computer I type on, I can’t stop grinning and shaking my head. I’m pretty sure one of the only things I said to Mike, Roger, and Julie (my fellow BVCer and the Aussies, respectively) before parting ways for the night was, “Was that real life?”
I should start from the beginning though. We have learned yet another valuable lesson: When in doubt, tag along. We had no idea what to expect when we learned we would be travelling to Hanga with this Australian couple. What a blessing it has been to be with them. We became an instantly connected team of 4 for the week, and that has provided us with some unique experiences and perspectives on this wonderful and ridiculous place we’ll be housed at until spring. With the whole Africa Time thing, we never have really known where we should be or when we should be there, but the theme has been that eventually Br. Patrick (essentially Julie and Roger’s personal tour guide) will ask us to join them. The two most recent experiences of this are as follows:
1. Ceremony of Vows for the Sisters of Chipole
I’m not even going to mention the name of the restaurant that Chipole is probably making you think of, because, unlike my Breakthrough Leaders Program (BLP) students in the Boundary Waters this summer, I cannot continuously think about and talk about all the wonderful foods I don’t have.
Anyway, yesterday we were offered the chance to go to Songea (the nearest large town, complete with fastish internet cafes, places to eat, and a semi-bustling marketplace). Naturally, we jumped on our first chance to connect ourselves to the hub of any non-village life we want to have. Br. Patrick briefly mentioned that we’d stop at Perimiho (the German monastery that essentially spawned Hanga), and we did. He also mentioned we’d make it to Chipole, and did we ever. That morning we remembered people mentioning that there would be women taking their vows to join the Benedictine Sisters of Chipole (the caravan full of nuns along with Br. Patrick, Fr. Francis, and ourselves was a great reminder).
We left at 7am and got there at 9am-just in time for a quick breakfast in their Refectory. At 9:30am the service began (Mass and vow ceremony) and at about 2:00pm we were leaving the gorgeously decorated church…Yep, 4 AND A HALF HOURS! It was phenomenal! Young girls were altar dancing, there was singing and swaying constantly, a bishop was presiding, people would cheer (and indescribable high-pitched noise made by some form of quickly moving their tongues side to side), and the 6 women making their vows had a heck of a ceremony. Their parents presented them, they read and signed their vows, they processed with their vows around the church, and their parents brought offerings. By offerings, I mean your typical corn, bananas, and chickens…Yep, there was a line of people bringing all sorts of foods (mostly carried on their heads) to the altar. I can honestly say that I have never been to that long of a service, and I have never seen an elderly woman blow on a whistle while approaching the altar with a chicken under her arm. Priceless.
After the ceremony the celebration continued. We were told to follow the singing and dancing, and we followed it to a large outdoor gathering space where the village was fed rice (huge utility pales filled to the brim with rice everywhere!). Let’s just say we didn’t go unnoticed among the village full of peers wearing traditional African attire…Our sticking out made us an easy target for the dancers. Unfortunately, we didn’t understand what they were calling to us, but it became pretty clear it was an invitation to join very quickly. Everyone for women around our age to women getting up there in age to men our age seemed to take turns dancing with Roger, Mike, and me. Let’s just saying we didn’t quite know how to respond, but we did our best and had a good time with it.
Moral of the story: tagging along for Chipole was a great call.
2. “There’s some sort of feast going on… Patrick said he invited you…”
After our first game of football (soccer) with the monks today, Mike and I were exhausted. Mike was exhausted from running and impressing the monks, and I was exhausted from running and giving them cause to laugh at my meager attempts to look like I could play anywhere near their level (ask Mike though, I had my moments). We honestly contemplated hitting the hay at 8, but decided to see how late Hanga Food Land (a village shop run by the Abbey) was open. I got my much anticipated mango juice (delicious of course) and we headed to see if the internet was working.
Earlier today we had yet another bout of the “Where’sPatricks”, and Mike and I decided to go rest while we waited, so we gave Roger my phone number so he could tell us when Patrick was located (oh Africa Time). This was quite a lucky decision, because on our way to the internet, I got a call from Roger (which is weird, because he never calls me- FRIENDS reference). I answered, and he simply said something to the effect of “There’s some sort of feast going on. They slaughtered a pig and there’s dancing. Patrick said he invited you. You should really check it out. It’s right by the computer lab.”
This sounded like some sort of prank (something to the effect of “Go out to the middle of that open field where we saw that herd of lions (we still haven’t seen lions). There’s a surprise for you.”) However, we decided to check it out, and it’s a darn good thing.
I’ll try to keep the description short, in part because “there are no words- only emotions”. It turns out the Fantastic Four (the Aussies and us) were the guests of honor at this Trade School feast (remember, it’s unlikely we’ll even teach at the Trade School, although we’d love to work for Patrick). The students sat on rows of benches facing us as we began eating (since we, in fact, had not been made aware of said feast, Mike, Roger, and I had eaten dinner about 30 minutes prior). Don’t worry, the students eventually got food too.
Anyway, the students spent hours decorating the room, and it was beautiful (even with the faint smell of the nearby livestock looming in the distance). After we ate, the students put on a little performance, and it reminded me a little of Breakthrough. They sang and danced, even singing songs including our names (Patrick claims he didn’t tell them our names, but they figured it out). There was definitely some breakdancing involved, which gives me all the more hope that I can teach them “The Jerk”. They then performed a hilarious skit (in Swahili) about two guys tricking each other in order to keep all the food for themselves.
This was all mostly to think Roger and Julie for all the help they had been/they help they plan to continue to be in advising the best way to go about connecting the students more and more with the world through better internet (great news for volunteers like us too). Somehow it also came to include a welcome to Mike and I, and I must say it was a distinct honor to be part of such a thing.
Finally, I just wanted to mention that I will no longer apologize for the length of my blogs, because, let’s be real, you can just choose to wait and hear the stories firsthand if you want. Still, don’t get used to them being this long. Remember, I’m still waiting to start my actual work.
P.S.- I tried SKYPE in the computer lab (we’re told it doesn’t work well). I didn’t have my webcam with me, but I was able to speak with the one and only JOE “COOLEST KID EVER” WONDERLICH, and it worked pretty well. Good news. And you’re welcome Joe.
Well, time to see if my dreams can be anywhere close to as ridiculous as tonight was.