Sometimes All You Can Do Is Laugh

"You are fat."

This is what one of my coworkers told me a couple of weeks ago...and yes, all I could do was laugh.  I know he didn't mean it in the "fat" sense of the word, and I was quite tickled by his choice of words.  After telling me how fat I am, he quickly added on, "...But not fattest."  He was trying to say that I am bigger than him, but I am not huge (I think).  He's a little toothpick of a guy so I guess I kind of understood where he was going with the statement.  If I didn't have thick skin before, I definitely will have it by the time I get back to America because these kinds of (unintentionally rude) statements are made on the daily.  But...you can't help but laugh because they have no idea what they're actually saying.

"You have the strength of a boy."

I'm pretty used to people telling me how buff I am and how strong I must be by now so instead of bothering me, this statement, too, made me laugh.  My coworker noticed that I prefer to walk everywhere over taking a moto and when he saw me walking back from the market with two bags full of food (it's a 30 minute walk btw), he said to me, "You have the strength of a boy.  If you kick someone, they will die."  I cracked up at his metaphor of my strength.  Can you say a little extreme??

"I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Walking home from work one day, a crazed man runs up to me and says, "I've been looking everywhere for you!"  I just looked at him with an are-you-sure-you-were-looking-for-me face.  He proceeded to say a huge jumble of words in Kinyarwanda, and based on his hand motions and gestures, I understood that he was having joint problems and needed my help.  I did my best to tell him that I'm not a doctor, but he insisted that I help him immediately.  I didn't know what to do.  This man would not let me continue on my way home and was not taking, "I'm not a doctor" for an answer.  All of this was taking place just outside of the bar that is on the way to my house and I guess the bartender could see my discomfort in the situation so she came out and told the man that he would have to wait and visit the health center tomorrow because I am not a doctor or a nurse.  And when I finally was able to continue my short journey home, all I could do was laugh.  Who on Earth told this man to come looking for me??  Out of all the nurses that live in the area, he comes looking for the one person who can't help him.

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea