Slapped...in the Face...AGAIN!

The day after I returned from training, I went to work and not even one hour went by before I was slapped in my face...TWICE!  After the initial shock and getting over my bruised ego and hurt feelings, I thought to myself, man, you guys really must have missed me.  I absolutely positively love the affection and the fact that my coworkers like me so much, but isn't there a less aggressive, less painful way for them to show their feelings??  A slap in the face doesn't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.  And it's not just a tap to the cheek either...it's more like a...here, see for yourself.  Hold your hand up next to your face and then make contact with your cheek with the same force that you would if you were clapping your hands...and then push your head to the side.  If you did it how it's done to me here, you probably bruised your own ego a bit and here is where I welcome you to my world  :-P

I've said on several occasions that I don't like that "kind" gesture, but I guess it's just something that I'm going to have to get used to.  When someone gets really excited telling a story, they slap you; if you do something or have something really cool, they slap you; if you've been gone for a while and come back, they slap you...I guess if I were to compare the gesture to something in America, it would be the little shoulder shove that ladies give each other when they are telling a story or someone cracks a small joke...kind of like the "girl-shut-up" shove.  It's a playful shove, and I guess the slap is supposed to be the same thing...except in my eyes, it's not all that "playful."

I didn't mention this in the last post, but when I first arrived back to my house after training, I noticed a bunch of HUGE

insect wings all over my floor.  I don't know what kind of bugs they came from seeing as there were no bodies...just wings.  One of my neighbors came to visit me when he saw that I was back and when I asked him what they were, he just said "Don't worry" and began to sweep the bodiless wings out the front door.  Still curious as to what these critters were that had invited themselves into my house and then told themselves to die there, I decided I would ask when I got to work the next day.

During my short (2-minute) walk to work, I noticed the same insect wings that were in my house were scattered all over the road and health center grounds.  When I made it into the staff meeting, it hadn't started yet so I asked a coworker, "What are those from?"  She said, "Inyama!"  I was very baffled and taken aback by her response so I said in Kinyarwanda, "It's what??!" Her response again was, "Inyama!" only this time it was accompanied by laughter.  She proceeded to go outside and when she returned, she was holding an elongated roach/wasp looking critter in her hands and held it out as if I was supposed to let her drop it in my hand.  I gave her my best not-gonna-happen look and she told me that during the rainy season, these little guys come out and the people go out late at night to catch them all so they can mix them into the sauce that goes with cassava.  Oooooh, I thought to myself, that would explain why I saw only wings and no bodies.  My coworker attempted to hand me the critter again, and shockingly, this time I obliged.  I made a scrunchy face, turned my head to the right, and held out my hand.  She dropped it into my hand and laughed her little heart out as I squirmed and whined until she took it back.  Now that I know what's in the sauce, I definitely won't be eating any cassava from anyone any time soon...or during any rainy season for that matter.

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea

P.S. "Inyama" means meat. Gross right??