Laughter is Universal

July 31, 2013

Ki musihali sha! (Good afternoon)

If there's one thing I've learned already it's that laughter connects us all, no matter what language we speak or understand. When I studied abroad in Costa Rica, I at least understood most of what was being said, and if I didn't completely get it I still got the idea. But here...wow. My host family speak Afrikaans, and while I can catch a few words here and there, I have no clue what they are talking about. And even though there is a communication barrier, we still laugh at the same things or at each other. 

Most host families have done this plenty of times before, however, mine has not. That means I'm the guinea pig. I know it must be weird for them. All of a sudden an english speaking 24 year old white female with tattoos has moved into their house for an awkward two months. We do everything differently. But that hasn't gotten in the way of communicating with each other. I absolutely adore my host mom. She's laid back, motherly, and best of all, sarcastic. We laugh when we don't understand each other and we try our hardest to get the message across. Jolene, her daughter, speaks English pretty well. She's about to finish high school and aspires to be an accountant of sorts. The 3 grand kids are hilarious and incredibly rambunctious...at first they were confused by me, but now they are glued to my side. When I'm in my room they follow. When I'm looking in my bags for something, they "help" me dig through my stuff to find what I'm looking for. When I'm sitting on my bed the three of them are climbing all over me and rambling in Afrikaans. The four year old gets frustrated when I don't know what he's saying, but he is the silliest one always trying to make me laugh. The 6 year old tries to translate for me and is willing to help me out with anything I may need that he could possibly understand, and the 3 year old is happy just to make me smile. 

I showed them the photo booth on my iPad and I've never heard kids laugh so hard in my life.

Here, I'll throw in some normal pictures so that you can get those terrifying images out of your head:

They call the one on the left Mr. Miyagi. Lol....like...the whole town knows him as that...and i find that hilarious. I think his real name is Baba...or that means brother in Afrikaans....hell if I know. I'm sure I'll figure it out. Anyway, I will close this blog with some random pictures around Veddersdahl (the town I live in). As they would say in Silozi....muzusuhande...good night!