Catch Up
Posted By Sika on July 8, 2007
I’m not sure how to catch y’all up. On one hand, not much has happened. On the other, tons has happened. It feels like the 21 of us have been here forever. As if for forever we have been getting up at 5:30, stumbling out to the chimbudzi in the dim dawn; bathing in the bafa under rosy colored clouds, trying desperately to pour enough hot water over ourselves to counteract the cold morning breezes; going to language class and technical, where we try to tempt sad (and gimpy) puppy, suspicious puppy, and curious puppy into letting us pet them.
There is something absolutely blissful about standing in the bafa (that would be 4 mud walls without a roof, usually) in the light from the setting sun, a crescent moon above and the first stars just starting to come out, pouring water as hot as you can stand until the steam rises from your skin. About 30 seconds later, there is something absolutely horrible as once again you feel the cold wind, gusting over your now wet skin. The bafa is where we bathe, and before it got cold, I thought it was the best idea in the world. I was so naïve. You get a basin filled with hot water just off the fire and a bucket filled with cold water and a scoop to adjust the water temperature to your liking. When it was warm, I could stand in the bafa forever–it was so peaceful and quiet and beautiful and no one was going to bother you because to bother you they’d have to deal with you naked.
Then it got cold. Now the bafa is best taken as hunched over as you can manage–trying to clean as quickly as possible. Things are liable to be forgotten. I think I’ve finally worked out a system. Hairwashing happens only at night; the early morning hours are too damn freezing for it. The morning bafa, however, is goo for things like washing underwear, which can’t be washed with other clothes (because it must be private) and must be hung up in my room (my underwear, not other people’s, because that would just be weird).
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