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April 8, 2000
Everyone who lives in this village watches me instead of the television. They've never seen an American, especially one with a computer, up close, and they're all really curious. They all patiently and quietly stare at me. I'm more interesting than TV. A lot of people live here - parents, grandparents, sons and daughters - and they live in a group of houses, all of which are close to each other. How many of your relatives live with you? Or even near you?
And get this: there's almost no furniture! It's not that the people are poor. They just do things differently here. All the rooms have big windows, beautiful carpets, and pillows against the walls to lean against. Even the old grandparents plop down on the floor, "Indian-style." They sleep on the floor, too, and they use pit toilets, so they have to be able to hunker down to do their business!
Lunchtime is a big deal. We all sit down on the floor, and we eat off of plates on a big place mat on the floor. Everyone kept refilling my plate - with delicious saffron rice, spinach and bean and lots of orange soda - so much that I couldn't eat it all. I felt rude for not finishing it all, but it would have been ruder to get sick all over their beautiful rugs! After lunch, everyone sat around talking, from kids to old people. What do you and your family do after meals? Abeja p.s. - Please e-mail me at ...abejahummel@bigfoot.com Home | Search | Teacher Zone | Odyssey Info |
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