I just got back from a weekend with my home-stay family, and it was wonderful! They were all very impressed with the amount of language I had learned since leaving them, and I was glad to be able to speak to them more in depth :).
On Saturday I ran around the village with my two best friends, Rima and Sosmita. We went from house to house having tea with many families. I was able to tell these families my short testimony and a story about Dad's son, so I enjoyed having something to give them. I got to watch Rima's dad while he was fishing, while Rima helped. I tried to help also, but the family wouldn't let me since it would involve me digging around in very dirty mud for small fish. I watched from the outside as they gathered the fish into their baskets, flung mud back into the river, and flung big fish out to where we were standing. That night I ate some cokura that they had caught, cokura being some sort of river crab. I also ate a sour bean off a tree. It tasted a bit like sour candy, but I was 95% sure I shouldn't be eating the bean, so I didn't have much more :)!
The girls were really good about teaching me a song - its about the beautiful world around us. I'm not sure if its the right language or not, but its close.
On Sunday I saw some henna on the hand of the girl next to me and asked if I could have some today. I thought maybe t would be too much trouble to go buy some henna. Haha, silly city girl! Rima took me to her friends house and picked the henna plant right off the tree! Then we took it back to the house where she ground it into paste to put on my hands. It reminds me of a fake tan. My hands are VERY orange! At a gathering that night I got to sing my newly learnt song plus two others I had learned. Then I was pressed to sing one more song, in English. After singing, they asked for one more - this went on for a few more rounds before I convinced them to sing to me! It was a very fun night, where I got to play and laugh with many of the villagers that I usually pass on the road. It was a very fun night.
It really was a great weekend, and I learned my testimony and short story by heart for telling it to so many people! It was great to see my house family again, and to find out the news of the village (my friend Rika is pregnant!!) .
