I don't know why, but this kills me: the word for papaya in Chichewa is papaya. Malawians are taught that in English, papaya is paw-paw (thanks, British colonialism). No matter how many times I tell people I say papaya, they persist in calling it paw-paw. Which, naturally, makes me constantly think of the only pop culture reference to paw-paw I know of, in the song "The Bare Necessities" from the Disney classic, The Jungle Book.
Such are my daily thoughts. In other news, my papaya tree fell down, shortly before round 2 of papaya season is supposed to begin. Apparently a papaya disease is going around Malawi killing trees.
Oh, and in other news, I got electricity!!!! It arrived while I was off on Christmastime travels, so we set it up when I got back. Let me tell you, nothing makes you feel like a rich mzungu like 4 or so young men digging a ditch to connect you to the church's electricity, then doing the same thing a day later to connect to water!!! That's right, not only do I get electricity, but I also have my very own hose. It's practically America over here with all these amenities. Yesterday, I just sat on my floor with my fan blowing into my face, eating cheese cracker snacks from a care package. This is bliss, people.
Of course, today I woke up to a blackout, with no clue when power will be back. Oh well.
And now back to my regularly scheduled programming: grading tests and lesson planning for Term 2, which begins on Monday!
They called it paw-paw in Ghana too! British colonialism ftw.
ReplyDelete-Jackie