Am I hip? Or am I more punk? – May 28

Men hold men, women hold women, but never will you see a man holding a woman in public. Many men wear what we'd call women’s pants. I can't tell who'd be considered "the socially awkward," “the cool,” “the punk,” “the hip.” Haha, I don’t know – but my natural "stereo-typing" techniques from Canada definitely can't be applied here; hence my senses are going bonkers. And who knows where I fit in – wait can I fit in? I wear a jetengje (wrap around skirt), which 99% of the women in Ntchisi wear and use for everything. And my hair style is like most women here – short. Though it’s growing straight up and out, and kinda spiky. Most women have short hair like the men because it takes time and money to maintain it. Plus it keeps the bugs down. One of the first questions I got when I arrived in Ntchisi was: “Do you have lice problems in Canada?”

I’m still horrible at remembering people’s names and where I’ve met them and I still get people confused, which makes me feel horrible. Yesterday, I said hi to a gentleman at work. I thought I’d met him last week...so I said that I’d forgotten his name. We exchanged names and it became evident that we actually hadn't met last week and that this was our first encounter...I’m hoping things got lost in translation.