Back to "ordinary" PC life

In the interest of moving forward following all that happened 2 weeks ago, I will bump that last post one notch farther down. To replace it, here are a couple of highly random events that I witnessed/took part in this week. I've said this before, but once again, such things almost become ordinary events precisely because of how far out of the ordinary they are. I know I forget many would-be great stories for this blog, because I sometimes fail to recognize even as noteworthy what only a few months ago seemed so remarkable. Things just seem to go that way - random is the norm. At least I remembered a few here.

1. Wednesday - My boss tells me he'd like to petition the local construction company to help out with some small projects at our school (nice idea).  He claims they'll do it for free out of moral obligation. He asks me if I could come with him to their offices. He explains that my being white will give us an advantage, will get us more credibility and people will take our requests seriously. I feel terrible hearing this, though really it sounds farfetched. I go anyway. I plan to convey strength - I will stand, arms folded and flexing, as my boss lists our demands. But when we meet with the higher-ups at the office - some white South Africans - my boss immediately defers to me to speak. I hardly even know what we are asking for, but nevertheless I clumsily attempt to ask for vague construction jobs to be done for free. I wait for my boss to bail me out, but he goes silent. The Afrikaaners look right through him, only acknowledging me. They couldn't care less about my boss, despite him being older and more knowledgable on the subject. I feel awkward being something like the beneficiary of such blatant racism, but, its all for my school, so I go along.

In any case, the relevant decision maker was not there so we were told to come back the next morning, which leads to...

2. Thursday - The short story is, I kidnap a girl while sporting a goatee. But if you're curious here's the more complete version. My boss says he'll pick me up at 6am to go back to the construction company. By 6:30, I haven't heard from him, so I decide I better just start getting ready for school (this is a mistake, I should have learned Africa Time by now). I start to shave. My left cheek is half shaven when my boss calls - he's outside waiting. I sculpt the fastest thing I can that leaves me looking non-crazy, which happens to be this truly hideous goatee. We have some luck at the construction company, with the result of a representative coming with us to see the school. So now I am headed to school with my ugly facial art.

We do our business at school, then drive to drop the representative back off. On the way, a young primary school girl is very late walking to her own school (which is about 2.5 miles away). My boss points this out and I convince him to give her a ride, since we'll be passing her school (this is pretty common practice). We're driving a converted flatbed truck with a front cabin that's more or less sound-proofed from the rear. The girl sits down in the rear. We then forget about her. We pass her school, pass that village, and reach the construction office. Only when we're all getting out of the car, the girl knocks on the window and yells, "Sir!" We all look at one another in shock - she is now nowhere near her school. But my boss wants to carry on, and have one more meeting before we go. So the girl just sits locked in the back of the truck. Remember, I still have a goatee. When we finally get going, my boss lectures the young girl for not alerting us when we passed her school the first time. This all comes to a merciful end as she gets out, and I head home to shave more completely before finally going to teach at 11am.

3. [WARNING - GROSS AND SADISTIC] Friday - A cow is being slaughtered to prepare for a funeral tomorrow (Quick tangent - 3 weeks ago a girl from our primary school was hit by a car - horrible story. From a selfish standpoint, I feel fortunate in that I didn't know her, but it's still really tragic). We're at the family's home saying some prayers, and that's where the cow is being killed. It falls down after being jabbed in the base of the neck. As it lays dying, it's tail is chopped off. Men then pick up the tail... to use it as a whip, to beat the dying cow. I feel sad for the girl's death, and now sad for the cow. Then I ponder whether a cow (any cow, let alone a dying cow) can perceive the irony of being beat with it's own severed tail. I sigh, and watch the men skin the cow for a few minutes. Finally, I head home.