Is it?

The term 'Is it?' is a favorite among South Africans, no matter where you are and who you're talking to. They love to follow up statements with questions but 'Is it?' has proved to be quite powerful around these parts. For example:

"Nolundi, it is going to be a beautiful day today. I heard the forecast calls for sunshine and a few clouds this evening."
"Is it?"

Not so bad, right? Not exactly the word choice I would use to follow up the first statement but it's not far off. But then it's better:

"I was talking to Wonga earlier and he said he was really sad about all of the new volunteers leaving this weekend."
"Is it?"

No, I believe the proper follow-up term would be "Is he?", as in, "Is he sad they are leaving?" But no, "Is it?" always wins in this case. They love it and I'm considering adding it to my international vocabulary right below "Scusa" and "Non c'e male!". Epic.

I guess I never really told you about the house and living situations here. In the past 2 months I have lived in 3 different rooms with three different sets of roommates. Each one of the 11 rooms in the house is named after one of the 11 official languages of South Africa. On my first day I was placed in Setswana. This room was at the back of the house above the back den and it holds 6 people. Unfortunately it is a loft so it has no door and noise carries into it at all hours of the day. I am an avid fan of the post-lunch nap to rev up engines for the rest of the day and I was never able to do that in Setswana. Nothing personal against the roommates, we even had one extra bed so we had more room to place our stuff. Just couldn't deal with the noise.

Within less than a week this crazy girl Claire left our program (another story for another very long day) and there was a spot open in Maura/Danielle's room. They lived in the carriage house next to side of the big house where I was living. I moved in there as soon as I could and we loved it. The official name was Isi Zulu but men were usually in that room so it became known as the 'Man Cave'. We turned that right around and began to call it the 'Chateau'. I looooved it in there because it kept us out of the craziness in the house when we wanted peace and it had it's own bathroom. We had more than enough counters and shelving and an extra sink because at one time I think there was a kitchen in there. We even had a futon and a bean bag chair to throw our stuff on. Nothing glamorous but it was perfect for us. Our other roommate is this amazing girl from Brooklyn, Nneka. Nneka loves Brooklyn like I love Chicago and she isn't afraid to show it. She's black and it's amazing watching her run around this country because she feels so connected to it and has so much pride. Nneka is a networker and knows everyone here. She has people from Georgetown (her alma mater), her sorority, her Auntie's friends, her Mama's friends, her grandma's friends, her friend's ex-fiance...this list goes on and on. This girl is fearless and I have mad respect for her. She'll go into the townships alone, take the mini-bus taxis, and basically form a friendship with anyone who will talk. It shows in her social life because she is always finding out about crazy things to do here and there, gets great deals on all of these beautiful African dresses she's buying, and she just really has it going on here. I definitely see Nneka moving here within the next year.

Nneka and I were eventually pushed out of the Chateau back into the house when the new group arrived. The boys were put back in their Man Cave (it stinks now, literally) and we were moved into a 4-person bedroom called Sesotho. At least we both have bottom bunks now. Sesotho is a nice sized 4-person room with a lot of natural light. Our two new roommates are Tara and Natalie, both Canadians, both right about 30. Really really sweet and ambitious girls, too bad they're leaving this weekend. Nneka and I will be all alone for our last week here...way to make it even more of a downer than it already is. But at least in this room for my last month I was able to finally hang up all of my incredible cards and letters of encouragement from everyone back home and the few pictures that I brought. Maura and Danielle left me pictures of them before I left so I'm usually stuck falling asleep staring at their faces :-)

Feeling AMAZING today, went to placement. It's so hard going now because the kids have really become attached and have become very comfortable with me now. It's no longer 'Miss this' or 'Mama that'. They call me Jessica and have started saying 'I love you'. It pains my heart every time they do this because they are so clueless that I only have 6 more days with them. I dread next Friday more than anything, it gives me such anxiety to think about that last day.

Tomorrow we're making hats and next week I want to plan another craft before I go. On my last day we're face painting, dancing, and having a massive party. Hillary is going to come back for one last day to do dancing with us and to help me get through what I imagine to be one of the biggest challenges of my trip-letting go. But I'm bringing copious amounts of junk food and soda and juice and letting them go wild. They deserve it.

Going out to dinner for the first time in 13 days (I'm not counting the crying incident at Belthazar).....so pumped for real food.