Village Life

Just another day in the kampung

A friend asked me the other day, "How's life in the village?" I just had to sigh. Some days it is more fun than others. Sometimes you realize the benefits of not having everyone know all the details of your life and keeping track of your coming and going. The benefits of going wherever and doing whatever. The benefit of not getting stopped every time you enter or exit your house by the landlord who lives across the street and wants to talk or the neighbor who lives next door and wants to know where you are going and where the rest of your roommates are.

This afternoon my roommate and I took a short walk through the neighborhood and stumbled upon a large group of women and children hanging out. We struck up simple conversation with them. They asked us where we were going, where we lived, our names, etc. The crowd slowly grew larger as more kids gathered and more women came out of their homes. It is amazing to me how many people can be living in seemingly such a small area. Suddenly we had a whole group of people standing around us just starring, like we were a spectacle and unlike anything they had seen before. They did not know what to say and honestly neither did we. We spent a few minutes trying to play with the kids and teach them a hand game- one of those where you stand in a circle, sing a song, and people get out if they are the last one to get the slap. Quickly though the sun began to set and it was time for everyone to go home. There was talk of "let's do this again," "see you later," "come to my house to visit tomorrow" and then the crowd dispersed.

Oh village life, some days you overwhelm me.