Village Gossip.

Pattie continues to be wonderful about sending news from home…

It seems the Thomaso Peanut-in-the-Nose drama is over. It came out on its own the other day when he blew his nose. A bit anticlimactic, but still great.

Pattie passed along specific greetings from our neighbors today. Laudina said to greet us “bino-no-no-no” (very, very, very much) and that when we come home, we’ll all “eyaba” (chat). Abuba says she’s praying I’ll be better soon—“Elwak iso Hollum.” (God will help me.)—and that she thinks about us “saa hien dang” (“all the time”). That’s the Lopit way of saying they miss you.

The real funny update was that five monyemiji descended on the house today, coming from a group up at the mangot, where all the men gather and talk about important (or not-so-important) village matters. They requested that Pattie come out and settle a dispute. “We need help. We have an argument.” The argument? They couldn’t agree on who it was that fell off the bike—Kim (Oudo) or me (Ifeja). I guess there was a split in opinion. Hahahaha. That Oudo/Ifeja, one person/two people, which-is-which confusion may never, ever clear up, I’m afraid. Sigh. Anyway, Pattie set them straight. She said they disappeared back to the mangot just as quickly as they’d come. Hahaha.

It’s funny, to think of a bunch of warrior guys, sitting up on their mighty bamboo, communal throne, debating such important issues as which one of the whiteys was stupid enough to biff it on her bike...