Fender Bender

I have been meeting with my student for a few weeks now. For one of our lessons I had cut out photos from magazines. I chose things that I thought might interest her, or that I thought would help introduce American culture topics.

One of the photos was of a giant pick-up truck from a car advertisement. The discussion went in a direction I was not anticipating. She started asking me about car parts.

What is the compartment called between the two seats?

I don't know.

What is the space that some cars have in the back of the car between the window and the back seat?

I am not sure that has a name. I just call it "the very back."

She asked about stuff under the hood, in the interior, and along the outside. I wasn't much help.

Then she asked something I could answer. She pointed to a thing on the front of the truck.

What is that called?


The bumper.

Finally, something I knew! This encouraged me to keep going.

Do you know what it is called when one car bumper hits another car bumper?

No.


A fender bender.

Laughter. Confusion. Spelling. Attempts at pronunciation. Then...

I hope I never have one of those.


More laughter.

just Sheri, questioning my value as a tutor

discovered: the origins of white skin

I have mentioned before the obvious lack of dairy products in Mozambique. I miss cheese options. I hardly use milk and I never drink it, but I still miss the availability of fresh milk.

This weekend I was with some friends at a beach. One of them told the funniest story about an interaction he had with a kid he works with. The kid had a theory - white people have white skin and they eat cheese and drink milk, Mozambicans have black skin and dairy is not part of their diet. Therefore, white skin must be associated with dairy consumption. Now, take this theory to the real world...

The friend is a white man from America. The kid is Mozambican. The location is a local take-away shop.

Take-away shop keeper asks something about how the friend and kid know each other.

Friend:  this is my son

Shop Keeper:  how is that possible?

Kid:  he's eaten more dairy than I have, I am just trying to catch up.

Ha!

Did you have any interesting theories when you were a kid? I had been told that people lived in the water drain, for a while I believed them.

Sheri

Good hair?

I have thick, straight, medium brown hair. It doesn't hold curl. It must be washed daily or it gets greasy. In Africa, my hair is a source of amusement - why, oh why, would I wash my hair every day? Because I must, I can't get away with that once a week hair salon trick they do. My hair basically just hangs off my head, anything else is a whole lot of effort and I just can't be bothered. Most day's it goes back in a rubber band, that's it, nothing more. I've often wanted waves in my hair, but that isn't what I was born with. The blessing of my hair; I wash, I go - no fuss, no frills. It fits my lifestyle.

Is hair really that big of a deal?

While visiting New Mexico there were multiple conversations with family about hair. My aunts have spent years getting relaxers as they have more kinky hair than I. One aunt had a bad relaxer session and had chunks of hair fall out from the top of her head, she was sporting a very stylish comb over with the hair that remained while the other hair grew out. My aunts grew up using flat irons and still use them daily. If Kenyon and I are blessed with a little girl, I have no idea what I will do about her hair - probably call my family for advice. My cousin (and first boss) has mixed daughters. I asked her for her solution,"keep it short, when they get older and want it long they can do it themselves." If I have a daughter, I will need lessons. During one of the many hair conversations, I shared with my family a song by my favorite recording artist, India Arie, titled "I am not my hair." You can view it here. It's all about hair and the expectations/perceptions society has of it.

In Virginia, the topic of hair came up again. Black hair in particular as Ramone does not like to comb his and his adopted momma doesn't like to fight with him about it. It is in this conversation that I learned about Chris Rock's documentary on black hair, called Good Hair. He made this documentary when one of his daughters asked him why she doesn't have "good hair." We rented it one night from the Red Box. I recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about black culture. I learned some things from it myself; the fake hair industry is dominated by Asians rather than black entrepreneurs and weave is a serious investment costing more than I ever realised. My absolute favorite though, was the term "tumble weave," we see this phenomena often in Africa. In fact, I have regular sightings at our apartment complex. What is it? Watch the movie and find out.

Kenyon was surprised by the largest supplier of weave. Where does all that hair come from? Mostly India. From women who have their head shaved as part of religious ceremonies. Suppliers then collect it from the temples, prepare it and export it globally. The women who donated it see no proceeds for their valuable hair. I had previously read about this in a news article from the BBC. Indian women have beautiful hair, I understand why others would covet it.

What is your definition of "good hair?"