Watch the Walk

This last week I traveled back to Clove Island. It involved only 4 planes this time, but partway through the trip I was delayed, waiting for a storm to pass. Delayed two days. Now, I didn't know at first that it would be a two-day delay. At first, I only knew that my next flight was cancelled and I'd been rebooked on a flight the following day. The airline gave me a complimentary hotel and meals, so I headed off to sleep off some of the travel exhaustion. There were islanders at my hotel, but I greeted them in English, not the island language, because I wanted to rest. I was still on my own, and enjoying it. The next morning, while waiting for the shuttle back to the airport, I was looking at my phone when I heard a lady greet me: "Bweni Abby!" Uh oh. No more peace and privacy for me. I'm now officially back in Africa. It was an old neighbor/friend/student, who was traveling back from China. She proceeded to talk with me in the island language, while all the...

As I was considering what to write about, it occurred to me that I've never told the eyebrows story on my blog. "Eyebrow story?" you ask, with raised brows. Yep. Here we go: It was probably a month into my time on Clove Island. I'd learned some language, but not a lot, and I depended a lot on my neighbors to make sure I was properly dressed as I left the house. This one lady in particular seemed to enjoy checking on my language progress, often proclaiming to a nearby friend, "She doesn't understand AT ALL!" I suppose this was fascinating for her. Well, one day I was heading out of my neighborhood, to see a teammate on the other side of town, when this particular neighbor stopped me and called me over. "Woman, come here!"  I came over. "Closer!" I moved in closer. And the next thing I knew, she had an eyebrow pencil out and was greasing my face with big, beautiful eyebrows. She pulled out a hand mirror and gave it to me...