Justin Bieber, I'm begining to know how you feel..

Ok, so I don't have crazy 12 year old girls trying to tackle me down, but if you are a white female in Africa you are going to get a lot more attention than you bargained for. Sarah who is 19, the house keeper, and my friend took me to get some tomatoes today from street vendors. We walked out of the barricaded property and through about two blocks of muddy, red dirt roads passing some people that she knew,  street peddlers, locals walking home, and school children that were dressed in uniforms. Every single person stared. Some smiled, some waved, some said "hi" or "obeei" which means "white person" and some didn't say any thing at all.  Sarah kindly explained to me why the people stared at me the way they do. They stare because they are curious of why I'm here. They think I might be a journalist, or some sort of celebrity or researcher. Plus let's face it, I just stick out! On our way to get tomatoes we came across a large group of school children coming home from school. They all got really excited and started jumping up and down and waving and smiling at us. Sarah also introduced me to some of her friends and they were all very cordial and friendly. After we purchased the tomatoes in a fly infested street market, we went back home to cook spaghetti. While we were cooking she and George, the other house helper took pictures of me and sent it to their friend on their Blackberries haha even people in Africa have better phones than me!! It's ironic that I am so interesting to them, when really I think they are the ones who are interesting. People in the streets ask why I take pictures. They don't seem to understand why carrying things on your head is weird or that selling things in the street is out of the ordinary. It is the culture and way of life that interests me so much I have to explain to them. We don't have this in the U.S...etc. They are always open to pictures but seem to question them every time. Since my arrival here, I have eaten like an African and tried to experience life as an African, so when I unpinned the laundry from the line I carried it in a basket on top of my head in true African style.  Hey, why not? Well, today was my day off. I slept in most of the day, went out with Sarah, helped around the house, played jump rope and did cartwheels in the yard with the girls and hung out with the family. In a nut shell that was about it. It was a very relaxed day indeed. Tomorrow I am supposed to go to work and go to the market for groceries and a new cell phone. Wahoo. Hopefully it will be a little more action packed and interesting to write about. I look forward to visiting the beach and the gold mines soon! Laterrrrr, -English