Thursday, February 10, 2011

Ba Gypsy.

First off: I apologize for the lack of recent posts on here. But, I promise this is a good story.

While boarding the bus one morning, Stefan, Ike, and Aaron started sharing a story about the night before. Sandy, their 14-yr-old host brother, was apparently fascinated by gypsies. He was asking question after question about them. "Have you ever seen a gypsy?", "Do you ever want to meet a gypsy?", "What do gypsies look like?", etc. We were laughing and talking about how funny it was that someone would be so interested in gypsies, but Sandy's a funny guy and we enjoyed the laugh.

Later that night, we were at a host family dinner at Mama Lillian's house. Nkhongono, Mama Lillian's son and the boy's little host brother, who hung out with us almost every day, started asking questions about gypsies, as well. I think he overheard us talking about Sandy's fascination, but it was funny that we had all these random questions about gypsies. I've honestly never put that much though into what it takes to be a gypsy. This proceeded into an obsession with gypsies for our little pal Nkhongono.

Stefan, one of our team leaders, had already started making lists of random things on the trip. Nkhonogono's new found obsession was just another reason for another list. So, the "what it takes to be a gypsy" list evolved. The list included things such as wearing hair scarves, wearing long flowing skirts, being able to see where your eyes are not (aka, using your peripheral vision), naming your child after a continent (like my host sister, Musonda did with her daughter, Asia), denying possession of gold in your pockets, actually having gold in your pockets, etc. (The list was VERY long). I think something about having sass was also on the list. I happened to be quite sassy with my team sometimes.

Anywho, after this list making, Nkhonogono looks at me as says "Ba Chelsey, YOU ARE A GYPSY!!" Apparently I met enough requirements on the list to be classified as a gypsy. Therefore, I am named Ba Gypsy. It stuck and was all that he called me for the rest of the trip.


This is what I was wearing the day I was declared Ba Gypsy. Feel free to decide whether or not you agree with Nkhonogono. (Yes, I'm wearing a skirt, too).

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