What delights me here? I enjoy the early morning drumming from nearby schools when I walk Pihla to school. The powerful singing and dancing at churches gives me thrills. I like to watch the magnificient dresses and hairdos African women wear. One of the best things in life is to sit at the campfire in a bush, early in the morning when it is still cold and sun is just rising. To make a fire, sit in quiet, wait for the first cup of coffee.
It is easy to enjoy things like that. Who wouldn’t? Other things, that can eventually become enjoyable, can take more time and adjustment. First, I was not quite sure how to relate to eloquent, expensive, loud, long-lasting, ritualistic celebrations that you attend once a while. I have sometimes criticized the waste of money, the complete lack of keeping any kind of schedule, I have got bored in listening to speeches that never end. Well, this is not the case so much any more. I go there, I will not pay attention to how time passes, I give up the criticism, I just be there. I have noticed how important role rhetorics plays, how even the most modern-looking celebration follows some unwritten rain dance code – I have learnt to attend, to enjoy, to see and hear, and let time flow as it flows.
