An Adventure in the Congo (contd) Man-eating plants. Hubba Bubba. Knitting!

Part 10

I was getting used to school now, the Eagle didn’t scare me so much, the classmates still ignored me, well to be fair I pretty much paid them no attention either.
The swiss dish was still the object of my affection, except I didn’t exist, he was older than me and barely glanced my way even when I used to hover awkwardly around him and his friends at break time.
I was also abstaining from most lessons and maintaining my scam of not understanding the language.
I did particpate in maths somewhat although, again, I never did any homework whatsoever.

What a ruse!

History, Geography and french lessons forget it, my lack of french became even more profound!

I rarely spoke in class and the teacher virtually gave up on me. Was fantastically awesome!

One of the lessons that I found incredibly odd and yawningly boring was knitting!

I mean what was that about?!
The boys would go off to an another classroom and do something macho like chop wood or dig holes or something and the remaining girls would sit there and knit!

You got to be kidding me!

It was always the longest hour ever and i would sit there knitting this stupid scarf which never grew any longer, whilst others were half finishing jumper master-pieces.

I just used to gaze out of the window longing to be outside.

Break time I tended to spend on my own, wandering about or hanging near Jean-Pierre in the hope he would discover me.
Some days I would buy Coke from one of the two huts but today I was being contrary and ordered a Fanta from the Fanta hut.
The last lesson of the morning was flemish, I enjoyed it because it was an area i could shine just for a moment.
The teacher actually encouraged me, said my accent was very good and I was to become top of the class in it.
Jean-Pierre still never acknowledged me despite my superstar status in these lessons.

It was a language very easy to pronounce because it was quite like english and some of the words were similar. The phrases and vocabulary were still quite bizarre though.
I picked up quite a few irrelevant phrases from the school text book we were working through.
This week at home was my flemish week and I would educate my family members at random moments with my command of the language.
Dad would come back from work and I greeted him with:

“Slaap your knock-kneed vraagt der mus!”

Or atleast thats how I thought it was spelt.
No idea what it meant!
But he seemed impressed so I galloped off into the bedroom, whipping my sides with my invisible crop.
This afternoon Odette was picking up Martine and I and taking us to a large open air swimming pool. We were looking forward to it, it was mega hot today and we couldnt wait to dive in.
The fascia of the building was large and there was a sizeable carpark outside.
Whilst waiting for Odette to collect her things and lock up the car I was studying a curious shrub by the entrance. I’d brushed against it by accident and i noticed that the leaves i had touched all closed up as if by magic.
I ran my finger over several of the other leaves and instantly they closed tightly.

Wow! How cool!

I showed Martine and we spent the next few seconds pretending we were insects landing and watched the effect we were having.
A carnivorous plant, wait till i tell Lindsay!
The pool was full and it was very noisy. We had our cozzies on underneath our clothes, we undressed quickly and jumped in.
There was barely any room to move but we had fun doing squatting bombs off the side and splashing everyone around us.

We clung to the sides of the pool whilst catching our breath. I then started floating on my back with my toes curled under the bar enjoying the hot sun on my face when I became aware I was being watched.
A random girl and her mates were eyeballing me unpleasantly, so I stared back, wondering what I had done to deserve the looks I was receiving.

” Tu es con toi!”

Martine heard her and rolled her eyes in mock shock at me.

Probably french for ‘nob-head’ I thought.

I knew they were swearing at me although I hadnt quite mastered my french slang yet, that would come later.
She took me by surprise so all I could come up with on the spur of the moment was
“V-a-t’on!”
“Get lost!” I said or words to that effect.
That showed her!
We had drinks by the pool, avoided the nasty girl and later on Odette dropped me home.
I would spend the rest of the day writing to family and friends.

This chair
216 Avenue De Gambela
Kinshasa
Congo
Africa
The World
The universe
The Milky Way
God

Time:Now!

Dear Lindsay

Thanks very much for sending me some Hubba Bubba gum managed to stash it
inside my pillowcase so mum couldn’t find it.
School sucks and is really el boringo. We have to do knitting and stuff and the boys dig holes.
The teacher looks like an eagle and has a huge nose.
I dont do any work, how amazin is that, am awesome at flemmish tho.
Theres this boy thats nice called Jean Pierre and I’m pracktically going out with him.
Mum got drunk other night was well funny.
Went swimming and there was man eating plants, not kiddin I swear!
Got to go now, am playing horses in a mo.
Bet you dont know what this means, SLAAP YOUR KNOCK-KNEED VRAAGT DER MUS
Its a secret, tell you soon ha!
Bye
Sherrybobblesbonbon