· Clothing:
On Wednesdays and Saturdays, Namaacha has what is called ShopRite in which
vendors gather in this outside marketplace and sell various things. Amongst people selling food, shoes, bags, and
capulanas, are many clothing sellers. I
have no idea how the vendors come to aquire the clothing, but I assume most of
it is second-hand items donated by Americans.
It is not unusual to see residents walking around in shirts featuring
logos of American sports teams or American universities and English phrases
which make one question whether the person wearing the shirt understands the
words written on it.
·
Music:
Residents here love their music and love blasting their music at all hours of
the day. My family uses the TV as their
speaker, but many families have gigantic speakers in their homes making it feel
like one is constantly in a discotech (club).
American music is everywhere, everything from Mariah Carey to Akon to Snoop
Dogg to Katy Perry and Lady Gaga to music from the 80s. I was walking to my class the other day and a
teenage guy thinking he was all cool was walking down the road blasting Celine
Dion’s “A New Day”. My Irma sings a lot
and I love when she sings along to English songs not really saying any words in
English, but making sounds that are similar to what the actual words are. Every now and then, I try to translate a song
for them or at least tell them what the song is generally about, but my
language skills are still in the making, so I am somewhat limited still.
·
TV: The other night Mr. Popper’s Penguins,
the recent movie with Jim Carey which I think came out just this summer in the
US, was on TV here in English with Portuguese subtitles. Later, I watched CSI: Miami with my mae, also
in English with subtitles. Another
volunteer mentioned that she has watched Disney Channel and even “Keeping Up
with the Kardashians” with her family. I
wonder who decides which programs make it to the other side of the world…
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