Where You Stay

I didn't sleep well again last night and today I floated through all that I had to do in town. I didn't leave my room until close to 10 this morning which, I guess, could have made it hard to get a taxi (you have to wait for them to fill to capacity before they leave for Tzaneen), but it wasn't. I think we sat at the rank for 15 minutes before the driver felt like he had enough passengers to make the trip. I sat by the window in the middle seat, put my sunglasses on, and made granny squares... I'm not the most social when I'm tired, I just can't seem to make my thoughts and my mouth connect. The trip was uneventful and we made it to town in good time. When we pulled into the BP petrol station (where all the taxis drop you off), I was the last to get off, taking my sweet time packing everything up. As I made my way across the parking lot to the ShopRite mall, running through my lists of things to do, and making a plan, a young woman fell into step beside me. Our interaction went a little something like this:
YW: Hello (smile)
Me: Hi (smile)
YW: I've never seen a white person on a taxi before. This is my first time.
Me: Really? This is your first time?
YW: Yes. White people don't live in the rural areas, so white people don't take taxis.
Me: You're right, not many white people do take the taxis. I live in a rural area though, so I have to take a taxi.
YW: Thank you for doing that.
Me: (smile)
And then we went on our way. That interaction ran through my head all day. When Solomon greeted me at CashBuild with the completed quotation for our building plan. When I thanked Daniel at BuildIt for his quotation. When I went to Magic Build and talked to Godfrey about his time working at a game reserve near Botswana and he shook my hand and told me to go well. When I went to buy yarn for my afghan and the woman talked about how "the blacks" are so much better than they used to be. When I bought myself Bob Marley's "Uprising" at Jet Music because I wanted to make copies of it for people in the village and the man behind the counter was shocked that I liked his music. When I got sort of lost and walked by the long distance taxi rank and a man looked at me and smiled and talked about how hot it was today. When Maite came to ask for help writing a cover letter for a job. When I sat in the taxi on the way home and watched the backs of bakkies full of up to 20 people standing, rolling along in front, beside, or behind us. When I saw children pushing wheelbarrows full of water jugs from the tap. When I watched gogos carrying potatoes, wood, water, mealies on their heads walking towards home. When I saw the kid selling fruit in a little stand stare at me wide eyed because I think my presence in the taxi was shocking to him. When I sat behind a little baby boy and every time he looked over his mother's shoulder and his eyes met my face his face contorted into a half cry, half smile. Some days it can be frustrating, I just want to blend. Some days it's just nice to have good interactions with people.. and be in a good frame of mind to recognize that they're good. Today, it was good, but my heart felt sore.