Tala like the Sky
June 15, 2009
Well its 5:43am and as anyone who knows me might guess, I have been packed and ready to go for the last 20 hours and am up way before I need to be. So I thought I would tell you about my new dress!
Many of the older women in my village wear very simple, everyday dresses made of traditional Sepedi fabrics. The Sepedi, being an agrarian tribe in the semi desert, wear many of the colors reflect the colors of the surrounding environment. The fabric is often seen in dark blues, browns and gold with beautiful intricate patterns. Traditional Sepedi clothing is often much more subtle than their flashier neighbors like the Venda or Zulu.
So I thought it might be nice to have one of these beautiful and useful dress, both to wear here and to take home to share with others. A few weeks ago I found out that my friend Dorah’s mom is a seamstress, and lives just up the mountain for me. So I went to see her and get measured for a dress. We talked lots about the style; how they thought it should have shorter sleeves and how I would like there to be pockets. We also talked about colors, and I did a lot of pointing to dark blues (it’s a good color on me). We finally got all the major points settled and she promised to let me know when the dress was ready in about a week or so.
Well Friday I got the call that my dress was finished, so on my break from school I climbed up the mountain to get it. When I arrived I found that my dress was indeed finished and it was hot lime green! The dress is my favorite color from 5th grade; the color of my retainer and swimsuit from that year. Think lime sherbert but brighter. It has blue striped sleeves, trim and pockets and multicolored buttons.
On a side note I should mention that while everyday Sepedi clothing might be in the natural tones family, there is nothing neutral about their dress up clothes. Both men and women love to wear pink, orange, lime green, yellow, bright blues, etc.
By now I am pretty used to having everything I say be lost somewhere in translation, but how could this have happened! Until I realized that in Sepedi the word for both green and blue is tala. In order to distinguish which you mean you should say tala like the sky or tala like the grass. My bad.
So now I have a beautiful hot green dress that the 5th grader in me can’t wait to wear. I have no doubt that whenever I wear it I will get lots and lots of compliments! I will post pictures soon.
Alright now its 6:06am, only two more hours until the taxi comes.
I am headed to Pretoria today in time to catch the USA vs Italy Confederation Cup game. Go USA!! And I am flying out of Jo’berg Wednesday evening. I will be home Thursday afternoon!
Friday 19 June is Joanna’s 21st birthday! So if you are in the Boulder area please come help us celebrate!
The other big news of the week is that Joanna and Rob Davies (my friends who stay in Polokwane) had their second baby! Jesse John Ballot Davies came early last Thursday morning! Welcome to the world Jesse and congrats Jo and Rob!
See ya all soon!!!!
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