Verse 28: The Comfort Zone at Work

I'm midway through my stay at Project Endlovu and I've moved into a comfort zone. I have developed fine relationships with other workers, improved my construction skills, adapted well to the Xhosa culture, and learned my way around Cape Town.

This thing called relationship takes time to develop. I remember my early days at the project when I didn't interact too much with the workers. Our morning routine would include a simple friendly greeting, the kind you would give to strangers - warm, but not too warm. Of course, over the next few weeks things improved

The morning chills of South African winter naturally make people sluggish, especially when working outside. Now each morning after breakfast, I'd join the workers in mixing mortar; it's our morning ritual to walk around, flipping and turning the mortar as we go. Having Robert as a mentor is a blessing. Not only are my hands-on skills improved drastically, I've become very confident with what I'm doing. As such is the case, Robert has been assigning me different tasks to complete without his presence. And when I'm working on something, I'd be the one doing the main things and the local workers assisting me with passing the tools etc.

Working side by side with the locals shortened the distance between us. There's teamwork, support, and that crucial mutual trust. I am no longer the one leading conversations and morning greetings. It's funny when I crack a random joke during work and only one or two will laugh. But then one of them would talk to the others, and everyone would look at me and begin laughing. It's hard to say whether my joke was successfully translated to Xhosa, or they're just laughing at me.

Well, doesn't matter if I'm funny or funny-looking, I enjoy the comedy at work each day ;)