Verse 29: The Comfort Zone in the Community

Maquza - that's my name in Xhosa. Andiswa named it for me; she told me it is the Xhosa version of 'Peter', but somehow I have a hard time believing that. Hazel was laughing at me when Andiswa called me Maquza and I answered. Well, regardless of what it means, hopefully nothing too out of the world, Maquza is kinda cool; it has a click in the middle of it.

Around the community, though I'm more commondly known as "Pedaaa", few began to call me Maquza. Often people pass by the worksite and say 'hello Peeeta'. I'd reply with "Molo" so-and-so and have a little conversation, though that doesn't last long before I drop my jaws and the other person switches to English. In my working attires, I'm instinguishable from the local in terms of "fashion".

Comparing to the adults, I'm a lot popular with the kids. When I'm walking around or working outside, there'd be kids waving and shouting "Peeta!" when they catch a little glimpse of me. Speaking of which, I got a minor concussion walking into a pole once because of such "distraction". After work, I usually spend an hour or two playing with the kids, be it soccer, running around, or those things you do in a real childhood. Kids are weird little creatures; I can tease them, throw them around, act angry and chase them away, or make them cry, the next day they'd always come around wanting myattention. Funny eh?