My first buai

I was actually quite nervous walking over to the market with Michael and Jacky. I wasn't anxious about what affect the nut might induce in me but that I would find it rather unmanageable and consequentially make a red mess all over myself.

Michael and Jacky both got stuck into gnawing husks off nuts. Michael struck gold first. He handed over a green nut with the glossy seed just showing through. We were ready.

It was dry, bitter and a bit cumbersome. A few chews later my tongue went numb and then saliva build up began. I got my very own "mustard" stick, stuck it in the communal lime and bit half an inch off. I started chewing furiously and trying to filter out the saliva for a nice clean spit stream. Mathew, a good friend of Jacky's, out for an evening chew, picked this time to come over to introduce himself. He was truly impressed with my effort and proceeded to recount the time he taught another Indian man how to chew like a pro. Not knowing where my tongue was in my mouth, i didn't trust it enough to have a chat. It was time. I made a mumbling sound from the back of the throat, nodded hurriedly and lent over to my left side and tried to squeeze a stream through the teeth. Fail. A dribble at best and it just missed my shoes. I was swallowing - are you meant to swallow?

Then the hit. My head was bit light - quite a good feeling actually. Lasted about 10 mins. Not sure if it was worth the mess.

We walked back still expectorating every 30 seconds all the way home.

The best part was that I felt close to the masses. Not a foreigner trying very hard to fit it. This was it - I was fitting in. I got smiles which are a rare commodity for a complete stranger around here. I left I was hanging with the common man, talking smack, hi-fiving guys walking past. Ok, there was no hi fiving but I sure as hell wanted to. It was nice to hang with peeps, shoot the cool 5 o'clock breeze while watching the market close.

I think I'll try this again.