Body Language

It was the annual Ladies Breakfast on Saturday and I was given the choice to work that or the sports day. I chose the breakfast because I've never helped at one whereas I've been to 3 or 4 sports days which happen twice a year. I very quickly regretted that decision but never mind. Sometimes you have to try things to know that you don't like them.

But my main topic for this post is 'body language'. There was a no volunteer day on Thursday and instead of the fun we usually arrange, this was a day of training. While most of it wasn't thrilling, I definitely wouldn't go as far as to say it was boring, even if I had heard most of it before. However most of the volunteers' body language screamed their annoyance at having to be there. Slouched with their arms crossed across their chests, or heads resting in their hands looking bored and often whispering behind hands or passing notes like a bunch of high schoolers.

Most people probably don't spend a lot of time thinking about body language – I know I don't – and what impressions they're giving. I find this so interesting because often the people you're interacting with are reading so much into it – even if only subconsciously.

This is especially the case in first impressions and situations where you're not talking (lectures or training talks, etc.). At the children's home I seem to be made more aware of it in a slightly different way: When people are talking in a language I don't understand. Although my understanding of Afrikaans has vastly improved (and I keep surprising myself on how much I understand), I still struggle if people talk fast, surprise me or use words not commonly heard at the children's home. And then of course there's Xhosa, German, French and any other languages floating around this place! I'm sure most people have experienced the paranoid feeling of being talked about in a room full of people you don't understand – if not this is awkward! Here the staff often do talk about volunteers in Afrikaans, knowing they can't understand, but often their body language gives them away.

At the ladies breakfast I had to help clear the tables and take the dirty dishes into the kitchen. At one point, one of the women working in the kitchen said something in Afrikaans that I didn't understand. Her tone and body language gave me the impression that I'd done something to annoy or irritate her, It may have been that she was annoyed she had to work on a Saturday, she may not even have been annoyed – I guess I'll never know!