African skin

When clouds finally covered the sky this afternoon, I glanced down at my skin and noticed that I had strong reason to give thanks for the shade. After a full day in the sun wandering through the Nyamirambo market yesterday and another at the funeral today, I'm afraid my pale, white skin has turned a bright red. I commented on my thankfulness to three of my coworkers who were walking with me back to the vehicle, pointing out the color of my neck, and one responded with "ooo" while another asked if I hadn't used "that lotion" (suncreen, which of course I had forgotten). The third told me my skin had not yet become African. I laughed at the thought, and he explained that if I stayed in Rwanda longer, my skin would become African. Curious, I asked him if my skin would become the color of his, to which he responded "no no no!", and I realized he just meant my skin would darken. He pointed to my neck as an example of how dark I was becoming. What I didn't have the heart or energy to explain was that in just a couple more days, the red on my neck will peel away and I would be left with skin even paler than it was before the weekend. I'm not sure this muzungu will ever have African skin.