In the last few days since I’ve returned from Kenya, I have noticed a serious lack of communication skills on my part, mostly as a result of my limited language speaking abilities. Because it tends to be quite entertaining, I thought I would give you a few examples of what it sounds like when I try to communicate here. Some days are worse than others as far as language goes. Today was a particularly rough day for me. I usually figure out after the conversation exactly how stupid I sounded during it.
After handing a woman two bags of maize to take home:
Woman: Is it for eating or for planting?
Me: It’s MAIZE! MAIZE!
Woman: Yes, it’s maize. Is it for eating or planting?
Me: It’s MAIZE! MAIZE!
Woman: I know…but is this maize for eating or planting?
Me: I don’t understand. It’s MAIZE!!!! I don’t know how else to say “maize”… Oh, you can take TWO bags! TWO bags of maize.
Woman: This girl doesn’t understand me. I want to know if I am to eat this maize or plant it.
Jamie (translating for me): Whitney, she wants to know if you are supposed to eat it or plant it.
Whitney: Oh…ummmm…it’s MAIZE!
A woman sees a small bottle of hand-sanitizer on the table:
Woman: What’s this?
Me: Ummm… (random hand gestures and occasional grunts)
Woman: (laughs at my random hand gestures and occasional grunts) I understand. I want some.
Me: Ummm… (more random hand gestures)…give me…hand.
Woman: (gives me her hand) It feels cold.
Me: Ummm…(grunt)
Man tries to ask us for a ride to town:
Man: Can I ride in the vehicle to town?
Me: We are going to town today.
Man: Yes, I know. Can I go with you?
Me: We are going to town right now.
Man: I will just ride in the back. (climbs into the back)
Me: What are you doing?
Man: Going to town.
Me: You can’t go with us. The car is full.
Man: I need to go to town.
Me: Yes, we came from town just this morning.
Man: Okay, I will wait and you tell me if I can go.
Me: …but now we are many people and the car is full.
Man: Okay, I will wait. You tell me if I can go.
Me: Okay. (random hand gesture) I am working here… (walk off to try and find a translator)
And lastly, a woman tries to determine when she will see me again:
Woman: I will see you again on Tuesday in two weeks.
Me: Yes, I will see you on Sunday in…uhhh…
Woman: I will see you Tuesday in two weeks.
Me: Yes, I will see you on Sunday in…uhhh…
Woman: Tuesday in two weeks.
Me: Yes, Sunday. No…Tuesday. In two weeks. Tuesday in two weeks. I will see you… Someday.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
All Things Interesting...
After a long silence, I am finally back. It seems that I am becoming accustomed to many of the things that I would normally notice. As a result, there are fewer times that I think, “This HAS to go on the blog!” Unfortunately, I have not had any of these moments recently, but I thought it was time to update the blog. So, here is a brief update of all things interesting…
We had another termite invasion. For those of you who were not reading the blog at the time of the termite invasion last year, every year all of these termites (which are basically large flying ants) come up out of holes in the ground, fly around in a huge swarm for a night or so, shed their wings, and then crawl around for awhile and eventually die. Every time this happens, I spend an hour or so wielding a can of Doom and a fly swatter, trying to best the few determined termites that manage to squeeze in under the door to flutter around my room.
In other news, we recently returned from a trip to Kenya for meetings, medical appointments, and rest and relaxation. I had a fantastic time buying things, eating ice cream, and visiting with friends. During one of the meetings, we were enjoying some group prayer and worship time from a spectacular mountaintop outside Nairobi. As we discussed Scriptures and what God was teaching us, my supervisor's wife very nonchalantly pointed to the bush behind and said, “Look!” A giraffe was calmly walking right towards us, clearly enjoying the view himself. How cool it is to be joined by some of God’s most interesting creations while spending time to praise Him!
When we returned to Southern Sudan, we found another of God’s interesting creations in our bathroom. The six of us share a long-drop toilet (if you don’t know what this is, don’t worry about it!), and we occasionally share the bathroom with various critters like snakes, lizards, and frogs. Upon our return, we discovered a nice little petrified lizard. He had managed to get himself caught in a door, and in the Sudanese heat, had petrified in quick time. This morning, Jennifer and I were reminiscing about the petrified lizard that we found in the bathroom. As we discussed it, I remembered another petrified lizard I encountered once. The particular petrified lizard I had discovered was about half petrified and was lounging on our porch. Thinking it was dead, as most petrified lizards are, I used my shoe to lightly scoot it towards the edge of the porch, at which point the slightly-petrified lizard quickly scurried off to the bush, clearly very much alive. I mentioned the half-petrified lizard to Jennifer, and asked, “How does a lizard become partially petrified without being dead?” Jennifer responded, “That would have to be one LAZY lizard!”
Well, that’s all for today. Maybe it will be more profound next time! :)
We had another termite invasion. For those of you who were not reading the blog at the time of the termite invasion last year, every year all of these termites (which are basically large flying ants) come up out of holes in the ground, fly around in a huge swarm for a night or so, shed their wings, and then crawl around for awhile and eventually die. Every time this happens, I spend an hour or so wielding a can of Doom and a fly swatter, trying to best the few determined termites that manage to squeeze in under the door to flutter around my room.
In other news, we recently returned from a trip to Kenya for meetings, medical appointments, and rest and relaxation. I had a fantastic time buying things, eating ice cream, and visiting with friends. During one of the meetings, we were enjoying some group prayer and worship time from a spectacular mountaintop outside Nairobi. As we discussed Scriptures and what God was teaching us, my supervisor's wife very nonchalantly pointed to the bush behind and said, “Look!” A giraffe was calmly walking right towards us, clearly enjoying the view himself. How cool it is to be joined by some of God’s most interesting creations while spending time to praise Him!
When we returned to Southern Sudan, we found another of God’s interesting creations in our bathroom. The six of us share a long-drop toilet (if you don’t know what this is, don’t worry about it!), and we occasionally share the bathroom with various critters like snakes, lizards, and frogs. Upon our return, we discovered a nice little petrified lizard. He had managed to get himself caught in a door, and in the Sudanese heat, had petrified in quick time. This morning, Jennifer and I were reminiscing about the petrified lizard that we found in the bathroom. As we discussed it, I remembered another petrified lizard I encountered once. The particular petrified lizard I had discovered was about half petrified and was lounging on our porch. Thinking it was dead, as most petrified lizards are, I used my shoe to lightly scoot it towards the edge of the porch, at which point the slightly-petrified lizard quickly scurried off to the bush, clearly very much alive. I mentioned the half-petrified lizard to Jennifer, and asked, “How does a lizard become partially petrified without being dead?” Jennifer responded, “That would have to be one LAZY lizard!”
Well, that’s all for today. Maybe it will be more profound next time! :)
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