Learning Mabaan

A few interesting facts about our last week:

- Today was 36C in the shade

- I killed plucked and gutted my first chicken

- Sarah spotted, and I killed our 1^st snake!

- I have a definite lentil tolerance level

- We’ve both squashed scorpions

We’ve been having our 2 week intensive language course with varying degrees of success. The main mode of learning is to go out into the village and greet people, hoping that they invite you sit down. It is hoped that by sitting with people, even though you can’t really say anything, you will start to recognize words and pick up phrases.

Surprisingly we’ve managed to pick up quite a few phrases. As greetings are so important here, that’s been the first thing to get memorized. It the morning you greet people with “Did you sleep well?, followed by “where are you coming from?” and “where are you going?”. My other Mabaan phrases include: “how many children do you have?”, “we will work at the clinic”, and “can I play football?”

I thought I was doing really well until I tried to invite an elderly man to sit down, and I called him a pig by mistake! The words “coocho” and “choocho” got me muddled. That’s the only mistake I’m aware of, but I’m sure in my enthusiasm I’ve made plenty more!

Am attempting to go play football with some of the local guys tomorrow, although they look pretty good. Not sure I’m ready for bare feet football yet! Will let you know how I get on.

Hope you are all well.

Paul