But then there comes the day you start to realise you dont know a few things things; for instance, that you accidently asked that nice old lady how much her reproductive organs cost instead of that shiny headscarf ... all because you held your E sound a bit too short. Or that you told the man at the CSPS youre a married man instead of an unmarried woman because you said one vowel wrong. No wonder he laughed and asked how your wives were... The day of enlightenment (ie the day you realise youre a fool) is a beautiful day because that is the day you just start to laugh at yourself. Because, lets face it, once you're in on the joke, that shit's funny.
Speaking of problems with Moore, the other day I realised I translated a Moore proverb in my notebook: At night chickens have no livers. It didn't seem to make since at the time, but few Moore proverbs do to me, so I just went with it: What I've discovered recently is that the proverb actually says something more akin to "At night one cannot tell which is the liver of the chicken." (because, obviously, you want to eat it...) Sure all those words were in there (chicken, liver, nght) but the meaning is now a little clearer to me. When it is dark ( literally or metaphorically) it is difficult to tell what is good; I dig that and its true.
(I will pause here to ask that you please excuse typos and errors I a literally at a computer place with chickens running arounds IN side and a keyboard that sometimes decides not to useletters= or spaces= I type unless it wants to.)
On a more personal note
I miss you al l terribly.
I cannot thank you enough for the steady stream of letters and emails and packages. Also it seems that many of the letters Ive written have been *lost* in he black hole of African mail. It you wrote me a letter i DID write you back and it cost me a pretty penny::: so maybe youll get it one day?!? I will keep trying but so far not many letters have gotten through:
I also miss my village right now: I'm in a city to the north and would love to be back in village despite showers, learning a bit of moore, and hanging out and meeting new volunteers: I miss my courtyard and people speaking only moore and my friends: I'm homesick to be honest, and its a newer feeling... it makes me nervous that im gonna have to be gne TWO weeks next month for more training. The other volunteers dont get it. They think Im a little nuts... but you know what? I think I am too, and I don't care. Keep your swimming pool and tourist venders... Ill take sharing dolo with my neighbor almost any day of the week.
Time is up. All my love;
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| These mangos should really get their own post. |
