(I am walking, en wolof)
So we ar enow inweek 2 of IST and inmany ways it still feels like the fisrtweek, mainly bc the languageclasses started this week which also means that mostof the language tutors showed up for the first time since PST and the center feels like "normal." I started Wolof, which will become the 3rd foreign language I usein country. i am bsically learning it to better communicate wiht people outside of mysmall serere village. while i dont really want tolearn it right now, bci still dontknow serere perfectly, i recognize thatit will be a goodskill to have. alli really want to learn, however, is to convey basic ideas while shopping at the market and how to insult children/men in wolof when theyannoy me and theserere doesnt work9like when i am inkaolack). wolof is going ok and it is much easire thn serere grammtically speaking, howeve i am constantly mixing up serere words with wolof and remember how hard i twas to just start learning serere backin march too. that being said, iam still known aroundthe training center to most people as "serere oo,"rather than by my name, american or senegalese. as a serere, it basically meanstht anyone and eveyone willpick on and tease me at thecenter bc as one of twoserere speakers (and theres only a smallgroup of staffers who speak the language) i am in a smallminority. its okthough bc they only do it bc they knowi can take it and dish it back out too, lol. thatbeing said, if i had been assigned to another languge, i doubtiwould hve themerelationship wiht all of the taff that i have right now. as a fellow vol said thisweek, "who knew how much thelanguage you were assigned in the fisrt week in country would come to impact all ofyour interactions here?"
well, i am going togo now. i have wolof homeworkand it isgettingdark. the lightbulb inthe shower t myhomestay dosntwork anymore, so iam going tohaveto take a showerinthe pitch black, whether itake it tonight or wait until tomorro am before training. talk to you alllater and sorry for the typos and lack of spaes, this xo is weird...
4 commentaires:
Hello Bethany
I thought that I would surprise you and your sister and Mother by responding to one of your blogs. I do read them but I am usually a passive blogger.
I am glad to hear that you are trying to use the XO laptop and I was wondering if the typos were because of that. Keep at it. Good luck with your Woloff and we will talk to you later.
Love,
Dad
PS. I know that your Mom and Katie will respond.
We know James likes to be tricky, don't we? I tried to check email and your blog last night and I think he was sabataging the internet just so he could get his surprise post in first. :)
The typos/weird spacing don't seem to bother me when I am reading. I think I've taught first grade long enough that I can quite easily ignore it. I'm back in school getting ready for the little ones again-starting over at the beginning again. I guess that is what you are doing with your new language too. Good luck!
Love,
Mom
Sissy, I thought you might like to know that the women's gymnastics team took Silver in the team competition last night. It was crazy exciting to watch and mom and dad even stayed up to watch the whole thing.
Good luck with your continued training!
-Katie
P.S. Mom and Dad are BOTH tricky... :)
Hi Bethany,
You are amazing tackling all of those languages which are all based on sounds and characters totally unique to the Indo-European languages. How exciting!
When I retire, I hope to learn Danish again and sometime match Kurt in fluency.
Until then….
Watched some of the men's and women's Olympic basketball and have been watching the paper for Phelps (the male swimmer) and his march on winning the record number medals. Hope he makes it!
Enjoy your time at IST.
Jodi
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