dude: I want go to America.
me: You want TO go to America.
d: Yes, which is your village?
me: Washington State
d: oh, Wash-in-tone, se bon. I will come to your house, yes?
me: sure.
d: your state is named after the first president. george washin-tone.
me: yes.
d: I want to go to Kennedy's state. Which is his state?
me: Massachusetts? (turns out I was right, wasn't totally sure of the accuracy of this so then i said) but he died in Texas.
d: Oh, Texas, se bon. was george washin-tone from your village?
me: no he was from new hampshire. (duh, i have no clue) Do you know any other presidents?
d: Ni-sone.
me: huh? OH! Nixon.
d: Which is his village?
me: California? (god if i know)
d: Oh! Los Angelas?
me: yah...? (turns out he IS from california, Yorba Linda, to be specific, which happens to be right near LA; Emily: 1, American History: 0)
d: Who was president when the north faught the south? Was he tall?
me: Abraham Lincoln. Yes.
d: What was his village? (why do they care?)
me: He was from Illinois. The same place where Barak Obama is from.
d: Obama is good very good a lot good. Who did you vote for?
me: Obama.
d: oh, se bon! Who was president during the second big war?
me: (does it never end?) Roosevelt, Franklin. And also Harry Truman. When Roosevelt died Truman took his place.
d: oh, roooooosevelt. john mcun is bad.
me: yes he is.
d: are you a republican or a democrat?
me: democrat.
d: what is the difference?
me: democrats are good and republicans are bad. (so sue me, I took the low road, please tell me how YOU would translate that into Bambara)
d: do you pray?
me: yah but we dont pray like you.
d: when do you pray?
me: at night before bed and before we eat dinner.
d: how do you pray?
me: so we thank the lord, clap clap, for giving us the things we need, like the sun and the rain and the appleseeds. amen.
d: amen. Where was Wilson from?
I had this conversation with the man I'm working with now in Kayes, he is a constant comedy act, definitely keeps me on my toes. He's very relaxed and his whole outlook is very Western. His name is Hamadou Maiga (Maiga for short). The other day I was in his office and he was checking his email. He received an email in English that he asked me to explain to him. He's learning English but this one was a little complicated. The email was inviting him to join an online dating service. So, the explanation went like this...direct translation:
Emily: The email is to help you find a wife. If you do not have one, or you want one, you can write about yourself and find a wife.
Maiga: Oh! Se bon! I could find a second wife with this?
Emily: Maiga, your wife is amazing, you can't get another one. I think this probably only works in American anyway.
Maiga: Ah, but I can have 4 wives!
Emily: Well, then your wife can use the dating service to find another husband. She can have two husbands, right?
Maiga: No, no no no.
This is a picture of Maiga on the roof of his house with his son, Vie, in front of him.
In other news, I've moved into my new house and started working on the garden, but here are pictures of my garden at my house in Goumera (i like to call it my vacation home).
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