My host family is really nice, and my host brother has been taking care of me. He speaks French pretty well, so I have been able to speak with him and a little bit with some of my other siblings. My mom is also really nice but only speaks Bambara... I can say things like "Good morning", "I'm full, thank you for the meal", and "Have a good day/night". My Bambara is improving every day... we have covered how to greet people, ask What is this?, numbers, days of the week, describing family, and how to bargain in the market. It is a really fast learning pace, but I am doing my best to keep up and keep speaking Bambara whenever possible.
I took a ton of photos of the village, including the welcoming ceremony, my house and family, and at a wedding that took place in my village. The kids are really cute (some are pretty annoying though, saying "Toubabou", or white person, nonstop!) and it's fun to practice our Bambara with them. The link to the album is: http://picasaweb.google.com/wbudd3/Homestay1.
I plan to post again in a day or two with more detail about what I have been up to.
Thanks for all the pics of my son!!!!!
ReplyDeleteTom Nehring
Hi there, I'm an RPCV - Ghana 88 - 90.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to your blog. It's incredible - the opportunity you have for communication out to the world ad back that we didn't have 20 years ago. Best of luck.
p.s. the kids who call you Whitey never stop being annoying. It was particularly annoying to me as a Latina to be called, essentially, "gringa" all the time!
did you not get the white boy comments in ghana? i remember babson folks being called "musungu" in uganda!
ReplyDeletegreat pics billy!