Leeee-aving... on a ka-dooonga... don't know when I'll be back agaiiiin...

Here's how it works: Ingore is an hour and 10min away from Bissau by taxi, or an hour and a half by kadonga (squashy bus that lets people off every 100m to buy a goat or pick up something from their cousin's house etc).

Titus and Poppy are coming to Bissau tomorrow, and when we go to Ingore with them after lunch we will be shown how to make the trip on our own. Anna says it's easy and you can't get lost if you give them our address but she doesn't know me so we shall see!

Realising that some of you have gone into an information-overload-induced stupor, I won't bore you with a blow by blow account of today, but merely give you some 'interesting bits'.

Give us this day our daily bread (but not our daily bugs).

Anna was getting breakfast ready, and said to me, 'Always do like this' - which, when demonstrated, means singe the bread over the gas or fire, before eating it.

Why, you may ask? To kill any bugs of course.

I enquired whether she literally meant bugs as in flies etc, or whether she meant germs.

The response: 'Bugs, flies, eggs, germs, whatever. Is better for your health, you not forget to do like this.'

I heartily agree. Is better. I not forget - ever!!!

Washing day

Washed my clothes by hand for the first time in ages. Although, I am more of the 'rub-three-times-and-rinse' type, whereas the African way is more from the 'beat it til it's dead, then squeeze any remaining life out of it' school of thought.

Enjoyed myself until the two vultures swooped down from on high and landed in the garden 3m away from where I was sitting and nearly gave me a heart attack.

Kiriol 101

Had two Kiriol conversations today! Are you impressed? I hope so.
But I guess they weren't EXACTLY full blown conversations...

Conversation One:
Between me and Fukna, the gardner, as he walks past while I'm washing my clothes. Just to make things absolutely clear, his name is pronounced 'fook-na'.

F: Bon dia!
A: Bon dia!
F: somethingsomethingsomething lava ropa?
A: ?
F: (miming scrubbing clothes) 'Laaa...vaaaa...... roooo-paaaa!'
A: Ah! Sin! Lava ropa! (Oh! Yes! Wash clothes!)

Conversation Two:
Between me and Segunda, one of the Pastor's wives, (whose name, incidentally, means Monday), as she also walks past while I'm clothes washing.

A: (proudly instigating the conversation) Bon dia!
S: Bon dia! Kuma ku bu mensi? (How did you sleep?)
A: Mensi ben! (I slept well!).... lava ropa!
S: (laughing)... Sin! Lava ropa! Ben! (Yes, wash clothes, good!).

I am, like, such a pro at Kiriol... well I was till we had our third lesson. Now I supposedly can talk about my family but when we were practising I accidentally said, 'How many sisters did you give birth to?' instead of ' ... do you have?' which wasn't a great start.

Abby the Walking Target

So I went to buy a GB styles dress, down this little rabbit-warren of shops where you have to wind your way thru small muddy paths crowded on either side by tiny little stalls of secondhand clothing and new clothing and a bunch of other things too. Lots of men staring and women too... and after I bought the dress (a bargain, thanks to Anna's skills), I was on my way back and a guy started walking all around me with a weird attitude... I realised from yesterday he was trying to get my bag (just a very little one today) so I moved out of his way and then dodged the other two guys working with him. Anna asked him, 'What are you doing?' and he did the ínnocent face thing and moved off... golly, I know I don't look too scary but twice in two days??

We have decided I need to practice my angry face, and when I get to Ingore I'm gonna help the women who work in the quarry pounding rocks to get my biceps built up so I can give the next person who tries anything a good wack upside the head. With the love of Jesus, of course.

What's in a Name?

Fact: Lots of missionaries past and present in GB are of Dutch, German, Swiss or other European origin. So now, there's a surprising number of Bissau-Guinean kids and teenagers with names like Hermengilde, Gertrude, Helga, Wolfgang.... and then there's the newborn Steve. Not Steven, just Steve. Steve the Canadian served for a year and has returned home in June but happened to be around when a random lady gave birth... so in a year or two there could be a little Abby running around!  As long as it's a girl I'll be happy.

You Say Potato, I say Potahto...

We are finding it amusing that we all speak English completely differently. In Ingore we will all be teaching English, so basically the students are gonna come out of a year of English with either a German, Kiwi or American accent... we'll know who taught them by their pronunciation! It's funny because when some people meet here at the base, ie Hans and Carla (the Dutch couple), and Anna (Thai), they speak Kiriol to each other, not English.

Ok that's quite enough from me!

Deus ku bos!  (God bless you) and if you're the praying type, please pray that I settle into Ingore quickly and the beginning of my teaching goes well - a little daunting as I will have a multi-ability, multi-aged class.

Abby