Some things I think about

Hey All.

It feels like it's been a while since I posted anything of substance on here. I've been having a good time being on break. Traveling a bit, but mostly staying at home. I have spurts of productivity: gardening, student grade reports, laundry. Since my housemates are gone, I've been living more like a bachelor, as evidenced by the way my dishes pile up in the sink until I have nothing to eat off of. One of my students, Louisa, came over the other day and washed them for me-I tried to stop her, but I couldn't. It's like that sometimes.

Languages are fun to learn. Communicating is one of my favorite things to do, and I really enjoy language study. I like learning new languages and speaking to people. I guess I'm pretty good at it, people tell me all the time that I am "fast", but really i just practice all the time. I work hard at it. Recently, I was passing through my village center and noticed two white women waiting at the station. They were undoubtedly tourists who had come to visit SWOPA, I thought, but I also knew that there wasn't going to be a regular car coming anytime soon. It was too late on a non-market day to get public transport back to Bolga. I chatted with my friends selling evening type food and then went and greeted the soulimias (strangers/white people). They were friendly Spanish nurses working in the Northern Region, and they were happy to speak spanish with me. They had called a taxi driver, but he hadn't arrived, so they were simply waiting. We talked for a while, and I was very happy for the opportunity to use a skill that I spent so much time learning. During our conversation, I spoke spanish to the nurses, sometimes translating, frafra and english to friends in the village, twi to a bus driver from Ashanti, and attempted some sign language with a deaf boy i know (i don't know how to translate his name, it's the letter "E" tapped on the palm of the hand). There wasn't anyone around to speak french with, unfortunately. It was quite the mental workout, and I kept getting confused and mixing languages, like yelling at children in spanish, and using frafra words while speaking to the nurses (se llaman Laura y Quese). It was also lots of fun. The nurses were impressed that I could speak to everyone, Quese started calling me "blackandecker", like the electric tool that can do anything, she said.

Finally, a car did come and I helped them negotiate a price to get them back to Bolga, and we said goodbye. I saw them again the next day in Bolga, and we had a beer, and they invited me to visit them. Since I'm on break, I took the opportunity and had a great time visiting them in Binde. Two other nurses, another friend, and a doctor were staying and working there, all from Spain. I stayed with them and spoke spanish and played the guitar (blackandecker). They were great hosts and it was a very nice visit, although a long bumpy bus ride. It made me want to study more languages and travel to more places (i have to visit Galicia, Saragoza, and Barcelona again). I'm also working on my french for when I get a chance to travel around the rest of West Africa. I'm a polyglot! Ay, debo visitar a Las Canarias tambien.

Es increible que puedo recordar algo asi pero casi no usarlo por tanto tiempo. Hace meses y meses que no he hablado espanol, pero todavia lo empeze facilmente, aunque me perdio algunas palabras devez en cuando. Asi yo se que realmente he aprendido la lengua. Mis amigos siempre dices que han estudiado la lengua, pero ahora no lo recuerda, pero pienso que si lo tengo para siempre. Es como el numero de telefono de tus padres, o como montar un bicicleta, nunca lo pierdes. Me divirte (mal decido?) hablar con ellas y a veces traducir las cosas, todos hablan ingles, pero parecian mas comodas hablando en espanol. Tambien les gustaba cuando usaba frases estranyos ecuatorianos "bien chevere", "chuchaki" y mis palabras inventadas. (si tomemos, bailemos, fareemos, y pasemos un tiempo lindo, yo no tenia el chuchaki.) no tengo idea de cuanta gente lee este blog, pero seguro que la mayoria no van a leer este bloque, no me importa. Si lo lees, te quiero, eres especial y te quiero para siempre. Nesesito uno de estos counters para saber cuantas me visitan aqui.

that's enough of that. spell check hates me.

One last note, There are chameleons around now. They are way cool, swively googly eyed, robot walking and changing colors and all that. the biggest ones I've seen were about a foot long but small ones are like 4 inches. Ghanaians are not fans, they are frightened when i try to pick them up. My students were scared of a pair that was mating in a tree at school. They told me that if one bites me, i will not be able to concieve. The chameleons in the tree didn't seem to be having any problems (he sudddenly changed color!)

Love to all. Next time, I'll tell you all about transport. My mom suggested the topic.

Chao,
-Toby