At long
last, and as chosen by you, the following are the top five things I
consider standard that definitely are not. And the results are...
5th
PLACE How d'body? How d'business?
So
thanks to colonization, English is spoken throughout much of Africa.
However, what they call English wouldn't ever fly in the United
States. It's normally some kind of mix between English and the local
language, and an accent on top of it all. Guinea borders the
countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia, both English speaking
countries, so I run into people all the time who greet me in English.
They don't ask how are you, instead my typical conversation goes like
this [with my part in italics] “Good morning. “Good morning.”
How d'body? “Fine?”
“Good. How d'business?”
“Fine?” This can
go on for about five minutes and at that point I no longer understand
anything coming out of their mouths, although they claim it's
English. In fact, because I don't understand them, this leads to
people claiming that I don't really speak English. I've had people
here test me on my English to make sure that I can really speak it!
4th
PLACE The US. Is that in North or South America?
The US.
Is that in North or South America? Obama is the President of all of
that right? I always took it for granted that the United States of
America was in North America. However, because both continents
contain the word America, this causes some confusion around the rest
of the world. North America, South America, Central America, it's
almost as bad as the number of countries with the word “guinea”
in them. In addition, I've had someone inform me that Obama was the
President of both North and South America. News to me!
3rd
PLACE 8+ people...5 seats
In
case you aren't familiar, the typical car fits four to five people.
Two in the front and two to three in the back. It's hard to say
exactly when this stopped being the case. A typical taxi is a 5
person car where they cram 4 people into the back row, and two into
the passenger seat. That is if you are lucky. If you aren't lucky,
there are 4 people in the back sitting in the seats, and then people
sitting on the laps of those seated. In the front, they will often
add a person to the drivers seat. Oh and don't forget about the
people in the trunk and the ones riding on the roof. Talk about safe!
While it's completely normal to have seven people in the car, I've
had up to 11 in a 5 person car, and up to 18 in a 9 person car. If
that wasn't bad enough, I've actually had rides with 8 people in the
car and was happy about it! I consider a ride where my hips aren't
crushed, the car doesn't break down, and where I don't get peed on a
very successful voyage!
2nd
PLACE Screaming
Even
though I'm a redhead and people always make references to my “fiery
personality”, I'm usually a pretty calm person. I hate
confrontations and worked at Getgo for years and never screamed at
anyone. Then I came to Guinea. Sometimes the screaming isn't even out
of anger (although it usually is). Being loud is just a part of the
culture here. If you aren't VERY outspoken about something, they will
assume you aren't serious. So for example when a taxi drivers yells
at me to get in the car because we are leaving “toute de suite”,
I yell at him saying I'll get in the car when we are actually about
to leave, which I know will be two hours later and NOT right away.
When
it comes to anger, I often surprise myself. It takes a lot to just
walk out of the house every morning, and that snotty adult
condescendingly yelling rude words at you can make you snap. I'll
often scream at adults that I'm not an object, but a person, and that
I have a name. I also scream that I don't have money to give them,
and then there is always screaming at the people on motos who try to
run you over. I'm sure I'm forgetting others, but you get the idea.
I've gained extreme amounts of patience being here, but once I run
out of that , it's all over. I just hope I can calm down before
coming back to the states!
And the winner
is...daily marriage proposals
When I say marriage
proposals, they come from two different types of men. The stranger
and the non-stranger. The stranger proposals happen every time I
travel. Men will demand that I marry them and then actually become
angry when I refuse! The proposals aren't very elaborate. They demand
my money and a visa to the united states. They promise me I'll be
happy, and they occasionally tell me I'm pretty, or fat. They do
anything they can to get my number, and then just stare at me. If it
weren't so obnoxious it would be really funny. I guess I get to enjoy
it when I travel with other girls. When I'm with other girls the men
usually target them leaving me to enjoy the scene and be thankful
it's not happening to me.
The second type of
proposals are from guys in my village. They greet me by my name and
then they add their last name. They tell other people I'm their my
wife and then ask what I cooked for them. While they are kind of
joking, they really aren't, and so when I say I don't want them, they
think I'm joking! Everyone in my village expects me to get married
while I'm here and either take my new husband back to the states, or
stay in Africa for the rest of my life. I mean, sure, it could
happen...you never know!
So I hoped you enjoyed that, and I
apologize for the delay! I was so busy this week I didn't even have
two hours to waste charging a computer!
No comments:
Post a Comment