Learning Bambara

OK...we started learning Bambara now. I forgot how much I don't like languages. In college, I had to drop Spanish III before I failed, and Spanish is an easy language I was already familiar with. Bambara is just completely unfamiliar. Our teacher doesn't speak any English so we hold up objects and she tells us what they are and she goes over and over until we feel comfortable, then we record her. We hold up a cup, she tells us the word for cup. We hide the cup and say, where is the cup. Then we find it. We hope she is teaching us to say, where is the cup. We put the cup on the stool. We hope she is saying, the cup is on the stool. She's really patient but I know it has to be frustrating for her. She laughs at us a lot, and we have no idea why so we just laugh back. It's exactly how I used to teach the kids at the day care new words, holding up pictures and objects and going over and over them. But, this should be a lot better than memorizing words and being tested on them. It's hard but it's really good because we are in control, and if we want to work more on something we can go over it more and if we think we have it we can go on. It helps a lot to be able to go at your own pace. The other girls here used this method and went into places where no English speakers had ever been and after a year they speak the language fluently. So, hopefully, I'll learn the language quickly, even though it doesn't come naturally to me.
God has already given me an amazing love for these people, and I can't wait to be able to communicate with them and share the gospel.