Donni Donni

Hey Everybody!

Lots and lots has been happening. Rachel and I are staying with a Malian family to learn the language. It's going to take more than that for me I'm afraid, maybe brain surgery. Every morning we wake up, eat breakfast, then go out to the markets. We greet everyone we see. You say, ane sokoma! (I have no idea if this is spelled right, I've never seen it, only heard it). They usually say Bonjour, because they think we're French. Sometimes they ignore us. If we're lucky, they'll reply, N'say, Somo Obede. I say, Torrote . This is how it works out in English.
Me-Good Morning!
Them-Good Morning, how are you?
-Fine
-How is your Family?
-Fine
-How is your husband?
-Fine ( I say this because I'm not exactly sure what they're saying when they're saying it and all I know how to say is fine)
-How are your kids?
-Fine (same as husband)
-they ask about more family members and stuff
-Fine
-Greet your family
-Fine--When it gets to this point I am supposed to say, They will hear it, but unfortunately, I am never sure when they are saying greet your family. So, I am still saying fine. They give me a confused look and I say, "donni donni Bambera." This means "slowly slowly Bambera" but they are supposed to know if means I don't speak Bambera well. They say "oh, donni donni" and then speak to me about a mile a minute in Bambera. I keep telling them I don't speak Bambera but it doesn't phase them. I say "cambe!" Which means, "see you!" and keep walking and repeat this again a few times.

I go to the market and look around. Rachel and I have on friend there, Babu or something like that. He sells us moomoos. I know moomoos are old ladyish in the states, but they're ok here I think. And tye dyed! SInce I don't know numbers (the numbers here are crazy hard), I have to barter with my cell phone. He shows a number than me and back and forth until we agree. All you have to do is walk away and he'll give us what we want.


DRIVING
oh my goodnes, it's crazy. The rule here seems to be, if you can possibly fit your car there, help yourself. Only 2 lanes? Who cares, 3 cars can fit! Are there cars coming toward me? Who cares, they're not here right now so I can turn in front of them, they'll probably slow down! Amazingly, this system seems to work for them. Except, for me who struggled with driving in the United States and has hit more still objects than I can count, it could be a problem. I've driven twice and it's been ok but not great. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

Everything here is really great. The people here are amazing, they could not have been nicer to us. They don't seem to care that we're dumb white girls, they treat us like we're part of their family.

Please pray that we'll learn the language and culture quickly. Everything here is so different and it's really easy to offend people without knowing it and that could really affect us sharing the gospel with them.