Greetings

written Friday, 18 May 2007

 

 

Yesterday before dinner my counterpart took me around the village to introduce me to the villagers.  We went to 15 or 20 compounds, where I had to speak a combination of: Jaxanke, Mandinka, French, Wolof, Pulaar, and Serrer (okay, I don't know any Serrer at all, so at the Serrer house I just smiled while Mamadou talked).   I think I improved my greeting skills a lot during the couple of hours we were out, and hopefully made a good first impression with the villagers.  I definitely need to learn some more local languages, though!