Do YOU Speak Spinach?

As promised, here is another blog update, within a few days at least.

First, a story.
My students have been writing back and forth with a school in the States for most of the year, and recently, when the school year changed in America, so did the number of American students who wanted to write letters with my students. This meant I had to go to my Form B’s as well… Honestly, I’m not sure my Form A students really understand the purpose of the letter-writing. They introduce themselves, talk about their family, their “traditional this or that” and basically say they love the American student. They have done these letters three times now, and most have been the same.
Well, I asked my Form B students if they were interested in writing as well, and, surprise surprise, they were. There weren’t enough for each student to have their own penpal, so I told them to find a partner. I gave each pair a letter and told them I wanted their responses by the end of the week.
By the end of the first week, I had maybe half of the letters I needed. The Form A letters were, as I described, innocent and basically a repeat of what they’ve written previously. The Form B letters on the other hand, were unbelievable. After reading a few, I just figured they would write good letters. Thank goodness my other teacher friends were interested enough to read through EVERY SINGLE ONE.
I read their letters in absolute disbelief at some of the things they were saying. They must have assumed I was acting as a cross-cultural dating service. A common opening line was something like, “My darling sweetheart,” and they frequently threw in words like “babe” or “dear” and several closing lines read something like, “Your handsome, loving boyfriend” or “Your beautiful new girlfriend.” Needless to say, I was stunned at their bravery. There is no way I would write a letter like that to someone I didn’t know! (Or even someone I did know!)
I had to go in to their classes the following week (no, I did NOT send those letters) and explain to them that for Americans, the appeal is only in getting to know another culture, NOT falling in love and marrying someone from that culture. Many Basotho want so much to meet and marry an American because it means they’ll be able to go to America and ultimately become a citizen… and this was painfully apparent in these letters. Several boys mentioned how experienced they were in love – which (according to them) is good, because someone in the relationship should be experienced, so they can teach the other about it. “I am a tall boy, and I am a sexy boy.” was another line… I had a lot of fun reading them and laughing, but had to return them to get a letter that I could send. (They all re-wrote their letters… and I sent them last week. Though it’s getting expensive to send 90 letters in the mail, there is something so priceless about my students’ faces when they get their letters…)

As I posted earlier, this week is now exams, but last week students were still reviewing for their exams. The week before, when I was actually teaching (or trying, in the case of one of my classes), one of my students raised his hand and asked (completely out of the blue), “Madam, what is spinach?” Me: “Um, the vegetable? Like moroho?” Him: “No, madam, the language of … ach, madam, what is spinach?”
Oh. SPANISH. “Well, it’s a language they speak in Spain and Mexico and… well, many parts of the world.”
Him: “Yes, madam. Can you… do you know spinash?”
Me: “Yes, I learned it for many years in school…
I proceeded to absolutely blow their minds by speaking in Spanish for a few minutes. They then insisted I teach them some as well. I wrote several basic phrases on the board like, “¿Hola, cómo estás?” and then they began requesting other things. Something students here say frequently (when their classmates aremaking a lot of noise) is “They are talking.” So I translated that one and gave it to them… and a few more phrases. Meanwhile, someone who had eaten too much something for lunch, passed gas in a really, really smelly way. I’m not sure where they get the word, but they refer to it as “squinching.” Maybe that’s British English, I know not… but sure enough, the next thing out of this smarty-pants’ mouth was, “Madam, how do you say, ‘Someone is squinching’ in spinasch?”
I. Almost. Died.
I explained to him that unfortunately I didn’t know that one… and that in America, we don’t usually use the word squinch. Oops. Of course they wanted to know what we DID use, so I gave him the one my parents used with my sisters as we were all growing up: toot. They thought this was hilarious… and with their little African accents, the word has never sounded so funny. Since then, I’ve not heard anyone use the few “Spinasch” phrases I taught them, but I still can’t keep a straight face when I look at this one particular individual.

This week on Friday, my students begin writing my exams. I also have two next week, Tuesday and Thursday. Yes, I will be working on Thanksgiving…
The holidays are going to be interesting. Last year, we (my volunteer class) were all together for Thanksgiving at the (Acting) Country Director’s house. It was great. Christmas was a bit different; we were left to fend for ourselves and cook our own meal at the training center… but it was really hard. This year is going to be difficult. To me, Christmas is everything family (and a little white on the ground). I don’t have any of that here… I have no idea where I’ll be for Christmas, but shortly thereafter, a friend and I will be off to Mozambique!

Not sure when I’ll next get the chance to update, but I wish you all the happiest of holidays. Thanks for your love, prayers and support – I look forward to another year of crazy African stories!
As always, all my love from Africa!