Evening Perambulations

Lots of goodness today. Great discussion of Peace Corps issues, great walk to the assif (river), where D** taught us how to balance rocks – yeah for a nifty new hobby that makes my inner geologist glow happily!

After l-mdrasa today, Mma wasn’t home, which meant that everything was a little more relaxed. This week I came to realize that, while Mma looks a lot like an old friend of mine, she’s different in lots of important ways. She’s great, but she runs a nishan household, with rather more yelling than her apple cheeks had led me to expect. When she’s not home, there are more smiles and the atmosphere is just generally lighter.

After kaskrut (tea break), my aytma (siblings) and I went out for a walk. I finally got to meet the secret girlfriend of Teen Bro. After our meeting – which, since this relationship is still secret, consisted entirely of shaking her hand, smiling at each other, watching her greet the assorted brothers and sister who were with us, and then walking on – Teen Bro asked my opinion of her. With nothing at all to base an opinion on, I decided to agree that she was tHla (good, sweet, nice, kind, and beautiful – really a very handy adjective), mostly because she’s studying to become a doctor, which I firmly approve of. :) Oh, and he invited me to come to their tamghra (wedding) in four years, when they’re old enough. I gave him a hug. Fifteen-year-olds really are a universal phenomenon.

Then we walked to the edge of the bluff, where we listened to the tagruts in the river. I asked where the frrtdo (bats) were, since they usually fly around. Not long afterwards, Teen Bro and Little Sis ran off, leaving me and Middle Bro to look at the lights of the town across the river. When they didn’t return soon, we began calling for them. Turns out they’d been looking for bat caves for me. :D I love my family!

After we came back to the house, I discovered that my brothers had captured a sparrow and were holding it in a box about 4”x4”x2”. Didn't love my family quite so enthusiastically at that moment. I told them to set it free, which they very reluctantly did. :( Then we went inside and read the Newsweeks that B**’s family had sent her. They were a hit. Sis-in-Law loved the pictures of pregnant women and newborns, in the article about surrogate mothers, and the boys are looking at the pictures of Barack Obama. “He wants to be the President,” I was able to say, correctly.

“Bush is the president!” Teen Bro argued.

“Bush is President now. Barack Obama wants to be President in the future.”

“Aaaah.”

Yeah for complete sentences! Actual communication! Ideas being shared, one Tamazight word at a time!

Oh, and remind me to tell you about singing the National Anthem. :)