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1.08.2009

1/8 Conversation Confusion

Walking back from my sitemate's house, I got into a perfectly normal Moroccan street conversation. Where I kinda made an idiot of myself. I'll use [***] to mean "a word Kawtar didn't understand." Watch and enjoy...

Moroccan Girl: Hi!
Kawtar: Hi! How are you?
Moroccan Girl: Good, and you?
Kawtar: Good, thanks be to God.
MG: Thanks be to God. Are you cold?
K: Yes, a little.
MG: Do you understand Tamazight?
K: Yes, a little. I'm learning it.
MG, seeing my handful of snapshots: Do you have photos?
She looks through them, commenting on each one, identifying people she recognizes...
MG: Where is your community?
K: Where am I from?
MG: Yeah.
K: America.
At this point I'm expecting "Is it this cold in America?" or "Do you get snow in America?", which are the two most common questions I've gotten the past few months.
MG: How long [***] America?
K: How long till I return to America? Two years.
MG: No, you didn't understand me.
K: I'm sorry! I'm still learning. Again, please?
MG: How long [***] community?
K: How long have I lived here? Ten months.
MG, laughing: No, no, you're not understanding me.
K: I'm so sorry!
At this point, she tries another three or four times, including using the phrase for "what time is it?", which only confuses me further. Lhumdullah, a mutual friend walks up. I kiss her cheeks and run through the greeting phrases with her. She works a lot with my sitemate, so she's used to Americans and our funny accents and limited vocabulary.

MG, to Friend: I said 'How long [***] America, and she said 10 months! Hahahahaha!"
Friend, to me: She said to you, how long does it take to travel to America?
K: Hahahaha! I'm sorry. To go from Berberville to America?
MG: Yeah.
K: Well, it takes about a day to get to Casablanca, and then you take an airplane for another day to get to America. Two days.
MG: Only two days? Is Casablanca that close to America?
It occurs to me that to this village girl, Casablanca and America are just about equally fantastical and remote. I also realize that she's probably never seen an airplane in her life.

K: In an airplane, it only takes a little time. Airplanes go very fast.
Thinking back on this conversation, it occurs to me that the word for airplane, Ta'a3ra, usually pronounced tyara here, is also the word everyone used when the helicopter came a couple weeks ago. So she's probably imagining me taking a helicopter across the Atlantic - if she even has any idea that there's an ocean between our countries. We move on to more familiar topics.
MG: Are you married?
The word for married, tawl, sounds a lot like the word for photo, tsawl, so I get confused.
K: Sorry, these are all the pictures I have.
MG: Hahahaha. You didn't understand.
K: Sorry.
MG: Are you married? Do you have a man?
The same word is used for "man" and "husband", so I'm not sure whether she's asking if I'm dating. Regardless...

K: Oh, no. I don't have a man.
MG: Really?
K: Nope, not yet.
MG: [***] girl?
K: No, I don't have any children yet. Because I don't have a man.
MG: No, no, ARE you a girl? Or are you a woman?
I realize that she's asking me if I'm a virgin. Not a topic I'd bring up the first time I met a stranger, but...

K: Of course I'm a girl! I don't have a husband!
MG: Like me! I don't have a man, either.
We all smile at each other.

Friend, to me: Aren't you cold?
K: Yes, I'm cold. I'm going home, where I have a buta heater.
MG: OK, then.
K: Goodbye!
MG: Goodbye.

Just another day in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer...

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