So I just returned from being out in the sun for about 12 hours today, and it reached the mid 90's today. Not a cloud in the sky, so it was HOT, of course I got burnt and I am as red as a tomato. Luckily my brain decided to function around 3 pm and I thought "hmmm maybe sunscreen is a good option". I ran down to the Navy Exchange and bought some SPF 60, which feels like the consistency of glue. It was already too late, my sunglass tan, watch tan, and bracelet tan are here to stay, it really looks good on me...
I spent a majority of my time in the field with a handful of Turkish men and a whole lot of Djiboutian men. Trust me there was enough sign language used today!
I never realized that until today, Djibouti has its personal language, you may read that the primary languages are French and Arabic and they are fluent in both, but they have their own tribal language that they use that I have been trying to pick up on and try to figure out what language it is, but now I know. One of the laborers tried to get me to talk french with him but I had to shake my head and say that I didnt speak a word of english... but I tried. I went back to my backpack and grabbed my "Let's Talk French" book, that my grandparents bought me before coming over here. It has 1,001 different every day phrases. So I found one, and I told them in French that I was hungover. They found that to be THE most hilarious thing in the world. So I kind of broke the ice with the workers, which is kind of cool in a way, but now they wont leave me alone.
You know, I never realized how difficult it is to try to speak PROPER english to a foreigner, because they are trained on proper english. Think about it...we would say something like "I'm gonna go sit in the shade are you comin?" now translation to the foreigner "I am going to go sit in the shade, are you going to join?" or something along those lines. Its funny because you know when you are speaking to a person that knows little or no english, like this afternoon a Turkish man came up to me and I said "Good Afternoon" and he replied "Im good thank you" I wanted to laugh but I couldnt. Needless to say it was a short conversation. Well I'm running on little sleep and no dinner so I am going to go to the Cafeteria for some food would you like to join me? Translation...Take it easy ya'll I'm in the mood for like some food, with like a salad, want to tag along?
I spent a majority of my time in the field with a handful of Turkish men and a whole lot of Djiboutian men. Trust me there was enough sign language used today!
I never realized that until today, Djibouti has its personal language, you may read that the primary languages are French and Arabic and they are fluent in both, but they have their own tribal language that they use that I have been trying to pick up on and try to figure out what language it is, but now I know. One of the laborers tried to get me to talk french with him but I had to shake my head and say that I didnt speak a word of english... but I tried. I went back to my backpack and grabbed my "Let's Talk French" book, that my grandparents bought me before coming over here. It has 1,001 different every day phrases. So I found one, and I told them in French that I was hungover. They found that to be THE most hilarious thing in the world. So I kind of broke the ice with the workers, which is kind of cool in a way, but now they wont leave me alone.
You know, I never realized how difficult it is to try to speak PROPER english to a foreigner, because they are trained on proper english. Think about it...we would say something like "I'm gonna go sit in the shade are you comin?" now translation to the foreigner "I am going to go sit in the shade, are you going to join?" or something along those lines. Its funny because you know when you are speaking to a person that knows little or no english, like this afternoon a Turkish man came up to me and I said "Good Afternoon" and he replied "Im good thank you" I wanted to laugh but I couldnt. Needless to say it was a short conversation. Well I'm running on little sleep and no dinner so I am going to go to the Cafeteria for some food would you like to join me? Translation...Take it easy ya'll I'm in the mood for like some food, with like a salad, want to tag along?
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