Language learning is hard!

I am not sure you can see my face in these pictures but usually most of the morning of learning Swahili there is confusion. I have become really good at flipping through my notes to "cheat" as Jason calls it. I don't know how to get my memory better but I can go over something then ask me 1 minute later and it is forgotten. Linah, our teacher, is very patient and always tells me it will come in my own time. We scheduled this time to be right when                Righteous should be napping but of course she has always fought sleep because she doesn't want to miss anything. Even this day I asked Mercy to take pictures of us and she was in the middle of eating breakfast but she left her food to take so many pictures. Then soon we turn to see what Righteous is doing and she has climbed up the counter and stolen Mercy's toast and was eating it! When she gets caught she giggles and tries to run away dropping crumbs all the way.

As I am learning the language I sometimes ask my teacher to translate American saying into Swahili which she finds so funny.  Wewe ni uchunga kwa tako langu is you are a pain in my butt.  Kaka is brother and Dada is sister and Kuku is chicken and Dudu is bug. I have translated that my brother laid eggs and heard the story of an American getting up in church saying my Kaka's and Dudu's= my brother's and bugs! When talking in English I have to remember that cars have boots and bonnets (hood and trunk) I talk on a mobile and sms on it (cell and text on it) I wear Trousers (pants are your underwear and that is very taboo to talk about). Mercy asked me if flashing somebody means something bad in America. I said yes why? She told me she told the American interns to flash her their numbers (just means leave a missed call on her phone) and they gave her a strange look when she said it. Right after she told me this Righteous lifts up her shirt so I told her that is what we consider flashing- what perfect timing!!