Well you definitely don't unload the whole thing. That would make far too much sense! I learned to stack dishes like this while a fifth or sixth grader in Galmi. Alihu, our house worker, was quite good at it and so I studied up in the fine art of dish stacking. Speaking of Alihu, he had been around visiting in Galmi as some very good friends of mine from Galmi days are back in Galmi for a few weeks. He had been asking after me and my family so one of "my good friends" decided to call me via cell phone to let him talk to me. He speaks Hausa which I understand but can only do the bare minimum of greeting in. I speak French which he can not speak. Wow! Talk about awkward and "my good/bad friend" walked away and left us to hash it out. So that was about the longest 20 second conversation I've ever had and the best part about it was someone else was in the car with me and got to enjoy all the awkwardness!
I can remember the awkwardness when the Hausa greetings ran out. My only hope was to go through the day, family members, work, plus any other words I could remember BEFORE the other party realised I couldn't speak much more.
ReplyDeleteEven after going to KA for one semester at the age of six, when I came back to Niamey, I had lost a lot of my Hausa and French and couldn't communicate as before.