"UN, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit...," I would set
off on my daily walks to the ocean cliffs, learning to count in French, interrupting
my cadence to say, "Bonjour," to an occasional friendly guard. If
I was going to continue to improve my repertoire in dealing with beggars, peddlers
and guides, I needed to learn the local language. Besides, I needed to know
how to count in order to negotiate when buying things, since everything from
a cab ride to material for clothes was negotiable.
"In Senegal, we talk," a Lebanese cloth merchant
had said when we told him his price was too high. If we wanted, we could suggest
a lower price. There were a dozen tribal languages in Senegal, with Wolof predominating
in the Dakar area, but French was the unifying language commonly used in commerce,
government and newspapers, in keeping with the region's French colonial history.
Within a few weeks of my arrival, I was able to count to a thousand and beyond
in French, in step with a vigorous walk. With Jan's tutoring, I could order
a baguette at the street corner boulangerie. It wasn't hard after awhile to
figure out what a newspaper story, advertisement or sign was about, so I figured
I was ready for a solo trip to the local post office.
The small lobby was crowded, with a line that
stretched around the lobby. Twenty minutes later, when my turn came, the clerk
became quickly impatient with my slow French and figured out what I needed by
looking at my postcards. Then she asked a question. I heard "sangk"
or "sahng," and 5 came to mind, but I wasn't sure whether she said
something about 5, 50 or 500--or why. As I was trying to figure it out, mindful
of other waiting customers and her impatience, a guy behind me, more amused
and helpful, pointed out which coin in my hand she wanted. She eventually gave
me the stamps I needed, but I felt acutely humbled, like a child at the mercy
of unsympathetic adults. As I walked away, I decided that I wasn't going to
try that again for awhile!
Looking at the stamps and my change, I realized that
she had asked whether I had 50 CFA in coin, since the total postage was 550
CFA and she wanted to give me a 500 CFA bill in change for my 1000 CFA bill.
I also realized that recognizing a random number in a new language was very
different from counting.
The next day, however, I went back for more and not
only got the stamps I wanted without difficulty, but also managed to fend for
myself in getting served. There was no line. All the customers, as frequently
happens, jammed together in a flat "V" shape, crowding up to the window.
I had been amazed, when we flew to Casablanca, to find that there had been no
line at the departure counter in the Dakar airport. We had to cram with other
passengers up to the counter to check our bags. In the States, people automatically
formed lines. If a flight was canceled, they would form an orderly line, without
prompting, to get new flight assignments. Senegal, I decided, was mostly a "V"
society, instead of a "Q" society (for orderly queue).
Introduction
1. First Bribe
2. You Decide
3. Acknowledging Others
4. Passing Grade
5. Two Foreign Cultures
6. How Do You Say "Help"
in Arabic?
7. Risks in the Developing World
8. UN, Deux, Trois
9. Hello But No Cadeau <
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