Monday, November 21, 2016

Saturday, November 19

We've fallen back into the routine of village life again. School and language project work through the early afternoon, then we each fan out into the community. The kids usually go out to play with their friends. One day this week Sarah walked out to our garden and came back with four beautiful pineapples, and another day Aaron and I walked to the garden to weed and plant green beans and pumpkins.

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Leku came over one afternoon to help out our struggling watermelon patch. She had noticed that we have vines and flowers like crazy, but no fruit. So, she and her sister poked a stick through the base of each vine and pruned the tips of each vine, too. Leku promised that it works every time for their watermelons, and since the seeds I planted are from her watermelons, I think we'll give it a try and see what happens!

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Yesterday afternoon, I set out to do some specific language learning on comparatives. When I was at market on Wednesday morning, I realized I didn't know how to say "the smallest pineapple" or the "ripest papaya." I set out with some pieces of orange card stock that I had cut in various lengths and widths. In both places where I stopped for "school," my friends had trouble comparing more than two things. When the suffix "-ril" is added to an adjective it means something like "less than." So "bakeilaril" means "a little less big," "sosonaril" means "a little less long," and "kasakasaril" means "a little less thin." On the way home, I came across these two sisters sitting on a bench. They were kind to let me take their picture. As some of the oldest ladies in our village, I don't know how much longer we will get to enjoy their company.

1 comment:

Nahna said...

Learning never stops, even where you live all the time, without the change in language. Is it not amazing how we never "get it all".
Love the picture of the sisters....the older ladies that God places in my life certainly make it richer.