17 august 2011
Some cute little stories:
-I was working in the garden the other day with some kids from the neighborhood. We were weeding and moving around dirt to create another row of beans. We were losing speed and getting tired quickly in the hot sun. An older boy named Ila showed up and started helping us shovel to build the dirt-mound-row. I was going to walk inside to grab some beans that I had bought to plant, when all of a sudden, Ila pulls out a handful of beans from his pocket. He gave half to me and half to a little girl, Sadia, and together we planted the row of beans. I don't know why this struck me as such a cool happening; maybe because during planting season here in Cameroon, beans are like currency/pocket change. Or it makes me happy that farming is such a communal event that requires the help of everyone.
-So I was over at the fam's house (Fadi, Nini, Saddam and Babba) the other night and Fadi had made potatoes (sweet potatoes and "irish" potatoes) and I told her that I like the "irish" potatoes because chez nous, at my house, we mash them up with oil and salt and they are so delicious. So Nini comes back after selling things and starts making herself some dinner. I told Fadi I was tired and was going to head home, but she said to wait to have a snack with Nini. Fadi must have told Nini what I said because, after the potatoes were all cooked, Nini mashed them up with a millet pounder, added salt and we ate them together :) just like I'm used to.
-So the other day when kids were over at my house, Nini (9 years old) was babysitting a little girl named Habiba (11 months old). Habiba fell asleep on Nini's back, so we laid her down on the mat on my floor. Nini was sitting next to her, and outside, some rambunctious boys started wrestling. Nini is wise beyond her age and has been practicing her French with me more and more. As the boys get louder, she looks over at me and says "vraiment, les enfants comme ca", literrally meaning "really, the children like that", but translating more like, "honestly, these children sometimes". She must have heard me and Fadi say that a lot. It was too cute.
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