I’d rushed back from the hospital, not wanting to be late for the event, but once again the students didn’t arrive until after the event was supposed to end. Granted, it did take them over an hour to walk from their school to the library. As we waited Kitabu boiled water which I assumed he was purifying for the students to drink as a supplement to the jug of orange drink and milk biscuits we’d bought. Turns out the water would literally supplement the orange drink as the two were to be mixed together. Yum, warm juice.
“Why are we using warm water?”
“Because in this weather you cannot drink cold drinks. It’s bad for chest coughs” Kitabu said, filling his water bottle with some of the warm water.
“So, you’re just going to drink that warm? Doesn’t that taste bad?”
“No” he said laughing.
“I don’t think I’ve ever intentionally drank warm water”.
“No?” at this point we both thought the other one was a little crazy.
“OK, I’m still confused, why can’t you drink cold drinks when it’s cold out?”
“It’s not advisable to drink such things in this weather” said Dorcas.
Is that why whenever I order a drink at a restaurant here, be it water, beer or juice, they always ask if I want it warm or cold? Warm beer? No thank you.
This discussion turned into one about English and some of the British English words that they use.
“Wait, so what do you call the boot?” Kitabu asked me, obviously confused.
“It’s called a trunk” I replied, meaning the trunk of a car. “If you told someone in the US to put something in the ‘boot’ they’d think you wanted to put something in their shoe.”
They both burst out laughing, “What’s the bonnet called?”
“That’s called the hood.”
“Hood?”
“Like the hood of a jacket” I said, pulling up my own on my raincoat.
“Well, what do you call a lorry?” asked Dorcas.
“A truck.”
“What about the car Stephen drives?”
“A truck. Well, maybe a pickup truck, or just a pickup.” I directed my attention to Dorcas, “I noticed another one yesterday when we were at Nakumatt and you said we should get a ‘trolley’.”
“What do you call it?”
“A shopping cart. One word that I really don’t understand is calling napkins ‘serviettes’. I only knew what that was when I got here because I studied in France last year and the French word for napkin is ‘serviette’. Does anyone call them napkins?”
“No, napkins are cloth diapers” said Dorcas. Hmm, wouldn’t want to get the two of them confused.
Today’s activity went much like the last one did. Here are some of the funnier questions and answers that the students had:
“You are green with…?” Kitabu asked.
“Environment!” said Group A.
“No…” he pointed to Group B.
“Nature” they replied.
“Envy, you are green with envy.”
“One man’s trash is another man’s…?”
“Food?” was the response of someone in Group B. I suppose that could be true.
“What two primary colors make purple?”
“Green and navy blue!” Group A responded after unanimously agreeing on the answer. Where’d they come up with that?
“No no, blue and red make purple.”
“Which bird delivers babies?”
Neither of the groups knew the answer, so it passed to the audience.
“Duck-billed platypus” shouted a girl in the front row. That was the second time that answer had been given. Maybe it was because platypuses are one of the few mammals that lay eggs instead of giving live birth?
“No” Kitabu laughed, “Gwen, I know you know the answer. Tell them.”
“The stork delivers babies.”
"Yes, the stork" he repeated.