Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Whee, look at me! I'm a regular blogger again!

We're getting settled back into normal life here. Friends have come to visit over the last couple of evenings, tonight I have a birthday party to go to, and tomorrow a friend is throwing us a welcome-back cocktail party at her home. I no longer feel like a disheveled and friendless new mom.

Over the weekend we went out to the Lilongwe Sailing Club. There was no wind, and the hippo was out, so no one sailed. Instead we just barbecued and chatted with friends. Our friend Sonia shared with us a funny story, but first you need some background:

Malawians have a very difficult time differentiating the "L" and "R" sounds. They can't really hear the difference, and frequently interchange the letters in their writing. For example, the newspaper today described a man as being "raid to rest."
So over the summer, during all the political turmoil in Zimbabwe, Sonia got daily updates from the staff, all of whom were following the situation closely.

"The erections are being manipulated," they told her,

and, (my favorite),

"Mugabe is fiddling with the erections."

:-)

4 comments:

Shannon said...

The things I learn through your blog are funny and amazing at the same time. "The hippo was out, so no one sailed." Dang hippos!

Lagniappe Counseling said...

What Shannon said! Also, I loved your story about the Malawians, language twists crack me up
("engrish" gets me all the time).

Anonymous said...

yes, what about those hippos?

Miriam said...

Seriously, hippos are no joke. Neither is the idea of Mugabe fiddling with erections.