Monday, May 12, 2008

Morning greetings

After I eat breakfast I head out into the village to talk to people, and visit them, and see what's up. Morning greetings are really fun, and I like to make them last a long time. Typical sequence: "Congrats and greetings on being awake! How did you sleep? Did you wake up healthy? Are you healthy? How did the people in your family sleep? Are they healthy? How's your tiredness? How's life on earth? How is work?" Etc., etc. One question they asked me a lot my first few weeks was "How is the life of a stranger?" To which the appropriate reply is "God have mercy," which is my favorite response because:
1. The word is Arabic and fun to say: "Allhumdililahi."
2. "God have mercy" is not something I would ever say at home, so it's neat to put it out there.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I keep returning to this posting and sharing it with friends. These little tidbits of life in different places are priceless. Thanks for sharing!
Beth

Kerry said...

Jessica's occasional letters are long, but they are easily broken into these small pieces, and fun for me to manage, too. Thank you for reading the blog!