Sesotho 101

The sun felt so warm on our face as we waited patiently on the curb in front of the Baylor clinic for our Sesotho instructor. Jaime had her green apple eagerly waiting to give it to her new-founded teacher. Every car the pulled up had to be her. But, they weren't. We decided to start our own sesotho which turned into a clicking session trying to even make the sound and more basking in the sun.

Finally an older lady in a pink knitted beanie and 5 layers (in this beautiful 80 degree weather) stepped out of a car and meandered over to our obvious foreign circle. She reminded me of a wonderful old grade school teacher that has a paddle hiding somewhere in those layers. We followed her upstairs and the session began.

She squeezed each one of our cheeks and spoke loudly in each of our ears exaggerating every syllable hoping these foreign wannabes would get the odd tongue dialect with it's french flare. Jaime, with shoulders tense and wide-eyed, desperately tried to watch the lady's mouth until she finally told her "listen, relax! Don't be afraid of my language!"

After we started cooing and trying to sing the words, Me Madela tried to act out being our patient entering the room. She would shuffle her entire two feet of space between you and her putting her face as close as possible "boa"....(speak) until we would finally ask her what her name was. Then she would be elated at the idea you spoke to her, grin entirely too dramatically, and then speak back! It was quite entertaining and I think we had more laughs watching the play out version of how to speak Sesotho rather than actually speaking it ourselves.

Needless to say, I think I can safely say "Ke Boa Sesotho Hanyenyane" and will need a lot more sessions with this woman! She definitely knows how to make it entertaining.

Tomorrow we are tempting the 1st Annual Retreat....which I am sure will only generate more blog stories for the future!