Life on the equator is pretty constant. It’s like the line from “Good Morning Vietnam.” What’s the weather like? Hot, damn hot, real hot. What’s it going to be like tonight? Hot and wet. Nice if you’re with a lady, but ain’t no good in the jungle.
Suriname is the same. It rains there every day. EVERY SINGLE DAY. There was talk of a dry season. Yup, rained then too.
There was a guy in my group (SUR3) who we were convinced was in the WitSec Program. He was an attorney or something. He always wore a shirt and tie. Mind you, it was a BILLION degrees with 5000% humidity. And he would just talk and talk…and talk…and talk….
He asked the teachers how to say lasagna in Sranan. Listen guy, they don’t have that word. If you’re lucky, you could convey “big, flat noodle.”
So, we named him Taki Taki Man. He wasn’t all bad. I’m pretty sure he built an oven and introduced pizza to the indigenous people of Corneliskondre.
Sranan Tongo training meant learning a lot of conversational phrases. The people there are VERY concerned about sleep. I imagine it has a lot to do with Malaria’s prevalence. So, here’s a typical conversation:
‘Sup?
I’m going well
How’d you sleep?
I slept sweetly.
How’d you wake up?
I woke up strong! or strong 😉
This particular conversation suggests that I woke up with morning wood. I told a similar joke on a DJ bus once….
The Government never taught me Dutch, it was something I taught myself in preparation for heading to Suriname. I am VERY glad I did! One of the phrases I learned before the trip was “De tuin is mooi.” I remember thinking, “Why the hell would I EVER say that?!” As it turned out, all the time. Who knew?
I wonder if I could use it as a double entendre? Hmmm. I’ll have to ask the one woman I know that speaks Dutch. I might be slapped. The things I do for linguistics!
Before leaving the US, I was learning how to play the piano. I decided to teach myself the National Anthem for Suriname. I learned that Anthems are pretty universal in that they are “Anthem-y.” When I arrived at the training facility for my first day of training, there was a tiny piano in the corner. I played the anthem for everyone. Kind of neat. I don’t recall if I learned the lyrics also, but I probably did.
Recent Comments