scratch paper

At the office today, Melene wanted to make some notes on a piece of paper.

"I need some....what do you call this....to make notes on?" she asked as she reached into her desk for some scratch paper.

I knew she was asking me to clarify the English term, so I replied, "Scratch paper."

Melene offered one of her priceless quizzical looks. "Scratch?" she asked. With furrowed eyebrows, she asked, "How do you spell that?"

I spelled it for her and then made a scratching motion on a mosquito bite (an actual one) on my arm. "Scratch," I repeated.

"Ah!" she nodded thoughtfully for a moment, familiar with the word in that context. And then the quizzical look returned. "Hmm. Scratch." She didn't say anything more, but I think she was wondering why we would ever call it scratch paper. I never thought about it -- and I suppose that 'scratch' is somewhat of an odd word choice for someone who's not a native English speaker.

Just an example of one of many odd-but-fun little conversations that color our days here together! I have my moments of quizzical looks too (like the hyena weddings, for instance...oh, and spelling! Kinyarwandan spelling is a mystery to me, with all of these silent 't's and 'd's).

Advertising is another. There's a huge billboard (for, uh, beer), on the drive from the EIP office to the WR office. "Hehe Intoyoka!" it proclaims in bold letters, with golden beer coloring the entire three square meters of the board. I know that "hehe" (which is pronounced "hey-hey") means "where," because one of the first phrases I learned that has come in totally handy, especially in the villages where nobody speaks French, is "Hehe wese?" (hey-hey way-say), which means, "Where is the restroom?" In the village, this has to be interpreted by the villagers as "Where is the pit latrine?" but it works. Anyhow. I asked Melene what "intoyoka" meant, and she said, "Thirst." My puzzled look prompted further explanation, which is, in a nutshell, that "Hehe Intoyoka" is slang for "No thirst!" or "Where did your thirst go?"

These kinds of things are a fun part of cross-cultural experiences, though; they remind me of what a many-splendored world we live in, with all of the nuances and intricacies of what we term as "culture." There are difficult moments too, of course (some of which I would relay, but I never quite know who is reading this, and I don't want to offend anyone). Shoot me an email if you'd like my take on the dark side of cross-cultural experiences.... :) Honestly, though, it's fun most of the time.

On to other topics, I had a fantastic time yesterday witnessing Baraka begin the second phase of her training of lay counselors....I'll post photos shortly....