Ker ho……..ker hom……. ker homme…e..der
KERHOMMERDER…….I stutter my way through the words, watching the lips of my friend intently, imitating her mouth movements, my first step at attempting to learn sinalese. Once I got it there was no stopping me, sitting outside our hotel room I asked every Sinhalese passerby “kerhommeder?” meaning how are you? Until it finally rolled off my tongue without me sounding like a dysfunctional robot. Plus I actually got understood! Bonus!
This was just the beginning….its about trying, more often than not making a slight fool of yourself, repetion and memorizing until the words I am trying to speak start to mean something to me. With confidence I am getting a bit clearer with my pronunciation. It bridges a small gap and breaks down language barriers.
Staying in Tissa further down the coast, John the Swede, Ant and I stayed at a lovely hotel in the jungle run by a kind family and their two children. They were the best teachers, never tiring of my questions or the fact that I was like a stuck record repeating myself again and again and again…..I sat with the two children encouraging them to draw with me, they were shy at first so they watched as I drew a cat, dog, fish and snake. They were fascinated by the animal sounds I made, copying me and laughing. Soon I had the whole family around me prompting, encouraging, laughing with me whilst I tried to learn the names of the animals and extend my limited Sinhalese vocabulary.
I pointed at the cat, ‘poosa’. I repeated it. Then the dog, ‘bala’. Once again I repeated it. I quickly remembered them, rolling them off my tongue with the children. It was so much fun, the game not boring us in the slightest and with it a bond was established. The children and I were soon squealing around the hotel in a game of catch……”they like you” the grandma told me. I was pleased.
Later on in the day the children came out of the house, saw me reading on the porch, waved shyly safe in their grandmas arms. I heard one of them point at me and call me ‘white auntie’. How sweet. And that’s how I got my new nickname.
