The three-week trip started in Prague yesterday, where I tried hard to turn off my Swahili thinking and switch to Slovak. I was greeted by a couple of old relatives I'd never met at the airport and granted they spoke Czech and not Slovak (though the two are similar) I still had a major language block even in the greetings!
My go to was "Shikamoo" (a respectful greeting in swahilli) when it should have been "Ahoy".
Frustration overwhelmed me in my struggle to get out a few words and remember even my simple "please" and "thank yous". But non-the less tyeta (aunt) Anichka and uyo (uncle) Honza were aware of the situation and we all did our best with charades, photos, laughs and slow remembering, to communicate.
We soon made it to their humble flat, shared a meal, and then my uncle took me around to see some famous sights. As I explored this new city, the familiarity of Europe settled in and I felt the language coming back as the day drew close to an end.
After a few hours of soaking in as much as my tired self could, we took to the flat and enjoyed another meal together.
I explained to them (in probably the simplest way I've processed Tanzania thus far) what I've been doing for the past eight months.
My uncle showed me a collection of his travel photos as well as his all black and white, film processed wedding album (which was AMAZING).
With that I conked out in my guest bed.
The next morning, I woke up praying in Slovak in my mind, and was reassured that I hadn't completely forgotten everything I knew.
Ha, God never leaves us hanging.
After breakfast, I thanked and bid fair well to my sweet relatives and headed for the airport to catch my last flight to Slovakia!
So now I'm here.
God's going to do some cool stuff.
He always does
-DG
No comments:
Post a Comment