All the languages

This time with Mercy Ships has allowed me to meet so many people from so many different areas of the world. I believe that there are over 40 countries represented on the Africa Mercy during a field service. That means there are many different ways to say hello, greet people, and more ways to refer to the toilet than I ever imagined.

Some of my favorite sayings so far are from the Australians. Are you surprised that I love the Australian accent and sayings?!? Here are a couple:

How you traveling?- which basically means how are you doing? how are things going?

Winging used instead of whining. For example, "Stop winging about the weather."

Are you winning?- basically means area you ahead in your work? or are you accomplishing all of your tasks for the day.

Some words for toilet that I have heard so far: loo, wash room,  lavatory, restroom and water closet who knew?!?

A lot of Canadians using their "Eh's, southerns saying Y'all and British people who in general just have fantastic accents.

Learning some Dutch words mostly from playing a card game called Phase 10 that a Dutch friend brought that has rules and words in Dutch. I'm also kind of brushing up on my Spanish from my roommate who is from Paraguay.

There are a couple people from Ireland who specify that they are from Northern Ireland or pronounced 'Norn Iron' which apparently is different from just Ireland. Some of my favorite words to hear the Irish say are ragein'-angry, fuming, cracker-good or funny and wee-small.


As far as the Malagasy culture goes greeting people and making eye contact is very important. We are learning to greet each patient with a hand shake and say salama or manahoana which means Hello, Good morning/day/afternoon/evening. Some other words we are learning are:

Veloma: Good-bye
Azafady: Please or sorry (literally means "may it not be taboo to me") We use this one a lot :)
Misaotra: Thank you
Tsy misy fisaorana: You're welcome
Vazaha: foreigner or white person.... we hear this one often too

Some of the Malagasy people that have a little more education are taught French in school and college. The daycrew is helping us out with French for fun. 
It is challenging at times to communicate and work with so many people from different cultures and languages but for the most part it is really fun. Most people say that I don't have an accent just when I say certain words. I'm also learning that I talk way too fast. I usually just get a blank stare and realize that I need to slow down hahaha.

Last week I had the opportunity to go out with the Mercy Ministries team. Mercy Ministries provides opportunities for the crew to volunteer with local organizations involving children, homeless and the local church. Last Wednesday I went with them to the Semato Deaf School for children. I have never visited a deaf school and don't know sign language so wasn't sure what to expect but the kids were so awesome and so much fun. You wouldn't believe how much you can convey just by facial expressions and a simple smile or thumbs up. After greeting us all and welcoming us into their classroom they gave us a sign name. They must have liked my earrings so mine was touching the ear lobes. The day crew did a bible lesson and then we did a craft and played games with them. Truly a unique experience and I look forward to doing more things with Mercy Ministries.

All photo cred to: Mercy Ministires 

Although I am currently serving with Mercy Ships, everything communicated here strictly reflects my personal opinions and is neither reviewed nor endorsed by Mercy Ships. Opinions, conclusions and other information expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of Mercy Ships