Mind-Numbing Numbers

Warning: this may be a bit numerically and linguistically nerdy...but interesting!!!

Not all number systems are the same.

In all the languages that I've learned so far, once you learn numbers 1-10, you can pretty much count to your heart's content. In Hebrew, Spanish, and Swahili, 41 is forty-and-one. In Dutch they reverse the order, one-and-forty. English ditches the 'and' for forty-one.

That was pretty elementary, I know, here comes the twist.

There are some exceptions to this system.

English: eleven, twelve
Dutcht: elf, twaalf
Spanish: once, doce, trece, catorce, quince

These numbers don't follow the normal pattern, but we get used to them quickly enough. They are the rare exception.

EVERY NUMBER IN BANGLA IS AN EXCEPTION UNTIL YOU REACH 100!!!

Sure, there are some patterns, but sometimes it's just a single consonant that is indicating the number. I know that if it starts with a 'p', then the number ends with '5' - I'm still working on remembering which is 45 and which is 35, but they both start with 'p'.

The way that the number names are put together varies and I have yet to figure out the pattern. I have to dedicate time to learning each set of 10 numbers!

It would be as if we counted thusly:

twen-on, twent-two, twenty-ter, twe-four...
thirty-o, thi-two, thir-three, th-or...

I'm not kidding.

So, wish me luck! I can confidently count to 20! I'm a little shaky on 24 and 26, struggling through the 30's and 40's. Almost half way to 100!!!

Oh, they also write their own numbers. The 4 looks like an 8, and 7 looks like a 9.  (This is when I wish blogger had a good facepalm emoji)



(By Sowrov at Bangla Wikipedia (Transferred from bn.wikipedia to Commons.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

Wanna Take a Rickshaw?

Here is an 8-minute rickshaw ride in just over a minute!

I feel slightly odd paying someone to bike me around a city. I never felt odd in Tanzania for paying someone to drive me on a motorbike though. In both cases I'm paying someone to take me from one place to another, so why do I feel differently about them?

For me, I think pride is involved. For some it may be the case that they feel that they are better than the rickshaw driver, they deserve to be pulled through the city by someone of lower standing. That isn't the type of pride I'm dealing with. I'm dealing with the pride of thinking of myself as better than those who think they're better than the rickshaw driver.

I don't see manual laborers as somehow lesser than me, so I do not want to be associated with those who may have that opinion. By taking a rickshaw I feel that I could be associated with them, and I think I'm better than them. All things being equal, thinking you're better than a rickshaw driver and thinking you're better than anyone else is really just the same thing. It is pride. I don't know if there is "better" or "worse" pride in this case and I'm sure a debate about that could be extensive!

For me, I will ride rickshaws, giving the driver respect and gratitude, being grateful that he is able to provide for his family, and enjoying the wind in my hair as I breeze through the city.

Learning Bangla

It's been a long time since I started learning a language. I've had a number of years of feeling competent and savvy in either Swahili or Hebrew. Even last summer when I was studying Arabic I quickly picked up vocabulary thanks to both of those languages! I was also much more familiar with the Arabic script.

The Bangla script is a piece of art! I've never had a steady hand for art, so I'm finding it quite challenging! I do really like the letter at the bottom of the page though, it looks like an fancy double heart.

It has only been two days. I know that in a few weeks all of this will be so much more familiar. I have to keep telling myself that right now. It is very humbling to be at the beginning of learning a language. Watching others converse with ease while you struggle to say 'thank you'. Watching others create a piece of art with their hand as they effortlessly write a word while it takes me a bit to remember how to write a single letter. My jaw is a little sore from trying to form new sounds and shapes that don't exist in English, Swahili, or Hebrew. I think that means that I'm learning something new, and that is always a good thing.

My teacher took me around the area a wee bit yesterday, my first day of class, including a sari shop! I didn't buy a sari yesterday, but I fully intend to wear one soon! I've been told that there might be an event in the next couple of weeks that could necessitate it!!!

Wish me luck with language-learning and sari-wearing!!!

Half Kilo of Yogurt

My first five days in India have been full on - the positive way of saying 'overwhelming', I believe.

I can't yet read Bengali and my language abilities are limited to 'My name is ___', 'What is your name?', and, most importantly, 'half kilo of yogurt' (breakfast needs rank very highly for me). I have met dozens of people that I will be working with. For most of them I don't yet have a hook in my brain upon which to hang their names. A few names I'll remember, I hope, because I could hang them on a hook such as 'Ah, that means ___ in Swahili/Hebrew'.

I'm still trying to figure out how to be sensitive when taking pictures around the city, but I have managed to snap a few photos.

This fusion restaurant (that doesn't include any East African cuisine) felt like it was welcoming me to my new environment and saying, 'No Worries!'

I'm in the middle of a very large city, with few trees in sight, but I think I'll learn to see a different type of beauty. Like the green accents along the wall down this alley!

I'll also appreciate the trees that I do find, and that they aren't chopped down just because they are obstructing the sidewalk.

Apparently Kolkata got its first Starbucks recently - I guess in a city of over 4 million and with only one Starbucks, this is what the line can look like!

I have also been impressed with some of the wiring here. There might be as many wires in these next two pictures as in all of Musoma town (where I lived in Tanzania).

I'm coming up with a list of ways that life in Tanzania/East Africa has helped me thus far in acclimating to my new environment. Maybe I'll share that list next week!

Send Me On My Way

On July 15th I left Israel for two weeks to work at a summer camp in the States. By October 15th I will have arrived in Bangladesh where I plan on gaining some competency in Bengali. That is three months.

By the time those three months are up I will have travelled almost 35,000 miles on 23 different airplanes. That doesn't include the miles I travelled on road trips to visit siblings and grandparents. It has been such a blessing to be able to fly all over and see so many friends and family before leaving for India.

My bags are packed, I am ready to go, so send me on my way! Writing this post is one of the very last things I am doing before heading out the door to the airport.  Next time, I'll be writing from India!!!

Here's a short video, which provides a fair visual of what these three months will have looked like for me.

(Hm, I really should have added some music to that video...Indiana Jones or something like that)