English Discussion Group

As always, I enjoy going to the Horn of Africa School of English on Sunday night. I have made some great friends who have taught me so much. Tonight we talked about the upcoming Ramadan celebration, what makes us happy, and if we could be any animal, what would it be? My friend, Said, had a surprising animal that he would be - a camel. Now why would he chose a camel over more exciting animals like a cheetah or a lion? Because the camel can go two months without eatting. The more I thought about it, it was perhaps the smartest of all answers. Of course, one of the girls yelled out that Said would be a monkey. It would be fun showing Said the United States and sharing back with him our life and culture. I have learned so much from Said since I have been here. I hope he gets a scholarship to go to a university as he has tremendous potential. I also found out "Jerry's" real name. His name is Radwan Ahmed. He sat beside me tonight for the first time and I found out that Jerry really does know how to read and speak a little English. He is just shy and quiet - and tonight, sleepy. He has two brothers and three sisters. He read aloud my notes to me and showed me how he could count to 10, all the while, looking up at me with a smile that you could never forget. I wish everyone could share this wonderful experience of our English Discussion Group here in Section 6 of Djibouti. Tonight, Said gave me numbers to learn in Somali:

1 - kow

2 - labo

3 - saddeh

4 - afar

5 - shan

6 - lih

7 - tudalou

8 - sideed

9 - sagaal

10 - tuban

11 - kow-ituban

12 - labu - ituban

13 - saddeh - ituban