Watch the Walk

Do you like spelling? Do you like that every letter is ordered in its proper place and follows some sort of pattern or rule? Or do you find spelling a nuisance, a necessary evil? You wish that it didn't exist, that you could spell words however you wanted, according to your mood. Buht thatt mite nought bee a gud ideeuh. Spelling's important. But how is spelling determined? Who makes the rules? Who says that we have to spell things one way, and not another? In English, a typically written language, those decisions are made by the originator of terms. Their decisions are formalized by dictionaries , but the dictionary doesn't create words or spellings-- it reflects commonly accepted ways of writing. But what do you do when the dictionary is incomplete, and people are largely unaccustomed to write in their own language? Or, worse, those who have started writing in their language use a manner of writing which complicates writing words, rather than simplifying...

In a lot of ways, I think growing up in a small town prepared me well for life in Africa. How so? Well, here's a starter list: -> Getting things done is a often a more informal process, dependent on the people you know or connections they have. -> Reputations matter. -> On the same note, everyone talks about everyone. -> You might not always find exactly what you want in the stores in town. But if you can, you buy local. And you buy from your friends. -> Identifying places often relates to the history surrounding it. "You know the place that used to do street meat, next to the old Red Crescent? That's where the best pizza is." You know where so-and-so's mom lives? It's next to there... -> People know you and you might not know them. -> It's hard to run errands without running into people you know. Ten minutes to go to the store? Only if you don't get sidetracked by a long conversation...

One of my favorite characters "Please keep Frodo in your thoughts. He's trying to get to Mount Doom, but the ring is really messing with his ability to handle life and relationships. Oh, and Orcs keep getting in the way." "The taxi drivers are on strike and we've got a flight to catch that might not happen because the president commandeered our flight." Some of you read that and it makes sense. Others of you read that and feel like you're wading into the deep end of something you have little hope of understanding. But you want to be involved, so you keep reading. The communication divide between one world and the other is tricky to navigate. How do I properly explain to someone what it means to live in a place where so many things are different from the standard American life? A place where the key players think differently, the key infrastructure functions differently, and the key resources you have for dealing with that aren...