Mah Eleanor

a great teacher

She showed me her daughter's iPad. She is only five years old and already in first grade. We had technical difficulty and moved the lesson over to Zoom. Mah Eleanor lives a ten minute walk from church which holds mass three times on Sunday. She attends the 8:30 am mass. Mah actually grew up Protestant but attends Roman Catholic church now. We talked about bribery in Cameroon and I told her Jehovah's Witnesses aren't supposed to bribe anyone. I have never been guilty of that but I have been guilty of breaking copyright law. I told her on Sunday mornings my parents and I usually do our meetings via Zoom instead of traveling to our local kingdom hall. She asked how we go there and I replied that we drive there and that I've only walked to the kingdom hall once. Mah agreed with me that Americans are getting more unhealthier. I forgot to ask her to teach me Moghamo. We talked about music. She likes African music and sent me the name of a song she likes by Alfred Kwende.

It was my first class on italki. I'm very content and happy.

We had a good conversation where I got practice speaking and listening. I'm a mini-stroke survivor but before my strokes I had random difficulty with verbal communication and listening. She showed me her home cooked stew and we talked about organic food and outdoor chickens. I told her about my neighbor, Lisa, who has chickens and ducks, dogs and cats, and one pig named Annabella whom I once fed carrots. Lisa gave my mom free organic pasture raised eggs. Mah asked if Lisa lived in a big house and I didn't think so. We talked about cancer and microwave ovens and fast food. Her homework assignment for me at next week's lesson is Korean weddings and I told her I've never been to a wedding in Korea so she said just tell me about weddings that you've been to which are mostly kingdom hall weddings. I have been to only one non-Jehovah's wedding a long time ago and it was to a couple named Becca and Scott. I was maid of honor once to a couple named Tim and Kathy. I wasn't her best friend.

She was wearing a T-shirt today which surprised me so she has some casual clothing like me too. She listened to me express myself verbally and asked me questions but she hasn't given me homework yet but she probably will next month after she raises her price for lessons. We talked about school uniforms and old iPhones and hand washing and old washers and her laptop problem which is only one year old. I understood most of what she told me but I forgot to ask her to teach me the Moghamo way to say, "good morning" so I will try to remember next time. She promised to remind me next lesson to apply for the California solar panel program with the electricity company. So writing these reviews is my homework because it feels like work to write reviews. I don't always write reviews of my italki lessons, on Google Maps, or even on www.goodreads.com or its sister company www.amazon.com. I hardly ever write reviews on www.ebay.com either. The fewer words I write the better off I am I feel.

She taught me that Moghamo has no exact equivalent to "hello" or "hi" but that they say "good morning", "good afternoon", "good evening", or "greeting" in her village language. She showed me her TVs, AC unit, and solar panel box. They live in a large home with a garden of seven plantain trees. She has a dog and two cats. She lives in a sub-division of a larger city. She was born in a village but grew up in a town and was 16 when she visited her first city. She found the city exciting. She grew up with herbal medicine. Mah watches mostly English language TV programming and sometimes French language movies. She gave me extra time which is hospitable and generous of her. I look forward to my next language lesson with her. I understood most of what she said.