le 22 octobre (thoughts on culture and language)

le 22 octobre:

- Went for a walk. It was awesome! This place is SO beautiful and so tranquil.  I was really close to being completely lost and possibly far from any road, or the only road I knew led home anyway, as night was quickly approaching.  But heuresement (fortunately) my sense of direction and adventure/curiosity/determination got me back taking paths I had never seen before! Score!

- It's amazing how culture changes language, that is to say, communication, conversation, and interactions - but that's culture isn't it... The thought that brought this to mind was a comparison of casual conversation.  Often in the US (in English), we start conversations with questions such as:
"how's it going?"; "how are you?"; "how was your day?"
The essential translation exist in French and even in Pular and Susu:
"Ca va?"; "Comment allez-vous?"; "Comment s'est passe la nuit?"; "Avez-vous bien dormi?" et tous ca.  Ou en Pular:
"Tana aala ton?"; "On belike e jam?"; "On nallen e jam?"; "Golle nden no e jam?"; "Bhyngure nden no e jam?"; Ou en Susu:
"Tana mu xi?"; "Xeri xi?"; "Tana mu fenen?"; "Tana mu na?"
But for each expression there's a set response with the tiniest of windows for variation.  It's always, "things are great" loosely translated from literally, "there is no evil" or "peace only."  The wiggle is getting to say, "seedha" or "un peu" in response to "no marsude?" and "ca va?" respectively in Pular and French.  And in passing that's the case for English in the US too, but they are also the gateway questions to talking about things that happened that day or in the recent past.  Here in Guinea, they ask so many questions (how's it going, the family, the work, the night, the sleep, the wife, the kids, etc.) but never is there an insightful response.  Rather for conversation as I've gleaned so far, they tell anecdotal stories from their lives, or movies they've seen...
Maybe it's just me clinging to my culture, but when I ask, "how are you doing?" I really want to know how you're doing.  ( I'm also excited to discover more about the culture and conversation here; I realize "au debut" I have a very superficial understanding of the subject, but I'll learn more "petit-a-petit."