no wariwari

Pidgin languages have often been developed as a means for those from an overtaking empire (whether that be England, France, Spain etc. and often traders from these countries) to communicate with the native locals. Solomon Islands Pijin (Pijin) is one of these languages. Luckily for me, Pijin is essentially English mixed in with Malaysian sounds.  So I can often grasp the basics of what people are saying when they are speaking Pijin and vise versa. Even though there are many different languages in the Solomons, Pijin is a common language that most people can speak and communicate with each other.

At this point the only things I can really say is "Malo" (Hello), "Gud tumas" (Good) and "No wariwari" (No worries), but I am convinced I will be speaking fluent 'island gangster' (as I like to refer to it) by the time I get home! But now, whenever I sit and chat with some of the people here, I will say something  that I think is pretty funny, and the people will just laugh and laugh. The first couple times I just thought that I was pretty funny- but then I soon clued in that they aren’t laughing at WHAT I said they are just laughing AT me. So the real reason I need to learn Pijin is so that I will only be the butt of a FEW jokes, rather than ALL of them!

Culture is a funny thing. It is pretty obvious that I am in a different culture, so big differences are expected, but it’s the small things that you don't expect that can throw you off. For instance, when I'm walking around the base I will often smile or wave or say "Malo!" to people and usually I get a similar response. However, on occasion I just get stares. At first, I thought these people must just think I'm the weirdest person ever and got a little insecure.  Today though, I was looking a Pijin language book that I am borrowing which informed me that one way people acknowledge each other by simply raising their eyebrows at them. And naturally, as I observed people I realized that that was exactly what people were doing if they didn't wave or smile back at me. So people don't hate me after all!

I can't say they don't think I'm the weirdest person ever though at the amount they laugh at me.

I am also embracing the cultural tradition of wearing clothing with two completely opposing patterns and colours by wearing a stripped shirt and flowery skirt. It's quite great.