A Good Sense of Humor

I called again on Sunday. Julius’s mother has a wonderful sense of humor. When she answered the phone, she must have recognized the number because she immediately said “Hello Brittany. Sorry I don’t speak any English!” and started laughing and laughing and laughing. Julius was on the line before I could even ask. He chided me about being his mom’s new friend, so I said of course! He said that our conversation the week before had lifted her spirits. Julius plans on bringing his family over, but they’ve been slightly hesitant to leave their roots; Julius’s mom has been worried about the language barrier. Our past conversation (the one about calling back at 7) had alleviated some of her nervousness.

I told him that I had enjoyed talking to his mom. He asked me if I’d like to talk to her again, so he put her on. She expressed that she was excited to come here. She said that she had just gotten back from market and cooked chicken for supper. She asked me if I would send her some tea and money. Then, she very successfully expressed that Julius’ dad wanted to talk to me too. I understood! We were all very excited and happy! When Julius’ dad got on the phone, he asked me if I knew his name. He was impressed when I said “Simon”. He told me he was excited to visit my place (meaning America) and asked me if I spoke Bari. Julius has taught me very few words, so I said what I could, and his dad seemed impressed. When Julius got back on the phone, he said I had just made their day. He said they were delighted to practice their English by talking to me.

He said that they would be visiting a nearby town the next day and that he would be able to use the Internet. I got the call from him about 7:00am in New York. We tried to get a Skype connection, but it was unable to go through. I’ll just keep my hopes up because I plan on calling again 2 weekends from now (around July 15). My mom called me today and said that Julius had called her this morning, too.