Asyomi ayong ngaKaramojong!

I'm loving my ngaKaramojong lessons so far. Theirs is actually quite a sophisticated language... more complex than I expected (why is it that our Western minds seem to automatically equate almost everything African with simplicity?). It reminds me of Latin and Greek in that (as far as I can tell, and I'm no linguist, so feel free to correct me) nouns have different endings depending on gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) - so we have to learn both noun and verb conjugations. Of course, there's only so much we can learn in the next five months, and the people we talk to will still understand us if we mess up our conjugations (I still haven't quite mastered "we" forms so I always use first person singular, no matter what... yeah I should work on that).

Anywho, for anyone who wants to learn a few phrases, just for fun, here are just a few of the many phrases we've learned in the last few weeks. "ng" = the sound you make at the end of the word "sing" -- "c" = "ch"

Ejok! (hello!)
Angaleo-a? (is it good? response "ee, angaleo" - yeah, it's good)
Ngai ekonekiro? (What is your name? Answer: Erae ekaakiro Ngakiru -- that's my Karamojong name, which is a reference to "the time of the rains" -- since the rain was CRAZY when I first arrived here. My teacher Rose named me).
Ai ilosi iyong? (where are you going?)
Alosi ayong lore/lodakitar/losukul/lotic/lodonga/locor/alo Mission (I'm going home/to the clinic/ to school/ to work/ to a dance or party/ to the water hole/ to the Mission compound)
Ngikonikaru naie? (how old are you? My answer: Erae ngikakar ngatomoniareiangiuni - I am 23).
Ngae ekiro nakaato kon? (what is your sister's name? Answer: Erae ekiro a nakaato kang Christi).
 ** Funny side note, I was learning to say "My mother's name is Beverly" and the Karamojong CANNOT pronounce that name. It was soooo funny to hear them stumbling over it... I finally just told them we'd call her Betty. Sorry, mom!**
Mam ngace (no problem!)

Now for numbers 1-20 (I might have some of the teens wrong... but I'll do my best!)
1 epei
2 ngiarei
3 ngiuni
4 ngomon
5 ngikan
6 ngikanikapei
7 ngikanikarei
8 ngikanikauni
9 ngikanikomon
10 ngitomon
11 ngitomonakepei
12 ngitomonakarei
13 ngitomonangiuni
14 ngitomonangomon
15 ngitomonankan
16 ngitomonankanikapei
17 ngitomonankanikarei
18 ngitomonankanikauni
19 ngitomonankangomon
20 ngatomonangiari

I can't even begin to write the 20s.  The teens are bad enough. Ridiculousness!