This blog post was supposed to be dedicated to the new people in our lives but Mama Chief, our esteemed landlady, has just appeared. Apparently two people from the Ministry of Education are on their way, as I write, to Ihavandhoo and will be staying overnight in our house! On the Maldivian ‘need to know’ scale this information obviously rates quite low because no one has told us about it. Anyhow, they’re coming and Mama Chief has arrived, complete with two chickens and some hired help, to prepare a feast for our visiting dignitaries. Oh good, more food.
While she whipped up a rainbow cake in a frying pan we decided to show her some of our newly-learnt Dhivehi. She was crippled with laughter as Bella proudly reeled off the Dhivehi words for pumpkin, curtain (not to be confused with certain), garlic and Friday. An eclectic choice of words I grant you, but as we only have the A to F section of our Dhivehi dictionary, our vocabulary is somewhat limited. Bella and I have now retired to our rooms, leaving Mama Chief free rein of the kitchen. She was last seen mixing ingredients in our washing up bowl...
Let us return to the intended topic of this post: our new-found friends and other assorted people in our life. Being the charming and friendly young ladies that we are, Bella and I have found it relatively easy to make friends. The Maldivians are a timid bunch so it’s the most out-going characters we have come to know first but their names have caused us a certain (not to be confused with curtain)amount of trouble.
Maldivian names are a social minefield. Every third man has the first name Mohammad (for obvious reasons) and if they’re not called Mohammad, then the chances are they’ll be Hussan or Ibrahim. So if you stand in the street and call Ibrahim, half the island comes running. To overcome this problem they can choose from a wider variety of second names, such as Mahir, Waheed or Asima, by which people tend to be known. But of course for every rule there is an exception. Mariyam Ibrahim and Fathima Moosa are both girls in my class. When the poor, unsuspecting Miss L tried referring to them as Ibrahim and Moosa she evoked peals of laughter and looks that could kill.
Ever resourceful, Bella and I have found a solution to our troubles. We have renamed our friends and acquaintances with nicknames that mean something to us. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce you. The Big Man was our very first friend. He is the deputy principal of the school and, in the principal’s initial absence, was in charge. Bella and I have something of the soft spot for the Big Man because he’s just so smiley and kind. Next up, Cafe Guy, so called because he accompanied us to a cafe on our second day here and sat with us while we had lunch. He has been so attentive that we were somewhat surprised to learn that he has a wife... Scout Guy has also become a good friend along with Right-hand Man, Beardy Short-Trousers, New Crush, Tubby, Lama Guy (don’t ask), and most recently the Very Big Man aka the principal. Sadly, some of our new found friends have recently left the island to go to Malé for higher studies. We’re working on replacements.
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