Today as I was leaving my school the pre-school kids were also leaving en masse. I let them overwhelm me, and when I reached the school yard there were only a few stragglers, the rest headed home on their stumpy, plump little legs toward a snack as fast as possible.
“Hello!” one little boy with a ridiculously huge hat beamed up at me.
“Hello!” I chimed back, flashing Hat a big smile. (Hey, I was excited about snack and home too!)
Hat turned to his companion Over-stuffed-backpack-kid and began to speak in Kazakh.
“Did you hear that? I said hello! To the American!”
Backpack looked blankly at Hat, then skeptically at me.
“Hello! I said ‘Hello!’ Don’t you understand hello!”
Backpack continued to look blankly at Hat, the word clearly not ringing any bells.
Hat appeared to be getting a little frustrated. ”Man, am I smart? How come you can’t understand hello!”
He jogged up to me, and slipped his little mitten into my hand, and grinned up at me.
“I understand hello. I am sooooo cool.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
