Fote! Fote!

So I may have mentioned this in an earlier post but everyone here calls us fote (pronounced fo-tay). Literally when you walk down the street, in the market, really anywhere at anytime you here Fote! Fote! It means they want you to look at them and say hi. It is mostly little kids and old ladies that do it, but it can be anywhere. It translates to white person, but since they call one of the African Americans in our group fote noir, I think it translates closer to foreigner. My host brother told me the correct response it to yell back foret! Foret! Which means forest in French but is used to describe black people. When I asked him if they would like to be called foret or if they would be insulted, he told me they would not like it but it is what you should say. I usually just say hello and ask them what their name is and tell them mine until they get to know my name and yell Mayghan or Maggot (they have trouble pronouncing my name) instead. As a fote you are the substitute for TV. You are always being watched and them talked about. If you speak Susu, then it is the funniest thing that has happened all day and the story of you speaking Susu is spread around. It’s been a bit strange being watched all the time. For example, I was talking to a little boy on my walk home one day and he pointed out his house and I said I lived down the road. He said, “Je sais, Chez Hadja Guirassy”. I had never talked to this boy before, I am not sure if I have ever seen him, but he knows exactly where I live. One day in the market I went hunting for cucumbers. Some days they are everywhere and some days there are nowhere and this seemed to be one of those nowhere days. Finally as I was about to leave I spotted two tiny cucumbers at the stall of a vendor I often say hello to. I walked over, greeted her in Susu and asked how much the cucumbers cost. I bought one and she gave me the second as a gift. This is common practice in Guinea, but for a foreigner to get a gift is a big deal and means that I have begun to integrate well. I was so happy about finding the cucumber (fresh veggies are rare here) and getting a sign that my efforts at integration were working, that when I saw my friend I told her in a sing-songy voice and danced a little bit to my diddy. It lasted all of 10 seconds, but as soon as I stopped about 15 people around me burst into applause. You are always being watched.