The optimistic student

Here I was trying to learn some Gissi, the local language of the people of Foya. I thought I was learning to ask, "What is your name?" The men were excited to teach me. The one man eagerly told me to say, "Coolio Fallah." I thought, "yes, i'm getting somewhere." I practiced it over and over again: "Coolio Michelle (my name in Liberia. In Pakistan I was 'Marshall'). " They laughed as I repeated it obsessively.

I told the guys in the truck on the ride home about my new phrase. One guy, Moses Kollie, laughed a good laugh and then told me that "Coolio" actually means "Crocodile."

I closed my notebook as I muttered to myself: "Cryckie!"