There's one Indian store in Gulu that sells raisins. You would never know it. It looks like any usual general merchandise store - soap, flour, rice, spices, biscuits, water... but if you ask just right, they produce a bag of raisins from a box in the corner behind the counter. The first time I bought them, I asked for raisins. No problem. The Indian store owner was there and knew what I meant.
Another time, there were some young Acholi men running the store... my request caused great confusion until one said something that sounded like "gas fruit." Okay... um, sure, I'd like some gas fruit?
This last time, an older Acholi man was running the store... he explained that they are called "fruit cakes." That makes a little more sense (I think).
One of the keys in any culture is words... gas for the car is petrol... gas for the stove is gas... don't ask for the wrong thing or there might be a big mix-up! The roots are British English from the not-so-distant colonial era, so our time in Kenya and Zambia taught us some of the vocabulary - shifting instead of moving (from one home to the other) for instance. And our pronunciation of words is important as well - you might find our dialect rather amusing!
There is nothing straight forward about learning another culture!
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