She tapped on the wooden shutter, “Ei-ya tah-bi lah?”  The literal translation from Burmese to English is “Have you gotten up from sleep yet?” but that sounds awkward or just too proper. For us commoners we would just say “Are you awake yet?” or “Are you up yet?” My tired mind did not analyze the sentence structure that morning. But I would have reason to do so later.

Groggy from tropical warmth, my fingers fumbled to push back the mosquito net. Squinting to see the digital numbers on the Made-in-China alarm clock, it registered forty minutes after five in the morning. Ugh! Unlocking the shutter, I pushed it back on rusty hinges. Dawn streamed in and revealed her wide-awake face.

“Lan-shout chin-duh-lah?” (Do you want to walk?), she chirped much too cheerfully.

“But, Sayama, it’s so early!” Crazy white woman that I am, I preferred to walk mid-day in the blistering heat in hopes of also adding to my tan. She shook her head in challenge, her jet black straight hair pulled back and ready for exercise. She won that morning. And what a morning! Mist rose off the newly harvested rice fields. Patches of stubble had already been burned exposing the dirt. Cows and water buffalo took care of the rest with their jaws grinding the husks at crooked angles. Song birds dipped in and out of coconut palms and mango trees. Flowers blushed their full, bright colors as if embarrassed at being seen so early. Local folks scurried about already busy with the tasks of everyday life. I smiled, fully awake.

Back in the States, I shared an apartment with one of my friends from Burma. One morning, I tapped on her bedroom door, “Tah-bi lah?” (Are you up yet?). Later, as she pushed her fried rice around in the skillet, she gave me a side smile. She explained that I shouldn’t leave out the verb “ei-ya”, to sleep, when asking if someone was awake, especially to a guy. Why? Because it means something…crude. Her eyebrows rose slightly and her eyes pleaded, “Please don’t make me explain further”. I thought for a minute and then I got it. Oops! I better save that question for Mr. Husband when God blesses me with marriage. We both laughed.

I wondered how many times I forgot to put “ei-ya” on my question when I lived on the Thai-Burma border. Sayama would ask the question in Burmese so fast that I must not have heard the beginning every often. This is the danger of learning a new language. But I can guarantee I have that question memorized in its complete grammatically and politically correct format. Sometimes it’s the mistakes in life that fully wake us up.

Another wonderful post by Angie.