Ni hao ma?

Here are the things I learned this week.

Ni hao ma is Mandarin for "how are you'?  You say it like this: nee how mah.  


The head of the English department from one of the schools I visit taught this to me this week. 
The response (if you are well) is Hao xie xie,  which is pronounced 'how sheh sheh'


At another school I learned another thing in Bahasa Malayu.  


So often I hear 'la' at the end of the sentence, so asked 'what does la mean?'


Apparently there is not a real translation, it is used much like English speakers that keep saying 'you know' after everything they say.  
In a casual conversation you will hear someone reply to a confirmation question with 'ok, la'.  or some such thing.I tested my skills at 'la' on them. They enjoyed.   It is kind of fun to end sentences with 'la', so might just get into the habit.


Just yesterday I received a memo from my boss after I advised I had spent the morning with many parents.  They were all happy to talk with me, like people here are.  They like to see how and what that 'white lady' says.  


My boss told me that I am the 'orang puteh'.  This translates to 'white person'  I suggested that is better than being called the orangutan.   Today he improved the name to 'orang merah jamb'.  orang - people, merah - red, and  when you put merah and jambu together - pink.  So, person, pink = female / white


I guess the next lesson will be Tamil.  That should be able to nicely garble my speaking skills in many languages. I will definitely have to learn to flutter my hands while talking too.