Kwinkos

A few weeks ago I asked Zach to sing one of the songs his class was going to sing in church. He launched into a song that repeated something that sounded like this:

See ya ha-ah kukanati kwinkos

Uh, what? What language is that??? Zach informed me it was African. And here I thought they were learning Spanish in school!

Zach's teacher was able to provide a little more information - it turns out the kindergarteners were learning the same song that the preschoolers were going to sing, but in Zulu. And the wise teachers knew that if the preschoolers heard the very unique-sounding language for the first time in church, they'd all collapse in piles of giggles and would forget to sing their English version. So Zach heard the older kids practice a few times, and learned some Zulu by absorption.

The fun game in our house now is to try to sing the song, but we get the sounds all wrong. Zach thinks it's hilarious we can't get it right. I always get the "kwinkos" right though - what a great word!

The translation, which the preschoolers sang, is "We are singing for the Lord is our light." They did a great job, on both songs they sang. As you can probably see in the pictures above, Zach takes this job seriously - he sings his heart out and does his best to get the movements right. And while I know the second picture isn't great, since it's a little blurry, I absolutely love the look on Zach's face. If he applies that much enthusiasm and determination to everything he does, this kid is going to go far!!