Party trick

When I moved to Cape Town two years ago, I had no interest in learning Afrikaans. "The language of the oppressor," I thought. "I'll study Xhosa." Two years later, my former students still laugh at my attempts to click: "Two percent."

My relatives joke, "Wouldn't it be easier to just keep a little machine in your pocket where you can press a button whenever you need to--" and they imitate the "x" and "q" and "c" I've just been forced to share, my party trick, entirely lacking in authenticity. So funny, those Africans.