Numbers

I can now count up to 9 - that means I'm dumber than every American
pre-school child who watches Sesame Street (just call me "DOCTOR Idiot" -
you know, every village needs an idiot, most around here have at least one
crazy person; apparently I'm the idiot for several villages; hopefully, I'm
not the crazy guy for any of them - most of "those guys" walk around naked
and mumbling and there's Just Not Enough Sunscreen In This WORLD for me to
do THAT!)
- OK, to be fair, I used to be able to count to "googolplex" in English
(not a multi-screen cinema for the internet . yet) - but, I can only count
to 9 in Ng'Karamojong (still can't figure out why I can't remember "10," but
I can't) - Ipe (eepay), ngare, ngiuni, ngomwan, ngikan (and then "5+1, 5+2,
5+3, etc to 10; then, 10+1 up to 10+5; then, it's 10+5+1, 10+5+2 - very few
of these guys have ever been to school but they gotta be freaking genius'
just to count their fingers and toes)
- but, when you think about it, what do they have to count, anyway? Cows?
Nah, they don't count their cows, they name them - each and every last one
of them, and they remember the names - no counting involved - it's like
saying I know 150 people versus I know Jim, Betty, Frank, Joe-Bob, Louie,
Pascal, etc - so, I'm from Texas, where we not only have a lot of cows (for
beef), but we also count them and we eat them ("Beef, It's what's for
dinner" and lunch - and high tea and breakfast, too, if  you're lucky!) -
so, this is just a little off-center for me - Jean's from Wisconsin where
they also have a lot of cows (mostly for milking) but until recently, even
if they count them, they still know them individually, so it's not quite so
jarring for her
- maybe that's why they don't eat them very often (only when they're really
hungry or the cow is too sick to carry on any longer) - it would be like
eating Uncle Louie (whom I never liked anyway, but he's mostly skin and
bones), not that they wouldn't eat the bovine version of Uncle Louie (or
just bleed him a little each quarter) but they'd really hate to do it - and
this is what's called "culture learning" (or dinner, as the case may be)