Hej?

 I was at a workshop in Janjangbureh for maths teachers. We broke for Friday prayers at 1:30 because the mosque was far away, supposedly. I decided to go greet the toubabs who were sitting under the tree. They were two women and they’d been hanging out by an F.I.O.H. (Future in Our Hands) car, so I wondered if maybe they were Swedish (F.I.O.H. is a Swedish organization). I didn’t know how to go about introducing myself, because I really had no other interest than satisfying that curiosity, so if they turned out to be English or something... I'd want to say “Oh,” and turn around and walk away, but as that would be horribly impolite, I didn't know what I'd do.

I tried to think of a possible topic to begin a conversation with and finally decided I’d just start by asking if they were with F.I.O.H., even though the car made the answer obvious. Luckily, as the two of them were walking back to sit under the tree and I was walking up behind them I overheard them speaking Swedish. Perfect!

 Me: Hej!

No response. They must not have heard me.

Me: Hej!

Still no response. Now it’s awkward. Maybe they’re ignoring me.

Me: God morgon!

Swedish lady: Ja men...! Kan du prata svenska?

Me: No, only a very little.

So we sat under the tree and ate watermelon and talked, in English, about The Gambia and Sweden.