I would like to apologize for the many grammatical errors found in this post. Please feel free to send corrections to my e-mail.
Tanzania at 100 days looks different from the Tanzania of day one. However, the weather still consists of sunshine and a light breeze, a shift occurred in my perception of Tanzania—more specifically Hanga. This change emanates from my newfound aptitude foe Kiswahili. Communicating with non-English speakers makes life better here.
Originally, the language served as the East African common tongue of commerce. As such, speaking comprised initial primary function of the language. No wonder learning usage outside of immersion proved so difficult! Speaking with villagers, monks, and students, and local children were my best knowledge sources. The children served as the best teachers because I speak Kiswahili like a 7-year old now.
Learning the language gives me little time to focus on bloging. I know that I need to become stronger at updating my blog. Now seems like a good time to get started. I should try and summarize the last 100 days in a concise 1500 word fashion. I feel as though I missed a few chapters in this saga, so I will start fro my arrival in Dar Es Salaam.
Home Sweet Hanga! (taken from my Digital Journal)
After flying and living in Heathrow Airport for a combined total of two days, Anthony and I found ourselves in the Capitol of our new home. Dust in the streets and a large traffic jam offered a warm introduction to Tanzania. Brother Jerome collected us at the airport, and we rode to the Dar Es Salaam, Benedictine guesthouse. Anthony immediately fell asleep, and I tried to stay awake, but sleep overtook me. After waking, Brother Barabbas took us with some Austrians to collect money from an ATM, collect some other guests, and purchase out bus tickets to Songea. The last item on the list proved informational in three respects.
First, if a Tanzanian ticket indicates a departure time of 11:30am, that actually means 5:30 am, as the day starts at 6am—this close to the equator, this time corresponds with the rising of the sun. Second, if the bus means to depart around 5:30am, a large traffic jam in the bus station necessitates three hours of navigating a smorgasbord of buses desiring to simultaneously exit the station. Third, always check to ensure that your ticket indicates places you near the font or in the middle of the bus—NEVER IN THE BACK OR OVER THE REAR WHEEL WELL! I guess that a 17-hour bus ride through mountains with back row seats is enough to teach that last lesson effectively.
We arrive in Songea around 11pm on September 4th, and Brother Theodor collected us at the bus station. After a quick dinner, we drove the final hour to our destination, Hanga Abbey. It is good to be home.
The Interim and the Beginning
Karibu Tanzania! During the first few weeks at Haaga, I felt worthless. In order to do any work, I had to take a jembe (hoe) from a student and start overturning soil. This lasted for approximately two weeks. After that, I asked questions about teaching, started working at the dispensary in the morning, and helped some wonderful German volunteers with projects at Saint Laurent’s (the English medium primary school in Hanga village). This kept me busy until my first Chemistry lesson.
Around the end of September, I taught form two (second year of primary school—equivalent to 8th grade) and form four (fourth year of secondary school—equivalent to 10th grade) chemistry. My first lesson went well, but I only expected to teach for half the period instead of the whole 1.5 hours. Without any formal training, I started instructing students on Valence, oxidation state, and various review topics.
Learning about Monastic Life
For questions, please e-mail me.
Musings on Kiswahili
There is no word for love, only the verb kupenda, which means liking. I do not understand this. I thought English sucked for expressing these feelings. No wonder people are often beaten, children aren’t watched by their parents, and people constantly cheat each other. Please also note that 46% of the population is under 14 years old!
There is no word for please, only samahani, which means pardon. This explains why it is polite to say the name of something you want instead of asking for it. For example, saying ‘Carroti’ instead of ‘please pass the carrots’. I have adjusted to this, but it is still odd to just say somethings name. If I did this at home, I do not think I would get food.
Work is a noun and not a verb: Kazi that explains a lot about some peoples' work ethic here. Instead of "working," people are '"Doing work."
Though the language does not have articles, genders, or pronoun classes (for some words like “mine” or “yours” it does, but those are possessives), it manages to have noun classes. Actually, it has nine of them and the noun classes determine the prefix on the associated verb, adjective, and possessive prefixes. Unfortunately, the language has so many borrowed nouns that the noun class system seems like its breaking down. Changi, cabati, computari, etc. are some examples of these borrowed words, and they are lumped into the n-class nouns, which means that they are both plural and singular. You cannot say computer in Kiswahili, only computers.
Lastly, the verb kupiga is the absolute most confusing word I have ever learned. Literaly, it means to beat, but you can beat several different things. You can beat people in a race, beat people physically, beat the floor when you clean it, beat your hands when you clap, beat your cell phone when you call, beat for help when you yell, beat an instrument when you play it, and there are several other things you can beat. The ubiquity of this verb makes it harder to determine how people use it. What a magical word!
Oh, my favorite words are:
Shagalabagala: chaos or disorder
Kichefuchefu: Nausea
(The pronunciation of these words is their best characteristic. If you would like to try, the vowel sounds are the same as those used in Spanish and German.)
What Started as a Good Day: A Bad Day (November 10th)
I woke up around 7m to find myself still sleepy. From there I got up and walked to the dispensary to work for a few hours. After doing research on schistostamiasis, meeting a baby momma (who is pregnant, has malaria, and no family), weighing some babies, and fixing up part of the store room, I walked to the Seminary for a non-existent Swahili lesson. Oh, and I was offered three cows for my hand in marriage today. I declined. Anthony and I elected to work on some NYT crosswords then have some lunch. We made a wonderful veggie salad, which quickly vanished—the secret ingredient was lemon.
I took a short rest and did some other work, then went to dinner where I received a violin! YAY! The fiddle is okay and it will be nice to play every so often. Sometime during the evening, I received a text message requesting that I deposit 200000 Shillings in a friend’s bank account for him to cover school fees. Turns out her has been texting me everyday just to butter me u for some charity. I love friends! I replied that I came to Tanzania to teach people to fish and not to give them fish. I also said that I am still paying my school fees and that I was sorry I could not help. I am not here to give people money. If I was, I would not be staying for a long time because people would drive me insane!
After that, Anthony and I cooked some garlic bread with fresh tomatoes and blue band (bad margarine). Thank Goodness because it calmed me down.
Siku Ya Ukimwi (Excerpt from Digital Journal and e-mail message from World HIV/AIDS Day, December 1st )
Location—Gumbiro village with Amanda who is a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Today quite simply rocked. I woke in a hammock and spent the morning preparing HIV/AIDS ribbons for siku ya ukimwi and eating some delicious, homemade banana-pancakes. Did I mention that I also read National Geographic while drinking coffee at Amanda’s house!!! It felt like home. After that, we walked around the village and gave away HIV/Aids ribbons-many of the children wanted more than one and even hid them in pockets to tried to get more. Fortunately, these kids followed us so we knew what they were up to.
The day consisted of some tribal dances, aids testing, more dancing, skits, and an awesome testimony. Oh, and I tested negative for ukimwi! What a wonderful day!
The evening ended with a video on people with HIV/AIDS that live a normal life and effectively farm their own land—dual purpose videos! Oh, and then macaroni and cheese with powdered mix from America ended a wonderful day.
I think that will do for now. Look for more frequent updates in the future!
