Best night ever!
I got home just before dark and the power was out (pretty common around here). One of the members of my host family is a little boy named Joseph. I think he's 2 or 3 years old. He's been pretty shy; after all I am a 6'4" stranger with funny skin color living in his house. But he warmed up to me tonight. Somehow we ended up goofing around together. First we were doing sommersalts (sp?) on the living room flor, and then we started drumming with our hands on then living room table. We took turns soloing and trying to imitate each other. This kid's got rhythm! He started drumming complicated rhythms all on his own, and keeping tempo too (I swear this isn't a case of me being impressed with a kid randomly flailing his arms). Soon he started working in little dance moves timed with his drumming. When he got tired of that I pulled out my Uke and started playing music for him. He danced in the dim living room for about a half an hour, and then started drumming on the table along with me playing.
The cutest moment came last; I could tell he was interested in my Uke, so I called him over, sat him on my right leg, nestled him into my side, and tucked the Uke in front of him. He started strumming while I fingered chords with my left hand. He could play straight 8th notes really well, and I got to sing a few songs with him strumming. It was great! And I could tell he was having a blast. It felt so good to be trusted by him. After a few minutes his mother came into the room and half died laughing. We kept playing until he said "Ninachoka" (I'm tired) in his little voice. I think I felt more a part of the family at that moment than ever before. Soooo happy! Definitely one of the high points since I've arrived here.
Also, I have a cell phone and a mailing address now! Check my info page on Facebook; I'm putting the details there because only my "friends" can view it. At this point I can say that I'm almost universally available to receive calls from 8:30 pm until 10:00 pm (it's 10 hours later here than in California, so that trainslates to 10:30 am to noon Pacific Time). It's reaaaaally expensive for me to place calls to the U.S., but I believe there are international calling plans available to U.S. landlines that are much more affordable. Or maybe I'm just saying that to pass the buck ;) Just kidding! If anyone wants to arrange a specific time to talk, email me and we'll try to make an appoinment. =D
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Some interesting "adjustment stories" from the week
I've been writing a few posts on my computer over the last few days, so I'm posting them all at once now that I've found time to get to an internet cafe. Enjoy some random stories from the week:
My host brother (kaka) thought it was hilarious when I had trouble pronouncing "forty" (arobaini) in Kiswahili. It came out as everything from arbolanini to arololibni. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to live this one down. Now whenever he wants to tease me he just says "arobaini" nonchalantly and waits for me to catch on. We laugh a lot together.
In Kiswahili class this week, one of our instructors (all of whom are Tanzanian) was attempting to teach us us the words for "fat" and "skinny" without using English. He did a little mime of fat and skinny, then pointed to each person in the class in turn, labeling each in turn as fat or skinny to make his lesson clear. We all started laughing and squirming uncomfortably, which concused him until we explained that in the U.S. it's pretty impolite to point at someone and call them fat. "Really?" he said, "What about short and tall? Is this offensive too?" He was honestly confused about why this was considered impolite. Totally understandable, but it also gave us a good laugh.
There's a lot of social emphasis on age here. There's a particular word (shikamoo) that you use to greet anyone significantly older than you. A few days ago I was walking around the neighborhood, passed a woman who was sitting on her front step with several children, and said "shikamoo" accordingly. They all started laughing, and she gave the appropriate response (marahaba) in about as comical a voice as she could muster. Apparently I had overestimated her age pretty significantly. It's odd to have to make a split-second age judgement everytime you meet someone.
You've no doubt heard the term "Hakuna Matata" from the Lion King. It's an actual Kiswahili phrase, but they tend to use it more in Kenya. Here they say "Hakuna shida" or "Hamna shida." Our trainers often look for ways to calm down trainees who are worried about all the pressures of training. "Hamna shida" comes up a lot, but one trainer in particular likes to say (with a heavy Swahili accent): "Don't shit bricks."
My new favorite Kiswahili word is "shagalabaghala" (pronounced roughly: SHAH-gah-lah-BAH-gah-lah; say it fast, it has a fun rhythm). It means something like "things in a mess." It's a word a mother might use to describe her child's messy room. But far more fun is to use it to poke fun at the way someone is dressed. People take care to dress well here, and compliments on looks are common (and are not auromatically thought of as come-ons). So it can be pretty fun to go up to a well dressed friend and say "Umevaa shagalabaghala" (you're dressed like a mess). It's another one of those things that gets my kaka laughing hysterically.
My host brother (kaka) thought it was hilarious when I had trouble pronouncing "forty" (arobaini) in Kiswahili. It came out as everything from arbolanini to arololibni. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to live this one down. Now whenever he wants to tease me he just says "arobaini" nonchalantly and waits for me to catch on. We laugh a lot together.
In Kiswahili class this week, one of our instructors (all of whom are Tanzanian) was attempting to teach us us the words for "fat" and "skinny" without using English. He did a little mime of fat and skinny, then pointed to each person in the class in turn, labeling each in turn as fat or skinny to make his lesson clear. We all started laughing and squirming uncomfortably, which concused him until we explained that in the U.S. it's pretty impolite to point at someone and call them fat. "Really?" he said, "What about short and tall? Is this offensive too?" He was honestly confused about why this was considered impolite. Totally understandable, but it also gave us a good laugh.
There's a lot of social emphasis on age here. There's a particular word (shikamoo) that you use to greet anyone significantly older than you. A few days ago I was walking around the neighborhood, passed a woman who was sitting on her front step with several children, and said "shikamoo" accordingly. They all started laughing, and she gave the appropriate response (marahaba) in about as comical a voice as she could muster. Apparently I had overestimated her age pretty significantly. It's odd to have to make a split-second age judgement everytime you meet someone.
You've no doubt heard the term "Hakuna Matata" from the Lion King. It's an actual Kiswahili phrase, but they tend to use it more in Kenya. Here they say "Hakuna shida" or "Hamna shida." Our trainers often look for ways to calm down trainees who are worried about all the pressures of training. "Hamna shida" comes up a lot, but one trainer in particular likes to say (with a heavy Swahili accent): "Don't shit bricks."
My new favorite Kiswahili word is "shagalabaghala" (pronounced roughly: SHAH-gah-lah-BAH-gah-lah; say it fast, it has a fun rhythm). It means something like "things in a mess." It's a word a mother might use to describe her child's messy room. But far more fun is to use it to poke fun at the way someone is dressed. People take care to dress well here, and compliments on looks are common (and are not auromatically thought of as come-ons). So it can be pretty fun to go up to a well dressed friend and say "Umevaa shagalabaghala" (you're dressed like a mess). It's another one of those things that gets my kaka laughing hysterically.
Is this real life?
Hard to believe that I've only been in Tanzania for 10 days! It feels like I've already known the other trainees for years. It's fun to be going through a really intense "friendship forging" stage; I haven't experienced anything quite like this since college started (or maybe since moving into the co-op in Chicago).
We spent a few days in Dar Es Salaam, and have now moved to Morogoro for two months of training. I'm staying with a really great family- two high school aged brothers, an older sister, her husband, and their little boy. The mother of the boys and the sister has been out of town on a business trip so I haven't met her yet. My family speaks some English; enough for us to make it by when my limited Kiswahili doesn't cut it. They're all very friendly and are very willing to laugh at any cultural differences that come up.
Seems like everything is at a breakneck pace; Here's a normal day in a nutshell:
up around 5:30
leave my host family's house by 7
get to the local high school (where we hold all our classes) by 8
classes in Kiswahili, Tanzanian culture, safety, AIDS response, etc with a brunch and lunch break until 5,
head home and help cook dinner, whilst trying to learn more Kiswahili from my family,
eat,
and finally it's 8 or 8:30. Usually I get to bed fairly early, seeing as I'm tired and that it's dark (power outages are pretty common here, about 2 nights a week. There's more demand for electricity than what's avaiable).
I feel I'm adjusting very well for the time being; some people in my group are a little overwhelmed, but I think I'm doing a good job of taking things moment by moment. So far I feel very comfortable!
One last thought: I'm glad to find that the ridiculously happy version of me (Dave 2.0 maybe?) that I found on my bike trip and in Chicago hasn't disappeared with the relocation. I think a lot of you who are reading might have noticed how happy I was over the last year; part of me was worried that my happiness was situational, and that I would loose it when I left. But never fear! Lots of people in my training class have commented on how smiley I am, and I feel pretty upbeat in general. Hooray for not loosing myself along the way!
Thanks for reading! Best wishes to all!
We spent a few days in Dar Es Salaam, and have now moved to Morogoro for two months of training. I'm staying with a really great family- two high school aged brothers, an older sister, her husband, and their little boy. The mother of the boys and the sister has been out of town on a business trip so I haven't met her yet. My family speaks some English; enough for us to make it by when my limited Kiswahili doesn't cut it. They're all very friendly and are very willing to laugh at any cultural differences that come up.
Seems like everything is at a breakneck pace; Here's a normal day in a nutshell:
up around 5:30
leave my host family's house by 7
get to the local high school (where we hold all our classes) by 8
classes in Kiswahili, Tanzanian culture, safety, AIDS response, etc with a brunch and lunch break until 5,
head home and help cook dinner, whilst trying to learn more Kiswahili from my family,
eat,
and finally it's 8 or 8:30. Usually I get to bed fairly early, seeing as I'm tired and that it's dark (power outages are pretty common here, about 2 nights a week. There's more demand for electricity than what's avaiable).
I feel I'm adjusting very well for the time being; some people in my group are a little overwhelmed, but I think I'm doing a good job of taking things moment by moment. So far I feel very comfortable!
One last thought: I'm glad to find that the ridiculously happy version of me (Dave 2.0 maybe?) that I found on my bike trip and in Chicago hasn't disappeared with the relocation. I think a lot of you who are reading might have noticed how happy I was over the last year; part of me was worried that my happiness was situational, and that I would loose it when I left. But never fear! Lots of people in my training class have commented on how smiley I am, and I feel pretty upbeat in general. Hooray for not loosing myself along the way!
Thanks for reading! Best wishes to all!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Farewell!
It's about that time; I'm flying to Tanzania tomorrow with my fellow 38 Peace Corps education volunteers. It's been an interesting few weeks full of planning, hopes, fears, packing, travel, and goodbyes. I'm really grateful for all the time that I've been able to spend with everyone in Chicago and California. I was afraid that saying goodbye would be full of melancholy and nostalgia; instead the last few weeks were full of laughter and fun. Sharing happiness is probably the best way to say goodbye.
Thanks to all my wonderful friends and family! I will miss you all and keep you in my thoughts and in my heart. Adventure calls, but I'll be home before you know it!
Thanks to all my wonderful friends and family! I will miss you all and keep you in my thoughts and in my heart. Adventure calls, but I'll be home before you know it!
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