Hello Bananas!

After two weeks of saying "Hujambo!" (hello!) to everyone...and then following it up with "Habari?" (more or less how are you?) and then smiling like an idiot as I don't know anymore Swahili...we have started Swahili lessons! The best response I had to someone speaking Swahili to me was the other day when we were walking back to campus. (For the past two weeks people have been greeting us...I thought I had greetings down).

Here is the exchange:

Lady on Street: "Ndizi?"
Me: "Hello!"

Ndizi means banana and she had a big basket of them in front of her... So for those of you following...Someone said "Banana?" and I said, "Hello!". So...I really really need Swahili lessons.

We had a two hour lesson on Tuesday, a two hour lesson on Wednesday and we are going to have a marathon (broken up by the tea break at 10am) 4 hour lesson on Thursday. We are being taught Swahili by Mr. Masera, a communication prof at the university. He possesses a very mysterious accent...a kind of African-British accent, yet when I asked him if he had been to university in the UK he said, "Oh no!" in his funny accent...and then did not offer any more information. He's a closed book this Mr. Masera.

Some info about Swahili: Swahili is a language spoken in Southeast Africa. It is the primary language of over half the East African coast. Swahili is the seventh most commonly spoken language in the world with a conservative estimate of 45 million speakers as a first or second language. Swahili is a Bantu language and incorporates thousands of words, the majority of them Arabic.

Thanks to the British and various other English speaking wanderers and traders it turns out...we already knew some Swahili. Among Swahili words "borrowed" from English are:

motokaa - motorcar
Mashini - machine
Soksi - socks
jeansi- jeans
televisheni- television
treni-train
Wikiendi- weekend
benki - bank
hoteli - hotel
baiskeli - bicycle
petroli - petrol
sinema - cinema


The best bit of Swahili I have learned so far is how to say, "really!" Which in my Rough Guide to Tanzania is "I say!" as in "Old chap!". I haven't used this one when actually speaking to a Swahili speaker yet...and when I do I hope I don't have another "Chello!" incident like I did in India. My guide said "Chello!" meant, "GO AWAY!" in Hindi...it really means, "Let's Go!". This explained the smiles I got when I used it on various men who were bugging me while I was on the beach in Goa. Never trust a guidebook!

People here also have some interesting names...so far we've met or Jen (who gets to hang out in the real Tanzania in downtown Moshi)..people named Happy, Godswishes, and VeryNice. If only names had something to do with destiny right? (If anyone has read Freakonomics they will know what I mean...)

Tonight we (Jen and I as Pat has already mastered this) promised our favourite waitress at the the campus cafeteria (CoCasa), her name is Hadija, that we would know how to count to ten in Swahili by tonight...I feel like I am five (or Tano in Swahili) as I have been practising all day and keep forgetting words...here is my final practice for the night.

Presenting one to ten in Swahili, moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi...I had to ask Pat how to say 8 and 9 while I was typing this...I think my brain is fried.

P.S. Also..for all you Lion King fans...you can't go around Tanzania saying "Hakuna Matata!" No one here know's what the hell that means...stupid Lion (Swahili: Simba) King (no idea...Mustapha?)...