“Mzungu” is the word for a white foreigner here. Today when
we were walking as a group in my village, a number of bus drivers clearly
thought we were a group of tourists who were too stupid to find their way
around. ( Majengo Mapya is not a tourist town at all, so it’d be weird for us to be
sight seeing there. Mzungu may or may not have been shouted several times.)
Needless to say, I was stalked by a bus…. or two.
I practiced saying greetings to people as we walked. Most
responded, many laughed at me/us, and some spoke in English. Greetings are very
important here in terms of maintaining social relationships. A typical exchange
might go like this:
Hujambo? (Are you doing well/how are you?)
Sijambo. (I’m good/no problems)
Mambo? (What’s up?)
Poa/Safi/Shega/Freshi/Mzuka/Salama etc. (Cool, Clean)
Habari yako? (How are you/what’s the news with you?)
Nzuri/njema/salama. (Good)
Habari za leo? (How is today/what’s the news of today?)
Nzuri/njema/salama.
Habari za nyumbani? (How is home/what’s the news at home?)
Nzuri/njema/salama.
Habari za kazi? (How is work/what’s the news at work?)
Nzuri/njema/salama.
Habari za mchana? (How is the afternoon going/what’s the
news of the afternoon)
Salama? (Peacefully)
Salama.
Mzuka? (Literally: Monster?)
Mzuka.
Etc. etc. Sometimes they drop the “Habari” and just say “za
___”.
We did a lot of grammar work today at the secondary school
where my CBT group will be interning. (CBT =Community Based Training. Basically
every village has 5 volunteers in it, and we split into those groups during
certain parts of training. The
students were doing exams and are about to have a long break, so we didn’t
actually meet any of them. They did have nice bluish-green uniforms from what I
could see. It’s both a day and boarding school, but I’m not clear if that’s
where my host sister Jackie goes to school. She had on a uniform-style green
skirt today, so I’d guess that she does….
Tonight I ate ugali, the main staple of Tanzania. (Corn
& Water that is very, very thick and white.) I was served 10 minutes before
anyone else, and they were super excited that I was not only eating ugali, but
also using my right hand and no silverwear to do it. I’m starting to fit in
already! Priska and my mama eventually joined me, so I felt less awkward about
shoveling cabbage into my mouth with my fingers. My appetite was a bit better
today—I have been feeling very sick all the time, but today I ate more
normally. It was also the first time that at both lunch and dinner the meat I
had wasn’t too chewy to eat. Chicken is always fine, but I’ve kind of sworn off
eating beef here. Pork, apparently, can still be quite good, as demoed by the
two meals I had today. Too bad I can’t say it. My face contorts a little and
it’s a hot mess when I pronounce it. Good thing chicken is just kuku. I’m
contemplating if I’d be willing to raise chickens and potentially slaughter
them. So far I haven’t even managed to kill the cockroaches, so I might need to
work up to full-out animal slaughter. I just started by crushing the strange
bug that tried to crawl in my bed. Looked a bit like a tiny gray lobster…. All I need now is some potato salad and I’ve got
myself a Tanzanian-Maine feast!
Kesho! (Tomorrow! –shortened from Tuttaonana Kesho—see you
tomorrow)
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