Kipilefti

There is a cow outside in the road with opinions that it wants to share. Since it’s midafternoon and not late night or early morning, when dogs and roosters tend to share opinions, I’m inclined to be pretty receptive. Not too much of note has happened lately. The Mikumi National Park trip was last weekend; […]

One of the first things mama said to me when I arrived at my homestay was “you must learn to bend”. I looked at her, confused. “To bend?” “Like this,” she said, doubling over so her legs were straight but both hands touched the floor. “I’ll try,” I told her. She does everything in that […]

Part of our training to be teachers here in Tanzania is working with local teachers to observe and then teach some classes. Us ICT folks (for those of you just tuning in, that’s Information and Communcations Technology) have only one teacher between the three of us. Unlike everyone else, our teacher is not located at […]

The Swahili word for “no” is “hapana”; for “yes” it’s “ndiyo”. I mention these not only for your edification but to point out that the Swahili words are both three times as long as their counterparts in English. This could be an insignificant detail or a profound statement about the culture here. Given my experiences […]

Eastern-style toilets. I will have much stronger leg muscles when I leave Tanzania than when I arrived. The fact that it’s rude not to greet someone if you walk by one another. Actually enjoying learning for the first time in a long time. Swahili is really fun, like a puzzle. Wearing a skirt all the […]

The days of easy Internet access are at a halt (subiri in Kiswahili), at least for now. Once I reach my posting in late November the Net will once again be freely available. For now, I am in my host family’s home (nyumbani) and learning Kiswahili slowly and incompetently. I do well in the classroom […]