CONGRATULATIONS to Andrew's mum, Annabel, who was the first to correctly work out the Swahili words and has won a box of Tanzanian tea! It is on it's way back to the UK with Tim, who left us today for the bus ride to Dar-es-Salaam and flies to London tomorrow...
Answers: skirt, shirt, T-shirt, coat, jacket, sweater, socks, boots, dress, swimming costume.
Saturday 26 December 2009
Happy Christmas!!
Yesterday was our first Tanzanian Chistmas. And it poured and poured with rain!! 
Tim was visiting us from England and was the only one with an umbrella- sensible man!
Dressed in raincoats, we hurried out to the cathedral for their English-speaking Christmas service, after checking that Santa had been to fill Esther and Ben's stockings ( horray- he had been all the way to Tanzania!!).
Although a little late, we arrived before the service had started and there was chaos at the cathedral, as the congregation from the earlier Kiswahili service were trying to exit the cathedral carpark in the teeming rain, dodging the ever-deepening puddles, while cars and people for the next service tried to enter the carpark: quite a traffic jam!
When the service did start, Esther and Ben were a little restless, so we decided to leave, discreetly, a little before the end of the service. We chose a nice, quiet prayer time to sneak out without disturbing anyone... Unfortunately, we hadn't anticipated that Benjamin would encounter a large, black hen in the aisle as he exited his pew! Little Ben screamed in terror as the hen, half his height, came clucking towards him! Ben took off towards the altar with great shrieks of horror, closely pursued by the confused black hen and followed by Uncle Tim, who came to Ben's rescue - and the peace of Christmas morning was shattered in Dodoma cathedral!!
Once the drama was over and our laughter subsided, we enjoyed Christmas lunch at the home of a kind MAF couple, from Germany, who invited us to join them. Lunch this year included Tanzanian savoury bananas, a large ham, salad, German-style vegetables and a Christmas pudding all the way from Morrison's supermarket in Ormskirk, which travelled out here with me in my suitcase.
Esther and Ben thoroughly enjoyed their day and were very spoilt with kind gifts- a large proportion of these also came in our suitcases in November! So it's been a Happy Christmas out here for us. We hope you enjoyed your day too.
Photo Update
Here are a few photos to give you an update from the last month in Iringa:
1. Esther and Ben boarding the MAF plane for the short flight to Iringa
2. View over Iringa's outskirts -arriving in Iringa for Swahili classes
3. Diligent Students in our campsite classroom, with teacher Joyce
4. Emma - the young Tanzanian Nanny for Esther and Ben
5. Ben's excitement when he sees his wonderful birthday cake for his 2nd birthday- big enough to feed all 16 of us at the campsite for our dessert that evening! Note his birthday crown- made out of a plastic margarine tub!!
6. Andrew at the wheel of the MAF vehicle which will be ours to use while we are here. It was a long -but safe- ride home last week- a 9 hour car journey through Tanzania! We saw 5 elephants on our way home - and plenty of baboons as well.
1. Esther and Ben boarding the MAF plane for the short flight to Iringa
2. View over Iringa's outskirts -arriving in Iringa for Swahili classes
3. Diligent Students in our campsite classroom, with teacher Joyce
4. Emma - the young Tanzanian Nanny for Esther and Ben
5. Ben's excitement when he sees his wonderful birthday cake for his 2nd birthday- big enough to feed all 16 of us at the campsite for our dessert that evening! Note his birthday crown- made out of a plastic margarine tub!!
6. Andrew at the wheel of the MAF vehicle which will be ours to use while we are here. It was a long -but safe- ride home last week- a 9 hour car journey through Tanzania! We saw 5 elephants on our way home - and plenty of baboons as well.Thursday 17 December 2009
Language school- week 4
On-line Competition!
Yesterday we had a fun lesson and an easy subject matter. Our teacher taught us the vocab for clothing. We thought you might like to have a go at translating the following. The 1st person to email us with all 10 correct answers will be sent a packet of Tanzanian tea! ( but no cheating- for those of you who have lived in Tanzania and speak Swahili, I'm afraid you can't enter!!). Here's a clue: try reading them out loud and listen to how they sound... Have fun!
Yesterday we had a fun lesson and an easy subject matter. Our teacher taught us the vocab for clothing. We thought you might like to have a go at translating the following. The 1st person to email us with all 10 correct answers will be sent a packet of Tanzanian tea! ( but no cheating- for those of you who have lived in Tanzania and speak Swahili, I'm afraid you can't enter!!). Here's a clue: try reading them out loud and listen to how they sound... Have fun!
- sketi
- shati
- T-sheti
- koti
- jacketi
- sweta
- soksi
- buti
- gauni
- and just one to make it a bit harder: nguo za kuogelea
Tomorrow, we set off early to drive back to Dodoma for our 2 week break. Andrew's brother, Tim, will be joining us on Sunday for 6 days over Christmas. Hopefully we will get a chance over the next couple of weeks to practise our fledgling Swahili, before resuming in January for the next 4 weeks.
Saturday 12 December 2009
Getting a Glimpse of Christmas
It does not feel like Christmas here. It is hot and we are on a campsite in the middle of the bush, where there are no decorations, no sounds of Christmas Carols, no mince pies or Christmas trees with pretty fairy-lights.
However, tonight we have been treated to the most beautiful Christmas lights I have ever seen, and they are 100% natural! Esther and Ben found a host of sparkling, twinkling fireflies, lighting up the darkness of the African night with a wonderful, flashing show. When we eventually dragged ourselves away and wandered back up the hill and through the trees to our wooden banda for bedtime, the stars provided another welcome sight; the night air is crystal clear and the glittering stars stand out against the blackness of the night sky. It was better than the Christmas lights on London's Oxford Street!
As for Andrew, he feels as though Christmas has come early, since our new-to-us car arrived last night from Dar-es-Salaam and we now have our own transport! Early this morning, we piled into our Tanzanian car and Andrew drove us into town. After 3 weeks on the campsite, except for one trip out last Saturday, it was an exciting excursion! The track out of the campsite is dusty, bumpy and hilly- but nothing Andrew couldn't handle! Andrew enjoyed putting the car through its paces and experimenting with all the new gadgets- 4 wheel drive, ABS breaks, windscreen wipers (on a hot, dry day!) etc etc! The best Christmas present Andrew could wish for!
The arrival of the car is perfect timing, as we can now drive home when we leave for Dodoma at the end of next week. When we arrived in Iringa over 3 weeks ago, we were hugely thankful to be able to join a MAF flight that just happened to be coming to Iringa from Dodoma at 1pm and just happened to have spare seats for us! The fight took an incredible 35 minutes, rather than the 8 hour road trip! The other option would have been an 8+ hour bus trip. What an amazing difference!! But that was a one-off, and so we are very happy that we now have our own transport and can do the road trip on our own timetable, stopping where we need to, rather than on a long, crowded bus journey. Definitely an early Christmas gift for all 4 of us!
(photos to follow when we can get a good enough internet connection!)
However, tonight we have been treated to the most beautiful Christmas lights I have ever seen, and they are 100% natural! Esther and Ben found a host of sparkling, twinkling fireflies, lighting up the darkness of the African night with a wonderful, flashing show. When we eventually dragged ourselves away and wandered back up the hill and through the trees to our wooden banda for bedtime, the stars provided another welcome sight; the night air is crystal clear and the glittering stars stand out against the blackness of the night sky. It was better than the Christmas lights on London's Oxford Street!
As for Andrew, he feels as though Christmas has come early, since our new-to-us car arrived last night from Dar-es-Salaam and we now have our own transport! Early this morning, we piled into our Tanzanian car and Andrew drove us into town. After 3 weeks on the campsite, except for one trip out last Saturday, it was an exciting excursion! The track out of the campsite is dusty, bumpy and hilly- but nothing Andrew couldn't handle! Andrew enjoyed putting the car through its paces and experimenting with all the new gadgets- 4 wheel drive, ABS breaks, windscreen wipers (on a hot, dry day!) etc etc! The best Christmas present Andrew could wish for!
The arrival of the car is perfect timing, as we can now drive home when we leave for Dodoma at the end of next week. When we arrived in Iringa over 3 weeks ago, we were hugely thankful to be able to join a MAF flight that just happened to be coming to Iringa from Dodoma at 1pm and just happened to have spare seats for us! The fight took an incredible 35 minutes, rather than the 8 hour road trip! The other option would have been an 8+ hour bus trip. What an amazing difference!! But that was a one-off, and so we are very happy that we now have our own transport and can do the road trip on our own timetable, stopping where we need to, rather than on a long, crowded bus journey. Definitely an early Christmas gift for all 4 of us!
(photos to follow when we can get a good enough internet connection!)
Friday 11 December 2009
Language School- week 3
This week, we discovered that Swahili has no fewer than 9 noun classes- which basically means at least 24 ways of saying that/these/this or these, depending on which noun you are using in your sentence, and whether the noun is plural or singular, and 9 different ways to say which or who in a sentence, also according to the noun being used. Confused? So are we!! There is a LOT to learn!!
On the plus side, we did manage to write a short (very short!!) speech in Swahili, which I read out at the informal graduation ceremony for the SIL students, who finished their 4 month Swahili course this week and have now left for their new posts in Tanzania. It was fun to be part of the brief graduation ceremony in the dining banda.
Wednesday was a very exciting day. Benjamin turned 2!! He had a very happy birthday. He wore a crown of honour, made out of an old margarine tub, at the evening meal, where he also had a magnificent birthday cake, baked by the Tanzanian chef on the campsite. We'll have to post a photo at a later date, as the internet connection here is too slow to add pictures today. But we can vouch for the fact that Wednesday was a fun day for Ben and that his excitement about his cake was unmatched! All the guests here sang "Happy Birthday" to him before we all shared his cake.
Wednesday was also a day of celebration for Tanzanians, as it was the National Day of Independence- a public holiday; but not for us, nor our teachers! We found oursleves buckling down to studying Swahili noun classes, as the uplifting sounds of singing drifted across the river from the fields, where locals were celebrating their special day.
One more week of study lies ahead for us, then we'll return to Dodoma for Christmas, before taking up our notepads and pens for the next 4 weeks of language learning in January...
On the plus side, we did manage to write a short (very short!!) speech in Swahili, which I read out at the informal graduation ceremony for the SIL students, who finished their 4 month Swahili course this week and have now left for their new posts in Tanzania. It was fun to be part of the brief graduation ceremony in the dining banda.
Wednesday was a very exciting day. Benjamin turned 2!! He had a very happy birthday. He wore a crown of honour, made out of an old margarine tub, at the evening meal, where he also had a magnificent birthday cake, baked by the Tanzanian chef on the campsite. We'll have to post a photo at a later date, as the internet connection here is too slow to add pictures today. But we can vouch for the fact that Wednesday was a fun day for Ben and that his excitement about his cake was unmatched! All the guests here sang "Happy Birthday" to him before we all shared his cake.
Wednesday was also a day of celebration for Tanzanians, as it was the National Day of Independence- a public holiday; but not for us, nor our teachers! We found oursleves buckling down to studying Swahili noun classes, as the uplifting sounds of singing drifted across the river from the fields, where locals were celebrating their special day.
One more week of study lies ahead for us, then we'll return to Dodoma for Christmas, before taking up our notepads and pens for the next 4 weeks of language learning in January...
Friday 4 December 2009
Language School- week 2
The VisitorA much better week! Esther is finally better and her sparkle is returning. Benjamin has decided that Emma is not too bad after all. It's been fantastic to see him going to play without tears (with a small packet of "Smarties" clenched firmly in his hot little hand to soften the blow of parting from Mum!!) and returning for tea break + lunch break with a smile. Emma seems happier to be with the children and all round, everyone has been more jolly! Lots of prayers have been said for the children by many friends and it's been great to see how they've been answered :-)
Kiswahili lessons continue. Before coming here, we were told repeatedly that Swahili is an "easy" language- but we seem to be more confused each day! There appear to be about 1000 tenses(!!) and it's tricky getting used to a language where the words all get joined together, rather than each word standing individually. eg. "I did not watch you" becomes "Sikukuangalia". After 9 days of Swahili lessons, we were really struggling to unpick the words we actually recognise in our conversation class this morning. Each word is like a jigsaw puzzle with lots of other words inside! My mum, a great fan of jigsaws, would probably enjoy studying with us!
As for encounters with nature, we met a small black snake on the path one morning. Thinking it was just a worm, I pointed it out to Esther, Ben and their 2 little Swiss friends -and we all had a merry time bending down to look at it closely, as the children poked at it with their sandal-clad feet. It was only later that I discovered my error. I was so horrified by my mistake that I later dreamt about saving children from snakes all night!
The other visitor, pictured, popped in to our banda yesterday, after lunch. Esther's sharp eyes spotted him first. Needless to say, he also went the way of Mr. Snake of last week's frightening meeting!
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