Language School- week 5

We have had some excellent lessons this week.
To avoid having a nanny, which can still upset Ben, we made a special arrangement to split our lessons. Andrew had lessons in the morning and I was taught in the afternoons. It worked well and we had the advantage of one-to-one tuition with a Sawhili teacher. Unfortunately, the system was for this week only, as we were the only students here, apart from one Norwegian girl who has been teaching in Tzanzania for 4 years and had her own advanced lessons. Next week, there will be 4 families here and other students coming in from town for morning lessons. The teachers will be stretched and unable to accommodate our special request for separate lessons. So I went to town this morning and stocked up on "Smarties" to bribe my children when I have to leave them at 8am in the mornings!
During my lessons this week, I had fun translating a basic fable ( Why the giraffe has a Long Neck) into Kiswahili, I played a game of Kiswahili Ludo and had lots of interesting discussion about differences between English and Tanzanian culture -and weather. The weather discussion really highlights just how different 2 countries can be. My teacher has never seen snow and cannot comprehend the concept of minus temperatures. Trying to describe what snow looks or feels like is very tricky! I told her that my poor aunt had had a nasty fall outside in the snow and was hurt, but my teacher looked shocked at the idea of falling over in public and asked if she'd been drinking alcohol!! I had to laugh! I tried to explain that snow is very slippery, whilst defending my poor aunt, who certainly had not been under the influence of alcohol!
As for Esther + Ben, they had lots of fun at the beginning of the week when we met a lovely family from Cape Town, South Africa, who are touring Africa in an enormous camper-van/lorry. They were staying at the campsite for 2 nights. Their children were exactly a year older than our children and they all played so nicely together. Their camper-truck was very impressive and they have had lots of adventures on their travels. Inspiring!
Today, we went into Iringa and visited Philip and Fiona Richardson, friends who have lived here for 7 years and will be returning to reside in the UK next month. They are busy packing up their house, saying farewells and making all the necessary arrangments for moving abroad with their 2 children. We could relate to some of the challenges! It was good to see them before they leave. Photo to follow (internet connection at the campsite does not allow for adding photos!!).
Next week, we do hope that Ben will adapt to going with Nanny Emma again. He has been unsettled at nights again, screaming and not going back to sleep for at least an hour--- meaning very tired parents. However, we have friends and family on the case, who are keeping Ben in their prayers and we are already seeing him settle down, which is wonderful... We hope to give a happy, positive report at the end of next week!