Kuuliza si ujinga

To give you an idea of what my life is like here, here's a sample of some of the things that happened yesterday. Note that this is not necessarily a typical day (in fact I don't think I have a typical day). But it should give you an idea of a day in the life of a Peace Corps Tanzania trainee.

We're done with our internship teaching, so I slept in until 6:40 am. That's right, slept in. I awoke to the third day in a row of no water coming out of the tap. This wasn't a problem yesterday, as yesterday I still had a full bucket of water stored in my bathroom. Today I'm down to about a quarter bucket, my family's water tank is empty, and we need to fetch water from the well a few minutes' walk away. I've been told the well water is safe to drink but tastes salty (I'll probably find out when I go home a few hours from now). As my family says, water is shida kubwa, a big problem. We really need some rain.

I've had a cold for the past few days, so I was delighted to walk into the dining room and see that my breakfast was two pieces of keki (cake) and a cup of chai. Not greasy eggs, not greasy chapati, not the Tanzanian version of French toast, not even my beloved uji. Cake cooked in an improvised charcoal oven. It takes very small things to make me happy here.

I arrived at Kiswahili class at 8 am. At 10 am, as chai break began, I raced to the local duka (store) to try to buy some tissues. I had no luck asking for 'paper for blowing your nose' in Kiswahili, so I bought a roll of toilet paper. And then felt foolish carrying it back along a shortcut that passed through several people's yards. Usually the storeowner wraps it in newspaper; today I think he was out. Not a big problem, though—the more time I spend in Tanzania, the less easily I'm embarassed.

Bryan played his guitar during chai, and again after lunch. We tried to accompany each other, Bryan on the guitar and me on the harmonica. Unfortunately our repertoire is currently limited to 'Hey Mr. Tambourine Man', 'Free Falling', and 'Blowin' in the Wind'. Plus I have no experience accompanying someone, so I'm never quite sure when to play the first note. But it was fun, and there were some moments when the music sounded really good.

Kiswahili class ended early, actually two hours before lunch, and we had self-study time. Which translates to some self-study and some goofing off and laughing at each other. Maybe we're all under a lot of stress, or maybe we just spend too much time together. Whatever the reason, the five of us in my Swahili class laugh at each other very easily.

After lunch Bryan, Laura, and Ross went to town, Beverly stayed to study, and I sat on the steps of the house where we learn Swahili and picked out songs on my harmonica. I went home around 4 and took my afternoon bucket bath. Then I sat in the living room to write a letter. There were some guests in the house, who I don't think I've met before, but they were deep in conversation when I entered and I never did introduce myself. Some days I feel like going through the five minute Swahili conversation that begins 'How do you know Swahili?', passes through the standard questions of 'Where are you from?' and 'What are you doing here in Tanzania?', and ends in awkward silence. Yesterday was not one of those days.

Kind of puttered around until 6:30, then went to do one of my favorite activities: sitting in the kitchen while my mamas cooked. It always makes for good conversation, either as I listen to them talk to each other or as I try to participate in the conversation. I ended up telling Tumaini that we were learning the Tanzanian national anthem for graduation, and then had to sing it. And since I had only sung it a few times, I forgot many lines. After that I sang her the American anthem, paused before the line 'o'er the ramparts . . .', thought for minute, and skipped to the next line. Tumaini laughed at me (I would have laughed at myself too). We then practiced singing the Tanzanian anthem together. Two of my other mamas joined in. As it turned out, one of them had forgotten much of the Tanzania anthem. So basically we all laughed at each other, and I didn't feel so bad about forgetting a line of the American anthem.

At dinner I made my language mistake of the day, accidentally telling my family that poor Mexicans eat meat while rich ones eat rice and beans. It took me a minute to figure out why they were so confused. Fortunately my family loves to laugh, and I don't mind giving them something to laugh at. After dinner I spent a little while watching TV, but, given the option between a Tanzanian political talk show and journal writing followed by sleep, decided for journal writing and sleep. I lay down on my bed under my mosquito net for about an hour, writing in my journal. Then I turned out the light at around 10:30, exhausted as usual, and promptly fell asleep.

# posted by Kristen @ 4:54 AM