Jun 21, 09:44 AM
No hooting in Swahili class
Yesterday I began Swahili class, which is offered through the tribunal to its staff (including lowly interns). I knew a very little bit (kidogo sana) from the trip last summer, and I find it a fun language because even though it is so completely foreign to English, the grammar is very logical so that one can pick up some of it in a short time.
The teacher is a kindly middle-aged gentleman who told us that he hails from the Usambara mountains, the region Jerri and I visited last year as guests of the Mlalo Lutheran parish. When I get a chance I’ll ask him where specifically he comes from within that region. (Maybe I’ll learn to ask it in Swahili…)
There is an intern in the class who is from Nigeria (though I believe she is now a student at Columbia Law School), and she was saying that people around town assume that she speaks Swahili because of her skin color. Everyone who is black, the logic goes, must speak that language. (Of course it’s not as bad as we Americans, who tend to assume that everyone everywhere we travel speaks English.)
The teacher topped that with another funny story about provincialism. When he was younger, his mother couldn’t understand why a friend of his was speaking Swahili instead of Sambarra, the tribal language of their region and one of about 100 in Tanzania alone. She had never met a black person who couldn’t speak it.
A highlight of the class was learning the phrase “Usipige honi,” which means “Don’t blow your car horn,” or, as the teacher put it, and as an English sign in front of the tribunal’s security gate humorously reads, “No hooting!”
Dear Mark,
I am so excited about you taking Swahili. What a valuable resource for you. I think that I will start to say “no hooting” whole you are gone as a way of staying connected. Back to work, Love you so much, Mom
— Mom Jun 21, 07:39 PM #
That is so cool that your teacher is from the Usambara Mountains! What fun! I love you so much,
Jerri
— Jerri J. Wagner Jun 21, 08:48 PM #
Hi Mark!
I am excited to hear you are spending the summer in Tanzania. How long will you be there? Well, I hope you enjoy it and learn a lot. Good luck! I look forward to reading your blog. Write if you get a chance.
xoxo-Carrie
— Carrie Scharrer Jun 22, 05:57 PM #
I knew we kept this blog bookmarked for a reason. Glad to see you’re got the internship you wanted … despite the rats (ew!). Somehow, we can’t see you doing a corporate litigation internship like other 1Ls.
Much love from the Windy City,
Craig & Jeff
— Jeff & Craig Jun 23, 09:54 PM #
Hi Mark!
I look forward to reading more about your wonderful experiences – sans rats- in Tanzania!
Genevieve
— Genevieve Bennett Jun 23, 10:09 PM #
Mark,
I am so glad that you are going to be blogging as you experience this summer. I look forward to reading it. I’d be interested in hearing about the food there. How do you acquire food and what is available to you?
Take care.
— Trinity Jun 23, 10:24 PM #