Swahili and Food

Shikamoo! 

Now only read that if you are older than me as that is a greeting of respect that you give to someone who is of a greater age than yourself.

If you respect my honor you can respond with Marahaba.

Now I don’t know about you but its kind on an awkward thing when you meet someone and your like ‘ hmm are they older than me or not’ for example the teaching assistants in our school. So I was pretty proud of my self for learning a new greeting and wanted to test it out, so I went up to the lovely Jacquie and Martina and put on my distorted Tanzanian accent and with a big smile belted out ‘ shikamoo’ after their initial giggling they informed me that they were in fact 3 years younger than me. I haven’t shikamooed anyone since.

I think the correct greeting for someone of a younger age would be Mambo which they would respond poa (my new favorite word as it is both positive and short thus making it extremely easy to remember) Mambo – How are you Poa – good

Francis

Each week Francis our Swahili teacher (who is in fact Kenyan) gives myself and the other teachers a half hour lesson. I’m not gonna lie its quite nice being able to go back to the student for a little while, it brings back memories of school and something inside me just wants to write notes to a cute boy at the back, unfortunately there is no cute boy at the back just my fellow female teachers.

Francis is a great teacher however I feel like I still don’t have the basics down. Such as ‘I am hungry’ or ‘where is the toilet’ (I go so much) or ‘do you sell English tea’ or ‘I am starving.’ Instead I have learnt Bwana Asifiwe (praise god) Mungu akubariki (God bless you) and Mimi nimeokoka (I am saved), which are all amazing things to know, but when hungry and desperate for a wee its not the best help.

That’s got me hungry so lets me tell you about some of the food.

So if you know me at all you’ll all know that ‘Holly loves food’ and will eat absolutely anything, with the slight exception of any foods with gluten. So in England not that big of a deal, everything that I couldn’t eat such as bread, cakes, biscuits etc. always had a gluten free alternative. Or an amazing mother and family that could cook me absolutely anything my tummy desired gluten free. When planning on coming to Tanzania I did not think it would be a big problem not being able to eat gluten seen as one their main dishes is rice. I love rice, so it isn’t a problem, however I have had amazing people coming up with great ideas of western meals I can have and because there are no gluten free products out here we have had to become inventive.

It was pizza night and our assigned head chef Megan was on duty making all the girls pizzas using a normal flour crust. I would have been happy with rice (okay maybe not) but I was in for a treat. I had been made my very own cauliflower cheese crust pizza topped with Italian tomato sauce, cheese and veg and I have got to say it was absolutely delicious. For once it was my other housemates wanting to eat my food, rather than me drooling over their floury meals. We all had a try and it was thumbs up from every one

Other times being gluten free is just darn right mean, take Saturday for example. We went to a lady called Melindas house, in which she opens up as a restaurant/tea rooms, it was a special treat for our friends birthday. So this stunningly breathtaking birthday cake comes out and for some reason I was sat directly opposite the person whom was slicing the cake up. I felt I was trapped as which ever way I turned their was cake being eaten, smelt, spat (when people were trying to talk as well as enjoying their cake) until the time came when somebody offered me there sparkly chocolate bit that were ontop of the cake. It didn’t look like much, but made a gluten free girl very happy indeed.

This is my plate compared to my friends plate hehe

 In addition to this day when the lunches were being ordered, I was told the soup was wheat free which was delicious and they swapped my ciabatta bread for a plate of chips. Get in.

Hot Springs

So as volunteer teachers we are fortunate and blessed enough to be taken on an excursion every month. Yey for us. So this month was a little something called the ‘Hot springs.’ Bearing in mind this was the only information I had been given about the excursion, along with having to bring my swimming costume (or bathing suit as my American fellow teachers would say) my mind was hard at work trying to imagine what Hot springs was. A sunny resort with deck chairs and cocktails came to mind until someone mentioned crocodiles live there in which I then thought of some awful swamp that had the name ‘hot springs’ to make it sound more appealing. Thankfully it was no swamp, and although crocodiles do live there they only come out at night (something my student told me that I had to pretend I already knew as they are already thinking there teachers isn’t very knowledgeable in the animal department) After travelling off road for a while through dainty little villages we come to an arrangement of trees surround a beautiful oasis of that bluey/greeny clear water, which I guess is a Hot spring.

Me being me was silly enough to not have got into my costume before we set off and with it being in the middle of know where found myself once again bearing the ‘shack of terror’ aka a wooden hut with a hole in the ground for a toilet. The stench was unbearable and the worst part was I needed a wee. With no other signs of toilets (real toilets) around and the fact we were spending the day there, I had to face my fears and go for it. So whether it is just me or the fact that maybe I am out of shape squatting over a hole seems to prove extremely difficult for me. Braving it up and reluctantly leaning one hand against the ant ridden wall I allow myself to wee. Not going into too much detail but how one is meant to aim into this ridiculous small hole in the ground is beyond me, I was just glad there was a spring full of water to wash down my legs. If you get my drift. Awkward.

So with that hideous experience out of the way I could enjoy my day (avoiding drinking liquids as much as I could) I was able to play on a rope swing into the water for the first time and it was amazing. Again and again I went on it, and 2 days on I am definitely feeling the wrath of it in my achy arms. (Remind me I need to start doing some sort of exercise to get fitter) Swimming underwater and looking at the beautiful fish and rocks. It looked better than I am describing it, honest.

Yum

Drying off before lunch

So then comes the ultimate experience. A tree that had a branch that went straight across the spring 25feet high in the air was a place where brave folk would cling onto to pull themselves up so they could dangle high up over the whole spring and then let them sleeves go plunging into the water. I saw 2 people do it and thought that I would give it a try. Thinking subconsciously that I would not dare do it, I allowed my self to at least climb the tree to the bit where the branch started to move out mid air over the spring. Once people saw I was close to branching out the cheers and encouragement started. Not wanting to let people down I decided to go a little further. Literally having to straddle this tree branch and hoist my self-up inch by inch there was no turning back. 

Mistakably I looked down, in which I then froze, heart beating increasingly fast I was absolutely terrified. 

The worst thing was I kept having to hoist my self further and further out onto the branch. If i had fallen where I was I would have fallen on rocks. Like an amateur 'tight rope walker' turned 'tree branch straddler' I hoisted myself further and further out onto the branch (regretting the huge bowl of peanut butter I had had for breakfast that morning, in case the branch broke) I was finally at a safe spot to fall. Getting into the right position was no easy task, putting my head down in front of me and wrapping my arms around the branch.

 Then swinging my body round so I am holding onto the branch upside down.  

 Arggh. I then let g of my legs and was dangling 25 feet above ground screaming my head off, running the whole ambiance of the hot springs until I finally had no other choice but to let go. 

 Did I feel better after doing it? No. Would I do it again? No. Am I over the whole ordeal. Time will tell.

Untill next time...

Top 10 differences of Teaching in Tanzania to England

     1)   In England children are allowed to only come to school with a bottle of water to drink at allocated times. In Tanzania my class come to school with flasks of tea to drink during maths.

 2) In England children come to school dressed in School uniform. In Tanzania my children come to school dressed as Princesses.

 3) In England there is that time of year when all teachers go in a mad frenzy about ofsted coming in. In Tanzania you show them your teaching degree certificate and you pass.

  4) In England most schools have Interactive whiteboards to use for display. In Tanzania we have a square of painted on Chalk paint but it just adds to the whole Africa thing I’ve got going on

       5) In England you get bogged down with 1 hour of literacy and 1 hour of numeracy. In Tanzania your lucky if you get a half hour of math’s and literacy just squeezes in wherever

      6)  In England children tend to draw on paper. In Tanzania children draw on their teachers and give them fake tattoos. 

        7) In England children are fortunate enough that the majority of schools have a computer room or access to and that children tend to have some out of school access to a computer. In Tanzania that luxury is unfortunately limited to only a handful. In Tanzania you see a child’s face light up when they use a computer for the first time in their lives. 

      This is Mercy when she first tried out typing. 

      The expression on her face will stay with me 

      for years, her excitement and joy was so emotional and has really made me think       about how grateful for every computer I have used and owned.

      8)  In England you find a bug or insect in your classroom and usually the children will scream or worse even cry. In Tanzania you find lizards and giant beetles in your classroom, your students will then name the creature and the whole Geography lesson will be taken over by the new distraction. In addition to this never in England did I have to pull out a tick from my student’s neck with a pair of tweezers, another skill I can check of my list. Ha

        9) In England teachers tend to have their favorite mug in which they look forward to using for their break time coffee/cuppa tea. In Tanzania I have no such mug; which is fine, usually. After a tough morning of giant beetle naming I grabbed the last mug on the shelf and this is what I found. I have stuck to cans of coke ever since. 

10)  In England you play games such as football or skipping. In Tanzania we play ‘how many students and teachers can you fit in one van.’

This is what 16 people crammed into a van looks like in sweltering 30 degrees heat