Monday, March 19, 2007
kwa Bidii!
Generally, when I am out and about I try to use what Swahili I have. And, generally, Kenyans are surprised that I know any at all. So many of the white folk in Nairobi don’t know any, and then I suppose those who do know some don’t necessarily use it in Nairobi, where you can usually get by with English.
When I’m talking to people for the first time, they generally ask (or state) that I am learning or have learnt Kiswahili, and my response generally is “Ninajaribu!” (I am trying.) Having celebrated my 1 year anniversary in Kenya last Friday, I took some time for reflection, and it occurred to me that I haven’t really been trying to work on my Swahili all that hard of late. In fact, I’ve managed to forget some of what I learned when I first arrived. And, looking back, I definitely had thought that I would know more than I do after one year.
So I’ve instituted some changes.
1) on Friday I accidentally struck up a conversation with the 2 night guards, and they are delighted that I am trying to learn Swahili, as they are trying to learn English. We ended up standing by the gate and talking for at least a half hour in more or less Swahili (easy topics, though: I walk to work, I do not have a car, I do not really have money to buy a car, I wash my clothes myself, yes I have a “man” and although he is now in America he is going to join me here (this was the first time in a while that I’ve handled the “do you have a man” question in Swahili, so I used the old version, as opposed to my new and updated version in which my man is Canadian and is working in Tanzania but hoping to come soon. It’s a bit harder with the guards, because they keep track of everyone who visits me, so I can’t use the ol’ Yes I am Married line). I’m predicting that those conversations will continue, which will be good so long as I can manage to keep transmitting the clear message of I Have Boundaries No I Will Not Sleep With You.
2) Word of the Day! This is my third day of having a ‘word of the day.” Today’s is “kwa Bidii” – with diligence, or diligently As in, “Ninafanya kazi kwa Bidii” – I am doing work with diligence.
Bidii-ish today. So far I have visited all of my Kenyan colleagues at their desks to announce “Ninafanya kazi kwa Bidii!”; I’ve printed out lots of things I should read but I haven’t actually read any of them; I’ve gone to the library to return a book (another Lord Peter Wimsey mystery!) and pick out a book (short stories by Ken Saro-Wiwa); I’ve taken ½ an hour to compose an email to a farmers organization while simultaneously reading a movie review about Music and Lyrics, which I somehow ended up seeing this weekend (some excellent infectious 80s pop songs were written for the movie, so I enjoyed it despite the fact that hugh grant and drew barrymore completely failed to work their charm on me); and now I am actually writing a blog. I do get some credit for having gone to the library and writing this blog during my lunch hour. But since I haven’t actually eaten my lunch yet, chances are that the hour shall extend past its established temporal limits. tsk tsk.
Well, I think it’s okay - it’s Monday and I’m tired (nimechoka sana) and there aren’t many things that are extremely pressing to be done. At least, not extremely pressing.
So, Tufanye kazi kwa Bidii! (Let us do work diligently) I, for one, am going to diligently eat my sandwich and read the newspaper so I’m caught up on the political machinations that happened over the weekend. Onward, ho!
When I’m talking to people for the first time, they generally ask (or state) that I am learning or have learnt Kiswahili, and my response generally is “Ninajaribu!” (I am trying.) Having celebrated my 1 year anniversary in Kenya last Friday, I took some time for reflection, and it occurred to me that I haven’t really been trying to work on my Swahili all that hard of late. In fact, I’ve managed to forget some of what I learned when I first arrived. And, looking back, I definitely had thought that I would know more than I do after one year.
So I’ve instituted some changes.
1) on Friday I accidentally struck up a conversation with the 2 night guards, and they are delighted that I am trying to learn Swahili, as they are trying to learn English. We ended up standing by the gate and talking for at least a half hour in more or less Swahili (easy topics, though: I walk to work, I do not have a car, I do not really have money to buy a car, I wash my clothes myself, yes I have a “man” and although he is now in America he is going to join me here (this was the first time in a while that I’ve handled the “do you have a man” question in Swahili, so I used the old version, as opposed to my new and updated version in which my man is Canadian and is working in Tanzania but hoping to come soon. It’s a bit harder with the guards, because they keep track of everyone who visits me, so I can’t use the ol’ Yes I am Married line). I’m predicting that those conversations will continue, which will be good so long as I can manage to keep transmitting the clear message of I Have Boundaries No I Will Not Sleep With You.
2) Word of the Day! This is my third day of having a ‘word of the day.” Today’s is “kwa Bidii” – with diligence, or diligently As in, “Ninafanya kazi kwa Bidii” – I am doing work with diligence.
Bidii-ish today. So far I have visited all of my Kenyan colleagues at their desks to announce “Ninafanya kazi kwa Bidii!”; I’ve printed out lots of things I should read but I haven’t actually read any of them; I’ve gone to the library to return a book (another Lord Peter Wimsey mystery!) and pick out a book (short stories by Ken Saro-Wiwa); I’ve taken ½ an hour to compose an email to a farmers organization while simultaneously reading a movie review about Music and Lyrics, which I somehow ended up seeing this weekend (some excellent infectious 80s pop songs were written for the movie, so I enjoyed it despite the fact that hugh grant and drew barrymore completely failed to work their charm on me); and now I am actually writing a blog. I do get some credit for having gone to the library and writing this blog during my lunch hour. But since I haven’t actually eaten my lunch yet, chances are that the hour shall extend past its established temporal limits. tsk tsk.
Well, I think it’s okay - it’s Monday and I’m tired (nimechoka sana) and there aren’t many things that are extremely pressing to be done. At least, not extremely pressing.
So, Tufanye kazi kwa Bidii! (Let us do work diligently) I, for one, am going to diligently eat my sandwich and read the newspaper so I’m caught up on the political machinations that happened over the weekend. Onward, ho!
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