First week of classes

We’ve had four days of Swahili now, and I’m enjoying learning the language a lot more than I’d expected. We have two hours in the classroom, followed by 2 hours outside in small groups led by a language assistant (as in the picture). So it is tiring, but we’re able to move at a fast pace which makes it a lot more interesting and keeps me from becoming discouraged – every day I notice how I’m able to understand and say more, which makes me want to learn even more. I’ve never been good at languages, and partly that is probably because I’m somewhat impatient. With Spanish, I’d have maybe an hour of class a few days a week, and I never felt like I’d make any progress so I’d get frustrated and bored and stop working, and then I’d really not learn anything. Now there’s a ton of new grammar and vocabulary to learn every day, and not studying it isn’t an option as trying to catch up is a somewhat frightening thought. Consequently, I’m now able to communicate much more than just a few days ago. The idea that if you put some work into learning a language you will get better at it seems like (yet another) painfully obvious fact of life that I’m treating like an epiphany, but I’m rather amazed.

Two days ago we took a field trip to the American Embassy and the National Museum. We got stuck in traffic for ages on the ride back. In Dar there are lots of people who try to sell you items as you sit in your car. Ice cream makes sense, but giant inflatable “Hello Kitty” chairs, or aprons, just seem random. People do buy them, too. At one point, the people in the car in front of our ACM bus were buying aprons, when the traffic suddenly started moving again. The guy selling the stuff just hopped in the car to continue the transaction, and was let out the next time traffic stopped. Seeing things like that makes it not unpleasant to be stuck on the bus for hours. This is one of the reasons I love travelling so much. There is always something interesting to look at, and even the most mundane interactions between people are fascinating to watch.