NYAMANZI part one

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Ways to know you’re not in Kansas anymore (figuratively - I haven’t ever been there myself… the drive from CO to NOLA doesn’t really count, Bovina was either there or in OK, not sure….):

You spend your day walking around being stared/pointed/laughed at / runscreaming in tears from because a) you’re white b) well that is basically it… also you figure Muslim men can handle themselves and it is not your responsibility to control their libido for them… so horrors… your head is uncovered….
You spend your evening watching taped music videos ranging from Akon to a really special Beyonce-Shakira number in which one of the spectators observed that they “forgot their clothing” direct translation everyone. Side note: I have never seen any of these videos in the states, so I’m seeing them all for the first time in Nyamanzi, Zanzibar (which for those of you who don’t know is in serious Africa boonies (well its relative ... a couple houses have electricity, mine is one) - considering the fact that people living in Stonetown - about 40 minutes to an hour away by daladala (converted flatbed truck with enough benchroom for about 15 people, usually averaging about 30 with about 4 or 5 guys sitting on top, another 4 or 5 hanging off the back and a chicken or a goat (or two) thrown in for effect - another moment where I wish I was kidding!!) DON’T KNOW WHERE IT IS!! Any hoo
Back to music videos… interesting moment when my host/tour guide/ not actually sure how to define her… asked me if Akon was born in the US b/c he was dark … elaborated by pointing at her arm and then my arm and then her arm… She seemed surprised when I said that lots of people in the US are. (Funny the things you assume people know, especially because American rap and hip hop are EVERYWHERE here… little kid wandering Stonetown singing “candy shop” only he translated it into Swahili… )

Some highlights of what is so far in my life the most intense cross-cultural experience I have ever had. Night one was as close to breakdown as I ever get - as most of you know - HUGE DEAL. Middle of ?????! HOT, and FUCK my cell phone doesn’t work!! And there is basically no english spoken here at all. So communication when tired and stressed … leaves much to be desired.
Day two: MUCH BETTER: went to the beach (pwani) and collected some bivalves (chaza, makorobwe, kome, kombe….) all good words to know different kind of critters, shells etc. Some more seaweed farms… Basically went tidepooling - only in sand! Moral of the story: get me in water (even just my ankles) and my world is a beautiful place! Oh yes, and I have been conducting interviews in Swahili - SANS TRANSLATOR… I’m getting most of it… but still a work in progress… A lot of getting strolled around the village being introduced to basically the whole town…. Just for a little taste here are the names I was expected to be able to attach to faces and you know, life histories, in the first couple of hours: Mwinyi, Safia, Hadija, Maulid(i), Halid(i), Hashem, Omar, Fikira, Zeinab, Ali (3x), Asma (pronounced like the respiratory condition), Masuidi, Masha(vu), Mwaduah, Salama, Mwanamgeni or (mweni)… and that is just the start… also it doesn’t help things that some of these names are very strange to pronounce and some of them, Mwinyi for example are closely related to words like mwili which means body…. So there that goes… also fun words to mess up: umeme = electricity, mume = husband, and mbu = mosquito, mbo = penis… the likelihood of your embarrassing yourself in conversation is MASSIVE in this language. (or just confusing the hell out of the nice people you’re trying to talk to…)
Day three: RAINED all day… the town turned into a giant mud puddle wrote a little, read a little… so it goes…
Yesterday: Had no clue what was going on… waited for a daladala for about an hour and a half with a group of people who collect bivalves together, who I’ve been hanging out with a lot recently to go to another town further down the road. Turns out there was a workshop being conducted by my advisor and a visiting biologist on pearl-culturing… interesting day, but long and didn’t really have much to do with my project…. Now very happy to be back in communication zone …. And am more emotionally prepped to go back next week. The best part about Ugunja is that it is little, so even if you feel trapped and freak-out-y, you can (if you time it right) get your self out for a bit…. So that’s good.

Some more Swahili cultural fun: Had to pause many an evening in order to join the family (and surrounding neighborhood) in watching the Phillipino soap operas dubbed in English that EVERYONE in this country (with a TV) watches … The Long Wait and It Might Be You… and coming Nov 18… Only You… took me a while to figure out that there were two different shows because the lead actors are all the same… and wild guess who stars in the upcoming one! Also another favorite shoe here “Mis Tres Hermanas” a flamboyantly bad/Latin (no offense) soap opera dubbed in BRITISH accents.


Yet another way to know you are again, most definitely NOT in Kansas anymore: you are checking your appearance out by SHADOW. - notice I did not use the word reflection… unless of course you are looking at a puddle, which currently, there are plenty of.

And one more: this is not mine, but just too good not to share - for Kat - So you’re in your homestay in Chole and you are sharing a cement room (multiple mattresses on the floor style) with a range of host siblings ages about 4 months to about 12 years give or take… so you wake up in the morning a little discombobulated - you thought you heard them all leave, but you turn over and there is someone on the pillow next to you . . . Feathers literally flew as the chicken sleeping next to her seemed more startled than she was … a little grape-vined (Kat tells it better) but fairly spectacular nonetheless. A little envious of the stories… but not too envious, so far my sleeping experience (knock on something..) as been farily critter free!
So a little bit more of my life…
funny how when you don’t have power and /or people to talk to… you suddenly have a lot more time / inspiration to write… wonder why that is… (jk)

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