Quick Update

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Well, as predicted I haven't had a whole lot of time to spend on the computer. So I can't possibly explain everything that I've been up to, but I can give you the general idea.
I spent two weeks with my homestay family in Stone Town. They were really nice, but spoke very minimal English (although it was great they spoke any at all) so communication was hard, but I think we managed fine most of the time. There were a couple of funny incidents though. Once, during dinner, i decided to question if something had potatoes in it, but after I spoke they looked at me strangely and I didn't understand until they told me the word I had used for potatoes- "viatu"- actually meant shoes (apparently "viazi" means potatoes). Oops. But that wasn't the best one. I was trying to catch onto a conversation my host sisters were having in Swahili. I thought I had heard a sentence sounding like "hakuna matata", only it shounded like she'd used a different word, so I tried to repeat her and I said "hakuna matako". Well, Matako actually means "butts" (yes, plural) and "hakuna" means there are no/there is no, so my sister burst out laughing, and reapeated my crazy sentence and slapped her own butt in the process. After that rarely a day went by when that phrase would not come up in some way or another, but before the two weeks were over I was laughing at myself along with them- my Swahili having improved enough for me to catch onto conversations better. Altogether it was a great experience and my host family was really very nice to me. My host mother even painted my hand in henna and they gave me a new kanga to wear on the last day before I left their house.
The most of this past week was spent in Jozani forest with the rest of the SIT kids. There were Red Colobus monkeys everywhere. So cool. We had lectures and did field experiements and presentation before coming back, but we also got to spend some time exploring the groundwater forest trails.
This coming week is pretty much up in the air. I have to do a mini project and find a place to stay for a couple of days, so I'm working on that right now. I'll let you know how it goes!

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