Tuesday, May 29, 2007
My new “friend”
It’s one thing to be able to speak without slurring when you are drunk, its quite another to be quick as a whip and not slur your speech when speaking in a second language. My new friend, I'll call him David, a local vendor of all things used and some new-ish, has quite a grasp of the no slur. I imagine he has had a great deal of practice.
I met David one day a few weeks back in Mushi store, a shop that caters to expats with its Nutela and various pastas and sweets. David was there talking to the shop keeper and her friends when I walked in and broke their mood. I had only been in Tanzania for a few weeks and my Swahili was more lacking than it is now and David started in on me; trying to instigate a reaction. I, not wanting to give him the satisfaction and realizing he was three sheets to the wind at 11AM, played it cool and let him have his fun. My beard was new and he made fun of that saying, “why do you want to look old before you are?” and continuing, “are you an old man already?” then with a lilt in his voice, “Women will not like this.” He carried on for a minute or two, and then he must have realized he had to open his store if he hoped to have a drink the next day and made his exit.
I bumped into him on Thursday or Friday as I was riding into town and, as he was – or at least appeared – sober we had a quiet brief conversation about his shop and he asked that I stop by after my shopping to “share ideas”. I planned to stop by but, as the vegetable market is way on the other side of town and I wanted to take a new route home, I missed him.
On Sunday we all went to town and noticed some handmade rope in the vicinity of Davids shop (to clarify his “shop” is a makeshift fence with about a hundred pairs of dress pants hung along its length). The rope was hung from a tree over a tarp on the ground that had on it everything from piles of peanuts to bars of Tanzanian laundry soap. I asked the friendly young man how much and after some haggling we settled on 2,500 shillings for two lengths (about 12-14 feet each for $2.50). Just as I handed over the money David approached, and he was in fine form, but as Nik and Abby were there he toned it down a bit. As we waited for my change David took the rope and coiled it up in a nice packable form and proceeded to make fun of my beard and my hat and poke a little fun at Nicole as well. It was harmless but loud and soon a crowd had gathered to see what the fuss was about. It took a bit too long for the man to get my change and when he finally had there must have been 30 people standing quite close to us watching the “show”. Nicole asked me if I wanted to take the rope from the spot David had hung it – around my neck – and put it in the backpack. I thought it best to get as far from the epicenter as possible first and we made a hasty exit.
Abby and I hung it up this morning two strands side by side, in the hope that I can score some wood from the garage boys and make a swing. In the meantime Abby found a number of ways to swing on these two ropes without the wooden seat. She made harnesses with them and swung quite high and then I made loops in them and she went back and forth and spun around endlessly. After school, Karina Neema came by and they swung side by side for a long time and look turns swinging with both. I figured if the ropes alone are this much fun I better grab a couple more strands for a swing elsewhere on the tree. With agreement from the girls I set out later this afternoon for a big box of water and some more rope.
I made my way to Frank’s shop for the big box of water and purchased that and synched to the back of my bike with my two ten foot luggage straps (boy am I happy I didn’t cut them down). I then made my way to Mushi store for some Ribena and laundry soap, but they were all out of both.
I decided that before I head up to the top of town I should see if there is any rope left beside David’s store. He must have seen me coming because before I was within 50 yards of the rope I could hear him hollering. I could also smell the alcohol on his breath as he came in with his verbal jabs. I suppose the water on the back of the bike was an easy target and he launched in on that immediately. Why should I be the only one with water? Why can’t he have any water? Because you’ve already had enough gin? I started to say but instead said, “well how about I buy two more lengths of rope and then you’ll be able to afford to buy your own water.” He was silent for a moment as he thought about this and then said quickly without slurring, “same price as last time, right?” “Hamna, Hamna (no, no)” was my reply “elfu mbili (two thousand) this time.” I said. “Fine, fine” he replied and then spoke some light speed Swahili to his worker who grabbed the rope. David thanked me profusely without slurring or drawing a crowd and I was off with my rope and happy with the price.
I am sure I will speak to David again as he is a character and fun to talk to. Practicing Swahili with people who speak good English is easier to me because they can correct me and explain how I screwed up. I just hope David can do this without gathering the rest of the town to help with the lesson.
I met David one day a few weeks back in Mushi store, a shop that caters to expats with its Nutela and various pastas and sweets. David was there talking to the shop keeper and her friends when I walked in and broke their mood. I had only been in Tanzania for a few weeks and my Swahili was more lacking than it is now and David started in on me; trying to instigate a reaction. I, not wanting to give him the satisfaction and realizing he was three sheets to the wind at 11AM, played it cool and let him have his fun. My beard was new and he made fun of that saying, “why do you want to look old before you are?” and continuing, “are you an old man already?” then with a lilt in his voice, “Women will not like this.” He carried on for a minute or two, and then he must have realized he had to open his store if he hoped to have a drink the next day and made his exit.
I bumped into him on Thursday or Friday as I was riding into town and, as he was – or at least appeared – sober we had a quiet brief conversation about his shop and he asked that I stop by after my shopping to “share ideas”. I planned to stop by but, as the vegetable market is way on the other side of town and I wanted to take a new route home, I missed him.
On Sunday we all went to town and noticed some handmade rope in the vicinity of Davids shop (to clarify his “shop” is a makeshift fence with about a hundred pairs of dress pants hung along its length). The rope was hung from a tree over a tarp on the ground that had on it everything from piles of peanuts to bars of Tanzanian laundry soap. I asked the friendly young man how much and after some haggling we settled on 2,500 shillings for two lengths (about 12-14 feet each for $2.50). Just as I handed over the money David approached, and he was in fine form, but as Nik and Abby were there he toned it down a bit. As we waited for my change David took the rope and coiled it up in a nice packable form and proceeded to make fun of my beard and my hat and poke a little fun at Nicole as well. It was harmless but loud and soon a crowd had gathered to see what the fuss was about. It took a bit too long for the man to get my change and when he finally had there must have been 30 people standing quite close to us watching the “show”. Nicole asked me if I wanted to take the rope from the spot David had hung it – around my neck – and put it in the backpack. I thought it best to get as far from the epicenter as possible first and we made a hasty exit.
Abby and I hung it up this morning two strands side by side, in the hope that I can score some wood from the garage boys and make a swing. In the meantime Abby found a number of ways to swing on these two ropes without the wooden seat. She made harnesses with them and swung quite high and then I made loops in them and she went back and forth and spun around endlessly. After school, Karina Neema came by and they swung side by side for a long time and look turns swinging with both. I figured if the ropes alone are this much fun I better grab a couple more strands for a swing elsewhere on the tree. With agreement from the girls I set out later this afternoon for a big box of water and some more rope.
I made my way to Frank’s shop for the big box of water and purchased that and synched to the back of my bike with my two ten foot luggage straps (boy am I happy I didn’t cut them down). I then made my way to Mushi store for some Ribena and laundry soap, but they were all out of both.
I decided that before I head up to the top of town I should see if there is any rope left beside David’s store. He must have seen me coming because before I was within 50 yards of the rope I could hear him hollering. I could also smell the alcohol on his breath as he came in with his verbal jabs. I suppose the water on the back of the bike was an easy target and he launched in on that immediately. Why should I be the only one with water? Why can’t he have any water? Because you’ve already had enough gin? I started to say but instead said, “well how about I buy two more lengths of rope and then you’ll be able to afford to buy your own water.” He was silent for a moment as he thought about this and then said quickly without slurring, “same price as last time, right?” “Hamna, Hamna (no, no)” was my reply “elfu mbili (two thousand) this time.” I said. “Fine, fine” he replied and then spoke some light speed Swahili to his worker who grabbed the rope. David thanked me profusely without slurring or drawing a crowd and I was off with my rope and happy with the price.
I am sure I will speak to David again as he is a character and fun to talk to. Practicing Swahili with people who speak good English is easier to me because they can correct me and explain how I screwed up. I just hope David can do this without gathering the rest of the town to help with the lesson.
