"Anyone confused or has any questions about what I previously explain"
It's Monday (Day 3). Earlier today, I presented an overview of the iLab architecture to the majority of the Masters' students working within the University of Dar Es Salaam's iLab unit. In all, it took under 1.5 hours. I was interrupted several times by questions or had to wait for live demonstrations. I hope I have done a good job so far of hiding my propensity to dominate conversation or talk too much. I enjoy explaining to people, so I was glad to do the overview.
I have never being able to determine if I am truly answering a person's question, but I have heard that the type of questions asked can be a good indicator. The questions that were asked did indicate overall that people followed along well with my explanations and the nods that accompanied my answers to their question made me feel great. I expect to do another presentation tomorrow, when I talk about debugging and the technical details of iLabs. I plan to be concise and find ways to gauge the audience's understanding.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Karibu. Sasa. Wapi. Unasema Kiswahili? (Do you speak Swahili)?
Person: [unintelligble]
Me: Sorry, I don't speak Swahili.
As I was editing a previous blog post, the power went out in the building a hour ago. I saw it as a sign from the heavens that I should take a computer break and eat lunch. Off I went to the Hill City Park area to grab lunch. When it was my turn to be served, the server had to go back to the kitchen to add more soup. She said something to me and I gave her my ticket assuming that is what she wanted. A man in line behind me told me, "She wants you to move back." Oh.
I was prepared to hear Swahili, but I was expecting to also overhear conversations in English. Approximately 99% of English conversations I hear involve me or happen within my guest housing area. The newspapers are in Swahili. The radio programs are in Swahili. Of the 10-12 TV stations I can watch, at least three are in Swahili including their Christian channel. And yes, they can still speak English properly and effectively.
For those that do not know, Swahili is inter-tribal language. It facilitates communication between many East African ethnic groups in the same way that Castilian (Spanish) allows Catalans, Galicians and Basques in Spain to communicate or how Scottish, Welsh and the Irish can use English to communicate. Speakers of Swahili may speak other local languages, but will only use them in the appropriate settings. I have not come across such a unifying language as Swahili elsewhere in Africa.
Me: Sorry, I don't speak Swahili.
As I was editing a previous blog post, the power went out in the building a hour ago. I saw it as a sign from the heavens that I should take a computer break and eat lunch. Off I went to the Hill City Park area to grab lunch. When it was my turn to be served, the server had to go back to the kitchen to add more soup. She said something to me and I gave her my ticket assuming that is what she wanted. A man in line behind me told me, "She wants you to move back." Oh.
I was prepared to hear Swahili, but I was expecting to also overhear conversations in English. Approximately 99% of English conversations I hear involve me or happen within my guest housing area. The newspapers are in Swahili. The radio programs are in Swahili. Of the 10-12 TV stations I can watch, at least three are in Swahili including their Christian channel. And yes, they can still speak English properly and effectively.
For those that do not know, Swahili is inter-tribal language. It facilitates communication between many East African ethnic groups in the same way that Castilian (Spanish) allows Catalans, Galicians and Basques in Spain to communicate or how Scottish, Welsh and the Irish can use English to communicate. Speakers of Swahili may speak other local languages, but will only use them in the appropriate settings. I have not come across such a unifying language as Swahili elsewhere in Africa.
The legend of the 100 mosquito bites
"You shouldn't need to sleep with the mosquito nets"
It is strange how once you leave a place, you can never go back to it the same way you left. That is after all why they say you can never go home. July 7, 1997 was my day of no return. I have returned only once since then - April 2002. Even then, I still felt like a foreigner to a place 5 years earlier I had call home. This same feeling coursed through me as I packed and mentally prepared myself for this trip. Unlike 2002, I had accepted that I was different
So I prepared like a foreigner, which meant buying anti-malaria pills. In 2002, I hadn't packed those malaria pills. Nothing happened during the two weeks. Actually, in my 9 yrs and 4 months in Nigeria, I contracted malaria once. And here I was in 2010, thinking that I would manage to get infected within the three weeks in Africa. But again, I was a foreigner and I must take all precautions.
Above my bed hovered a mosquito net. The first two nights, I slept under the mosquito net. On the third day, I abandoned it. Why just two days? Not quite sure why it happened. Was the net itchy? Was I imagining mosquito bites. I do know what happened. At the end of the 2nd night, I scratched myself that I ended up with 100 mosquito bite-like bumps had appeared over my body - most on my elbows and arms. After that third day, the scratching stopped. The damage was already done. My colleagues here asked me how the mosquitos had managed to cause such damage to both arms and elbows; I had to confess it was all self-inflicted.
Lesson learned: leave the mosquito nets to the real foreigners or at least check that mosquitos come into the room.
It is strange how once you leave a place, you can never go back to it the same way you left. That is after all why they say you can never go home. July 7, 1997 was my day of no return. I have returned only once since then - April 2002. Even then, I still felt like a foreigner to a place 5 years earlier I had call home. This same feeling coursed through me as I packed and mentally prepared myself for this trip. Unlike 2002, I had accepted that I was different
So I prepared like a foreigner, which meant buying anti-malaria pills. In 2002, I hadn't packed those malaria pills. Nothing happened during the two weeks. Actually, in my 9 yrs and 4 months in Nigeria, I contracted malaria once. And here I was in 2010, thinking that I would manage to get infected within the three weeks in Africa. But again, I was a foreigner and I must take all precautions.
Above my bed hovered a mosquito net. The first two nights, I slept under the mosquito net. On the third day, I abandoned it. Why just two days? Not quite sure why it happened. Was the net itchy? Was I imagining mosquito bites. I do know what happened. At the end of the 2nd night, I scratched myself that I ended up with 100 mosquito bite-like bumps had appeared over my body - most on my elbows and arms. After that third day, the scratching stopped. The damage was already done. My colleagues here asked me how the mosquitos had managed to cause such damage to both arms and elbows; I had to confess it was all self-inflicted.
Lesson learned: leave the mosquito nets to the real foreigners or at least check that mosquitos come into the room.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)