Another day of Swahili and chilling in Dar. I visited with a few Tanzania friends today and now am finally able to quickly upload pictures so it's catch up time. The first link is from a trip to Bagamoyo we took. Beach town about an hour away that used to be a trading post during the slave trade. Very fascinating and beautiful.



http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b328cee92566



Secondly, I heard there were problems with the Simba pictures so here is the link, fixed I believe!



http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b328fac72552



Finally, a few pics from Dar. The last one of all the people watching TV are the Tanzanians watching Big Brother Africa. Not many people have televisions so they all watch at Daruso, the bar where we hang out. It's really fun! It's a great show too, a reality show for Africa.



http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b328cfe765f0



I had fun today receiving my first letters from June and Earle Brown, and my Mom and Dad. So, the mail works! I also had fun explaining to my mom a big about swahili. We learned one of the final components yesterday of the language. It's fascinating because it is a building block kind of language. You start with the root verb, say "kulala" to sleep. (the ku is the "to" in the infinitive.) To say I sleep, you had the subject prefix ni and the tense prefix na, so you get ninalala, I sleep. to make it you sleep, you just change the subject prefix from ni, to u...so you get unalala. It's similar to make past tense. Change the tense prefix from na to li and you get ulilala, you slept. You can also add the object infix to get a direct or indirect object. It doesn't work with kulala, but say pa, which means get. You have the subject prefix ni, tense prefix na, direct object infix say ku which means you as a direct object and the verb pa. So you have ninakupa- I get him. It's very fascinating and seems to make much more grammatical sense than english! So, I expect you all to be fluent when I get back.

Hello All!



With a slightly improved connection I was able to add pictures from the Simba football (soccer) match. Check em out!



http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b328fac72552¬ag=1

http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b328fac72552¬ag=1



just to make sure.

10 monkeys stared at me much like some Tanzanians do as I walked to the computer lab this afternoon. They must have been asking themselves why I was on their campus. Life here is going very well, with many crazy events everyday. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to write with frequent internet problems here and a busy schedule. The newest edition to our schedule here in Tanzania is teaching. We started teaching 5th graders English at a nearby primary school and I now have a new respect for teachers! It is so difficult! I doesn’t help that most of the kids barely understand English and the teacher herself really can’t carry on a conversation outside of lesson. We attended a linguistics conference on campus this weekend and it gave me a new outlook on the whole English language in Tanzania. I think it’s really unfortunate because secondary school and the University are taught in English so only students who are adept at languages can advance in their education while others who might not learn languages well but who may be bright in mathematics or art or engineering or what have you cannot seek higher education. With that in mind I’m trying to help the kids, mostly through educational raps (like my 4th grade Central days) and interaction. It is a very weird situation because they follow the British education system and are so disciplined. It’s slightly frightening. We walk in and they all stand up and say “Education is a good foundation, good morning teacher.” They all are supposed to raise their hands when they speak but they get lazy and so their arms kind of fall into a hail Hitler sign…very strange. There are about 55 students in the classroom which is very small by Tanzanian standards. There are no books in the class. The teacher just has a handwritten bluebook essentially with exercises that she writes on the board and students copy. It’s obviously very hard to make sure they are all following because English is only 35min and there are so many kids. Also, their desks are long benches that sit 3-4 kids so it is virtual impossible to prevent cheating. But, through these challenges I did manage to make up a rap to try to teach does not and do not. “He, she, it, does not…(beat box)… I, you, we, they do not.” They liked it and now everytime class is close to done they start the rap. Also, I’m teaching them one colloquial American word a day. So far they know cool, what’s up, and nothing. Fun times. It is physically exhausting though when I get done with my class and my head always hurts from trying to translate into Swahili so they understand. A very new challenge for me. Hopefully it will get better as the semester progresses.



This weekend we had a fun trip to a Tanzanian football (soccer) game. Tanzania is trying to qualify for the African Cup and is playing international matches to try to qualify. They played against a team from the Ivory Coast and it was an amazing spectacle. Kids climbing on the lights to get a good seat, kids selling peanuts wrapped up in old papers or invoices, and a sea of red, the team’s color. The name of the team is Simba which means lion in Swahili and even the Prime Minister of Tanzania was on hand to watch. Simba won 1-0 and plays Egypt in two weeks. If they win they are in the semi-finals. Fun stuff! It was great to go somewhere where language was not a barrier. We all knew football and was something we could share. I had another football experience on Saturday. I met a guy on campus name Ayubu who invited me to play football on Saturday so I went and had fun playing with a group of somewhat older Tanzanian guys. No one really spoke English but fortunately many of the words are borrowed English words like wingi (my position), goalkicki, corneri, and cardi. It’s funny because all Swahili words end in vowels so when they borrow words they usually just add an I, like daktari, hospitali, etc. It’s funny b/c we find ourselves adding I’s randomly when we speak English to one another.



The other highlight I can think of is a dala-dala drag race we were in a few nights ago. The dala-dala’s are the old rickety buses that you ride for 100-150 Tsh. We were on one of the last ones back to the university and we leapfrogging with another bus just ahead of us. We got to the university and the other tried to pass us, so our driver stepped on it. They started drag racing and I was yelling “Twende, Twende!” which means go, go, and of course all the Tanzanians laughed at me. We probably got up to about 50 kmh before we left the other dala-dala in the dust. Fun times.



Well, it has been a long update and I’ll do my best to update more regularly, but mostly life is slipping into routine here. About every night we go to DARUSO, the local hangout, where we talk with local students and play pool. Last night was a special night at DARUSO because Big Brother Africa was on. It’s a reality show like Big Brother in the US, but every member on the show is from a different country. One is eliminated each night and the Tanzanian is in the final 5. It is huge here and some commentary has claimed it to be the first thing to truly unite Africa. Very entertaing though. I’m going to meet with a man who works with HIV/AIDS orphans this week to start work on my project and Swahili is keeping me busy. I am missing home amenities like being able to drink from the tap and drive where I want to go, but Tanzania is becoming home a little bit more everyday. I hope all are well in the states. I’m missing luther as I think of people moving in but am sure all will be in order when I return. Hope to hear from you all soon. Baadye.

Hi All!



Info update. I realized looking at my address that I typed it a bit wrong. The correct address is:



Scott Meyer

C/O Grace Mshigeni

Director Links Office

Box 35091

University of Dar Es Salaam

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

East Africa



I'm sure anything sent with the previous address will still get here. Also, I have a cell phone! My parents tried it out last night and it works. I can receive calls for free so feel free to call! Also, I have text messaging for free so you can always text me and I can text back if you would like. My phone number is: 255.744.091.832. You need to type the international prefix to get out of the country first, which in the US is 011 I believe. I hope to hear from everyone soon and will do my best to write real mail!

An exciting and crazy weekend in Tanzania! Friday night we ventured out to find a restaurant and after about an hour of walking in the dark (because there are few if any street lights anywhere) we came upon a pizza place in DAR which is unheard of! We settled for the pizza which tasted great. We ate 4 between the 5 of us. While there we met a crazy American who works at the embassy as a computer technician and who has lived all over the world and a pastor from Britain who's wife is a development worker. They just had twins so I think we scored a babysitting job which would mean hot shower and couch! It was really fun though talking to them. The crazy American told us about this bar called the Q bar which was the place to be. We went to check it out only to discover a room full of white 40 year old men and Tanzanian women who looked frighteningly like prostitutes. It was a weird experience. After listening to a little bit of music we headed out only to find the public buses (dala dalas) no longer running. About 4 cabs surrouned us asking if we needed a ride and we bartered a bit with them and finally got a 2,500 Tsh. ride back. (about $2.50). The following day we went to Bagamoyo which is a quiet town on the Indian Ocean about an hour north of us. It was great! We hung out on the beach and checked out a museum there dedicated to the slave trade because the town was a hub for the slave trade in the 1800's. It was very fascinating. The other amazing thing was the water. It was so warm! We lounged in the Indian Ocean before heading back for a night at D'rusos, which is the local bar/hang out, kind of like Marty's at luther. There we met some cool tanzanians who we taught the card game bullshit. It was very funny watching them try to lie and try to swear in English. I guess Americans are the only naturally talented liars. Today is a quiet day. Went for a run and enjoy a nice meal of rice and chipsi. I'm off to a church service this afternoon that the British guy is in charge of. I'm sure it will be another experience...

Hello Again!



I'm back in the computer lab working on pictures and I think I have them working. We're getting into the swing now. We found some great wood sculptures to buy at Mwenge and tonight are going to try to find the night life in Dar. We'll see how it goes. Check out these pics. they are all from the roof of my dorm except for the one of the dorm. I'm living by myself currently and will get a Tanzanian roommate when school starts at the beginning of October. More hopefully next week. Enjoy.



http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b32a88006534