Freddy's Swahili Lessons

We have Swahili lessons on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and have now had a total of five lessons. The medical student, Karen, that is here for two months felt so disconnected from her patients that she requested a tutor. Sarah and I attend, and the mother and daughter from Indiana that will be here for three months also have started to attend.

At first I was quite skeptical of Freddy, our teacher. He seemed sort of boring and I just wasn't impressed. In the last week he has grown on me a lot, and Swahili lessons have become so much fun. He's probably the funniest person I have met here and it's not on purpose at all. For the first two lessons, we had spent all of the previous night in the lab, so I rolled out of bed when I heard him entering the house. No teeth brushing, and maybe still in pajamas. I'm sure I made a good first impression.

On lesson two or three he started telling us that he could tell that we hadn't practiced while he was gone. He sounded very hurt and disappointed. He asked me a question, and I was so proud to be able to respond. But when I gave my answer he gave me a face of disapproval and another question. Again I answered with what I thought was correct, and he said, "Let's try Karen." Eventually, after much confusion, it was cleared up that he simply wanted me to repeat his question; when I did, he became very content.

On Thursday he left us his notebook in which he had written 200 important vocabulary words. I have not yet had time to copy it down, but when I do, I'll share some of the funniest ones. I had time to notice that he had given us mostly all A words, and then a few Z words. . . did he lose the middle of his dictionary? He also had an explanation of time written down which compared the "African System of Reckoning" with the "Western System of Reckoning," which I will also have to post word for word. I should add that we are working out of a Swahili book that uses words from colonial times, like sultan instead of governor or the equivilant. This morning we had a 20 minute lesson on directions, and at the end he said, "But we don't say this, this or this, that was only said in colonial times," and then he taught us how it's said now.

He always says "Are we together?" and then reads our facial expressions because no one wants to say yes and no one wants to say no. If he thinks we understand, he will begin saying all sorts of things really quickly in Swahili as if we understand everything. Then he again gives the pitiful face when we don't understand.

He's a great teacher. He follows the book for about two minutes, then takes us on a tangent for twenty. In one hour, we complete about two pages of his lesson book. Also, his english is not the best, so asking questions usually causes more confusion than clarification. Sometimes we try to come up with Swahili examples to gauge if our theory or question is right, and when it's not he just looks more disappointed. But the miscommunications are what make it fun and memorable. I think I remember more with him than I would if I had a perfect teacher.

I guess I'm disconnected from reality, so I don't really know if it made you guys laugh or not. Whether it did or not, lessons are the highlight of my day. The other people here and I (or atleast Karen and myself) really enjoy them.