Tanzanian Woman: Hello!
Me: Hello.
Tanzanian Woman: How is the morning?
Me: Good. How is yours?
Tanzanian Woman: Peaceful. How is work?
Me: Good. Is your baby healthy?
Tanzanian Woman: Yes, she is completely healthy. How is your home?
Me: Completely clean.
Tanzanian Woman: Where are you going now?
Me: Only to town.
Tanzanian Woman: Why are you carrying water? Is it for drinking?
Me: Yes, it is for drinking.
Tanzanian Woman: So are you going on a long journey?
Me: No, only to town.
Tanzanian Woman: So why are you carrying water?
Me: It is good for your health to drink water.
Tanzanian Woman: (laughs hysterically at my funny joke) No, you are going all the way back to Europe.
Me: No, I am going only to town. And I am not from Europe.
Tanzanian Woman: Oh, where are you from?
Me: America.
Tanzanian Woman: (puzzled look) Can I go back to Europe with you?
Me: I am going only town. And I am not from Europe.
Tanzanian Woman: (more puzzled look) Oh, well I'm afraid of airplanes anyway.
Me: Oh, sorry.
Tanzanian Woman: Aren't you afraid to go in airplanes? They fly!
Me: No.
Tanzanian Woman: You aren't?
Me: No.
Tanzanian Woman: Why not?
Me: They are completely safe.
Tanzanian Woman: You are afraid.
Me: I am not afraid.
Tanzanian Woman: They can crash.
Me: Where I come from, in America, there are so many cars on the roads that it is actually safer to fly in a plane than to drive a car.
Tanzanian Woman: Really?
Me: Really.
Tanzanian Woman: You must be afraid to fly. Planes go so high.
Me: I am not afraid. In fact, one time I jumped out of an airplane.
Tanzanian Woman: While it was on the ground.
Me: No, when it was very high.
Tanzanian Woman: You what?
Me: I jumped out of the airplane. I was inside, but I went outside.
Tanzanian Woman: But the airplane was on the ground.
Me: No, it was very high. It was in the sky.
Tanzanian Woman: (gasps) And you arrived safely on the ground?
Me: Yes.
Tanzanian Woman: It's not possible.
Me: I had a parachute. (Here, my translation may have been wrong. My dictionary says that the Kiswahili word for "parachute" is "parachuti," but that might be an author's joke that he made to trick dumb Americans who don't know that there is no real Kiswahili word for "parachute," so who really knows?)
Tanzanian Woman: (blank look)
Me: Do you know what a parachute is?
Tanzanian Woman: (shakes head no)
Me: It's like an umbrella...only bigger.
Tanzanian Woman: They have those in Europe?
Me: Yes, they do. But I used it in America, where I'm from.
(Bus comes to take me into town, where many people have seen parachutes on TV and some have even flown in airplanes.)
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7 comments:
First of all, I commend you on the serious grasp on the language that you've managed after such a short period of time. Secondly, this sounds like a short piece from your yet-to-be-published quasi novel (like what is the what) in the future. loooooove it.
Happy 2008, my hpils!
Hey Laura, Tell that womwn that your Grandmother doesn't like to fly eithr. Flying is for the birds. We are going to have a big snow storm tomorrow. I don;t like snow either, I guess the people there have never seen snow either. Do they do much swimming there? Will write soon, Love Nana
dude you totally lied to this woman. you were SO scared to jump out of that airplane that was not on the ground, that was in fact so high up in the sky. we have it on video.
or maybe i am foisting my scaredness on you in my memory. i was very scared.
ps. europe, america. potato, potato.
Its amazing how a simple trip to town can be transformed to a unique experience! I imagine since your frame of reference is so different it is very hard to relate. Europe or America - does not matter to her frame of reference - it's so far from where she comes from!
We missed you at New Years - but then - we missed your whole family! First time in a while! Threatening snow over the PA mts.
We wish you the best and hope you keep your sense of humor! We think of you often.
that woman must have had quite the story to tell 'today at the bus stop this crazy european told me she jumps out of airplanes....when they fly! with umbrellas and water!' is how i imagine it went. you're like a modern day mary poppins.
anyway, miss you, and i hope to make a trip to the post office this week, hopefully this second letter will be more successful in finding its way into your hands.
Awesome. Jennifer is right. I too commend you on your pretty good talking ability. Then again, I'm not really surprised. On top of the intelligence thing you also have a knack for languages.
HAHAHAH!! that was fantastic... im sitting at my computer laughing out loud to myself... thats great... im going to have to share this story with the roomie... i hope all is well...
hahahah jumping out of plans with umbrellas and water hahahah
im ready to start bio lab work now, ( i was about to have a nervous break down but this made me laugh) thanks for that
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