Through the Seasons

I told you I’m not good at finishing Bible studies.  Errr…  But actually this time I found a GREAT Bible study that has replaced the first one I mentioned.  I found a precept study on Daniel – the whole book of Daniel!  I’m so excited!  You can download it for free on the Precept website.  I think you’re supposed to follow along with her on the radio which we obviously can’t.  The broadcasts are somehow available for download online (or you can buy the CD set) but I’m going to try it without all that to save on costs.  The text version takes you through it pretty completely – just without any commentary from precepts so it’s worth a try.

So far I have gone through the introduction in the study which has you read the whole book in one sitting to get an overview.  During my first time through the book I marked every reference to the author, as suggested, who I discovered was Daniel himself.  Then I read through the book again marking all references to time.   Now I’m ready to drill down into the first chapter.  They give you key terms to mark as well as cross-references to look up.  They also list questions that help you think through what you’re reading.

Daniel is a great book!  I love it so far!  Parts of it are very hard though and I found myself sympathizing with Daniel.  After one of his visions (maybe his first, I can’t remember) he said that he was exhausted and lay ill several days.  Then he said that the vision troubled him and was beyond understanding.  Well, I agreed with him there.  I sure didn’t get it.  Later, Gabriel (I think) comes to explain the vision to him.  Daniel doesn’t say this but I thought, “That explanation doesn’t help much.  It appears to be beyond understanding as well.”  But hopefully it will become more clear as I spend time in study.  One chapter at a time…  God’s Word never goes out in vain!!

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(Meaning:  Time is flying.)

Now that we’re on the homestretch of language learning I sometimes have a hard time focusing.  Not all the time.  But occasionally.  We only have 3 1/2 weeks left and we’re doing mainly review, reading, and conversing.  Last week we memorized the Lord’s Prayer in Swahili.  That was fun and surprisingly I still remember it!

At the beginning of classes, they threw so much at us that it was like taking a drink of water from a fire hose!  Today the teacher explained a concept and I thought, “Well, that’s simple enough.”  When every single thing was new to me I couldn’t have understood even something that now seems easy.  I’d let myself get antsy if I didn’t realize just how fast time is going to go.  It has gone by so fast already and I know that 3 1/2 weeks passing will go by in a blink of an eye.

There is a couple here going to Mbeya in 2 weeks who have offered to take our excess “stuff” to the SIL office to be stored while we’re gone.  This is a HUGE help!  So we’ll need to start deciding what to leave behind and what to take with us.  Once we’ve made those decisions we’ll have to start – gulp – packing.  Yikes!  We have SO moved into this banda!  It’s like the person who has lived in the same house 20 years moving.  Scary!  (Well, not that bad – but it feels that bad. )

I’m excited though to think that in less than a month we’ll be back home to stay for a while.  I have to remember it’s going to be COLD and pack accordingly!!  I’ve made a mental list of foods that I want when I’m home (there goes that “watch what you eat” plan).  I also have all these things I want to bake with my mom – things I either remember her making for me or us making together when I was a kid.  I was going to ask her if I could help her decorate the house for Christmas but then remembered we’d be there only a week before Christmas.    (Maybe I’ll pack a few things up and then take them back out…okay…maybe not…)

But back to reality…  At least I don’t have homework tonight.

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I’ve been loving being pregnant lately.  I’m 25 weeks now (6 months on November 25th).  Not a lot has changed except how much the baby moves and how big I’m getting.  I can’t seem to stand up out of a chair and immediately start walking.  I feel all stiff.  Even when I’m walking fine I feel like I have a slight waddle.  Oh and my belly button.  Boy does it stick out!  I hit it on everything and my shirt rubs it.  I’ve been keeping a band-aid on it.  I also hit my belly a lot too because I forget how far it sticks out so sometimes I slam a car door into it or run into a cabinet with it…  Very strange hazard.  If you want to see the latest on my belly, Jonathan has a picture posted on his blog.

We left Mbeya yesterday around 9am.  That doesn’t sound very early but it’s still too early for me to travel.  My body still doesn’t like it.  We made it about 15 minutes down the road before I had to get out and relieve myself of my breakfast.  I only got sick once which was nice but I sort of thought all that was completely over.  I just have to remember that getting into a moving car in the morning is going to make me sick – probably from now until I give birth.  Oh well.  The joys of pregnancy I say.

Otherwise, everything’s good.  You’re supposed to monitor the baby’s activity after 28 weeks just by counting movements once in the morning and once at night to make sure there are no sudden changes.  (Well, I don’t know if you’re really supposed to but I read the suggestion in a book.)  I’ve already started doing it just because it’s kind of fun.  He’s such an active little guy!  And as if I can’t get distracted easily enough in class – sometimes he’s moving around and I totally zone out to what the class is doing.  Oops.

So although I’m a tad uncomfortable here and there I’m still not too big and I’m enjoying pregnancy a lot! 

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The man who runs the campsite where we’re staying was talking to us about our Swahili. He grew up in Tanzania and the school has been meeting here a long time now so he’s seen a lot of people come through.

I was telling him how I just don’t tend to talk much (especially to strangers) in English, much less in Swahili. On top of that Jonathan talks a lot (he was shocked at that statement) so it makes it even less of a necessity for me to do it. Jonathan then told him how my vocabulary was good though and that was his weak area.

The man explained that the vocabulary comes with time and the biggest hurdle for most people is to actually begin speaking. So that’s my challenge. Just take a deep breath and speak to people. Even if I’m going to mess up. Even if I’m not sure of my sentence structure. Even if… I’m scared… Of course, I have to actually think of something to say too which is my biggest problem. Small talk just isn’t my thing.

I did have a couple moments last week though. People here greet each other like crazy so I’m used to doing the usual “habari za (insert various words here)” with the response “nzuri”. Same old, same old. One morning I had to go back to the room for something and I saw one of the workers. She began speaking and all I thought was that I’d wait until she finished to say “nzuri” but as she spoke I realized she didn’t say “habari za” anything. Eek! That’s when I started paying attention! I heard the word “ufunguo” (key) and “safisha” (clean). She needed the key to our banda so she could come in and clean. Ah! I stopped walking and told her (in Swahili) that I needed to go to the banda (so I need the key myself) but that I would return. We understood each other and it was great. (Simple sentences but still – it was great.) Jonathan not being there with me helped because he would have undoubtedly handled the situation for us.

There’s another worker here who has invited us to her home. It is in the low 90’s now during the day with a very strong sun so the 45 minute one-way walk (then another one back) is going to be quite a challenge for me. Last week I had a head and chest cold so we decided I should stay and rest instead of trying to make that journey. We walked up to her to explain and Jonathan didn’t say a word. He just stood there and looked at me. Gulp. I guess I’m telling her. And I did! I told her about my cold and that I was unable to make that walk. She understood and said that I needed to rest and that the sun was strong. Yep. All that in Swahili.

Of course, last night a guard said something and for the life of me I couldn’t understand him. Finally I did but even then I was just guessing. Some people just talk kind of “different” and sort of mumble too.

Not that I’ve totally gone over my hurdle but I’m running full steam forward and it’s in sight. One day I’ll leap right over it.

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     When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable.  It is designed to make its own people comfortable.

~Clifton Fadiman

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Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and I decided that I want to do something to decorate.  Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), we can’t find Thanksgiving decorations here.  And we don’t have much to work with either.  So I decided to make what I call (and may have read about somewhere) a gratitude garland.

I cut leaf shapes out of colored paper then Jonathan and I each took 6 and wrote things we’re grateful for on them.  To string them up we used a piece of twine we got when we bought a tray of eggs in the market.  Now our garland is hanging on a beam in our banda where we can see it every time we walk in the door.  We love it.  (Yes, both of us.)

Now I’m ready for Thanksgiving.  Only a week away… I can’t believe it!

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Let’s say Jonathan lends Kenny his pocket knife.  In Tanzania, it is now Jonathan’s responsibility to get the knife back.  If he doesn’t mention it again, Kenny will assume that Jonathan doesn’t need it so he can keep using it.  He will now have to ask for it back AND give a reason for asking.  Jonathan should state that he needs to use the knife himself now.  I asked the teacher, “So a good way to say it isn’t, ‘Please give me my knife back because it’s mine’?”  He said, “Oh but it’s not yours.  It’s ours.”  Ah.

There is a sense here of communal ownership.  There are some cultures where that would mean a person could just come in your house and take things without asking.  Thankfully, it’s not like that here.  But.  If someone we know were to ask to borrow something we couldn’t, well, shouldn’t just say ‘no’.  (In fact, ‘no’ is just never an answer in and of itself.  That’s extremely rude.)  We would have to say we aren’t able to lend the item and then give reasons as to why – even if the reasons aren’t quite… the truth.  They referred a lot to “white lies” which they acknowledged was hard for missionaries.  What a Tanzanian would do if someone asked to borrow something and they didn’t want to lend it is to tell them that someone else has asked to borrow it or they are going to need it for something specific and can’t lend it out or any other “white lie” they could think of.  And it seems that even asking for the item back doesn’t guarantee you’ll get it.  Loaning and borrowing apparently isn’t very successful here.

He then told us how the loan department of the bank works.  They are very careful about who to lend to and only do group lending.  That means that a group of families (usually 5-10) come together to share responsibility.  If the loan isn’t paid back they find one of them and lock them up in a room until the debt is paid.  You can see that room in town.  If we can somehow do it, we’ll take a picture one day.  The funny thing is that upstairs over that room is a church and they can get loud.  God works in mysterious ways…

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A couple of weeks ago we went to church with our friends in Mbeya. What an experience!

The first 2 hours were spent in singing and an occasional, brief word from someone. Then there was a 30 minute sermon followed by more talking and singing. Oh and dancing! Lots of vibrant dancing. Since we were visitors we also had to stand up and introduce ourselves. (Horrible!)

The offering during the service was interesting too. They stand up front and everyone gets up and puts their offering in the basket. Then a man takes it out, counts it, and a little later comes back in to announce the total. The day we were there we didn’t catch the amount but the last time our friends went to that church the total offering was 11,000 shillings which is $10 and our friends gave 2,000 shillings of that total.

After church service everyone goes out front and shakes every single person’s hand. Then they form a circle where they auction off tangible goods that people have brought as their offering. When we were there a lady brought an egg. It was quite sweet and humbling.

The whole experience though was exhausting honestly. That’s just a lot of singing when you don’t come from a background where that’s normal. The fact that everything was in Swahili made it so much worse because you’re exerting so much energy to try to follow (which we hardly did at all).

It became extremely clear that to get the spiritual nourishment we crave, we’re on our own. It also reminded me of the 10 minority languages around Mbeya who don’t know Swahili and their only option for church and Bible is Swahili. It’s exciting to be a part of work that will take the Scripture and make it come alive for them in the language that they understand. And I’m even more grateful now for the fact that I grew up with English preaching, teaching, and Bible. We are so fortunate to have these things! Thanks Mr. William Tyndale. And thank You God for sending him to give us Your Word and for sending us to give Your Word to others.

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During Friday’s language class, instead of Swahili, we learned some about Tanzanian culture. Thankfully, they taught the session in English so we’d be sure to understand.

The main part of the session was question and answer time. We were allowed to ask anything we wanted and were assured we’d get honest answers. There were soooo many questions! We could have sat there for hours discussing these things.

They explained to us that we have to remember there are 3 parts to every culture. There is the general culture of that area. There is a personal culture so not everyone we meet will fall in line with the general. Then there’s the human culture – things we’d pretty much all do no matter where we’re from. Just try generalizing the people from your country. You’ll always find exceptions to the rule. But what we did learn will help a lot when we come across it. Just remember when I say “Tanzanians” are or do something, that it’s a generalization and may not hold true for everyone here.

I’ll share things we learned occasionally on the blog instead of trying to fit it all here. I took pages of notes. For now, here are a couple interesting facts:

(Note: People in towns are a bit different than people in villages so there will be distinctions from time to time.)

1. In the villages, a man wearing a necklace is thought to be homosexual.
2. In the villages, a woman wearing an anklet is considered to be a prostitute.

Very good to know!

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Today our class assignment is that we go to town to take care of some sort of “business”… in Swahili of course.  So we took the opportunity to go to the doctor for a prenatal checkup.  It’s been 5 weeks since my last one.

I had a great report!  My last 2 checkups I’ve “gotten in trouble” for not drinking enough water so I have been vigilant about upping that and today I was in the clear.  My iron was low at my last appointment so I’ve been taking iron pills.  Today my iron levels were great.  My blood pressure is still normal and I still don’t have any swelling.  The only “bad” thing was my weight gain.  I’ve gained 4 kilos (almost 9 pounds) in 5 weeks.  That sweet nurse said, “Haiwezikani!”  That means, “It’s impossible!”  AH!  What?!  Well.  Not impossible apparently.  I joked with her that I needed to stop eating.  She got very serious on me then and told me that if I stop eating, the baby will stop growing.  Right.  It’s hard to joke in Swahili…  The baby’s heartbeat was good too.  I wasn’t much worried about that though as much as he moves around now!  So, overall I’m doing well.  I did email the doctor in Dar to see if she had any concern about my weight gain.  My body looks absolutely no different except my tummy.  Jonathan and I may fit another walk into our days.  It would be a nice time together anyway.  Otherwise, I’m just not going to overly worry about it.

This trip to the doctor was different than any of our others though because Jonathan didn’t handle anything for me.  I wouldn’t have let him because I need to practice my Swahili in real life situations… and he had the same idea so that’s good!  I handled the appointment with the receptionist and prepaid (of course).  I spoke to a nurse who was cleaning the waiting room.  I handled the lab time and then did the talking with the nurse during the checkup itself.  She had to ask me a million questions so that was really good practice.  I understood everyone pretty well and they understood me.  The last nurse said that I speak Swahili well.  Heehee…  (I really don’t but for an American I guess I’m doing okay.)  Now there were words here and there that I didn’t know and she would say them in English.  One time she said a word a couple times and I didn’t understand.  Then she said, “Pain.”  Yikes!  What!?  I’m glad she said it in English!  She put this metal funnel thing on my tummy using a little pressure then put her ear on it.  She was listening to the baby’s heartbeat.  Crazy!  Then she got out a little machine to listen to the heartbeat again.  I don’t know why she did it twice unless the little metal thing wasn’t working or something.  Anyway, it was a great time of practice and it really helped my confidence that I was able to communicate there because I can directly compare it to the last time we were there and could hardly say anything and could understand absolutely nothing.  Progress!!

Now we’re at the internet cafe because Jonathan wants to do something online.  I’m sure this is not exactly what the teachers had in mind as we’re just sitting here on our computers…and typing in English but hopefully we won’t be here too long.  We have a little shopping we’d like to get done before we head back for lunch.

Oh and maybe you’ve noticed…  Jonathan figured out how to connect to the internet via his cell phone so we’re able to get online at the campsite now.  That’s why I’ve been able to respond to email more quickly and blog more frequently.  We still have to come to town some though for the big projects because those sort of things are cheaper here.  I do hope to continue keeping you better updated now that I can.  Jonathan has posted a ton of pictures in the photo gallery on our main web page too so check it out!

Nitawaona sasa hivi.  (I will see you soon.)

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