Here Am I: Compliment

This past Wednesday I received the best compliment ever. I was cutting patterns with the sewing mamas and Josephine said something in Swahili that I didn’t understand (typical-haha), and they all started laughing. I knew it was about me because they all looked at me. Josephine smiled and said, “I told them that you have already become a true Zanzabari!” It made me so happy! I asked her why and she said because I made plans to cut patterns with them at 8 on Wednesday morning and arrived at 11. Haha Yes, my compliment came with the embarrassing reality that my punctuality has taken a turn for the worse. Everyone is on “island time” here and if you show up 3 hours late- hamna shida (there is no problem)! This would have driven me nuts in the states, but I am finding that I am slowly becoming more like them- I really like it- and they do too.

I have been texting in Swahili! Yep. I will admit that sometimes I have to go bust out the English-Swahili dictionary or get on Google translate to figure out what people are telling me, but it is helping me learn! I always end my texts with, “Sorry if that doesn’t make sense”

I have been eating wali na mchuzi A LOT. Lots of rice for this girl. 1) It is cheap 2) It is very easy to cook 3) I actually like it (and haven’t gotten sick of it….yet.)

I have not been as concerned about cleanliness. I was never much of a clean freak- like I never carried hand sanitizer around on a key chain- but you really can’t be too concerned here or you will drive yourself crazy. I went to make some bread the other day and when I pulled out the pan, I found a dead baby lizard. It didn't even bother me. I just brushed it off and proceeded to use the pan anyway.