Maymosi

Maymosi is May 1, when we celebrate International Workers Day -- apparently it was started in the States, so good for us. We had a party, which in typical Tanzanian style started late and was full of long-winded introductions and explanations and speeches and blaring music in between each. Brian was visiting, and he good-naturedly went with me to say hello. We cooked at home so we'd have an excuse to not stay for all 7 hours of long-windedness and so that we'd eat delicious spicy peanut butter sauce, but then the Monday after the party I was berated by 4 different teachers for leaving. They were all very disappointed that we "ran away." I felt bad, but I enjoyed the dinner and time at home much more than I would have at the party. Oh, also, I drank a beer at the party! Last year I didn't because I noticed none of the women accepted one, but this year I decided to show my true colors :) and to tell people that women can drink beer, too.

Funny language experiences are common for me, as you might expect, but I realized that I haven't shared many of them (any?) so I decided it's about time. Tanzanians learn British English, so not only is spelling different (although my students by now know that maximize is the same as maximise and that when I say "z" what I mean is "zed") but phrases are, too. This led to me thinking that my Kiswahili language instructor was just messing with me when he told me the guests at the school where we were learning Kiswahili were the invigilators. And what do invigilators do? Invigilate, of course! (Americans call them proctors, who proctor exams.) Tanzanians also frequently say that they are trying their level best, which I had thought was just a weird English phrase everybody learned incorrectly because someone had written it that way in the government syllabus books, but a few days ago I heard a British politician say it on TV! Go figure. In Kiswahili, the letters "l" and "r" are interchangeable, which of course then transfers into English. This was something we all learned early on, because when we arrived here in Tanzania the 2008 Presidential election was about to happen. Yesterday I walked into one of my classes and, as I usually do, skimmed the notes that the previous teacher had left on the board; they were learning about pregnancy and birth, including bleech births. And Everine and Eveline are the same person. I could go on and on. Maybe I'll start making a list...

Exams are also a great source of hilarity, both because of English mistakes and ridiculous questions. I've offered to proofread all the tests, but nobody's taken me up on it. Sometimes the mistake is easy to see, sometimes I have no idea what the question is supposed to say. I hope you get a kick out of some of these:

History:
True or False -- God first created man.

History is the study of:
A. Past , present and future tenses B. Past selected information C. Ujamaa in traditional African societies
D. Man’s activities against nature through various stages of development


Geography:
True or False --
Geography is the study of physical strings.
If one travels eastward across the international date Line will lose a day
The Earth rotate on its axis completing one circle for 24hrs

With the aid of diagram, draw and label the diagram shows differences seasons


Civics:
One of the following group is Not social groups of human rights
a). Woman b). Children c). People with disabilities d). Ward council

The sign of humanity in our society is determine by
a). Laziness b). Work c). Walk d). Guilty

What do you understand by the following terms with examples.
(a) Earthquakes
(b) Hot spring
(c) Mass wasting
( d) Exfoliation
(e) Seismic focus
(f) Crater.


Chemistry:
Facilities for first Aid may be kept in
A/. Any box B/. The first aid kit. C/. The first Aid D/. the laboratory.


Biology:
Write an essay on one of the following:
9. The importance of fungi
10. Typoid
11. Hygiene

There are also a lot more examples, and since exams are in 3 weeks I'll look through them for more funnies :)