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Hiking in Morogoro
Challenge: like a trip up and down a mountain, make a crescendo and then a decrescendo in the number of words per paragraph.
Ten days ago, I hiked a mountain in Morogoro.
Three of us Swahili students took part in the hike, and we had one guide. We packed lunches and set out under cloudy conditions.
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Hands on Eggs-perience
Challenge: apply one horrible pun in each paragraph.
I am an omnivore. When asked to justify my stance, I consider studying the nutritional value of meat, cultural norms, and so on. I consider looking into these things. But soon enough, I give it up as a lost cause: I eat meat because I like it, period. And now, I can no longer be intimidated by claims that I would chicken out when confronted with the task of killing an animal: I have done it. Saturday, I killed a chicken.
Meat Paula. Paula grew up in a backyard somewhere in eastern Tanzania. She laid eggs, which were eaten by her Tanzanian owners. One day, she was deemed less necessary than the 5000 shillings (USD$5) she could fetch her owner at the market. Her feet were bound, and she was carried to the market in downtown Morogoro. She was bought by a Swahili teacher. She spent one night in a convent, surrounded by Swahili lessons taped along the walls of her room. The next morning, she was lifted by her wings, in one hand, by a Swahili teacher. She was then passed to a man named Adam, who held her in the same fashion. She was carried by Adam to an outdoor area for cooking, where she was set aside while other foods were being prepared. She was afraid of Adam, who had a habit of staring at her when he was not busy. Paula watched Adam, the Swahili teacher, and two other students prepare side dishes. Eventually, Paula was brought to a spot on the ground. Her wings were pinned by Adam's left foot while her legs were pinned by his right foot. Her heart was beating hard enough for Adam to feel her pulse. Her head was held up by Adam's left hand, while her neck was sawed apart by the knife in Adam's right hand.
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Morogoro Language Training
Challenge: In the spirit of Swahili: never use the letters X or Q; all S's must be prounounced hard (excluding in an
sh
pair); C's may only be used as part of ach
pair. Exception: proper names.Ninajifunza Kiswahili.
I say this to every Tanzanian I meet here in Morogoro. In English: I am learning Swahili.My previous entry ended halfway through my first day in Dar es Salaam. In the intervening time I have had many a small adventure. Nothing to write home about: I have written of the same flavour of event in my Uganda blog. Read this blog entry by Caitlin for the general idea. I rode in a dala-dala (minibus) so full that only one of my feet touched the ground; I rode in a tax (taxi) through a pseudo-ditch in the road near where I now live; and so on. Little stuff.
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The Longest Day
Challenge: do not use past or future tenses.
The day begins with far too little sleep, a last-minute computer favour having stolen most of my night. I wake in time for frantic, last-minute preparations. I complete my final bag-packing and walk down Guy Street, downtown Montreal, one last time. I take my last metro ride and my last Montreal bus ride.
The airport is unusually efficient and my flight is delayed. I doze a little, slightly compensating for my short sleep. I finally board the plane and sit at my window seat. I watch Montreal shrinking away: there goes my old home; there goes my brother's home; there goes the mountain; there goes my city.
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Me
Challenge: write exactly two sentences in each paragraph.
I have recently advertised this blog to many new recipients. In this post, I will introduce myself: in particular, my pre-Tanzania self as it relates to this blog.
I have a few abilities: I learn quickly and I pride myself on having a wide-open mind. On the negative side, I am overly proud and I have not yet learned to pick my battles.
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Tanzania
I will be leaving Montreal in August 2007, to live in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, for (at least) six months. There, I will be working with an NGO called Femina HIP. Here is a description of Femina HIP.
Consider this entry a revival of my blog. I expect I will be writing fairly regularly once I land and settle in Tanzania. Until then, I will be rushing around, attending training and collecting paperwork.
This time around, I will use a new blog format. I found that my Uganda blog was weak because I was trying to convey ideas which are inherently abstract and confusing. I also simply wrote far too much. My Tanzania blog will be an amalgamation of writing exercises: each post will tackle an arbitrary writing challenge (for instance,
an entire post without the letter 'e'
). My reasoning: -
Africa, Take 2
Life, for me, is now a phase
Of frantic preparation
Peppered, soaked, and madly braised
With keen anticipation.Now
is little but delays;
But thrill will not be mired:
Every day I can appraise
How much my heart buoys higher.Flames have set my mind ablaze;
Excitement rolls like thunder.
Simply put, these are the days
Of miracle and wonder. -
Passion Fruit
In the grocery store today, I found passion fruits! They were shrink-wrapped, but still they reminded me of East Africa. Naturally, I bought one.
At the checkout, the clerk hefts it up and down, searches it for a nonexistent label, and then stares at me blankly. I say it is a passion fruit. He stares at me, then the fruit, then me again. He says, lime? I say, passion fruit! and I point to his fruit price list. The fruit is not on the list. He runs over to his supervisor, who looks at it and tells him, with a better-than-thou, knowledgeable facial expression, that this is one of those exotic fruits. He asks how much it costs. Still trying to sound knowledgeable, she asks what I called it. I say, passion fruit! She runs over to the fruit and vegetable section to find the price. My clerk mutters about me and my bizarre fruits.
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Expensive fruit -
Media that Matters
Was there always so much great stuff on the Internet, or am I just better at sifting through it nowadays? Through a fantastic video-browsing program (from parodies to porn and everything in between) called Democracy, which I heartily recommend, I stumbled across a short film entitled Massacre at Murambi. A beautiful, five-minute-long work of art. Watch it. -
Colour Scheme
I have changed my website's colour scheme. Which just goes to show how exciting I am. It also illustrates graphically exactly how much you're missing if you just vacuum up my blog with a fancy reader program. And that hints at the age-old dilemma: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to visit a friend's website every day and hit the Refresh button, or to end the madness with a blog reader program.