Swahili

Well, I didn’t leave Nairobi this weekend, so unfortunately I don’t have any new wildlife photos to post. I actually spent a good chunk of the weekend in my office working on finalizing clerkship applications (thanks again Mom for collating them and taking them down to school!) and working on my journal bluebooking assignment. Not so much fun. But, I did get some shopping done, which was great (more on this later).

So, instead of posting photos, I’m going to write about the little bit of Swahili I’ve picked up since I’ve been here.

Mzungu = White person

Wazungu = White people

Jambo = Hello – I might be paranoid, but I kind of think that when Kenyans say “jambo” to a mzungu, they’re kind of making fun of him/her, and that when a mzungu says “jambo” it’s kind of annoying to Kenyans – just as Americans who only learn “bonjour” and “merci” are kind of annoying to the French. So instead of saying, “jambo,” I say …

Salama = Hello – I really like the fact that this greeting comes from the Arabic word for “peace.”

Lala salama = Good night (literally, “sleep peacefully”)

Habari? = How are you?

Nzuri = Good/fine

Because just about every house has a security guard that stands watch at the front gate, and because my walk to/from work passes alongside about 1 km of the wall surrounding the American Embassy that is dotted with security guards, I pass a lot of them in the morning and evening. Sometimes I say hi in English, and sometimes I use some of the Swahili above. Unfortunately, I can’t for the life of me remember how to say “good morning” in Swahili, so that one always comes out in English. I look it up all the time, but I just can’t seem to commit it to memory.

Tafadhali = Please – People in Nairobi don’t really say this very often. I heard it more in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.

Karibu = Welcome/You’re welcome

Assante (sana) = Thank you (very much)

Sawa (or sawa sawa) = Okay/sure/fine – People here say this ALL THE TIME. If there’s one thing I accidentally say when I’m back in the US, it will be “sawa.”

Hakuna matata = No worries – but if someone says “hakuna matata” to you, it’s often a signal that you should be worried (i.e. “you’ll definitely make it in time to catch that ferry, hakuna matata” means you might not catch that ferry).

Sipendi = I don’t like it

Sitaki = I don’t want it

Samahani = Sorry/excuse me

Khuli sana = It’s too expensive

These last four have come in very handy while shopping in the Maasai Market and the Triangle Curio Shops. Maasai Market is just a hillside downtown that’s stepped so that people can set out their merchandise – crafts like jewelry, bowls, carvings, bags, baskets, batiques, and masks – flat on blankets on the ground every Tuesday. It is so, so crowded, and the pathways between the merchants are so tight that “samahani” comes in very handy (both for when you need people to move out of yoru way and for when you accidentally bump into someone/step on their foot). The Triangle Curio Shops are a bunch of stalls that are permanently located on a triangle of land between three roads in Westlands (a suburb) that have the same type of crafts as Masaai Market.

In both places, people are always coming up to you and trying to get you to buy their merchandise. And they’re really pushy about it. So it can be kind of difficult once you’ve shown interest in something – or if you’re just standing waiting for a friend to buy a mask or something and haven’t shown any interest at all – and “sipendi” and “sitaki” work a little better than “I don’t like it” or “I don’t want it” in getting people to leave you alone.

Finally, “khuli sana” helps in the bargaining process. When I first started going to the markets, I really didn’t like it. A) I’m what you’d call a comparison shopper – I don’t buy the first thing I see, I like to think things over and compare different items. B) I hate bargaining/haggling. Neither of these are good things when you’re trying to buy things in the markets. You’ve got to quickly pinpoint what you want and then you have to bargain like crazy to get it.

However, after going a couple of times, I’m really starting to like it – it’s kind of an adrenaline rush, and it’s really cool to buy something and then see it for sale in a store for 2 or 5 or 10 times what you paid for it in the markets. I’m sure I’m still getting ripped off, and the merchants are like, “hahaha, stupid mzungu” as soon as I leave, but I know I’m doing the better than the tourists who stick to the “real” stores, so I’m happy. Also, just in case anyone is afraid that I’m ripping off the merchants, they’ll never sell at a loss, so I know that if they accept my offer of what I’m willing to pay, they’re making money off the deal.

Anyway, now that I’ve gotten the hang of bargaining, I have to be careful not to buy too much (I am on a student budget and I do have to get everything back home to the US in two suitcases in a month, after all), and I’ll also have to be careful not to come home and start trying to bargain with the clerk at the Gap about the price of a pair of jeans!

That’s it for now – lala salama everyone!