Slowly, But Surely

I am still plodding along with Kiswahili lessons. Man, learning a language is hard! I am starting with the basics and, although I have been doing this for a while now, I still talk like a baby! I forgot how much there is to learn. I don’t remember Spanish being this hard, but it must have been. I think I would fail an English test if I were given one. There is so much to learn. We are working on present tenses. There are tons of present tenses…. Present perfect, present simple, etc. I am running verses I run. He is playing the guitar (now) verses he plays the guitar (generally speaking). It’s tough! I feel like I should be further along than I am. People talk to me in Kiswahili and I want to respond, but I have no idea how. Can’t they ask me if I am walking or running?

On a positive note, I am excited that I can count (and write) to one billion. My teacher said she can’t even do it! Here is an example. 1,234,567 = milioni moja laki mbili, elf thelathini na nne mia tano stini na saba. This is one of my favorites: 999,999 = laki tisa elf tisini na tisa, mia tisa tisini na tisa (say that three times fast!)

I get excited when I can actually use it. Wednesday evening, I was cooking a new African dish and needed a bigger pot. I had to ask our neighbor if they had one I could use. The only person home was the girl who helps in the house and she doesn’t speak English. Fortunately, I was able to use my “baby” Kiswahili and borrowed a big pot. Success! I also corrected someone on the street who was called Eli a mzungu (white person). “Yeye sia mzungu!” (He is not a white person!). He may be light, but we are proud to call him Kenyan.

I will keep at it… eventually I will speak it well if I keep going. Slowly, but surely.