ngiyafundza siswati...

this last week has really been one of starting to feel more comfortable here in swaziland, feeling more at home. which is lovely, considering that for the past two months (i've been here two months?!) i've felt really scattered and like i've been trying to figure out how to be myself here.

this past week our siswati classes ended. trevor, jesse and i had been meeting with babe shongwe every afternoon (mon - thurs) from 4:30 - 6:00 for language study. it was a process that was very frustrating at times, but also brought many unexpected surprises. mostly when babe (pronounced bah - bay, it means father, and is used as a term of respect for any married man) would get sidetracked from whatever he was supposed to be teaching us and get onto some topic like kudega. which is a kind of traditional swazi engagement which is actually more like a forced marriage. here's what happens: your boyfriend invites you over to his house to visit and meet his family. then, in the middle of the night, he slips away and comes back at 4 or 5 am with all of his relatives, who come and bang on the door of the room where you're sleeping. when you come to answer the door, they shout "we've dega-ed you!" (or however you say that in siswati) and from that point on, you're considered engaged. you're then required to sing until dawn, and make a big show of crying because now you're forced to leave your family and come live with your in-laws. so while you're singing with the women of the family, all the men from your inlaws family go to your homestead with weapons and knives and stick them in the ground outside your gate. when your family finds them, this is how they know that you will be getting married and leaving them.

that was only one of the many cultural episodes courtesy of babe shongwe, who also has a great sense of humor. one of the more hilarious lessons was just this past week, when we were learning HIV/AIDS-related vocabulary.

*this blog doesn't have a rating, but just be warned that what's coming up is definitely pg-13*

so we learned that the swazi word for condom literally translated means "a coat for the son-in-law" and that the word for penis is "gogo's cigarette". (just to clarify, gogo means grandma) we were all laughing until we cried and were left wondering WHO on earth comes up with these and WHAT were they thinking...

but these very enlightening lessons are now over and we're left on our own for language learning. so i continue to learn alot from my host family, especially the children, who never get tired of answering my continual question of "yini logu?" (what is this?). and percy (remember percy, the lemon-tree-climber?) has agreed to be my siswati tutor, so i'll start meeting with him next week, twice a week, for a little more structured time of siswati conversation.

i feel like i've learned more than i could ever want to know about siswati pronouns and noun classes and how to form negatives and the immediate and remote tenses of past, present and future... but the lessons have been really good in terms of an introduction to siswati and getting a feel for the language structure and some basic vocab. but i feel like the time of real learning still lies ahead. my goal for siswati is to be able to understand people and communicate with them, and to achieve this, i still have a lot left to learn.

the other thing i'm discovering about siswati is that i can know what every word in a sentence means, but still not have a clue what the sentence is saying. this is because a lot of words have multiple, flexible meanings, and you need to know the context to know what the word means in that context. siswati isn't just a language, it's very closely and intimately intertwined with the culture. which makes is a challenge to learn... but one that i'm enjoying, for the most part. it has its share of frustrations, but the rewards are tremendous.

it was the best feeling on the kombi the other night when i had a conversation entirely in siswati with the two women sitting next to me. i was so proud of myself! granted, it was just the basics, greetings, exchanging names, asking where i live, where i'm working, and hey! you speak siswati. well, a little bit, i'm learning... how much is the kombi... but i was just glowing afterwards because i understood everything they said and it felt like a normal interaction. and it was a little glimpse of how awesome it will be then i can actually converse comfortably with people.