Trousers, Mosquitos, and Ballpark Franks

Most Kenyan people know English amazingly well, but of course they speak British English. We are already choosing our words carefully because as E had to remind me the first day, I unwittingly discussed my underwear with several people in asking where to buy “pants”. Trousers it is.

In addition to word choice, we’ve had some fairly amusing pronunciation incidents. In church this past Sunday, one of the songs nearly brought us to tears. When singing in concert with a group, we try to keep our obvious American pronunciation to a minimum because it makes a jarring contrast with others as we sing along. You find yourself unconsciously singing with a Kenyan British accent. We sang along without thinking about it until we got to the part about being a winner in the Lord. The song emphasized that Jesus was a “winner” and Satan a “loser”, but it sounded as if Jesus was being equated to a certain ballpark food. We sang it without thinking about it but then started laughing as we processed what we had just said.

We are quickly learning to modify our word choice and clarify our pronunciation to get our point across though. Luckily the Kenyans are just as amused at our pronunciation and always willing to explain to us what they mean. I learned quickly to pronounce all the letters in words with native Swahili speakers so I spend my days studying “mos-skwee-toe” born illnesses.

We’re nearing the end of our third week and I’m excited because E gets to start at the school on Monday. Though she’s going to be teaching and helping out to some extent, I think that she probably feels a bit like a student going back to school as well. In fact, I believe she’ll be taking 1st grade Swahili! I bet she’ll be at the top of her class…

We’re heading south to Shimoni and Wasini island this Saturday to go diving in a marine park that’s supposed to be amazing. We'll update with pictures when we get back.