Preparations and Going Away Part-ay!

25 Jul 2010 1 Comment

by danrennt98 in Uncategorized

[Australian accent -->] ‘ALLO EVERY WON! This is gon’a be a lowng won!

Learning the Language of Lovely Luganda!

So, I’m learning how to say small phrases and basic things in Luganda (the main language in southern Uganda, spoken by over 10 million people, approximately 33% of the country)!!! The Peace Corps has 12 Luganda lessons online that I’m trying out. Luganda is spoken in the area surrounding Kampala (for a few hundred miles in each direction). Out of the Buganda kingdom (Luganda = spoken here), there are many other languages spoken. So, I could end up learning a totally different language after I’ve been there for a few days, depending on which area of the country the PC intends to place me. I’m rooting for the semi-northern area or in the middlewest, near Lake Albert. Or to learn Teso or Ateso, not sure which.

“Uganda is a multilingual country. Forty of its living indigenous languages fall into three main families – Bantu, Nilotic, and Sudanic – with another 2 languages in the Kuliak family. English, inherited from the colonial period, and Swahili, which is regionally important, are official languages.” – Wikipedia

Luganda is looking like a pretty difficult language so far. Basically, when you look at a word that you don’t know in English, you can kind of assume where the stress is going to go in a word/phrase (i.e., POLE vault, RI-diculous, CARpet, onomatoPEEia, blanKET). Well, in Luganda, the stress is on the syllable that you LEAST expect. And it’s a tonal language so how I stress the syllables matter:

amazzi = water

amazi = feces

WHAT?! How are they going to make those two words so close together?! That’s just plain unfair and I know I’m going to end up asking someone for a cup of feces. Oh crap! haha

Some basic convos that I’ve been working on learning:

Formal:

Ven: Osiibye otyanno ssebo?                                  How have you spent the day sir?
Herbert: Bulungi nnyabo.                                         Fine madam.
Ven: Hmm.
Herbert: Osiibye otyanno nnyabo?                      How have you spent the day madam?
Ven: Bulungi ssebo.                                                     Fine sir.
Herbert: Hmm.
Ven: Hmm.

Informal:

Ven: Oli otya, Herbert?                                                     How are you?

Herbert: Gyendi.   [pronounced genn - DI]              I am fine.

Hmm.

Herbert: Ate ggwe?                                                            How about you?

Ven: Gyendi.                                                                        I am fine.

Hmm.

Ven: Gyebaleko.                                                                 Thank you for your work.

Herbert: Kale, naawe gyebale.                                     Okay, thank you too.

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Ki? = What? [ki is pronounced CHI]

Wa? = Where?

Party Time!

The going away party was awesome! So much more than I expected. My whole family came  and more people came than I ever expected. And I want to thank everyone that came because it really meant a lot to me. To know that everyone wanted to wish me well and say goodbye. It’s going to be a long time before I come home, if at all.

Well, first it was almost like a surprise party. When I was first walking up, I saw one of the kids front of the garage with what I thought was a leopard-skin cape on his back. I only saw this mysterious cousin’s child back and when they spotted me they ran inside. As I was walking up my cousin Chris was laughing and I heard his sister yelling inside, “He’s here! He’s here!”

I walked in the front door and every yelled “YAABO” or something in Zulu (which my cousin’s mother in law must have known from her trip around the world. And  just about everyone was dressed in African clothing! Which was awesome! My mom was wearing giant African-esque hoop earings and my aunt was wearing colorful clothing. There were hats colorful shirts, women with their babies (dolls) tied on their backs and “African night sounds” playing on the stereo. It was epic and great! And it turns out that it wasn’t one of the kids hiding in front of the garage, it was my cousin (about 30 y/o). My birthday is on Sept. 8th and I’m going to be in Uganda for it. My mom got a Carvel cake (vanilla with vanilla! she knows me best!) and everyone sung happy birthday to me (in English and Polish, of course). It felt weird since it wasn’t my birthday, but was still pretty cool.

Well, anyway it was really nice to see everyone and made me really happy. Plus, it was also a smack in the face.. like everyone’s here because I’m actually going to Uganda! Thanks to everyone that helped out, my mom and dad for putting it together, to everyone that came and to my aunt for hosting.

Now, I’m looking forward to next weekend. On Friday, I’ll be leaving Wesley’s for good, after I say goodbye to everyone. Venturing to my ‘rents house in NY. Having another party with my dad’s side. Then, Jill, Steve, Tom, Tommy Tom Tom Tom Tom, and Kate are coming up on Sunday! When they leave, I’ll get some good quality family time, along with relaxing, packing, and shopping before my departure on Monday for Philadelphia! Only two weeks away! Sweetness.

-Dan

P.S. Sugar cookies from Wawa, Cheese Roll-ups from Taco Bell, Blueberry Muffins from the Clairmont and Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers with Salty Fries from Wendy’s are the main food items that I’m going to miss. I’m not really into fast food.