As a linguist, languages intrigue me. I guess that is obvious. But as an immigrant, I understood the necessity to learn the local language. I also learnt how difficult that can be. Being Belgian, I had of course learnt Dutch and French in school. A privilege for sure (I am aware not all Belgian school-goers will agree with me at this age) because it concerns both a Germanic and a Romanic language. While travelling, I always have to explain that Belgium is split in parts and if I want to buy me bread in the one village, I do it in Flemish and if I go a couple of miles the other way, I need to order it in French. No biggie. Come to think of it, I also have to explain that Flemish is Dutch. Compare it to American and British English? But I digress.. 

 When we arrived in Tanzania, we made an effort to learn Kiswahili. (By the way, the language is Kiswahili and not Swahili, sorry google translate.) I think it is only self-evident that as a guest in a country, you at least try. So we did the typical thing: started with some tapes (I am that old) and a book and as soon as you realize you are stuck, you take lessons. The advantage was that we needed it on a daily basis. The disadvantage was that Tanzanians are such a gentle people they wouldn't even think of correcting you so god knows what I said at times :). 

Some interesting things about Kiswahili proved to be both fact and fun. Kiswahili mainly has an oral tradition: this languages has more often been used throughout centuries to sit around the fire in the village and tell stories than to write books. This is now of course no longer the case but for such a long time it was. So at times, I came across different spellings of one word or different uses of one word or different words for one thing. Theoretically, I guess you could say there are a lot of dialects.

Kiswahili is definitely a lingua franca, which means that for a lot of people it is not their first language but it a means to communicate with a lot of other people. If you read up on your history, it is of course because current countries and borders did not originate naturally, their were forced upon people, and often nomadic people that were asked to settle. Interesting stuff (in lack of many other adjectives that come to mind when reading up on history but not wanting to start a debate). This has consequences of course, since the way you tell your story contributes to the meaning: 'mtu yule' (the person over there) will be standing closer to you than 'mtu paaaaale' who is standing very far. 

Kiswahili is a Bantu language, that means that for a European there are little to no reference points to study grammar or remember vocabulary. A conjugated verbform for instance gets a prefix which contains both subject and tense, and there are 9 noun classes, oh and also, if you want to refer to one of these noun classes as an object of your verb you insert yet again a letter into that verb.. So if you for instance want to say "I like him" that becomes ni-na-m-penda which very roughly stands for ni=subject I + na=present tense + m=object him + penda=verb root of kupenda. I am oversimplifying of course but believe me: it is an intricate language and I am sure I only ever spoke it in its simplest (often incorrect) form. But that simpler form is enough to get by, your effort will be appreciated. And the easy part for this Euopean: the vowels are pronounced as in Dutch (kinda). 

The Swahili people inhabit  a long line of coast, including islands such as Zanzibar and thus they came into contact with a lot of other tribes, peoples and nationalities. So today, the language is an incredible mix of languages and introduced words. The largest influence will undoubedtly be Arabic (tafadhali is please and salama is well, good) due to geographical reasons and a history of trade but there is also a lot of English (kabati is cupboard, closet, baiskeli is bicyle), and even German (shule is school) and Portuguese (nanasi is pineapple and chepeo is a helmet). And this is only what I can think of on the top of my head, I am sure there are more. 

 My children learnt Kiswahili as a subject in the international school, which is only normal since every international school teaches the national language, and their Kiswahili in the end became better than mine. Which is exactly what happened with their Spanish as well. At first, my evening school had me at a headstart but since their last two schools were in Spanish speaking countries, they now outdo me with ease. 
My own students in Belgium often ask me: "so say something in Kiswahili!" But if you watched the Lion King, you can also say something: hakuna matata. If you ever travel to East Africa, you can get the T-sirt.

It might seem selfevident (but then again.. it might also not) but we travelled. A lot. And of course, we had to travel in order to see our family so the annual flight home provided by the company was a given. But after my divorce, the girls had to travel as unaccompanied minors so by the age of four, they went from Africa to Europe to Middle America (and back) several times a year, labelled like baby cattle with a big UM. I remember the first time they left, I hated it, and I was so nervous. And even when they came back, I had arranged a tarmac-pass so I could meet them directly from the plane. We did get used to it quickly enough though. I was releived and glad that they did too, we all still take a plane as if it is a bus. As a result, we had three clocks in our living room telling the time of different places in the world, and my eldest did her show and tell about jetleg. And you might be surprised to hear it, by I actually enjoy flying, it relaxes me. And I think that if you ask my kids where they are from, they will reply: from Zaventem. ​ 

But of course we also travelled within the country. From the moment we arrived, I was keen to see the country (strangely my partner was not) but then, years later,  I started working in tourism so we were given such fantastic opportunities. To list but a few that will always stand out for me: we stayed at an authentic mobile safari camp at the rim of the Ngorongoro crater, we were lucky enough to stay at the Four Seasons in (bam smack) the middle of the Serengeti, we walked from Empakai crater to lake Natron in three days (I really need to spend a post on that, that was utterly gorgeous), I got my PADI (diving certificate) in Dar es Salaam, my eldest slept in a hut in a Maasai village, we went wild camping in a dry river bed in Tarangire, we went to Zanzibar several times (in both low budget places with hamacs on the beach as beds and in the Hyatt Regency with a overflow pool that seemed to run straight into the Indian ocean), the girls walked to base camp on Kilimanjaro, we stayed on a farm on the western slopes of Kilimanjaro, I was lucky enough to see the chimps in Mahale on the shores of lake Tanganyika.. oh and I would almost forget to mention Fanjove, a desert island straight from your dreams..  Basically, we did a whole bucket list before we even made one. 
Do people like travelling because they were introduced to it young? Or do they seek the opportunity at all costs because they are curious? I don't know. But I do know we will never stop.
But the most important thing is not ticking off things of a list (or boasting about them on a blog). The privilege is that you start seeing the world as a small place with all people as equals. And for my girls, it also caused an intrinsic love for animals. I am grateful for that. 

Recently, I was going through pictures (as a mum does) and I stumbled upon a picture of my kids riding motorbikes. And I immediately thought: that is something they did because their stepdad did it. And of course, he did it because Africa is an ideal place to do so: ride a dirtbike. So then the thought hit me: I am going to tell people about the stuff we did because we lived where we lived. 
And yes... you could debate they might have done some of these things in Belgium but let us not over-analyze the fun out of this. I will definitely have fun reminiscing about the cool stuff we did.

​
So this is the picture in question. The girls went around the track to get comfortable with the bike and after some laps, they got a briefing from A. And although it never became their big passion, I was happy they tried and that they were open to his favourite passtime. Maybe I should have forced them to stick with it for a while at least but well.. At least they tried and they are now comfortable on a bike. 

Motorbikes were not the only thing they rode by the way.. 
And the irony? It was a bit of a hassle to teach them how to ride a normal bike. Flat, paved roads are not exactly a regular thing in Africa and the children-size bicycles we had to import! Not your regular story when you come from 'le plat pays'. So the eldest ended up learning to ride a bicycle in Belgium when we were there and the youngest learnt on the raspberry farm. 

Another thing they tried (I should say: we tried), was archery. In Africa, we had the opportunity to meet a lot of different people, and their hobby or profession, and one of them happened to be a world renowned bowhunter. The three of us learnt how to handle a bow, and practiced several times. The same person actually also taught us how to shoot a gun, and even though I am strongly against firearms, I also believe it is better to teach your kids how to swim than fence the pool so they are now no longer nervous around a gun. But I hope this statement will never be put to the test.  

Stay tuned.. because I am already inspired to write the next post! So many stories..

Even though I left Tanzania some years ago, I have lived there long enough to have left a piece of my heart at the foot of the Kilimanjaro. So it is only normal that I still follow what happens in this part of the world. 

I was pretty surprised to hear the following succession of events:
- John Magafuli (the president at the time) denied the existence of Corona, downplayed the whole pandemic tale, claiming it was a white people's hoax, and advised the Tanzanian people to go to church to pray if they were sick (leading to more contamination and undoubtedly to more deaths).
-  Magafuli then got Corona... and passed away.
- He was then succeeded by Samia Suluhu Hassan, the first Tanzanian female vicepresident. She became the second female head of state in Africa, although I think Ethiopa's female president has a role that is mostly ceremonial. 

Of course, she has sparked both hope and controversy. In dealing with Magafuli's inheritance of denying Corona, she started a long overdue vaccination campaign in the country with international help, so kudos to her. But just like any other politician - regardless of gender - she has said some things people do not agree with.

The oddest - or even unbelievable - statement was when she remarked that female football players are not pretty (because flatchested) and therefore not attractive candidates for marriage. That is not only a strange remark because it is sexist and she should stand for female rights more than anyone else but then I also wonder when and where she became a reference of beauty.. sometimes I just feel that the world has changed and some people did not get the memo?     

This year, I am also guiding a student that is not only new in the school but has also only been in the country for a short time. Very coincidentally, they assigned me a Tanzanian girl, and what are the odds: she is from Zanzibar. And just like so many children of immigrants she is utterly amazing: learning Dutch in recordtime and adjusting easily as only kids can do, bearing more burdens than a child should ever have to.  My help is probably just a drop on a hot plate but the other day she said it was nice to speak Kiswahili with someone for a second (as limited as it was). 

PS 26 Nov 2021: and what are the odds: international news boasts yet another good evolution in Tanzania: https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cjnwl8q4qdrt/tanzania

I cannot explain precisely why but I love Italy. LOVE it. But then again, I also cannot imagine why anyone would question it anyway. What's not to love? Great food, beautiful cities, long coastline, immeasurable amounts of history and culture, fashion capital.. I think the words 'picturesque' and 'elegant' were invented for Italy - or anything even remotely Italian, come to think of it. So now that I am - once again - living in Europe, and this epitome of elegance is merely a stonethrow away (or a Ryan Air flight, which sometimes feels like the same thing), I did my fair share of travelling there over the last three years.

First on the list - and indeed a gem to start with - was Florence (Firenze, I should say). I have to add, it was partly on the top of my list because I was going to visit R, a dear friend and ex-colleague from East-Africa. 
So first I made a reservation online to see the Duomo on the inside, queued for that, and then I thought that all the other days, I could just wing it - which is what I did. It was a week of ticking off things on my bucket list: crossing the Ponte Vecchio, spending hours in the Uffizi, admiring David and the birth of Venus.. R and myself took a daytrip to Siena to top it all off. Bliss. 

I visited Palermo because a Sicilian once cooked spagetthi for me in Africa :)
No seriously.. I have a friend that is from Palermo and he always spoke about his hometown with such love and respect that I was intrigued. I have to admit that I did not know anything about the city (nor the island) unless what I had seen in 'the Godfather'. 
My expectations were exceeded, and they were pretty high to begin with. Palermo itself is a beautiful city, just utterly gorgeous. But it was summer and so I also took the bus to Mondello beach, walked to Cefalu, wandered around the harbour, visited the street markets, and of course: visited museums and cathedrals, and ate all the Sicilian specialties (A gave me a list of what to eat where).
It is funny how the island's special location gives it its unique character: it is unmistakably Italian but there are so many apparent influences from neighbouring countries and cultures. Will most definitely go back there.  

My third visit can be clasified as sheer luck. My school offers the magnificicent possibility to follow extra schooling abroad, and as it so happend, the course that my colleague and I were interested in, was in Bologna. So we headed to the Erasmus training centre: Lessons in the morning, and strolling the elegant streets of Bologna in the afternoon, who can say no to that?
​This time around, I was provided with a list by yet another native and ex-colleague (thank you E). While discovering the city, I especially loved the arcades, running all the way through the city centre, which allowed us to keep exploring the city even when it drizzled. The city is known for its towers and yes, the view after climbing one of them was mindblowing but 500 stairs one way made me surprisingly dizzy. We managed to squeeze in two museum visits and a steep uphill 2-hour walk walk to San Luca.   

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