Around Amman: Masjid Malik Hussein and the Balad

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River of Desire, Ocean of Love

Not to toot my own horn, but I just published a book of poems. A few of the poems were featured earlier on the site. I don't claim to be much of a poet, but I hope you will check me out and buy the book online here. The book is 50 pages for $15, so you will get your money's worth of reading at least.
peace, Nati

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Nipo Zanzibar Tena

Tangu kufika nilikuwepo kazi nyingi sana. Juzi mchana, nilifika nikaendelea moja kwa moja hotelini yangu karibu na bandhari ipo eneo la Malindi. Kiangazi niliikumbuka na nikaweza kupata bei rahisi mara hii kwa sababu kipindwi isiyo watalii. Usiku ile nilimkutana kijana alisema anionyeshe sherehe ya Reggae. Nilienda naye, tulikuwepo sherehe moja halafu tulienda disco pia. Takriban saa tisa na nusu alfajiri tuliondoka sherehe na tulipotembea kwangu (alifuatana nami). Alipiga magoti ili kushika mawe makubwa halafu alisimama akisema (kwa Kiingereza): Nipe kila kitu...pesa...nahitaji pesa ili kununua dawa kulevya. Nilimwambia: wewe unapayuka! Akapanza mawe juu ya kichwa yake kama akinipiga na akapaaza sauti akisema: nipe ninacho! Kweli nimeshangaa kwanza nafikiri huyu anafanya mzaha tu lakini alikuwa hatari kwa hivyo nilianguka na nikatoroka. Alhumdullilah, hakufuata nami.

Siku pili, nililala sana baadaye nikasoma pia ili kujitayarisha kwenda nyaraka za taifa. Nilienda Jumatatu asubuhi. Nilipofika ofisini ya nyaraka. Bibi katibu aliyepo nyuma ya meza alisema kwamba walipokea maombi yangu lakini bado hawaijapeleka wizara na mkurugenzi ya nyaraka alikuwepo Pemba hawezi kupokea phone calls. Baada ya mazungumzo mrefu na katibu mwingine, walisema kwamba nipo ruhusa kuingia tu na kuangalia tu, mpaka kesho kutwa wakati walipokea ruhusa mwisho kutoka wizara.

Nimefurahi sana kuangalia tu.

Leo sikukuu ya serikali kwa hivyo nilichagua kwenda Mkokotoni ili kupanda boati nikiendesha kisiwa cha Tumbatu. Njiani mvua ilianza kutoka kali sana kwa hivyo tulipofika Mkokotoni nilichagua tena kurudi kwangu wakati abiria moja aliniambia aende Nyungwi ipo kaskazini kabisa. Tulienda pamoja kwa daladala. Tukifika tulitembea tembea mpaka mwanzo kazi ya mwenzangu. Anaitwa Eriena. Yeye Mkristo anatoka Dar es Salaam, ana ndugu tano, dada mbili na kaka tatu mdogo. Aliwajua watu wote akicheka na akizungumza nao. Tulikula pamoja na nilizungumza na mtu mwingine akijua Kiarabu.

Mambo yangu ya afadhali yalikuwa nilipopanda basi ya wafanyakazi kutoka Nyungwi kwenda Mji Mkongwe. Wote wanaambiana masihara. Kwa mfano: mtu moja hamna nyumba kwa hivyo hawa walimchokoza: "eh bwana, wageni wako wakaaje?" Kila mara iliposemekana ilituchekesha!

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Down and Out in Malindi

Reached Malindi from Lamu absolutely exhausted after a rather interesting bus ride in which we busted a tire. The bus was absolutely PACKED too. Unfortunately, I was not able to visit Gedi ruins before my bus to Nairobi the next day. Instead, I laid on my razor thin mattress and read Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town until the power went out and I decided it was a sign to go to bed. WRONG. An hour later it came back on and woke me up out of my stupor. I couldn't go back to sleep. Downstairs from dirt-cheap room (about USD $2/night) the disco blazed nonstop until 5am. I should have taken the cue and just gone downstairs and danced.

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Nafurahi kusafiri Tanzania tena kwa sababu safari yangu itakuwa na nafasi nyingi kusoma Kiswahili. Ni bora nisome yuko Tanzania.
Visa...check. Immunizations...check. Airline tickets...check. Camera, journal, clean socks...doublecheck.

In five days, I will set out on a two month trip around Tanzania and Kenya. I am deeply humbled by the opportunity and anxious to deepen my study of Swahili, the knowledge of which has grown since I first began in Mwalimu Lyabaya's class back in 2003. This will be my second trip to Tanzania, this time north to the world-famous city of Arusha. I also hope to return to Dar es Salaam at the end of July, God willing.
I am not as academically motivated to learn Swahili as I am to speak it and by speaking it to truly develop the listening and comprehension necessary for true fluency. I have so much to look forward to and be thankful for, and I want this blog to reflect not only critical and engaged thought about history, world culture, East Africa, and the Indian Ocean, but also be a celebration of those thoughts, lives and practices I encounter. I am a little new at this blog stuff, so I feel a bit sensitive posting personal stuff, but I will try to make this as honestly personal as I can (without subjecting the two readers who are actually interested to blush-inducing fits of TMI).

More to come...

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