Day 18

Nina baridi sana (I am very cold)! The 1500 metre increase in elevation from Dar to Iringa was accompanied by a 15 degree drop in ambient temperature. Today was about 15 degrees Celsius, and it dropped to close to 0 degrees last night. The day before we left, a vendor at the Mwenge told us the past few weeks in Dar were uncommonly cold, even for winter. I thought this was pretty hilarious since I have never been so hot in my entire life. Now I’m starting to long for that heat. I realize I may have my Canadian citizenship revoked for complaining about 15-20 degree heat, so I’ll blame this on a rough adjustment period.

I'm learning swahili, pole pole (slowly). This morning at breakfast I asked for a kahawa nyani (baboon coffee) instead of a kahawa nyingine (another coffee). I’m pretty sure I won’t live that one down for awhile. However, today I was also able to introduce myself in swahili for the first time. Behold:

Jina lengu ni Elizabeth Sawchuk. Mimi ni mwanafunzi wa arkiologia. Nasoma mifupa ya wato wa kale. (My name is Elizabeth Sawchuk. I am a student of archaeology. I study the bones of people of old.)

Unaionaje (what do you think)? It’s not much, but it got me through office visits today. We saw the regional, district, and municipal (munispaa, I love that word) authorities to inform them about our project and get their consent. It’s imperative to get to know and work with local authorities here. Not only is it safer, but frankly the collaboration makes our project stronger.

There are nine of us on our project team now: our original four wazungu women and five Tanzanian men. We’re working with Pam’s Tanzanian PhD student Pastory, a total station expert named Mr. Kalindo, our antiquities officer, Emmanuel, and our two drivers/mechanics, Philomenos and Mr. Mabulla. Frank, Pam’s newest Tanzanian PhD student, may also join us in the field in a few weeks. Through the course of office visits and interacting with our half-waswahili team, I’ve discovered the name I will be called for the next two months: Elizabeti, pronounced Eleeza-betti. Last name: ... pole (sorry). I guess Ukrainians don’t make it to this part of the world too often.