Local Zanzibari

Habari from Zanzibar!

I hope this post finds you all well and a happy belated Valentines day to you all (Heri ya Siku ya Wapendanao). All is well in the lovely town of Stone Town, Zanzibar. I have been living with my first homestay family for almost a week, and what a week it has been. My family is very nice and have been extremely generous and kind to me and have invited me into their home. My dad (baba), Nassor, is a local politician (which I learned when walking down the street the other day and saw his picture on a poster), he is very nice and quizzes me on my progress in Kiswahili everynight. He knows english pretty well, so it is nice to be able to have someone to talk to in both languages. My mama is named Salma, and her sister also lives with us and is named Salma. I have one brother (kaka mgodo), Issa who is about 10, and two sisters (dada), Jokha (8) and Shemsa (3). I was told on the first day of meeting the family that Shemsa, the youngest, is trouble, or "matata" (think hakuna matata, which means without trouble). She is a mischievious little thing, but is way too cute for me to be bothered by. I gave them some presents the other night and we got to play together, which was really fun. Their language is far superior to mine, so we teach eachother words everyday, in both english and kiswahili. They are great kids and I feel very fortunate to have landed in such a great home. There is also an Australian girl living here for a week, on a stop in her long journey across Africa, and I've gotten to know her pretty well.

This week we have been continuing our Kiswahili trainging 4 hours a day, and also attending daily lectures at the Institute of Marine Science here in Stone Town, as well as some cultural lectures. We've covered everything from seaweed farming, sea turtles, Islamic culture and history (Zanzibar is 99% Muslim), and everything inbetween. We are learning a lot and having fun in between (see pictures below).

Food in Zanzibar is very, heavy, to put it nicely. However, we get fruit with every meal so I cannot complain. A typical day in Zanzibar cuisine looks like this:

Asabuhi (breakfast):

Bread (makate) of some kind (usually fried, or in a tortilla-like form, called chapati)
Fruit, usually pineapple, mango (embe), papaya, or banana (ndisi)
Eggs (mayai), boiled or fried
Tea (chai)

Mchana (lunch):

Bread
Fruit
Fish (samaki), fish and more fish, usually kingfish, snapper or tuna
Rice
Curry/meat/vegetable/beans dish
Tea

Usiku (dinner):

Bread
Fish
Rice
Curry/meat/vegetables/beans

All of the food is very good, and we're not totally sick of it yet, although today at lunch we all decided that we are craving fresh vegetables, and of course, cheese and chocolate. Anyways, I uploaded some pictures on Picasa, so hopefully you guys can check them out below. Fingers crossed. I hope you are all well and staying warm!

best,
laura


http://picasaweb.google.com/laurameaton1/ZanzibarI