English Lessons and Skipping Town Early

Greetings all,

Not too much to report from the last few days, other than making a few new friends, eating tasty but nondescript food, getting the occasional caffeine headache, reading a lot, and sleeping early.

The only really noteworthy thing to come of the past few days was last night, when I sat in on an English class. The group was discussing the difference between American English and British English. I was called forward to give an impromptu example of American English. I spoke for a few minutes about any old thing, using fairly simple language and speaking at a manageable pace. After a few minutes it became increasingly clear that I had lost a good number of the students. It was an interesting reminder that coming here without knowing any Swahili would have been a very daunting task. These were college students who are studying English, and I was still unable to communicate with them in a relaxed and natural manner. I would have likely had even less luck with the average Kenyan on the street. The language barrier that I experience every day when communicating in Swahili is actually not all that different than that which I’d experience if I just used English.

Anyway, the rest of the class consisted of discussions of the merits of “Lorry” versus “Truck,” “Flat” versus “Apartment,” and “Holiday” versus “Vacation.” I was also surprised to hear that “Fall” is a distinctly American term, whereas “Autumn is more closely associated with British English. I guess there are some things you just can’t learn at home.

Anyway, the pithy nature of this post is probably indicative of my experience here. It’s been tremendously pleasant, but I’m feeling kind of lazy for just sitting around and killing time most of the day. I’ve changed my plans to get back to Nakuru a good bit earlier (Sunday morning, hopefully), so that I can continue with a little more of my work before I depart. My plane leaves two weeks from today! Craziness.

I also met a few American students here (most of them come from African families but did their lower education in the states), and I think we’re going to play American Football this afternoon. Needless to say, I am tremendously excited by that.

Talk to you all soon,
Chris