Wabes' Mad Language Skills

I thought I'd post a brief comment on something Wabes would never write about either at this site or at "world-with-and-i." Her Swahili is really good and she's become quite the savvy local in the couple of weeks she's been here in Dar. It's funny to watch as people on the street say "hey mzungu" ("hey white woman") and she replies in Swahili. Usually a short exchange follows as the locals test whether she actually knows Swahili or (like me) only knows what to say in reply. Everyone is also intrigued by how she obtained her language skills and asks where she learned ("New York? Really?"). Our safari guide Lazarro said she was the first American he ever guided who knew the language.

This skill also provides me with some Tanzanian cred by proxy (though much of it evaporates when people turn to me and start speaking in Swahili and I have to politely tell them that only my "wife" speaks the language) and gives us a nice means of bargaining. I play the penny pinching husband who shakes his head in the negative when Wabes reports the most recent price. She then shifts back to Swahili and says I won't let her pay that much...