Karibu! Habari! Haribu???

One of the things that I love about Tanzania and Tanzanians is the long extended greetings that everyone gives to each other.  You ask about one's health, family, household... you name it.  It is really sweet and wonderful, and I really appreciate the care and joy that goes into each greeting.

I was anxious to figure this out upon arrival in Tanzania.  Although we had been proud owners of the Rosetta Stone Swahili for months... I sadly only could remember the word for "woman" in Swahili.  I also later figured out I was also pronouncing that wrong too.

I have been the jack of all trades master of none when it comes to languages.  I have halfway learned how to speak Mandarin and Spanish, and I am perhaps the only one in the world who has a tendency to get the two confused.   Now throw Swahili in the mix, and the language side of my brain is completely muddled.

However, one advantage that I do have with language is that I am not afraid to make a complete ass out of myself.  I have proven this numerous times before; one particularly memorable mix up was my ability to confuse the word for "sex" and "banana" in Mandarin.  I am still sheepish about saying either of them... because after so many mix-ups, I just have it permanently confused.

So, here I am in the market in Iringa, Tanzania.  Simple hellos should not be a problem, and I wanted so desperately to participate in the beautiful greetings.   In Swahili, "Karibu" means 'Welcome" and "Habari" is more or less "How are you?"  Both are easy enough.  Except I managed to mix both Karibu and Habari together to make "Haribu"... which essentially means-- destruction.  So for two weeks I went around telling everyone I was going to destroy them.  At least I did it with a big smile.

These are just a few that I promised to destroy...