As I write this blog post, I’ve completed my second week at language school and have settled into a daily routine here. Mass is at 6:45 AM, followed by breakfast. Class is from 9 AM to 1 PM, followed by lunch. By the time class is finished my brain hurts and I am kind of worn down. Most of the class is now taught in Swahili and it takes a lot of energy to just keep up with what the instructor is saying. The language itself is not conceptually difficult and Swahili is easy to pronounce and write. The problem for me is learning the vocabulary. We get a lot of new vocabulary each day and the instructor will start using the new words as soon as they are introduced. I was never good at brute memorization and as is the case with most people, my ability to memorize things has degraded with age. I have to make sure I learn the new words by the next class so I will understand them when they are used. Being able to recall the words on the spot so I can use them when speaking is another issue. I know it takes time and that the more I immerse myself in the language the better it will be.
The Consolada campus, of which the Language Center is part, is pretty self contained. In addition to taking classes at the Language Center, the campus is where I currently live, eat meals, and go to Mass. There are people from all over the world taking language classes here – in addition to the seminarians who are studying Philosophy at the seminary. As Dee is taking a class outside Consolada and is just living here, I think I am the only American currently taking classes at the Language Center. While most of the students come from African countries, there are also students here from places like Italy, India, and Brazil learning English, Swahili, Italian, and Spanish among other languages. Luckily all the students at the school speak at least a little English and the Consolata Fathers speak English fluently, otherwise, I would have a very hard time communicating.
Last Sunday I went to an English Mass with Dee at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is within walking distance from Consolata. Dee goes to Mass there on Sundays and it gave me an opportunity to leave the campus, which I haven’t done much of with the exception of trips to the nearby Galleria shopping mall to buy toiletries and put more money in my M-PESA account, the mobile money service that is used so extensively in Kenya. During Mass, I heard the now familiar saying “God is good all the time, all the time God is good.” However, something was added at the end of the saying, which I wasn’t quite sure if I was hearing correctly. After Mass, I asked Dee and it turned out that I did heard what I thought I had heard, that is “God is good all the time. All the time God is good. That is His Nature. Wow!” When I got back to Consolada I asked some of the Fathers and they confirmed that they’ve also heard the phrase “That is His Nature. Wow!” used. I now have a whole new dimension of the saying on which to reflect. How profound in its utter simplicity!
It saddened me that during the week there was a terrorist attack on a hotel and entertainment complex in the Westlands area of Nairobi in which 21 innocent people were killed – including one American. The location of the attack is about 8 miles from the school and there was no direct impact here. However, it is a reminder that you always need to be vigilant here. Although security checkpoints, walls and barbed wire are ubiquitous in Nairobi, these measures can only do so much to protect people. The sad thing is that besides the lives that were senselessly lost, the attack will most likely have an impact on tourism here, which is so important to the local economy.
Fr. Lance invited Dee and me over to the Maryknoll Father’s house for dinner on Wednesday night. It was the last night of a regional meeting and there were a number of Fathers there from Tanzania. I also got to meet the Maryknoll seminarians, who were still away on Christmas break the first time I had dinner at the Nairobi Maryknoll Father’s House when I first arrived over two weeks ago. At the end of the meal, the seminarians treated us to some entertainment. How inspiring it was to witness the joy in these seminarians.
I look forward to starting pastoral work tomorrow with one of the seminarians. This will not only give me the opportunity to do some meaningful work, but also give me the chance to venture out and practice some Swahili. “That is His Nature. Wow!”
