The start of Kiswahili classes

The past weekend was absolutely fantastic; on Saturday our group visited Paulina's (the assistant dean) house and had a huge Tanzanian feast. We cooked up an entire goat, and that means everything - there was a stew that included the heart, liver, intestines, stomach, and lungs. Heart meat was actually quite good, although I will not soon forget the texture of the stomach. It was great getting to meet her family and especially to play with her children. We learned a lot about Tanzanian family life and customs, like when the children turn 17 they can no longer sleep in the main house but must sleep outside until they get a place of their own.
On Sunday we went to the beach with two Tanzanian students, Hamida and Emanuel. It was quite the adventure getting there, involving a ferry ride and then a very packed daladala ride across the island (this one was memorable because it played music and had a powerful bass). The beaches here are incredibly beautiful: white sand as far as you can see, and the ocean is so clean and blue. I found so many shells and so much coral that I was saturated with beach treasures by the end of the day.
Kiswahili class is very intense. We spend two hours in a large group and then break into small groups for another two hours. By the end I feel like I have hit a metaphorical brick wall. The learning will come faster as the class progresses, but it is hard not to feel a little overwhelmed to start. Apparently you need to be very careful when pronouncing swahili words because a lot of common words, mispronounced, turn into bad words. What a cruel trick of whoever thought up this language. I love learning new words because they are fun to say - some of my favorites are tikitimaji (watermelon), mwanamazingira (environmentalist), and kicheche (mongoose). In fact, I am contemplating choosing kicheche as my swahili name, because I am a huge fan of the mongooses (mongeese?) here.