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There is no indefinite article in the Irish language. So the absence of the definite article—an or na—indicates the indefinite. I used the definite article in my title for a reason. I am not going to talk about a good day which presupposes the existence of other good days. I am going to talk about the one full day of sunshine I have had here in Gleann Cholm Cille. Luckily for me, it coincided with my only day off. We work from Sunday to Friday from ten in the morning till ten at night. But on Saturday, ligim i mo scíth—I relax. Well, not really. I chose to go for a twenty mile walk as my relaxation. And it was the most incredible walk of my life. I walked along the road 6 miles to the small town of Málain Bhig and its famous beach Trá Ban—Silver Strand.

 

After Trá Ban, I walked up into the hills. There was no trail, but I knew if I kept the sea to my right—ar mo dhéis—I would eventually link up with Sliabh Líg, the tallest ocean cliff in Europe. I had to trek through some bogs which attempted to steal my boots, but I eventually reached the summit and new favorite place on earth.

Perched atop this rocky outcropping, I ate my lunch and wondered at the beauty of Dún na nGall and Ireland more broadly. From this point, I could see my two favorite mountains Sliabh Líg and way beyond that Ben Bulben. I could even see the distant peaks of Maigh Eo and Gaillimh. But the time I finished Sliabh Líg, I was exhausted and simultaneously rejuvenated. It was the good day.

Kiswahili class at The Institute of Kiswahili and Foreign Languages at SUZA.

Language and culture are inextricably linked. Language is a way to communicate as well as a window into the soul of a culture. Learning Kiswahili is more than a social entrée or tool for research, it is the key to understanding worldview, the nature of social relationships, and the organization of society. With these thoughts in mind, I have really dedicated myself to advancing my Kiswahili here in Zanzibar, both in and out of the classroom. In my previous blog I talked about slang, so here I’ll talk about my formal classroom learning of Kiswahili at Taasisi ya Kiswahili na Lugha za Kigeni (The Institute of Kiswahili and Foreign Languages) at the University of Zanzibar (SUZA) based in Stone Town.

Sign for The Institute of Kiswahili and Foreign Languages at SUZA. Photo: Nyakeh Tuchscherer

The Institute at SUZA. Photo: Nyakeh Tuchscherer

Monday through Friday, from 8:30 to 12:30, I learn Kiswahili at SUZA. The class is led by our professor, Mwalimu Jecha (‘Mwalimu’ meaning ‘teacher’). The class has been small, with two other students who are graduate students from the University of Kansas, along with a mature student who works for a Canadian NGO. We are all serious learners, but Kiswahili (or any language) is challenging to learn. We do a lot to help each other and Mwalimu Jecha has a lot of patience and determination as he drills us over and over again until we get things right.

Random page of from my Kiswahili notes. Photo: Nyakeh Tuchscherer

After spending weeks learning how to conjugate verbs and utilizing all tenses of the Kiswahili language, we began to speak amongst each other in Kiswahili. One of our first exercises was to share with each other sentences in Kiswahili that we regularly heard and used. From there we advanced to dialogue practice in role-play, learning how to navigate our way through common situations ranging from the home to the marketplace. For example, some of the dialogue that I focused on concerned purchasing goods, communicating where I was in the process of going, or reporting on activities I have been engaged in. For example, ‘Nina kukata nywele zangu’ translates to ‘I have my hair cut’ which I did yesterday!

Before. Photo: Nyakeh Tuchscherer

After. Photo: Nyakeh Tuchscherer

The most efficient way, I’ve found, to become a better speaker of a language is through constant repetition. Repeated use of important verbs and trying to get tenses perfect comes through such repetition. Paying close attention to singular and plural as well. With constant drilling and dialogue in class – repeating and exchanging utterances to exhaustion – our memories lock in. The words just start to come out. In this way, simple Kiswahili has become second nature. The result as that everyone in the class is launched out into the world of Zanzibar at 12:30 when class ends for the day, at which time we are able to have understandable and even meaningful conversations with Kiswahili speakers. I have found that an ability to speak Kiswahili, or even the act of trying to speak the language, is embraced by the entire community of Zanzibar. Kiswahili speakers love their language and trying to speak it shows a reciprocal love for the community.

My Kiswahili speaking has improved dramatically in the short time I’ve been here. The combination of formal learning in the mornings followed by immersion in the culture and a myriad of language situations in the afternoons and on the weekends, has been a great fit for my learning style. It helps a lot that I have an excellent and dedicated teacher such as Mwalimu Jecha and that I share the class with other students who are as zealous as I am about learning Kiswahili. As time goes on, with every passing day, my speaking has become more fluid and the range of ideas I can express in the language increases. As readers who know me will know, I see my summer Kiswahili language as a true gift as my future goal is to conduct research in other parts of East Africa where Kiswahili is spoken.

 

 

As our program began arranging several trips deeper into Armenia, I could find an opportunity to get acquainted with the Medieval and Ancient heritage of the region. Our first trip was to Amberd, an ancient settlement located around a strong stonebuilt castle next to a medieval church called Vahramashen. Located approximately one hour drive away from the centre of Yerevan, Amberd fortress is one of the oldest medieval construction in Armenia. The initial fortress was built in the seventh century but, later enlarged considerably by one of the influential dynasties of Medieval Armenia, the Pahlavunids, as a response to the growing political and military threat from the east. Although the local dynasties were able to stand firm against any kind of threats up until the eleventh century, in 1070, the castle finally fell into the hands of the Seljuks who turned the castle into a military base for their further campaigns to the west. Besides the castle, Vahramashen church which was completed in 1026, is still open to visitors. During my visit, I managed to enter the church and witnessed a religious ceremony inside which could be defined as fascinating in terms of reflecting the long-lasting religious and cultural heritage of the region.

The program will arrange the next trip to Sevan lake, Sevanavank, Noratus cemetery of Khachkars, Tsaghkadzor and Kecharis monastery in the following days. In the next blog entry, I am planning to cover several of these places that I would find most interesting and attractive. Also, advancing towards the end of the second week of my stay in Armenia, I will be able to tell more about the Armenian cuisine in my next entry.

My time at Oideas Gael has officially come to a close. While I’ll be happy to return home and see family and friends, I know that a part of me will always miss this summer and the friends that I made and the opportunities I had. My Irish has improved greatly, although not as much as my comfort and willingness to use it has. After leaving Oideas Gael, I made a quick side trip to Westport, County Mayo. I actually got the chance to have a full 5-minute conversation about music in Irish with one musician in the pub yesterday afternoon. It provided an amazing chance to combine some of my previous vocab and grammar from classes at Notre Dame with the extra vocab, pronunciation, and other speaking skills I acquired this summer. It was quite a fun experience for both me and the musician, who was shocked to find an American boy speaking to him in Irish. Later that night, I had the chance to sing a song during a music session in the same pub. I chose “Óró, sé do bheatha ‘bhaile” because it is a song we sang my first week at Oideas Gael. It was so cool to take part in this traditional Irish activity, and it was even more fun to be able to in the Irish language. I know that before this summer, I never would have attempted to sing in front of a group of people in English, never mind in Irish. On a different note, I learned something fascinating my last week. We were discussing the fact that all the names of languages are feminine in Irish except English, which is called Bearla. I had always wondered why but never thought to ask anyone, figuring it was just a weird, random thing. As it turns out, there is a good historical reason for it. The people from England speaking some predecessor of English would have been the first foreigners the Irish came into contact, so they called the language Bearla because that word (or some similar form) essentially meant jibberish in Old Irish. They were not, in this case, naming the language after the people speaking it, but simply what it sounded like! I loved learning this, and it perfectly sums up how I felt about my experience as a whole—I learned much more than just vocab or grammar, but also history, culture, and so much more. I hope that one day in the future I’ll have the opportunity to return to Oideas Gael and continue to improve my knowledge of not only the Irish language, but the rich culture and history that are intricately interwoven with the language.

A view of from Glen Head, the mountain overlooking Gleann Cholm Cille from the North. The mountain also appears on the crest of the local GAA club, Naomh Columba.

Croagh Patrick, the holy mountain near Westport, County Mayo. It is on this mountain that St. Patrick is said to have banished the serpents from Ireland.

Today is July 14th. This past week was our last week of class for the first semester. We took our final on Wednesday, which I though went well, and then had Thursday through Sunday off of school. During this four day break, many of my friends decided to travel independently, down to Tokyo, stay in the Hakodate area, or somewhere different. Many of the other students, including myself, however, decided to go with the HIF organized group travel plan up to Sapporo. You may know this Japanese city because of it’s world-famous beer. I just returned back home after the long 3-hour bus ride, and am therefore exhausted, but for good reason. Because the place we are all living in, Hakodate, is on the smaller side, Sapporo was the first taste of Japanese city life that I’ve gotten since being here. I would still really love to visit Tokyo someday, but Sapporo was amazing regardless. There I, along with friends, ate a little too much food, did a little too much shopping, and had a great time. It was a perfect way to relax after four weeks of straight studying.

However, speaking of school, the second semester does start back up tomorrow. However, contrary to common belief, I am actually really excited. While having three hours of the same class each day, and a quiz first thing each morning, is very strenuous on the brain, I really do love class. I’ve come to forge strong bonds with the class and our teacher. We’ve even organized a group trip outside of class, with the teacher to go see a new Japanese movie and get dinner afterwards next weekend.

I feel like the program as a whole has not only been great in teaching us Japanese, but also getting us to feel like a community. Every single staff member there, and not only the teachers, knows the names of, and is close with all the students. The whole school is something completely unlike anything I have ever experienced before, and I am so happy that I am apart of it. My host family and I too, have become a lot closer than I would have ever anticipated. An example of this has been that on every Thursday night these past few weeks I have accompanied my host family to their gospel choir practice. My host mother actually leads a gospel choir in the Hakodate community in which they sing many English gospel songs. Therefore I help teach the pronunciation of English words. It has been a really unique experience that I’ve come to really enjoy; And through this I have grown a lot closer to both my host family and the entire gospel choir.

I don’t know if you have heard this before, but it rains a lot in Ireland. In fact, it has rained every day this week. Not a raging downpour mind you, but a steady drizzle. Talking about the weather has taught me the dozens of different phrases the Irish have for rain. It’s incredible: ag cur báistí, ag cur fearthainne, ag clagarnach/greadach/batráil báistí, etc. Nevertheless, the rain has stopped no one from having a big of craic. I did some wet hiking yesterday, but had pleasant company despite the rain.

I’m currently waiting for my flight in the Rome Fiumicino airport for my flight back to the U.S. Our program just dropped us off a little while ago, I’ve got a fun 9 hour wait ahead of me. I’ve got plenty of Latin to read and review in the meantime, though.

This past week we visited San Clemente, the Colosseum, Horace’s Villa, and the Forum. The Church of San Clemente has excavations below it containing another 2nd or 3rd century Christian Church, with a home purported to be St. Clement’s. Below that Church are the remains of a 1st century Mythraic Temple. At the Colosseum, our class had a debate in Latin, and at the Forum we recited memorized sections of Cicero’s Third Catilinarian near the Temple of Concord where he would have given it. We read and recited a number of Horace’s Odes at the Fons Bondusiae while we ate a picnic lunch near Horace’s Villa.

Overall, the program was great and I learned a lot, though I wish the classes were a little bit more rigorous and that we had more practice with spoken Latin built into our classes. The best regular parts of the program were the site visits with tours in only Latin which were really challenging and helped with fluency. Seeing the different sites around Rome and gaining an appreciation for where they are located relative to each other was extremely helpful, too, for reading comprehension when authors reference different locations around and near the city.

We spent the last night at Piazza Garibaldi overlooking the city.