Age gap

The absolute relief of stirring after a long sleep, thinking it’s Sunday morning but realising it’s Saturday. As well as that I also woke up with Aqua’s Turn Back Time in my head. One of the all-time greats.

After a hectic work week I felt fairly wiped, although managed a two-hour Swahili lesson with Yusuf in the afternoon. He told me he is the last born of 10, and that his mother is 85. As he is 30, this was biologically surprising but the details seemed to make sense when he elaborated. He has an older brother in his 60s who married a Japanese woman and has long since moved away and cut himself off from the family.

Without exception all my Tanzanian colleagues tell me Swahili is easy. I don’t find this to be hugely the case. Portuguese felt easier because it stuck with me better, thanks to some grounding in French and Spanish. With Swahili unless I am disciplined and dogged with self-study I will not remember things. Knocking on the door of 40 the memory for foreign language vocabulary is not what it was.

The evening’s principal activity was over-ordering food at a Mexican restaurant, and feeling satisfied by a tasty quesadilla.