Languages is definitely not my strongest thing. I learned couple of phrases in Swahili prior to my Kilimanjaro trip, just enough to ask some basic questions. Here is my “I’m cool as a goat” story for you, my own Monty Python “my hovercraft is full of eels” moment.
“I’m cool as a goat”
I was wondering around the camp after dinner on Day 4 of our climb and got into the porters’ tent. They invited me in and offered a cup of tea. They were finishing their dinner. Majority of them didn’t speak any English, so I decided to practice my Swahili.
“Kuku?”(chicken), I asked pointing to the stew.
“Mbuzi”(goat), one of the porters replied.
Word “mbuzi” sounded very familiar; I knew I’ve heard this word (similar to “ndizi”, that means “banana”). I said:
“Poa kichizy kama mbuzi!”.
The phrase I was trying to say was “Poa kichizy kama ndizi” (popular Swahili conversational phrase, that means “I’m cool as a banana”) Instead, I said, “I’m cool as a goat”. Some guys laughed, the rest looked very confused. I didn’t understand why they laughed.
I repeated louder: “Poa kichizy kama mbuzi!”. All of them laughed.
“Poa kichizy kama ndizi.” one of the guys corrected me.
I was so proud that I almost got it right.
“Yes! Yes! Poa kichizy kama ndizi”, I said.
My brain stopped working. “Mbuzi” and “ndizhi”, they sound so similar, one of those words means “banana”. But which one? And why they make a banana stew?? I was so confused.
“Ndizi?” I asked pointing to a stew plate.
They couldn’t stop laughing, I was laughing too. One of them got up, went outside, and brought back a little green banana.
“Ndizi,” he said pointing to the banana
“Mbuzi”, he said pointing to a plate of stew.
I was even more confused. Then one of the guides who spoke English got into the tent. They had a conversation in Swahili. I had no clue what they were talking about, but I was able to recognize “ndizi”, “mbuzi”, “Poa kichizi kama ndizi”. Finally, the guide looked and me and said:
“Ndizi- banana, mbuzi-goat”.
Languages are fun!
