Kwa Heri, "Bachelor Style"

About a week ago, my headmaster called me into his office on the pretense that he wanted to discuss the laptop. He had borrowed it again for his son to use. Apparently I am unable to learn from my mistakes, because once again I have put all my music, pictures, and important documents on there. I'm following the "lightning never strikes twice in the same place" chain of logic on this one. (Strangely, I just taught my students that lightning can, in fact, strike twice in the same place and does so all the time). So I went into his office with some apprehension, thinking perhaps he had hired Mr. Old Guy to perform surgery with an axe again. Well, it turned out that he only wanted to know when I needed it back, and to tell me that the movie-ruining-line in the screen had disappeared. The line has since returned, but I was happy that all my files still existed. And that was how he got me.
My headmaster is a wily cat. He doesn't ask for things that he wants right away, he plays the waiting game, trying to manipulate a person's emotions until they are in a good state to asked a favor. For example, in the past we were having some beers together and out of the blue he brought up some requests about the library, when I was all relaxed and congenial. It works. I didn't want to ruin the vibe by complaining, so I acquiesced to his wishes. I think he pulled the same technique this time as well. He knows I am concerned with the laptop, so he decided to give me a scare followed by some positive news to bring down my guard. Then he brought up the real reason he asked me into the office, again out of the blue.
I'll give you the critical background information you might not have heard. Right now there are 16 student-teachers from the Univ. of Dar es Salaam staying at our school. They're living in several houses around campus while they complete their teaching internships. Concurrently, we have a new biology teacher who arrived yesterday and will be living on campus. But at this moment, his house is occupied by the temporary fellows from Dar. So he needs a place to stay whilst they are here, for another 6 weeks or so. All the houses on campus are made to a government standard; they are identical. If you think about it, there are 16 people in two houses (do the math) and then there is me, by myself. My whiteness does give me some breathing room in this area, but at times I feel a little guilty. Maybe the oh-so clever headmaster caught on to this, I don't know. But he asked me, since I have two spare rooms, if this permanent new teacher could stay with me for the six weeks until the student-teachers head back to school.
What could I say? I really like my privacy, which I've made it clear is not easy to come by here. But to say no would have once again ruined the vibe between me and the headmaster, so I agreed. So he moved in yesterday, and we will have the next six weeks together. I guess it will be like my home-stay experience with Mama Mipawa all over again. (I forgot, I visited her when I went to Morogoro for Mulletfest. I brought them fried grasshoppers, and they said it was the most wonderful gift...) My guest/roommates name is Malick O'Malley (perhaps spelled Omali, but he sounds Irish, its great) and he seems to be a good guy. He bought me a fried fish yesterday. That is the tell-tale sign of a good guy.
It will be hard to lose some of the freedom I had when I lived "bachelor style", as the Tanzanians have described it. "Bachelor" has somehow infiltrated into the Swahili language, the same way we use "safari" in English. If you are not married, you live "bachelor style"- which for me was cruising around in my pajamas on Sunday and making PB and J pretty often. But it will be interesting to live with someone, not as a student like during home-stay, but as a roommate and equal. He'll help me with Swahili, how to cook and live more like a Tanzanian (just so I know...) and so on.
Also, I wore an American flag as a cape on the 4th of July, I wore it to class and taught in it. I bought it at an outdoor booth that was also selling "The Little Mermaid" and "Real Ghostbusters" sheets. I bought these as well. Ah, the things you can find.... Last, "kwa heri" means goodbye. Read a book, why don't you?