January 23, 2014

It’s official! I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer! It took seventy days of training, but we made. Unfortunately, we lost a few on the way. Those first three months we were considered trainees, but now after swearing in we can take on the title of volunteer. Training was a tough road, but I’m excited for the next step of my journey! I learned how to teach, I learned Luganda (shout out to Dan and Herbert for being the best language trainers around!), and I learned, somewhat, how to survive in Uganda. This past week we’ve all been back together, which has been great! We were with each other step by step for over two months and have been separated in our language groups for the past month, so it’s been so great to be back together with everyone! There’s a club close by the conference center, and let’s just say we’ve utilized it to its fullest to celebrate together. But first let me back track…

            On the 17^th we had our language exam called the LPI, or language proficiency interview. Peace Corps requires you to pass your language at a certain level, OR ELSE. Just kidding. But really, we’re supposed to be good enough at our language to be considered ‘intermediate low’ in regards to help with integration and whatnot. So we meet early at school and I’m freaking out. It comes to be my turn and I leave thinking I’ve done a pretty decent job. Taylor and I head into town afterwards to grab a few things for the day’s activities. While in town I get a call saying I need to come back to the school. I come to find out that my exam was, unfortunately, not recorded. They have to record and keep all the exams as proof, I guess? I’m not really sure. Anyway, I had to take it again. I had tests, especially anything oral. Make that a 10-20 minute conversation all in Luganda and you got my anxiety all through the roof. After the first time, it felt like a huge weight was off my shoulders, but it definitely helped me be more confident going into it again. I don’t think I did as well, but I wasn’t as nervous. Regardless, it’s over with.  We celebrated our long month of language training and finishing of the LPI with a pool day that afternoon! One of our language trainers found a pool nearby, and by nearby I mean an hour trek down a dusty dirt road. Finally we reached Nimrod Hotel, yes that is the name, and spent a fantastic day sunbathing and swimming. It was just what was needed!

On our last day of homestay, January 18th, we held a party at the school for all the families.  To prepare, both boys and girls had ordered matching kitenge outfits – girls got dresses and boys got tunics. We arrived at the school early so we could get pictures of our group in our sweet outfits and our creative minds came up with a different picture for each month of the year. Shout out to Marvin, our creative lead and photographer. Check it out:

January: Model Pose
"Hot as ballsack." 

February: Girls vs. Guys
"Girls can also do it."

March: Stump Pic
"Got wood?"

April: Borehole
"Too much nfuufu and not enough amazzi."

May: Prom Pose
"Virginity is healthy."

June: Boyband/Inception
"Uganda love us."

July: Swimsuit Pose
"When you're in a picle, you'd rather be in a pineapple."

August: Giardia
"One of Christopher Columbus' friends probably died of Giardia."

September: Back to Ssomero
"You were a nun!?"

October: Asleep in Class
"We have so many activities planned for today."

November: Together
"Wamu."

December: The Last Supper
"Funa ku kitereevu kyaffe!"

            After the photoshoot the families started arriving. We had a powerpoint with pictures of all the families, played games, did an “American dance aka ‘The Cha Cha Slide’ (it’s pretty lame we don’t have anything cooler than that), had a few little speeches, and then a big, nice lunch. Each family was named and brought to the front and given a certificate. They all really enjoyed and I hope we were able to make them feel special!

           

         


           The past week included Supervisor’s Workshop prior to swearing in. The conference was to include what our role as a volunteer is, what their role as a supervisor is, and how we can work together to increase academic performance, literacy rate, and improve the school environment. My supervisor showed up for the last day, so. . . that was awesome. Hopefully that’s not a reflection on what it’s going to be like once we get to school.

             We also got to shop around Kampala a bit for things for our home and I’m so super excited to move in, to have our own place and stop living out of a bag. Taylor and I also decided to get pedicures while in Kampala, and it was one fantastic decision. You’d be surprised (or maybe not) how dirty and callous-y your feet get here. Even after you bathe your feet are still dirty. So a pedicure, in my opinion, was a fabulous decision, and we looked good for swearing in.

The actual swearing in process was pretty cool. On January 22nd, we traveled to the US Ambassador’s house, which by the way is huge and decorated beautifully; also, an incredibly beautiful bathroom that I would probably be content living in. Everyone involved in our training from our trainers, Ugandan and American, to our drivers were there, which helped make it feel so special. Some speeches were made and then our country director (who’s fantastic) read our names and we swore in as volunteers. Afterwards they brought out food, like real food – spicy chicken with ranch, spring rolls, BROWNIES, and more. It. Was. Delicious.

           

Well, it’s off to Biikira for us! Wish me luck!

Sunday, January 5, 2014

            The last couple days have been pretty interesting. Sometimes I’ll run around town by myself, but most days I meet up with Steve and we run around the field. He usually laps me at some point because I’m still getting back into running, BUT that wasn’t the case on Friday. Finally I kept my pace and he didn’t lap me. Might not seem that significant, but I’m taking that as an accomplishment for me.

            Yesterday was our cooking day. We all met up at Matt’s homestay house, because it was the biggest and nicest (IT EVEN HAD A TOILET), and cooked with his family and our language trainers. And good for me, he’s only a few houses down from mine. Since we’ll be on our own soon, the point was to get acclimated to things like the market and sigiris (spelling?). Sigiris are what many Ugandans use to cook instead of a stove; they can fit one pot and use charcoal. Marvin, our resident chef, was in charge of organizing and delegating. The day before we visited the market to get all the ingredients and then met early Saturday to start cooking! I pretty much did preparation stuff – chopping different veggies. We wanted to make an American-style meal and I must say, it turned out pretty well! I help my homestay mom cook sometimes, but I’ll admit, she does most of the work. It’s nice having someone cook for you, but I definitely miss being able to decide what I want, when I want it, and how I want it cooked. Not meant to take away from how fantastic my mom is! I didn’t really do any cooking on Saturday, I stirred and taste-tested some beans if that counts, but it was nice to have had a say in what was going to be cooked. After we ate, we just hung out and played some games for a while. It was nice to be all together in a relaxing atmosphere, eat good food, and have fun.

January 1, 2014: Happy Holidays!

            My first of three Christmases in country was an awesome one. The plan was for a current volunteer in each region to host Christmas for us newbs and any other volunteers in the region who did not travel home for the holidays. Central, though, is so spread out and there wasn’t someone who could host us, so luckily for us, we got to stay at a hotel, courtesy of Peace Corps. It was the twelve of us and then a few other volunteers. There were toilets and hot showers and a nice sitting room where we could all hang out. I haven’t had hot water, let alone a shower, in awhile and man did it feel good. You get used to bucket bathes, they’re really not that bad, but when you get the chance to take a hot shower it just feels so much better. The hotel let us use their kitchen, since no one else was there, and we all pitched in on food and Marvin planned out some awesome meals. The best part was Marvin arriving with two live chickens in hand. We asked someone to slaughter them for us since we weren’t quite sure how. I decided to watch how they do it; I thought I would be appalled and freak out, but it was kind of intriguing. I absolutely could never personally do it, though. I, of course, ate meat in America, though I always bought cage free, organic eggs and tried my best to buy organic chicken and grass fed beef because I once read a book about what they do to animals in order to get meat and I was rather disgusted. It’s actually more humane here because the cows and chickens are free to roam and the families that have animals slaughter them only for special occasions. Sometimes, though, you’ll see them eating from the trash piles and that’s just really gross. The beef at the market is just hung up, waiting to be bought; it sits in the sun, with god knows what insects flying on it, which also doesn't sit that well with me. I have eaten some meat here, regardless of the above, but it just doesn’t taste that great because it’s cooked differently. Marvin, though, is an amazing cook and was able to cook some great meat, so I got in my protein, which is good because my homestay family doesn’t really eat meat, considering it’s too expensive.  We drank. A lot. We watched tv and played games and just got to hang out all together without the pressure of having to learn or do something. It was my first Christmas away from home, and although it was a little sad at first, being surrounded by all my friends made me forget about missing home and I was just happy to be there with them. There wasn’t any snow, a Christmas tree, or lights, but it was still a really great Christmas, we had a lot of fun!

            I celebrated New Years last night by watching a movie and falling asleep early. I didn’t even make it to midnight. There was a big celebration going on down the street from me at the futbol pitch, but we’ve been warned about staying out past dark so it didn’t seem like the best idea. My family didn’t do anything special either because my mom fears being out away from the home after dark. If they would have gone out I would have joined because I would have felt much more comfortable with them. But I’ve got many more New Years Eves ahead of me so I’m not mad about a good night of sleep.