Monday, December 16, 2013                                     

            Well, it’s time to leave Shimoni! Tomorrow morning we all depart our separate ways to visit our future site. We dealt with cockroaches in our closets, half of us getting sick, dirty bathrooms, crowded rooms, and it being really hot. And we needed it. We’re not going to live in the little Kulika bubble for the majority of our time in Uganda, so we had to get used to more realistic living conditions. My first time using a pit latrine? At the bar. It wasn’t terrible, it was pretty hilarious, actually, watching Taylor hold the light for me in this back alley pit latrine as I try to aim in the hole. I’m sure I’ll get used to it. After that, I used it a few times at the school if the Turkish toilets got a little too gross. Was it ideal? No, but I’ve learned since being in Uganda that you just have to work with what you’ve got. We had every meal cooked for us, electricity most of the time, and water when we needed it. We were blessed with a lot more than most people have. And in that case, how can I complain? It’s been just over a month in country, and it’s been hard at times, but I’ve loved every bit of it. Now it’s off to site for three days to get a tour, see our home, and make sure everything is what it should be!
   

             

The sunsets are my favorite.

Our last visit to the bar to say goodbye!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

            School Based Training has ended! It was a long, but also really great two weeks.  The first lesson was rough, but by the end I got better with lesson plans and gained confidence being in front of the classroom. I got to co-teach with a Ugandan teacher as well as Peace Corps volunteers and also did many solo lessons. I learned a lot about what it’s like to teach in Uganda and how to be a better educator. The group of twenty-something primary school volunteers were split up among the different class levels; it turned out to be about three volunteers for each grade. The first week I taught some P6 and P7 classes and the second week I was teaching in P4. At the beginning of each week we signed up for the classes we wanted to teach and then had to make a lesson plan for each, following the Ugandan curriculum. Since I’ve never really, legitimately taught before, it was a little scary and nerve-wrecking at first, but being at the school and interacting with all the kids made me even more confident about my choice of being in the Peace Corps, not that I ever had a doubt. Sometimes they had trouble understanding me because of my accent; they prefer the Brits because it’s closer to how they sound so we’re supposed to work on our Uganglish/accent, which I’ll most definitely have to do before term one starts. Anyway, it was a great two weeks of practice!

            My favorite lesson by far would have to be the lesson I co-taught with Cody on continents in P7. We had to teach the seven continents and their order from largest to smallest. So what did we do? Made up a song, obvi. We went through the necessary info and then taught them a song that named the seven continents as well as had correlating hand motions to where each one is located. This one we learned from another volunteer, but for the next part, arranging largest to smallest, we made up our own little song, and they freakin loved it. We wrote out all the lyrics so it would be easier for them to follow along, and then threw in some claps and dance/swag. They loved it and, honestly, we loved it. The song is still stuck in my head.

            For the last day (which was yesterday) we had a day of games and reading. Some of the students from the PTC joined us as teachers and helped supervise the games as well as read the students stories. The students were split up and rotated between the different games and stories. The morning was cold and a little rainy, but by the end of the day it warmed up and was nice out. Before leaving we took pictures with the students and they couldn’t get enough of it. Most of them have never seen themselves through a mirror, let alone through a camera. They kept asking us to take pictures; they didn’t want us to stop. Eventually, though, we had to leave. They were so happy to have us there that they didn’t want to see us leave. And it was pretty sad for us leaving them. It’s crazy how attached you can get in just two weeks.

            Later that day we celebrated with a few beers at our little local bar. The usual kids showed up, wanting to hang out with us. There’s one little girl who’s especially sassy; she speaks no English, but she doesn’t need to in order to get her point and attitude across. She’s pretty funny actually. She’ll sit with us on the bench at the table or pull on our clothes if she wants to play. The kids love to be picked up and spun around; they think it’s so much fun. There are also a couple nuggets that I want to just pick up and take with me, per usual. I’m really happy the kids come around every time we’ve been there – it gives us a little entertainment! After dinner it was time for C.H.A.K.P.E. What’s that, you ask? Christmas Hanukkah Atheist Kwanza Party for Everyone. And it was great. Come a few days, we’re going to be split up for little over a month while we do language training. Since we’ll miss Christmas together, we decided to celebrate together before being separated. Stephanie put together C.H.A.K.P.E. where we did a white elephant gift exchange and the floor was open to anyone to sing, dance, do a skit, whatever. So after every few numbers someone would come up and perform something – we’ve got some talent in our group! I was a Maccabee in the telling of the story of Hanukkah (which was told by Rachel, so it was hilarious) and then Cody and I did an awesome rap about Christmas. I think if all else fails post Peace Corps that Cody and I have a rap career to fall back on.

the bar! ain't it cute?

She wouldn't smile for me.

           Today was our first day of language training. The morning was rough due to the aforementioned celebration. At least at home we’ve got air conditioning, dark spaces, and greasy food. Here you’ve got matooke and a million degrees of African equator heat. Anyway, I’m in the Luganda language group. Luganda is spoken in the central region of Uganda. There are twelve of us in our Luganda group (making us the biggest language group) and it’s probably the best group of twelve you could have. We’re already a hot mess and it was the first day. I can’t even begin to describe this language; I have a feeling I’m going to have some trouble. I took French in high school, which was helpful learning Spanish in college – you learn one romantic language, it’s pretty easy to learn the others since they’re similar. Unfortunately, Luganda has nothing in common with any other language I’ve learnt or even heard. But hey, it’s all part of the experience! Right? Good news is, we have two really fantastic language trainers, Dan and Herbert. Although the language might be tough to learn, there’s nothing I want more than to be able to talk to the people, especially the kids, so I’m genuinely really excited!

Sunday, December 8, 2013

            Today was an awesome day. The students at Shimoni put together a show for us! It was local singing and dancing set to drums and it was the best thing I’ve seen since being here. I was sitting there watching them, thinking to myself, “Now I’m in Africa.” Seeing legit African dances and watching them drum was, to me, the coolest thing ever. They were SO good and I loved it. From what I could understand, each dance went with a different ritual or had a specific meaning, such as circumcision ritual or mating. Didn’t even have to ask about that one because you could just tell. No type of American dance can even compare to what they did, but I bet they’d be awesome at twerking.

                In other news, once I felt better, which thank god I did, I started running again. I don’t go until about 5:30 or 6:00 at night because it’s so dang hot here. The roads are absolutely terrible because they’re dirt and filled with holes, which can sometimes be fun when you get to jump around. It’s also incredibly hilly here. So it’s rough, but I’m working my way back into shape, which is necessary because I spent the summer before leaving being a bum – if I wasn’t working, I was out drinking. I used the excuse of wanting to spend as much time as possible with my friends before leaving Clemmy (which was true!), but you know what happens when you just work and drink? Calories happen, which turns into a beer belly. So, back into shape it is. And what better time than here in Uganda? I bet my running shoes are going to be destroyed in no time, though, due to the terrible terrain. My favorite part is running past a herd of cows or some goats. You’d be surprised how often it happens. Sometimes the kids, and even adults, come out of nowhere and start running along side me. It’s pretty funny. Others just stare at me with the look of ‘why is this crazy white person running down the street?’ Besides playing soccer, exercise isn’t really a thing here. I don’t blame them, though, because literally everything you have to do here takes so much work and effort. I know some people who swear by running, like my mom. I have uncles and cousins who do marathons, but unfortunately I didn’t get those Kennedy genes. Even at the point where I was super in shape and working out every day, I still hated running. I got better at it, but never enjoyed it. Here, though, I actually seem to enjoy it. It’s fun to explore and it helps me let off some steam at the end of the day. Maybe I’ll even have a goal of trying to do a half marathon before my time here is done. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see! We also found a cute, little bar not too far from the school. You can fit about four people inside, but they have a pool table outside, some benches, and a table they set up for us. It's a quaint little place for us to hang out. We don't go a lot due to teaching every morning, but here and there ain't so bad. You have to make sure you go when the power has been on, otherwise the beers aren't cold. Now village bars consist of a choice of three of four beers and maybe one or two types of liquor - all local, all not great. Guess you get used to it, though. There's also a group of kids that come and hang out with us at the bar when we're there. At first I thought it was weird, but it's actually pretty fun having them around. There's one who's all up in our business; she loves us. The others are a lot more shy. Unfortunately they don't know any English and since we haven't learned any Luganda yet, communication is all in the form of hand motions. 
We make it work. Anyway, I'm glad we found the place! It's really nice to have a place close by after a long day to grab a beer and unwind wit yo friends.

Until next time.

            

Saturday, December 7, 2013: ZOO, ZOO, ZOO, ZOO

            Guess what we got to do!? Visit the zoo! We’ve seen pigs, goats, cows, and chickens, but I’ve been waiting almost a month to see some legit African animals! We left this morning for Entebbe Zoo and we had all day to pretty much do whatever we want in Entebbe. Entebbe is a decent city with plenty “muzungu” restaurants, so after the zoo we definitely wanted to check ‘em out and eat some good food. Taylor and I spent a few hours walking around the zoo, seeing pretty much every animal we could. Giraffe, zebra, lion, birds, chimps, hyenas, you name it. I love animals so it was awesome. My favorite part of the zoo happened on our way out. We noticed a momma monkey with her tiny, little cute as hell baby monkey. We weren’t really sure why it was out, but that it was the greatest thing to happen all day. Once we stepped into the parking lot, we saw a swarm of these monkeys! They were just walking around, doing as they pleased. Many on roofs of cars just hanging out and scaring people (although I don’t know why the people were scared because the monkeys were super cute). We asked what in the heck was going on and found at that typically during the day these monkeys venture out of the zoo, but hang nearby and always come back because they know they’re going to get fed. It was so awesome to see and definitely made my day!

tell me the babies aren't the cutest things.

            After the zoo we ventured out to find a restaurant, stopping on the way for a little shopping. I bought some supa cute pants. The restaurant was great; the food was just what we needed! We got to eat some delicious pizza and drink some beer - I splurged on Heineken. Then we ended our celebration with a couple tequila shots. It was so great to get away for the day and just not worry about anything. I got to wear pants out, not get called muzungu, not worry about making lesson plans, just got to spend the day having fun with my friends. AND I got to eat pizza! Pizza is amazing, yes, but I would have been fine with just a block of cheese. Do you know how hard it is to not be able to eat cheese regularly? I love cheese. All kinds of cheese. It’s delicious! Besides a dog, it’s the best friend a girl can have. In Uganda, you can pretty much only get cheese in big cities, so I guess it’ll just have to be a treat whenever we travel!

Love them!

Shoutout to our bartender for putting up with us!