As I am writing this…it is Sunday night, Feb. 8th…we have had power pretty much all evening today so I decided to get my computer out and type out what all crazy experiences and emotions I have been though in just one week…. So exactly one week from today we moved out to the village in Mayuge district…first I will describe the town..then our living situations…and then the emotional part and what I have learned…
The town is a 20 minute walk when taking the main road from school…but we have started walking back roads through the swamp area (beautiful vegetation and landscape) up through a miniature village and then come out right at the market area of town…but anyways, town means a 4-way round-a-about…and that’s it… each direction has a few shops and places to get traditional foods only..there are I think 2, maybe 3, places you can go to play pool…it is actually a nice place though…we have found places we like to go and when walking through town, seriously it because like we are in a parade everyday!! The children will run and yell and follow behind us for distances!! But they are scared to touch us at the same time!! We will stop and shake hands with the children running around us and try to play, you know, but they run away once we make a move towards them..it takes that one brave child to shake our hands..and then they all start coming to do it!! It is actually becoming like a game to pick out which child will standout and like you keep joking with them and then they smile and laugh…then the women and men are stopping what they are doing to stare and wave..and some yell things..but we like greeting them in their language, which is olyotya (how are you) or mulimoltya (to a group) and also they say Jambo here also..which we have been told is Swahili..random…oh yeah, but when we do speak their language, they just come unglued!! It is so funny…such an easy way to make people smile! Ok, so that’s the town..the school…ohhhh the school…we are living in the staff quarters of Rena College School..this one week at school has taught me more about myself then any week of my life…first our living situation…then school…we have a joke going..it is.. Accommodation: 3 steel beds, 1 upgraded pit-latrine and 1 roll of toilet paper! (seriously..thats all we got) We have made it look like us though…we bought decorations in Jinja the day before we came out and have hung pictures around each one of our beds…and our sparkly decorations and fake flowers add lots! We have no tables, no chairs, no closet, no dresser…we are living out of our suitcases..but we have placed certain suitcases places to use for things..like we call one our dresser, and pantry, and shirt closet or skirt closet….but we have misplaced lots of things and had to spend lots of time looking for them again…maybe because we also unpacked and reorganized everything without power!! Brooke has a headlamp and me and Erin use our flashlights..its weird but amazing how quickly you learn to use just a flashlight! Power…if it rains, no power (99.9% of the time)…during the day, normally no power..if it doesn’t come on early in the night than we have a chance it might come back on before we go to bed…but like now we have had it for awhile today..and it feels weird not having my light right beside me..the first few days we only had a spicket that is like knee high and a basin that we sat underneath to catch the water when we brush our teeth and wash our faces…our toilet is in the ground and now flushes (didn’t the first few days and we clogged it, haaaahahaa, and a plumber guy came out to fix it!! It was funny, sorry!) We have a tin roof that is very loud when storms come…one night when it rained really really hard, it woke all of us up for a long time and then the place right above my bed started leaking a bit…TIA..and the bugs here…we have bats and rats that like to be heard at the night!! I can’t sleep without my ipod, they sound like they are like sitting next to your head or rambling though our pantry… but I am conquering my fear of lizards, cockroaches, and everyday flies…we are working at not acknowledging flies when they land on us.. the land we are on is said to be in the swamp…its beautiful though!! Everywhere you look is green lands that just make you want to start walking…its really pretty…anyways, the school has two soccer goals, no nets though..I guess now I want to talk about the school…the system is veeeery different than our school systems…to us, it seems so disorganized, which has made it very difficult this week..but anyways, the classes were supposed to start last Monday..but the majority of the teachers still hadn’t reported to the school…once we got here..no one told us what we would be doing…literally…didn’t tell us anything..we had to find our teachers that we were thinking were supposed to help us…but I don’t think they had been told anything about us…we had to find our books..and here you have to check them out..multiple ones..and no google to quickly find the answers…so I checked out three books to try and start finding the topics that I copied off my syllabus. The students don’t get their own textbooks…for classes like English and science, if you want your students to use the book during class, you have to send a student to the bookroom to get the copies for your class, that can be up to 60 students, and then return them after class..so for homework that comes from any geography book, the students go to the bookroom and ask the librarian lady the question and they said she will give them the right book because they don’t have enough in other subjects…then they stand there and find the answer and then they are done..just seems like a lot of hassle to me, the due dates are like 2 weeks after you assign it…so ok..when we would ask the teachers when they were teaching, they would tell us they didn’t know..or that they weren’t, but we would then see them teaching a class…so it was very frustrating trying to observe classes…but it eventually happened..and that was very interesting..each teacher used a different method!! The classes are anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour (we have heard two different things from many different teachers) but the first half is like explaining things and diagrams if need be, and then the second half is reading them word for word notes that they copy down in their notebooks so that they have something to study…this take a lot of time people…its all in English too…the schools language is English..but we were given Lusoga names so that the students will have an easier time identifying us..mine is Namuganza, it means someone loved, Erin’s is Namulundo, it means to be in the Kings clan, like the Queen, and Brooke’s is Nabirye, hers means the mother of twins, which is seen here as extremely blessed…we don’t know why Peter, the headmaster of the school gave us these particular ones, but they always create conversation..it helps to feel apart of the village scene…anyways, back to teaching…Random..I am having fun typing..its weird the things you miss when you have really nothing to do..so I am typing everything out that I have been wanting to remember…but back to our first week of “orientation”..we were told not long before we came out to Mayuge that we would be teaching classes at a secondary school..TIA right…when we left America, we thought we would be teaching English to primary students…you know, like holding up picture cards helping to teach simple words and phrases (a little more to it than that, but seriously not much more)…but then once we got here, plans change (oh yeah, plan is another word that rarely has meaning here, something I thought I would never miss) so we got to the school still not knowing really what we would be doing…from the first few days all we could gather out of the staff at the school was what we were teaching, guessed at what level students, a syllabus, and very little more details…so we spent the next few days reading our textbooks and exploring the school grounds and the land behind us and the town…but once Friday rolled around..Erin and I both we told we were going to be given the notes that we were to read to the students for them to copy down during the second half of class…and all of us only had bits of information on the topics from our books..this is were internet is truly a precious thing..so the things that weren’t in our books, we just weren’t going to know..also other teachers that we have become friends with told us that the students in the levels we were planning on teaching would not be able to understand us for some time..so we went and talked to the headmaster about pairing up with teachers instead of having our own classes, and for the fact of our earlier departure, but anyways, we all felt much better about the situation and went out to find our teachers we wanted to be paired with…I asked to be paired with one of the other geography teachers who is a young guy that is very good with his English and is very easy to communicate with..so I was very excited about the situation…but today we talked with Peter and he said I was paired with someone other than this guy…so I guess we will see tomorrow…another TIA thing..now on to something else…today I had a very enlightening moment..the past few days I have been more homesick than I have since we got here…I felt like I had no communication with the outside world other than when people called us or sent a text message..and that gets hard…there is a tv in the teacher’s lounge, but we are rarely in there, and so we might catch some news if the powers on..and then no internet access anywhere near here…and the week had been frustrating..the same food everyday, getting used to only using pit latrines (real ones when we leave our house), feeling like we have no idea what we are about to be thrown into, feelings of uselessness, events happening at home, some type of bug on you at all times, just to name a few…haa….but as I read though that list, it seems so small…but something that is hard to deal with…to keep us occupied we have begun playing lots of cards, wall ball, bowling (out of our water bottles, oh which we have to ration…another one of those frustrating things) Me and Erin actually painted our toenails with whiteout and then colored them with sharpies!! It looks pretty cool actually…but back to my enlightening moment…I was sitting on the veranda this morning, after we did our laundry and cleaned around our room, watching these 4 boys play some soccer…I sat there for a minute debating on if I should go play with them…I eventually decided to go…we played and talked and I had so much fun..the ball was a highly deflated basketball..they were kicking it to me while playing 4 v. 1 to measure my skills..it was so funny!! Anyways, after I got really tired I came back and sat back on the veranda for a minute and just had the urge to start walking and see what I could find..so I asked a teacher friend to point me in the direction on a path that I haven’t taken yet..and the one he sent me on was not what I was expecting..I had to walk by the boys dorm to get to the path…so as I was about to approach the fence, I was stopped by a young man, named Brian, that is in S6, who after greeting me, with his top lip quivering because he was so nervous, asked me if I could help him with something..I was like well what is it and he asked me if I knew French..he said because he wanted to know another language..and I told him I didn’t know French, but knew some Spanish..so he thought that sounded good..and then asked when we could start..and I couldn’t say no..so we walked back to the staff quarters and I got my notebook and a pen and taught him all the Spanish I could remember in a 10 minute mind recollection period!! But Brooke said she would help me out next time..which Brain asked if it could be tomorrow after school..through those two simple things this morning, I realized something that I have been trying to say, but not fully understand..Today, I feel like I finally understand why I wanted to come back to Uganda..I wanted to remove myself my the daily stress of life in America, to come to a place that offers so much for a person to learn from through their culture and just sheer presence ..by only having what I consider to be the most basic living conditions imaginable..I can look out my window and see people who still have it worse than I do..and I have come to be happy with what we do have now..and it has made interacting with the people easier…just living every day..no plans..but people are so inquisitive..and if I just stop and think about where I am and listen to the people around me, it is amazing how much you can learn…even answering questions and misconceptions is challenging but rewarding at the same time! Ok…I am ending this journal essay I just wrote...it felt so great to type and get all that onto paper(ish)…anyways, peace and love!!
The town is a 20 minute walk when taking the main road from school…but we have started walking back roads through the swamp area (beautiful vegetation and landscape) up through a miniature village and then come out right at the market area of town…but anyways, town means a 4-way round-a-about…and that’s it… each direction has a few shops and places to get traditional foods only..there are I think 2, maybe 3, places you can go to play pool…it is actually a nice place though…we have found places we like to go and when walking through town, seriously it because like we are in a parade everyday!! The children will run and yell and follow behind us for distances!! But they are scared to touch us at the same time!! We will stop and shake hands with the children running around us and try to play, you know, but they run away once we make a move towards them..it takes that one brave child to shake our hands..and then they all start coming to do it!! It is actually becoming like a game to pick out which child will standout and like you keep joking with them and then they smile and laugh…then the women and men are stopping what they are doing to stare and wave..and some yell things..but we like greeting them in their language, which is olyotya (how are you) or mulimoltya (to a group) and also they say Jambo here also..which we have been told is Swahili..random…oh yeah, but when we do speak their language, they just come unglued!! It is so funny…such an easy way to make people smile! Ok, so that’s the town..the school…ohhhh the school…we are living in the staff quarters of Rena College School..this one week at school has taught me more about myself then any week of my life…first our living situation…then school…we have a joke going..it is.. Accommodation: 3 steel beds, 1 upgraded pit-latrine and 1 roll of toilet paper! (seriously..thats all we got) We have made it look like us though…we bought decorations in Jinja the day before we came out and have hung pictures around each one of our beds…and our sparkly decorations and fake flowers add lots! We have no tables, no chairs, no closet, no dresser…we are living out of our suitcases..but we have placed certain suitcases places to use for things..like we call one our dresser, and pantry, and shirt closet or skirt closet….but we have misplaced lots of things and had to spend lots of time looking for them again…maybe because we also unpacked and reorganized everything without power!! Brooke has a headlamp and me and Erin use our flashlights..its weird but amazing how quickly you learn to use just a flashlight! Power…if it rains, no power (99.9% of the time)…during the day, normally no power..if it doesn’t come on early in the night than we have a chance it might come back on before we go to bed…but like now we have had it for awhile today..and it feels weird not having my light right beside me..the first few days we only had a spicket that is like knee high and a basin that we sat underneath to catch the water when we brush our teeth and wash our faces…our toilet is in the ground and now flushes (didn’t the first few days and we clogged it, haaaahahaa, and a plumber guy came out to fix it!! It was funny, sorry!) We have a tin roof that is very loud when storms come…one night when it rained really really hard, it woke all of us up for a long time and then the place right above my bed started leaking a bit…TIA..and the bugs here…we have bats and rats that like to be heard at the night!! I can’t sleep without my ipod, they sound like they are like sitting next to your head or rambling though our pantry… but I am conquering my fear of lizards, cockroaches, and everyday flies…we are working at not acknowledging flies when they land on us.. the land we are on is said to be in the swamp…its beautiful though!! Everywhere you look is green lands that just make you want to start walking…its really pretty…anyways, the school has two soccer goals, no nets though..I guess now I want to talk about the school…the system is veeeery different than our school systems…to us, it seems so disorganized, which has made it very difficult this week..but anyways, the classes were supposed to start last Monday..but the majority of the teachers still hadn’t reported to the school…once we got here..no one told us what we would be doing…literally…didn’t tell us anything..we had to find our teachers that we were thinking were supposed to help us…but I don’t think they had been told anything about us…we had to find our books..and here you have to check them out..multiple ones..and no google to quickly find the answers…so I checked out three books to try and start finding the topics that I copied off my syllabus. The students don’t get their own textbooks…for classes like English and science, if you want your students to use the book during class, you have to send a student to the bookroom to get the copies for your class, that can be up to 60 students, and then return them after class..so for homework that comes from any geography book, the students go to the bookroom and ask the librarian lady the question and they said she will give them the right book because they don’t have enough in other subjects…then they stand there and find the answer and then they are done..just seems like a lot of hassle to me, the due dates are like 2 weeks after you assign it…so ok..when we would ask the teachers when they were teaching, they would tell us they didn’t know..or that they weren’t, but we would then see them teaching a class…so it was very frustrating trying to observe classes…but it eventually happened..and that was very interesting..each teacher used a different method!! The classes are anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour (we have heard two different things from many different teachers) but the first half is like explaining things and diagrams if need be, and then the second half is reading them word for word notes that they copy down in their notebooks so that they have something to study…this take a lot of time people…its all in English too…the schools language is English..but we were given Lusoga names so that the students will have an easier time identifying us..mine is Namuganza, it means someone loved, Erin’s is Namulundo, it means to be in the Kings clan, like the Queen, and Brooke’s is Nabirye, hers means the mother of twins, which is seen here as extremely blessed…we don’t know why Peter, the headmaster of the school gave us these particular ones, but they always create conversation..it helps to feel apart of the village scene…anyways, back to teaching…Random..I am having fun typing..its weird the things you miss when you have really nothing to do..so I am typing everything out that I have been wanting to remember…but back to our first week of “orientation”..we were told not long before we came out to Mayuge that we would be teaching classes at a secondary school..TIA right…when we left America, we thought we would be teaching English to primary students…you know, like holding up picture cards helping to teach simple words and phrases (a little more to it than that, but seriously not much more)…but then once we got here, plans change (oh yeah, plan is another word that rarely has meaning here, something I thought I would never miss) so we got to the school still not knowing really what we would be doing…from the first few days all we could gather out of the staff at the school was what we were teaching, guessed at what level students, a syllabus, and very little more details…so we spent the next few days reading our textbooks and exploring the school grounds and the land behind us and the town…but once Friday rolled around..Erin and I both we told we were going to be given the notes that we were to read to the students for them to copy down during the second half of class…and all of us only had bits of information on the topics from our books..this is were internet is truly a precious thing..so the things that weren’t in our books, we just weren’t going to know..also other teachers that we have become friends with told us that the students in the levels we were planning on teaching would not be able to understand us for some time..so we went and talked to the headmaster about pairing up with teachers instead of having our own classes, and for the fact of our earlier departure, but anyways, we all felt much better about the situation and went out to find our teachers we wanted to be paired with…I asked to be paired with one of the other geography teachers who is a young guy that is very good with his English and is very easy to communicate with..so I was very excited about the situation…but today we talked with Peter and he said I was paired with someone other than this guy…so I guess we will see tomorrow…another TIA thing..now on to something else…today I had a very enlightening moment..the past few days I have been more homesick than I have since we got here…I felt like I had no communication with the outside world other than when people called us or sent a text message..and that gets hard…there is a tv in the teacher’s lounge, but we are rarely in there, and so we might catch some news if the powers on..and then no internet access anywhere near here…and the week had been frustrating..the same food everyday, getting used to only using pit latrines (real ones when we leave our house), feeling like we have no idea what we are about to be thrown into, feelings of uselessness, events happening at home, some type of bug on you at all times, just to name a few…haa….but as I read though that list, it seems so small…but something that is hard to deal with…to keep us occupied we have begun playing lots of cards, wall ball, bowling (out of our water bottles, oh which we have to ration…another one of those frustrating things) Me and Erin actually painted our toenails with whiteout and then colored them with sharpies!! It looks pretty cool actually…but back to my enlightening moment…I was sitting on the veranda this morning, after we did our laundry and cleaned around our room, watching these 4 boys play some soccer…I sat there for a minute debating on if I should go play with them…I eventually decided to go…we played and talked and I had so much fun..the ball was a highly deflated basketball..they were kicking it to me while playing 4 v. 1 to measure my skills..it was so funny!! Anyways, after I got really tired I came back and sat back on the veranda for a minute and just had the urge to start walking and see what I could find..so I asked a teacher friend to point me in the direction on a path that I haven’t taken yet..and the one he sent me on was not what I was expecting..I had to walk by the boys dorm to get to the path…so as I was about to approach the fence, I was stopped by a young man, named Brian, that is in S6, who after greeting me, with his top lip quivering because he was so nervous, asked me if I could help him with something..I was like well what is it and he asked me if I knew French..he said because he wanted to know another language..and I told him I didn’t know French, but knew some Spanish..so he thought that sounded good..and then asked when we could start..and I couldn’t say no..so we walked back to the staff quarters and I got my notebook and a pen and taught him all the Spanish I could remember in a 10 minute mind recollection period!! But Brooke said she would help me out next time..which Brain asked if it could be tomorrow after school..through those two simple things this morning, I realized something that I have been trying to say, but not fully understand..Today, I feel like I finally understand why I wanted to come back to Uganda..I wanted to remove myself my the daily stress of life in America, to come to a place that offers so much for a person to learn from through their culture and just sheer presence ..by only having what I consider to be the most basic living conditions imaginable..I can look out my window and see people who still have it worse than I do..and I have come to be happy with what we do have now..and it has made interacting with the people easier…just living every day..no plans..but people are so inquisitive..and if I just stop and think about where I am and listen to the people around me, it is amazing how much you can learn…even answering questions and misconceptions is challenging but rewarding at the same time! Ok…I am ending this journal essay I just wrote...it felt so great to type and get all that onto paper(ish)…anyways, peace and love!!
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