Posts
After I graduated from college I wanted to kick myself for never taking a foreign language. I was always so jealous of those who could speak in a second language. I am proud to say that I can speak decently well in a language spoken no where else in the world. So what if I never use it again after my two years; I can say speak in two languages!
The learning of Luganda has been and still remains to be an interesting journey. People in Uganda are shocked that a Muzungu would know how to speak Luganda and they are very complimentary no matter how much I actually butcher their language. It got me thinking about how many times I have met a foreigner in America who is able to speak english. Never once did I get excited or thank them excessively for taking the time and trouble to learn our extremely difficult language. Most Americans have that attitude that if you are in our country you better know our language and do not appreciate the amount of effort one puts into actually learning the language. It is not rare that I say something strange without knowing it until I see the extremely confused look on their face. For example, the word for woman is very similar to the word for volunteer and when I am bargaining I often times tell them that I am just a woman so I do not have any money instead of saying that I am just a volunteer. There have been times that I have told people I will be living here for 200 years as opposed to two. Before I moved into my house the school deputy was telling me that they had sprayed for bats, but I was thinking he was saying spiders and I went on for a good while about how I fear spiders. Apparently they kept telling me that bats eat spiders and I was saying good, but I had no idea what was being said until Amber made fun of me for awhile the following day. Go figure I have bats, they thought I wanted them to take care of the spiders. I have a friend who was learning another Bantu language who had a habit of telling people that he liked to eat them for dinner. Thankfully Ugandans are very sympathetic listeners and rarely do they laugh at us. However, I am not sure that I am such a sympathetic listener. Today an Ugandan tried telling me that he wanted a muzungu girlfriend in English, but instead told me he wanted a boyfriend. When he realized what he said he laughed a little and I laughed for a good three minutes.
I am constantly trying to impress Ugandans with my language skills and sometimes they try to impress me with their English skills. This always ends up being a very strange conversation where they speak only in English and I only in Luganda. I usually don’t realize what has happened until we walk away and I realize how odd that was. In my attempt to learn to read and write in Luganda I am actually losing some of my English. For example, when I see a “ki” in an English word I want to pronounce it as “chi” as you would in Luganda. I can’t tell you the last time I have used the words “okay” and “no.” It’s always “kale” and “nedda.” Every time I write I start to write the word “kubanga” instead of “because.” While most Ugandans know English fairly well, it is British English and they say things odd in general. For example, instead of saying “I will pick you up at five” they would say, “I will pick you at five.” When I speak with Ugandans in English I find that I get this goofy accent, that we volunteers refer to as speaking Uganglish, and I leave off words we, as Americans, never would. When I come back to the states after two years most of you will think I am the strangest person in the world. I will be inserting Luganda words for English ones all of the time. I will be saying weird things like, “even me” and “thank you for the work” when you’re doing nothing at all. I will be greeting everyone I see and not just a friendly “hello” it will be followed with series of questions such as, but not limited to: How are you sir? Thank you for the bit of work you do. How is the family at home? How is life? All of these questions followed by a series of mmmm and ahhhs. In most situations this is a typical greeting. I’m sure you can imagine how long it takes me to walk a kilometer down the road when I pass about ten people. When I’m trying to impress taxis drivers with my Luganda, usually to get a better price, I end up using all of my Luganda by asking stupid questions like, “What do you like to do in your free time? Are you married? Do you have children? What do you most like to eat? Where do you live? I of course give my whole spiel about how I am from America, I am a volunteer with the American Peace Corps and I live at the primary school. I studied Luganda in Wakiso, but I only know a little. I will live in Masaka for two years, but I have a mom and dad in America. They have two cows and a dog. I also have two sisters. I know how to drive a car, but I fear driving in Uganda because many drivers drive crazy. I was a teacher in America and I like to teach geography. I usually throw in a few other random things that I know how to say, like that they drive well even though I am usually scared for my life or that I like to eat chapati. I’m sure they go home to their families and talk about what a weirdo I am, but I am usually proud of my lack of important Luganda phrases.
A new group of volunteers arrive in Uganda every six months. When one group is swearing in, another group is returning back to the states. I have been talking with volunteers that are on their way back to the states and it is quite comical to hear them talk about their fears of returning home. One girl said that she fears that people will just think she is plain retarded. It’s not saying that Ugandans and their mannerisms that we have picked up on are retarded, but when you put them in the American setting I can see how one would feel that way. This same volunteer asked me my name the other day and I said A-U-T-U-M-N being sure to enunciate every single syllable. When I finished I realized, wait this is not a difficult name for her. We laughed for a bit because she understands why I did it, but when I return to the states people would probably be offended and think I thought they were slow. When you go to a restaurant here in Uganda you may be handed a menu, but there is no point in looking at it because it is unlikely that they will have 90% of the items on the menu. Instead you ask, “What do you have?” Another volunteer was talking about going to an Applebees and after looking at a menu asking, “But what do you REALLY have?” Due to the lack of electricity it is at times difficult to find cold drinks. When ordering a drink it would not be rude to ask to feel them all to find one that is actually cold and then it is also appropriate to ask any drink to be returned if it was not opened while you were looking. As an American, what would you think if you saw someone requesting to feel all the bottles at the bar before buying and then refusing to drink it because it was not opened in their site. I will probably be very touchy when I get back. It is not odd to touch someone on the arm or the back while speaking with them, even if you just met. If I were to get on a bus that contained only one other passenger, I would probably sit right next to him and talk the entire time. Women and children kneel as a sign of respect. Upon first coming here I figured I would do it, but then I could never figure out when and who to kneel and it also seemed a bit tedious to always be kneeling, so I have chosen to refrain. Yesterday, I had a 80 year old woman kneeling for me on the side of a dirt road and I felt like a complete jerk. An 80 year old women kneeling down to me; I should have been kneeling down for her. Maybe I’ll start kneeling and bring that back to the states with me as well.
Before coming to Uganda I figured any job interview would be a breeze upon my return to the states. Such questions as “Tell me how you would handle a class of thirty-two children” could easily be answered with “Let me tell you about the time I taught a class of a 132 children.” “Tell me about a time you worked with someone different than yourself,” would sound something like “Well let me tell you about the time I lived in Uganda for two years.” Easy as pie. Now I’m starting to think differently. I’m going to go into an interview speaking Uganglish, being all touchy feely, kneeling for them, and asking completely inappropriate questions about their personal life and telling them that my parents have two cows and a dog. Overall, I cannot wait for you all to see how weird I have become; it is awesome.
Other random stories and thoughts completely unrelated to the above:
The other day I was on the way to my latrine and saw thousands of termites swarming out of their termite hill. A child noticed the termites and I would have thought he just saw Santa Claus. He came running full speed yelling for his friends with pure excitement. I went to the bathroom and when I came out there were ten children catching the termites and eating them. One child had so many stuffed in his mouth they were pouring out and he was laughing hysterically; just as a child in America would stuff his mouth with cake and laugh. I was talking to my mom about things we could do if they came to visit and I was saying how it is possible to not really do anything and yet be constantly entertained when you are experiencing another culture. This was a perfect example of a time was throughly entertained while doing nothing more than walking to and from the latrine.
I got an e-mail last week asking me, “Besides the obvious friends and family, what do you miss the most about home.” I think I said something about Penny’s Noodle Shop’s pad thai and Cubs games. But I think that what I actually miss the most is late sunsets in the summertime. There is nothing better than the day you realize it is nine p.m. and just getting dark. Here is gets dark at seven and it makes it feel more like winter despite the 75 degree weather. It is also a huge bummer when you have no electricity and when darkness brings out the bats.
The other night I stayed the night at Amber’s because I was going to pick up my new purple ten speed bike, an almost replica of the one I had in fifth grade. I have what I refer to as “my” room at Amber’s place and she had sent me a text a week before informing that she had just stepped on a huge rat, but trapped it in my room. A few days later she had opened the windows in the room and looked everywhere for him the following day with no luck of finding him; we obviously assumed he had made his exit through the window. So I was getting ready for bed, removing her backpack and such off the bed, trying not to step in rat poop. This has seemed to become my life, always dodging poop of some sort. At home stay it was that of a child’s, at my home it is of a bat, and now at Amber’s it belongs to a rat. Anyway, I turn around to walk out of the room when I just about stepped on the rat. Luckily, he was dead and I was able to just sweep him on outside; apparently Amber had starved him to death. I felt a little bad about his long death, but at the same time I am over finding rodents or bats dead or alive indoors.
And lastly, my Ugandan friend Carol’s grandma passed away on Monday night and they were having her burial on Tuesday. A man on a bicycle with a megaphone rode around the village announcing her death and the time of the burial. I decided that I should probably look “smart,” as they call it, and wear my floral Goodwill dress that I cut the shoulder pads out of along with my K-mart dress shoes. It was quite the outfit, but just as I thought, I was complimented on how smart I was. Usually the African’s opinion of what is smart is what an American would consider tacky. But whatever, if I can be smart for under ten dollars, I’ll do it. Anyway, We first went to the grandmother’s house and sat with the rest of the village in the front yard while the daughters and sons were inside with the body wailing. About an hour later they came out of the house and the village chairman and some other men wrapped the body in a cloth used for burial and placed the body in the casket. Once they brought the body out of the house they sang a few songs and a man talked a bit about her, or at least that is what I think he was saying. I did hear that she was eighty-nine years old, which is extremely old for a developing country. They then took the body to the burial site in which they lowered the body into the grave while singing another song and people through dirt on the grave. It was odd because despite the fact that Carol was the granddaughter, we sat in the back behind a tree and she did not even seen upset. I’m sure she was, but she talked with me about random things most of the time and during the burial she decided we should start walking home. I think I was more upset than she was because it got me thinking about my own grandfather’s death, but I guess different cultures have a different way of responding to tragedies.
Once again, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to take an interest in my life! I hope all is happy and well!
Peace and love,
Nalubega Autumn
p.s. If you have not yet done so, please pick up a David Sedaris book. I just got done reading “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and laughed out loud multiple times.
p.s.s. I promise I will have a new address soon. I need a letter from a woman, who is on holiday, before I am able to open a P.O. Box!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Muli mutya! I hope this message finds you all happy and well!
More often than not, time in Africa seems to be almost nonexistent. If someone tells you you are leaving at three, it is more likely you will leave two to three hours after that time. One day I was told that someone would come take care of my bat situation on Tuesday morning, but actually did not show up until Wednesday afternoon. Ugandans even have a different way of measuring time which I still have a hard time of grasping. According to Ugandans the day starts at seven a.m. and they call this the first hour, or 1 o’clock. Seven p.m. would be 12 o’clock. I guess it makes some sense considering the sun rises around seven a.m. and sets at seven p.m Upon first arriving at the college we had a meeting with our colleagues in which we were told would start at ten. After three hours of waiting around, the meeting finally began at one. What I found the most odd was the fact that despite the fact that everything from actual work to the format of the meeting’s schedule was discussed, never once was it mentioned that the meeting started three hours late and that all but Amber and I were excessively late. While I was sitting waiting for the meeting to begin I was being my typical American self thinking about all of the things I could have done with those three lost hours. While living with my home stay family I used to find myself annoyed when I woke up to a rainy day because I knew I was going to have to once again convince my family that despite the rain, I still had to go to school. It is a rare occasion to see Ugandans traveling in the rain. When I would have to once again justify my moving in the rain, I would think to myself that if more Ugandans would just go to work during the rain the country may be a bit more developed. I know that it was rather judgmental, but when in America could you tell your boss “Sorry I didn’t come to work and I missed a major meeting, but it was raining?” They would tell you, “Don’t you know time is money?” Last weekend on the way to Celeste’s Amber and I learned a major lesson on why Ugandans do not travel in the rain. Amber and I had plans to leave at 9:30 and even though it was raining, we had plans that we were not about to let a little rain delay. We started walking down the road looking for a taxi, but we were the only people on the road. Of course the road is made of dirt and is composed of incredibly steep hills. Twenty minutes into our walk I am drenched and our shoes are so covered in mud we cannot move our feet. Anytime we were able to move, we would take one step forwards and slide at least to steps back down the hill. We took off our shoes which made the going a bit easier, but still no taxi in site. Of course, there are plenty of Ugandans standing on their porches stating the obvious, that it is raining. A hour, maybe even two, later the rain stops and out come the taxis immediately. If we would have just waited like the Ugandans, we probably would have reached our destination at the same time, but a lot drier and cleaner. For the rest of the day Ugandans continued to state the obvious by saying, “Muzungu, you are dirty.” When roads are made of dirt, it is wise to remain in doors; lesson learned. While that only helps me understand the lack of punctuality while it is raining and not the lack of punctuality in general, it is a start.
Our trip to Entebbe to visit Celeste was fabulous. Celeste lives in a convent with seven or so other nuns on Lake Victoria. The nuns are probably the funniest nuns I have ever met. Okay, so they are probably the only nuns I have ever known, but none the less they are hysterical. Sister Valentine loved her Smirnoff Ices and upon our arrival gifted the five of us with thirty beers and a 2L of Fanta. She told me that Fanta was an acronym for “foolish Africans never take alcohol.” I found that a) hysterical and b) odd considering that many Africans love to drink, maybe even a bit too much. Celeste’s home has tiled floors, a shower, refrigerator, and wireless internet. While it is not was she had envisioned as being her Peace Corps experience, we convinced her that she still has many hardships such as: sometimes the internet doesn’t work very well, there are ants in her bathroom, and sometimes it is too misty to see the lake from her bedroom window in the morning. But in all honesty, she lives in Uganda and there will be extreme difficulties she will deal with despite how posh her living arrangements are. On Saturday Celeste took us to get real lattes and cappuccino at a coffee shop. While this may not sound like a big deal to you at home, imagine only drinking instant coffee for the past two months. After the coffee house we went to beautiful hotel to swim, have a drink, and eat pizza. Luckily, I learned my lesson the last time we went to the pool in Wakiso and did not end up with blistering skin. Ashley, I know what you’re thinking, but I did wear tons of sun screen; it was faulty and I have new that actually works.
In other news, I caught another bat today. I saw him hanging from my suitcase and was appalled considering I had been digging through the suitcase all morning and could not believe neither one of us seemed to notice the other. I got my bat catching box out (the box my charcoal iron came in. That’s right, I iron my clothes with an iron I fill with charcoal) and got up enough nerve to catch him, it was only after I set him free outside that I realized he was not going anywhere to fast. I gave him a little nudge and that is when I realized that the poison must have gotten to him. For a second I started to feel bad, but then I just made breakfast and enjoyed my bat free house. Okay, so it is not free of bats, but at least I am one down.
Anyway, as always I hope everything is happy, warm, and sunny on your side of the world! : ) I miss you and love you!
Peace and love,
Autumn
p.s. Thank you for taking the time out of your days to read about my little life here in Uganda!
More often than not, time in Africa seems to be almost nonexistent. If someone tells you you are leaving at three, it is more likely you will leave two to three hours after that time. One day I was told that someone would come take care of my bat situation on Tuesday morning, but actually did not show up until Wednesday afternoon. Ugandans even have a different way of measuring time which I still have a hard time of grasping. According to Ugandans the day starts at seven a.m. and they call this the first hour, or 1 o’clock. Seven p.m. would be 12 o’clock. I guess it makes some sense considering the sun rises around seven a.m. and sets at seven p.m Upon first arriving at the college we had a meeting with our colleagues in which we were told would start at ten. After three hours of waiting around, the meeting finally began at one. What I found the most odd was the fact that despite the fact that everything from actual work to the format of the meeting’s schedule was discussed, never once was it mentioned that the meeting started three hours late and that all but Amber and I were excessively late. While I was sitting waiting for the meeting to begin I was being my typical American self thinking about all of the things I could have done with those three lost hours. While living with my home stay family I used to find myself annoyed when I woke up to a rainy day because I knew I was going to have to once again convince my family that despite the rain, I still had to go to school. It is a rare occasion to see Ugandans traveling in the rain. When I would have to once again justify my moving in the rain, I would think to myself that if more Ugandans would just go to work during the rain the country may be a bit more developed. I know that it was rather judgmental, but when in America could you tell your boss “Sorry I didn’t come to work and I missed a major meeting, but it was raining?” They would tell you, “Don’t you know time is money?” Last weekend on the way to Celeste’s Amber and I learned a major lesson on why Ugandans do not travel in the rain. Amber and I had plans to leave at 9:30 and even though it was raining, we had plans that we were not about to let a little rain delay. We started walking down the road looking for a taxi, but we were the only people on the road. Of course the road is made of dirt and is composed of incredibly steep hills. Twenty minutes into our walk I am drenched and our shoes are so covered in mud we cannot move our feet. Anytime we were able to move, we would take one step forwards and slide at least to steps back down the hill. We took off our shoes which made the going a bit easier, but still no taxi in site. Of course, there are plenty of Ugandans standing on their porches stating the obvious, that it is raining. A hour, maybe even two, later the rain stops and out come the taxis immediately. If we would have just waited like the Ugandans, we probably would have reached our destination at the same time, but a lot drier and cleaner. For the rest of the day Ugandans continued to state the obvious by saying, “Muzungu, you are dirty.” When roads are made of dirt, it is wise to remain in doors; lesson learned. While that only helps me understand the lack of punctuality while it is raining and not the lack of punctuality in general, it is a start.
Our trip to Entebbe to visit Celeste was fabulous. Celeste lives in a convent with seven or so other nuns on Lake Victoria. The nuns are probably the funniest nuns I have ever met. Okay, so they are probably the only nuns I have ever known, but none the less they are hysterical. Sister Valentine loved her Smirnoff Ices and upon our arrival gifted the five of us with thirty beers and a 2L of Fanta. She told me that Fanta was an acronym for “foolish Africans never take alcohol.” I found that a) hysterical and b) odd considering that many Africans love to drink, maybe even a bit too much. Celeste’s home has tiled floors, a shower, refrigerator, and wireless internet. While it is not was she had envisioned as being her Peace Corps experience, we convinced her that she still has many hardships such as: sometimes the internet doesn’t work very well, there are ants in her bathroom, and sometimes it is too misty to see the lake from her bedroom window in the morning. But in all honesty, she lives in Uganda and there will be extreme difficulties she will deal with despite how posh her living arrangements are. On Saturday Celeste took us to get real lattes and cappuccino at a coffee shop. While this may not sound like a big deal to you at home, imagine only drinking instant coffee for the past two months. After the coffee house we went to beautiful hotel to swim, have a drink, and eat pizza. Luckily, I learned my lesson the last time we went to the pool in Wakiso and did not end up with blistering skin. Ashley, I know what you’re thinking, but I did wear tons of sun screen; it was faulty and I have new that actually works.
In other news, I caught another bat today. I saw him hanging from my suitcase and was appalled considering I had been digging through the suitcase all morning and could not believe neither one of us seemed to notice the other. I got my bat catching box out (the box my charcoal iron came in. That’s right, I iron my clothes with an iron I fill with charcoal) and got up enough nerve to catch him, it was only after I set him free outside that I realized he was not going anywhere to fast. I gave him a little nudge and that is when I realized that the poison must have gotten to him. For a second I started to feel bad, but then I just made breakfast and enjoyed my bat free house. Okay, so it is not free of bats, but at least I am one down.
Anyway, as always I hope everything is happy, warm, and sunny on your side of the world! : ) I miss you and love you!
Peace and love,
Autumn
p.s. Thank you for taking the time out of your days to read about my little life here in Uganda!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Would You Rather....sleep with bats or coakroaches?
If we were making a list of things I dislike in this world it would be rather short, but it would most certainly include bats. Last night I spent my first night in my new home; I had been warned that there were some holes that would need to be repaired to keep the bats out, but at the time I did not think too much of it as long as I had my beloved mosquito net to keep me safe. Because it gets dark here around seven, I do not have electricity, and because it is not safe to be outside after dark I found myself going to bed around nine only to wake up two hours later to the sound of what I thought was someone trying to unlock my back door. I was so frightened I just about peed myself. Schools are on holiday so all of my neighbors have left and the closest neighbor is about two hundred yards away and I doubted they would hear my screams. I immediately went through the list of phone numbers I had recently acquired of community members. I had recently went to the police station to let them know who I was and all I found was a man out of uniform and a room all but empty except for the empty desk. I took his number and he told me to call if I need anything, but he has no car and no motorcycle. I was not sure how much of use he would have actually been. I decided that the bars on my windows, and the pad locks on the steel doors would most definitely keep me safe and that they were probably hoping that I had forgot to lock up, so I tried to get back to sleep. After while I realized that this was not at all the sound of someone trying to break in, but rather the sound of some kind of winged animal coming through the holes in the walls. While I now at least felt safe, they were incredibly loud as their wings would flap against the tin roof. I now regret only wanting a tin roof and no ceiling. Around six in the morning they finally decided that they were tired and would leave me; at least one of us would get some sleep. Once I left the safety of my net, the status of the type of animal was confirmed by the presents they left me all over my house. Luckily I just received a call from Amber informing me that her and Moses, one of the most incredible people I have ever met, will be over tomorrow afternoon with concrete and bat repellent. Just another example of how fabulous the people of Uganda and my PCV friends are!
Upon arriving at my new home yesterday I unloaded my only furniture, a twin-sized bed, a table, and chair, all borrowed from the college. I am constantly reminded of who I work for by the name imprinted on the table every time I sit down to eat a meal. I was introduced to a student from the college who lives near while on holiday; her name is Carol and is sweet as can be. In exchange for her showing me around the village I have offered to help her with her homework. Yesterday, the deputy of the primary school were I live, a man who never stops smiling and is wonderful to say the least, told me that it would be arranged for water to be brought for me. I was confused because I was told the water was near my home and figured that because I am a muzungu he too believes that I am not able to do manual labor by myself. I asked to see the water regardless and he just laughed saying that I would not want to use that water. I was fully convinced that the water would be just fine until I saw children standing in a swamp collecting water next to the broken borehole. He was right, I will not be collecting my water from the swamp. Well, unless I want to be guaranteed to contract some sort of bacterial infection during my Peace Corps years. Throughout my training we talked a lot about sustainable development and how a lot of water projects fail to be sustainable. The problem seems to come in when groups with money come in, give a community a borehole, and leave without training community members on how to maintain the borehole. Therefore, the borehole breaks and the community waits for the organization to come and make the repairs, which most likely will never happen. I asked the deputy how long the borehole has been broken and I was told three months. It is frustrating to see a community collecting unsafe water when there is a bore hole that just needs repair. However, it will give me an opportunity to work with the community and hopefully get the borehole back in working order.
After looking into the water situation I asked Carol to show me where the market was to buy some food. I was told that market day is every Monday and switches locations every other Monday. One location is near my home, the other not. Yesterday happened to be far away market day. Carol gave me the option of walking through the forest, I was told this was the short cut, so of course I choose this route. An hour later we had finally arrived at the market which was actually a clothes market and not a food market at all. However, we found some food along side the road and made our way back home just before night fall. I decided that getting food is a huge hassle and I’ll think twice before I eat out of boredom. On the plus side, the walk to market is one of the most beautiful walks I have ever taken. Once I get to know my community a bit I will take some pictures and once again attempt to post pictures. I tried posting last time, but of course the electricity went out just as I was about to finish. I want to wait to get to know my community before I bring out my camera to try to combat being labeled the rich muzungu. People see the color of our skin and automatically assume that we are rich. Yesterday I had a small child yell to me, “Hey muzungu, give me my money!” We always have to barter much more than a local and while I understand where they are coming from, it can be frustrating at times when you’re trying to fit in. Carol also told me that her dad was so proud that she was the one who gets to show me around and went on for awhile about how happy he was going to be to see her with me. Here is a man that knows nothing about me, except that the color of my skin is white and it is like I am some kind of celebrity. I asked her why he would be proud and she told me because he knew that I would teach her many things because I am very educated. While he doesn’t know exactly how educated or uneducated I am, people from the Western World are thought of as being incredibly educated. According to Carol and her father, I know just about everything there is to know. It’s interesting to see how people on the other side of the world view us Westerners. While I am happy to at least be singled out in a positive manner, I would rather not be singled out, and I most definitely wish I did not have these expectations of me. I guess I can just look at it as another teaching example; that just because we are muzungus doesn’t mean that we are any smarter than any of them. Knowing me, I am sure I will be able to prove this on a daily basis.
Because of the holiday and the fact that my counterpart has not yet moved into his new home, I have little to no work to do for the next couple of weeks other than get to know my community. My days usually consist of twenty-two children of all ages surrounding me on the porch. I’ll usually talk with them until I exhaust my Luganda which takes about twenty to thirty minutes. Then I read my book while they watch me closely in hopes they will see me do something strange. After awhile I get tired of being a freak show and decide to move inside. My movement indoors only encourages them to peer into my windows and try their hardest to coax me back outside with the ever famous word of “Muzungu.” While I enjoy their company and their beautiful faces, I hope the novelty of me will soon wear off a bit. Today I have also received an abundant amount food from neighbors. So far I have received four of both avocados and eggplants, two yams the size of my head, sugar cane, soybeans and greens galore, mangoes, passion fruits, papaya, squash, two eggs and a bunch of other things I have yet to figure out what they are. I’m just waiting for my jello mold to arrive and I’ll be set.
Anyway, I could go on forever about how amazing my community is, but I’ll stop for now. As always, I hope everything is happy and well at home!
Peace and love,
Autumn
p.s. Amber’s mom, I hope I posted this is a timely fashion! : ) Thank you for reading!
p.p.s. I just wanted to add that I just caught my very first bat. He was sitting in the corner of my room and because of the new cement installed today, he had no way out. I, of course, called my savior Moses to ask him what I should do. He of course offered to come over and take care of it or suggested that I hit it with a broom until it dies. Instead of bludgeoning it to death, I opted for capturing him in a box and setting him free outside. I’m sure I’ll have to do this everyday until he gets the point that he’s not welcome, or until Moses comes and beats him with a stick.
p.p.p.s. for those of you wanting to send things. The only things I wouldn't like to receive are sardines and cilantro. Other than that I would welcome anything! However, it is expensive to send things so keep it small! My mom said you can get a prepaid envelope and stuff it with as much as you like for 12 dollars. I would love to have any packaged foods like noodles or whatever that is small. Spices and seasonings are also always a wonderful and convenient thing to have while I'm slaving over my stove in the dark while dodging bats! :) Oh, and due to a lack of better things to do after 7 pm I would love any old book you have lying around! (That includes the last two of Twilight Aunt Di)! I will get a post box today and post the address soon! Thanks!
Upon arriving at my new home yesterday I unloaded my only furniture, a twin-sized bed, a table, and chair, all borrowed from the college. I am constantly reminded of who I work for by the name imprinted on the table every time I sit down to eat a meal. I was introduced to a student from the college who lives near while on holiday; her name is Carol and is sweet as can be. In exchange for her showing me around the village I have offered to help her with her homework. Yesterday, the deputy of the primary school were I live, a man who never stops smiling and is wonderful to say the least, told me that it would be arranged for water to be brought for me. I was confused because I was told the water was near my home and figured that because I am a muzungu he too believes that I am not able to do manual labor by myself. I asked to see the water regardless and he just laughed saying that I would not want to use that water. I was fully convinced that the water would be just fine until I saw children standing in a swamp collecting water next to the broken borehole. He was right, I will not be collecting my water from the swamp. Well, unless I want to be guaranteed to contract some sort of bacterial infection during my Peace Corps years. Throughout my training we talked a lot about sustainable development and how a lot of water projects fail to be sustainable. The problem seems to come in when groups with money come in, give a community a borehole, and leave without training community members on how to maintain the borehole. Therefore, the borehole breaks and the community waits for the organization to come and make the repairs, which most likely will never happen. I asked the deputy how long the borehole has been broken and I was told three months. It is frustrating to see a community collecting unsafe water when there is a bore hole that just needs repair. However, it will give me an opportunity to work with the community and hopefully get the borehole back in working order.
After looking into the water situation I asked Carol to show me where the market was to buy some food. I was told that market day is every Monday and switches locations every other Monday. One location is near my home, the other not. Yesterday happened to be far away market day. Carol gave me the option of walking through the forest, I was told this was the short cut, so of course I choose this route. An hour later we had finally arrived at the market which was actually a clothes market and not a food market at all. However, we found some food along side the road and made our way back home just before night fall. I decided that getting food is a huge hassle and I’ll think twice before I eat out of boredom. On the plus side, the walk to market is one of the most beautiful walks I have ever taken. Once I get to know my community a bit I will take some pictures and once again attempt to post pictures. I tried posting last time, but of course the electricity went out just as I was about to finish. I want to wait to get to know my community before I bring out my camera to try to combat being labeled the rich muzungu. People see the color of our skin and automatically assume that we are rich. Yesterday I had a small child yell to me, “Hey muzungu, give me my money!” We always have to barter much more than a local and while I understand where they are coming from, it can be frustrating at times when you’re trying to fit in. Carol also told me that her dad was so proud that she was the one who gets to show me around and went on for awhile about how happy he was going to be to see her with me. Here is a man that knows nothing about me, except that the color of my skin is white and it is like I am some kind of celebrity. I asked her why he would be proud and she told me because he knew that I would teach her many things because I am very educated. While he doesn’t know exactly how educated or uneducated I am, people from the Western World are thought of as being incredibly educated. According to Carol and her father, I know just about everything there is to know. It’s interesting to see how people on the other side of the world view us Westerners. While I am happy to at least be singled out in a positive manner, I would rather not be singled out, and I most definitely wish I did not have these expectations of me. I guess I can just look at it as another teaching example; that just because we are muzungus doesn’t mean that we are any smarter than any of them. Knowing me, I am sure I will be able to prove this on a daily basis.
Because of the holiday and the fact that my counterpart has not yet moved into his new home, I have little to no work to do for the next couple of weeks other than get to know my community. My days usually consist of twenty-two children of all ages surrounding me on the porch. I’ll usually talk with them until I exhaust my Luganda which takes about twenty to thirty minutes. Then I read my book while they watch me closely in hopes they will see me do something strange. After awhile I get tired of being a freak show and decide to move inside. My movement indoors only encourages them to peer into my windows and try their hardest to coax me back outside with the ever famous word of “Muzungu.” While I enjoy their company and their beautiful faces, I hope the novelty of me will soon wear off a bit. Today I have also received an abundant amount food from neighbors. So far I have received four of both avocados and eggplants, two yams the size of my head, sugar cane, soybeans and greens galore, mangoes, passion fruits, papaya, squash, two eggs and a bunch of other things I have yet to figure out what they are. I’m just waiting for my jello mold to arrive and I’ll be set.
Anyway, I could go on forever about how amazing my community is, but I’ll stop for now. As always, I hope everything is happy and well at home!
Peace and love,
Autumn
p.s. Amber’s mom, I hope I posted this is a timely fashion! : ) Thank you for reading!
p.p.s. I just wanted to add that I just caught my very first bat. He was sitting in the corner of my room and because of the new cement installed today, he had no way out. I, of course, called my savior Moses to ask him what I should do. He of course offered to come over and take care of it or suggested that I hit it with a broom until it dies. Instead of bludgeoning it to death, I opted for capturing him in a box and setting him free outside. I’m sure I’ll have to do this everyday until he gets the point that he’s not welcome, or until Moses comes and beats him with a stick.
p.p.p.s. for those of you wanting to send things. The only things I wouldn't like to receive are sardines and cilantro. Other than that I would welcome anything! However, it is expensive to send things so keep it small! My mom said you can get a prepaid envelope and stuff it with as much as you like for 12 dollars. I would love to have any packaged foods like noodles or whatever that is small. Spices and seasonings are also always a wonderful and convenient thing to have while I'm slaving over my stove in the dark while dodging bats! :) Oh, and due to a lack of better things to do after 7 pm I would love any old book you have lying around! (That includes the last two of Twilight Aunt Di)! I will get a post box today and post the address soon! Thanks!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
PCT to PCV...finally! : )
Greetings everyone! As always, I hope this message finds you all happy and well! Here is Uganda things are more fabulous than I could have ever dreamed! Because I have not been able to write for awhile I will try to fill you in on the past few weeks! Training has been exhausting to say the least and a couple of weeks before the end we had a talent show in which trainees and trainers preformed. While many of my fellow collegues are incredibly talented musicians, dancers, and performers in general, I have yet to find my talent. Therefore, along with the rest of my language group we decided to make complete idiots of ourselves doing a Spartan Cheerleader skit which ended with our Ugandan teacher wearing a dress and topping off the top of our all female human pyramid. Overall it was a great day and couldn't have come at a better time, we were all in need of a relaxing and fun day. The following week was again a bit stressful because we were all preparing for the presentations of proposed secondary projects. Once those were finished we had our language test which must be past in order to be a volunteer. If one did not pass then they would be retested again in three months and if at that point they still did not pass the country director would decided whether they could stay on as a volunteer or not. Despite my many awkward laughs throughout my test, I passed! It is incredible the amount of Luganda I can actually speak and understand in such a small amount of time! After our language test we had a ceremony to thank our home stay families for accomidating us for the past nine weeks. It was requested that each language group perform something demonstrating both Ugandan and American cultures. We decided that we would demonstrate Ugandan culture by singing an Ugandan fable in Luganda. For our American culture segment we decided to showcase American dance through three different dances. We first started off with Soulja Boy's "Superman," then line danced to Alabama's "Lousisiana Saturday Night," and finished with "Land of a Thousand Dances." For those of you who know me, you know that choreographed dancing is not my thing and I was probablly a step behind the whole time, but it was a great time regardless! After the homestay welcome we left Wakiso for the country's capital, Kampala, where we met the people we would be working with for the next couple of years. We had a very long and tiresome lecture, dinner at the country directors house, and finally our swear in ceremony! Immediately following we left for our homes for the next two years!
My new home is in the Masaka district and I could not be more happy about this placement! My good friend Amber is also posted in this district and is working at the college my center is connected with. Because students are on holiday I have been staying with her for the past few days. She has a very nice house complete with a toliet (this is very rare), elecricity, and running water. Over the past few days we have been getting to know Masaka and the people we will be working with over the next couple of years and after meeting everyone I am super excited to begin my work! While I won't move into my house until Monday, I was able to visit my house the other day and I am so excited to move in! My house is located on the grounds of a primary school in the middle of no where, has no electricty, no running water, and no toliet. While I'm sure I'll regret saying this later, I am happy for my lack of water and electricity! In general, my home is beautiful and much larger than I had expected complete with a back porch overlooking some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen! I cannot wait to sit on my back porch every evening and just take in the beauty of Uganda! Everyday I find it more and more beautiful. Oh, and did I mention that I can see Lake Victoria (the second largest lake in the world) from my village? Oh, and it's in a swamp of sorts! I am in love!
While we're on the subject of being in love, everyday I love the people of Ugandan a little bit more! I have met very few people in my life that I have met and fell completely in love with them at that moment. In the short time that I have been here I have made many great friends amongst Peace Corps Volunteers, but I have also made some fabulous Ugandan friends. The people here are so loving, caring, and genuine. They are the kind of people that you miss when you don't see them for a day. My language teachers is one of the most kind and patient people I have ever met. For the past nine weeks he put up with five girls who sometimes cried or were just plain moody and he always came to class with a smile on his face. He would do just about anything for us, including putting on a dress doing some ridiculous dances in front of his peers. He always treated as one of his own children, regardless of how much we probably frustrated him. The same could be said for almost all of the trainers. Now that I am site I have met even more amazing people. The driver for the college had drove us around a lot helping us get things for our houses and meet people and I could not be more thankful for him. He is probably the happiest man I have ever met in my life and he actually gets our jokes! The other night I rode with him to town and I was being my normal self asking a bazillion questions and we both began to reailze that we have a lot in common. After awhile he looked at me and said, "You know, a week ago I didn't know I was going to meet you and you didn't know you were going to meet me, but here we are sitting as friends and we're from different sides of the world." It was so good for me to hear him say those words because it reminds me of one of my reasons that I am here. We are all one people and despite our many differences, we have more in common.
Anyway, I could go on forever, but I want to go explore and get a few more things for my new house! I'll warn you now that I am also too lazy to proofread this; please don't judge me. : ) I hope it is finally begining to warm up where you are!
Peace and Love,
Autumn, Nalubega, Toomie, Toom, Button', or Awtoom...or any other crazy name I get called here
My new home is in the Masaka district and I could not be more happy about this placement! My good friend Amber is also posted in this district and is working at the college my center is connected with. Because students are on holiday I have been staying with her for the past few days. She has a very nice house complete with a toliet (this is very rare), elecricity, and running water. Over the past few days we have been getting to know Masaka and the people we will be working with over the next couple of years and after meeting everyone I am super excited to begin my work! While I won't move into my house until Monday, I was able to visit my house the other day and I am so excited to move in! My house is located on the grounds of a primary school in the middle of no where, has no electricty, no running water, and no toliet. While I'm sure I'll regret saying this later, I am happy for my lack of water and electricity! In general, my home is beautiful and much larger than I had expected complete with a back porch overlooking some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen! I cannot wait to sit on my back porch every evening and just take in the beauty of Uganda! Everyday I find it more and more beautiful. Oh, and did I mention that I can see Lake Victoria (the second largest lake in the world) from my village? Oh, and it's in a swamp of sorts! I am in love!
While we're on the subject of being in love, everyday I love the people of Ugandan a little bit more! I have met very few people in my life that I have met and fell completely in love with them at that moment. In the short time that I have been here I have made many great friends amongst Peace Corps Volunteers, but I have also made some fabulous Ugandan friends. The people here are so loving, caring, and genuine. They are the kind of people that you miss when you don't see them for a day. My language teachers is one of the most kind and patient people I have ever met. For the past nine weeks he put up with five girls who sometimes cried or were just plain moody and he always came to class with a smile on his face. He would do just about anything for us, including putting on a dress doing some ridiculous dances in front of his peers. He always treated as one of his own children, regardless of how much we probably frustrated him. The same could be said for almost all of the trainers. Now that I am site I have met even more amazing people. The driver for the college had drove us around a lot helping us get things for our houses and meet people and I could not be more thankful for him. He is probably the happiest man I have ever met in my life and he actually gets our jokes! The other night I rode with him to town and I was being my normal self asking a bazillion questions and we both began to reailze that we have a lot in common. After awhile he looked at me and said, "You know, a week ago I didn't know I was going to meet you and you didn't know you were going to meet me, but here we are sitting as friends and we're from different sides of the world." It was so good for me to hear him say those words because it reminds me of one of my reasons that I am here. We are all one people and despite our many differences, we have more in common.
Anyway, I could go on forever, but I want to go explore and get a few more things for my new house! I'll warn you now that I am also too lazy to proofread this; please don't judge me. : ) I hope it is finally begining to warm up where you are!
Peace and Love,
Autumn, Nalubega, Toomie, Toom, Button', or Awtoom...or any other crazy name I get called here
Saturday, April 4, 2009
God Bless the Rains, but not Cockroaches
Despite my many attempts to learn all of the words to Toto's "Africa" I still could not tell what the song is really about. However, I do know he's got something right when he sings "God bless the rains down in Africa." While living in Indiana rain is something I thought very little about and if I did it was usually about how it was ruining my day. However, here in Uganda I find myself wishing for rain on a daily basis for many reasons. The first reason being that without the rains it is incredibly hot. When I first arrived here I was sweating constantly. I would go to bed sweating and wake up sweating; it was ridiculous. The family I am staying with also relies on rain tanks for our main source of water. However, due to the late start of the rainy season our tanks have been dry which means that the work boys have to travel a ways to the nearest boar hole where they attach five twenty liter jerry cans to their bicycle and push it up the incredibly steep hill upon which we live. The town we live in is also composed of mostly dirt roads. While these are beautiful, they are a disaster when it is dry. Cars passing by are constantly covering me in red dust that sticks perfectly to my immense amounts of sweat. As of last week the rains have finally arrived, of course on the day the American Ambassador invites us to the embassy for a pool party (which was fabulous by the way), but I am beyond happy they are here. I can finally sleep under blankets, wear a coat, and the rain tanks are overflowing! It is fabulous! So, I do believe Toto got it right; God bless the rains!
Now for the cockroaches. It would not be odd for you to find me "saving" caterpillars and worms. However, when it comes to cockroaches, I feel that the world would be a better place without them. They have infested my room. Okay, maybe not infested, but they do like to visit me at night and they creep me out. For those of you who may not know much about cockroaches here's a few things you should know: 1. They are creepy. 2. They are incredibly loud. 3. They are large. 4. They can fly. My first encounter with the creepy crawlies woke me up one night. They were flying around my room, running into walls and falling down. I'm not a light sleeper, they are loud enough to wake me up. I tried listening to my I-Pod to block them out, but I could still here them. The fact that I had my mosquito net to protect me did not help me fall asleep. I decided to by myself a can of doom and now I sleep with it next to my pillow. I haven't seen them as much lately and I am thankful for that. However, I did wake up to the most ridiculously large seven legged spider I have ever seen on my wall the other day. My friend tells me that a spider that large eats cockroaches, so I made the decision to let him stay. Maybe someday I'll have decent internet and be able to post a picture!
In other news, training is almost over! I have about two more weeks at home stay before I am sworn in as a volunteer. At that point I will be sent to a village by myself for the next two years; I am nervous, but incredibly excited all at the same time. If you are wanting to send me something, please wait to do so until I get my new address! Language is going pretty well. It can be kind of frustrated at time, but we had a mock language test a few weeks ago and I scored rather well. We have our real test before swearing in, so hopefully that will go well! Today we also built a stove completely out of mud, which was kind of cool.
Well, I hope all is well at home and that this message has found you all happy and well!
Peace and Love,
Autumn aka Nalubega (my new Ugandan name)
Now for the cockroaches. It would not be odd for you to find me "saving" caterpillars and worms. However, when it comes to cockroaches, I feel that the world would be a better place without them. They have infested my room. Okay, maybe not infested, but they do like to visit me at night and they creep me out. For those of you who may not know much about cockroaches here's a few things you should know: 1. They are creepy. 2. They are incredibly loud. 3. They are large. 4. They can fly. My first encounter with the creepy crawlies woke me up one night. They were flying around my room, running into walls and falling down. I'm not a light sleeper, they are loud enough to wake me up. I tried listening to my I-Pod to block them out, but I could still here them. The fact that I had my mosquito net to protect me did not help me fall asleep. I decided to by myself a can of doom and now I sleep with it next to my pillow. I haven't seen them as much lately and I am thankful for that. However, I did wake up to the most ridiculously large seven legged spider I have ever seen on my wall the other day. My friend tells me that a spider that large eats cockroaches, so I made the decision to let him stay. Maybe someday I'll have decent internet and be able to post a picture!
In other news, training is almost over! I have about two more weeks at home stay before I am sworn in as a volunteer. At that point I will be sent to a village by myself for the next two years; I am nervous, but incredibly excited all at the same time. If you are wanting to send me something, please wait to do so until I get my new address! Language is going pretty well. It can be kind of frustrated at time, but we had a mock language test a few weeks ago and I scored rather well. We have our real test before swearing in, so hopefully that will go well! Today we also built a stove completely out of mud, which was kind of cool.
Well, I hope all is well at home and that this message has found you all happy and well!
Peace and Love,
Autumn aka Nalubega (my new Ugandan name)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
: )
Greetings everyone! I just got back from a fabulous week spent with a current volunteer and I am even more excited to start my life as a Peace Corps Volunteer instead of as a trainee. As I had mentioned in my last post, trainees have little to no independence while volunteers have an abundance of freedom. The volunteer I had stayed with was quite impressive. She lives in a small and very conservative village where she teaches at the local university. She knows a great deal of the local language,Lusoga , and even rewrote the manual for the current volunteers. While I have heard many volunteers say that you really do not need to waste your time learning locallanguage , after seeing my volunteer interact within her community I completely disagree. She gets much better deals and Ugandans get so excited when they see a muzungu speaking local language. She has inspired me to work on my language
much more than I have been. We also had the opportunity to eat more fabulous food in Jinga (yes, Jackie, Lindsay, and Sam...I did say JINGA) and we even cooked some amazing food on the charcoal. I also had the opportunity to meet many more fabulous Peace Corps Volunteers.
For those of you who know me, you know that I always have some ridiculous
ideas so I figured I would share some of my "wish list Uganda" with you.
1.Run a marathon...however, on the first day of training I realized that I have an extreme dislike for running...so this is now off of the list.
2.Julie brace yourself for this one....I want to ride a bicycle from Kampala to Rwanda which is maybe some 300K. The funny partabout this is that Peace Corps gave us all "Hero" bikes which I have yet to ride. However, to my defence these bikes are ridiculous one gear bikes in which people have lost pedals and brakes while riding to training. However, once I get to site I will purchase myself a new bike that is
somewhat suitable for thispurose.
3. Climb the Rwenzori Mountains. I have been told that this is more difficult than Kilimanjaro.
4.I want to buy a motorcycle. While the riding of these, and thus owning,is prohibited by the Peace Corps I can still dream. Dad, you go ahead and get that Harley and you can pick me one up as well. We can get our license together as a sort of a father daughter bonding time.
Again for those of you who know me, you know that I take great pride in the fact that I have a fantastic immune system. However, that has changed. Before leaving for the Peace Corps I got a cold that stayed with me for the entire month ofFebruary. Upon its much awaited departure, I then contracted what may or may not be ghiardia. It's fabulous. Oh, but what is even better is the fact that my malaria medication prevents me from sleeping. I haven't slept in almost five days; it's outrageous.Luckily , medical is coming tomorrow with a different magical pill and hopefully I will be sleeping through all the creepy things that I hear sleeping with me in the night!
Anyway,thank you all again to those who take the time to check in on me and to
those who leave such loving messages! I will try and post pictures next time, but the internet is beyond slow and extremely temperamental so I refuse to make any promises!
As always- Peace and Love, Autumn
p.s. In case I have forgot to mention...I lead a fabulous life.
much more than I have been. We also had the opportunity to eat more fabulous food in Jinga (yes, Jackie, Lindsay, and Sam...I did say JINGA) and we even cooked some amazing food on the charcoal. I also had the opportunity to meet many more fabulous Peace Corps Volunteers.
For those of you who know me, you know that I always have some ridiculous
ideas so I figured I would share some of my "wish list Uganda" with you.
1.Run a marathon...however, on the first day of training I realized that I have an extreme dislike for running...so this is now off of the list.
2.Julie brace yourself for this one....I want to ride a bicycle from Kampala to Rwanda which is maybe some 300K. The funny partabout this is that Peace Corps gave us all "Hero" bikes which I have yet to ride. However, to my defence these bikes are ridiculous one gear bikes in which people have lost pedals and brakes while riding to training. However, once I get to site I will purchase myself a new bike that is
somewhat suitable for thispurose.
3. Climb the Rwenzori Mountains. I have been told that this is more difficult than Kilimanjaro.
4.I want to buy a motorcycle. While the riding of these, and thus owning,is prohibited by the Peace Corps I can still dream. Dad, you go ahead and get that Harley and you can pick me one up as well. We can get our license together as a sort of a father daughter bonding time.
Again for those of you who know me, you know that I take great pride in the fact that I have a fantastic immune system. However, that has changed. Before leaving for the Peace Corps I got a cold that stayed with me for the entire month ofFebruary. Upon its much awaited departure, I then contracted what may or may not be ghiardia. It's fabulous. Oh, but what is even better is the fact that my malaria medication prevents me from sleeping. I haven't slept in almost five days; it's outrageous.Luckily , medical is coming tomorrow with a different magical pill and hopefully I will be sleeping through all the creepy things that I hear sleeping with me in the night!
Anyway,thank you all again to those who take the time to check in on me and to
those who leave such loving messages! I will try and post pictures next time, but the internet is beyond slow and extremely temperamental so I refuse to make any promises!
As always- Peace and Love, Autumn
p.s. In case I have forgot to mention...I lead a fabulous life.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Muli Mutya!
Greetings everyone! I hope this message finds you all happy and well! I have only been in the country now for three weeks and I cannot believe how much has happened. For the sake of saving my small salary of money for other things than the internet cafe, I will try to mention the things that seem to stand out the most.
If I would have had access to the internet a few days ago this message may have a very different tone than I plan for it to have today. The Peace Corps training process can be incredibly exhausting. I think that in order to be a Peace Corps volunteer you must be a rather independent person. However, the PC training process takes just about independence you have away. As I mentioned before, we have training from about 8-5 six days a week. After leaving training we leave to go home to our home-stay families and many of us loose even more freedom. Ugandans are some of the most hospitable people in the world. They want to make sure you are safe and by all means well fed at all times. While I really appreciate their care and concern, for someone who is rather independent this can become a bit stressful. Throw in a language barrier and four screaming children it can become quite stressful. Last week I was having a bit of a hard time dealing with all of this. My family expected that I would have afternoon tea at 7 pm which would consist of three fried eggs, noodles, and bananas. Then around 9 pm they would try to feed me an even larger meal. It was incredibly hard for me to find a way to tell them that Americans eat small amounts of food. Luckily, the home stay coordinator spoke with my home stay mother and she now understands my dietary needs and I think we both feel much better. I now look forward to going home at night and really enjoy getting to know my Ugandan family. For those of you who may be wondering, I do have temperamental electricity, but no running water. With that being said, my bathroom in a hole in the ground outside and I take a cold bath out of a bucket. To simplify this process I had a friend cut almost all of my hair of. It was a fabulous idea and others are being to follow.
As a Peace Corps volunteer I will be training primary school teachers. While at first I was a bit overwhelmed with this task, I now feel very confident and excited to begin my service. Last week I had the opportunity to observe and teach in a primary school; my class had 111 students. How they were able to pack that many students into one classroom I will never be able to understand. It also gave me a greater understanding of the kinds of challenges a teacher in Uganda faces. Being at Kayunga Primary School gave me many ideas as to what kinds of secondary projects I would like to do. This past week I visited a coordinating center where I had the opportunity to conduct a workshop for ten teachers emphasizing different teaching methods. It went exactly as I, and our supervisor, had hoped.
I have so many things to say, but I want to enjoy Kampala while I can! For those of you who spent time with me in Kenya please know that I am eating plenty of chapati and enjoying my fair share of Nile Special. Also, if anyone would like to send me any donations in the form of snack, photos, letters, or MUSIC I would be forever greatful! My address is:
Autumn Radtke
Peace Corps Trainee
PO Box 29348
Kampala, Uganda
Be sure to write air mail and if you write "god bless" or something religious on it, it is much less likely that it will be tampered with!
Peace and Love,
Autumn
If I would have had access to the internet a few days ago this message may have a very different tone than I plan for it to have today. The Peace Corps training process can be incredibly exhausting. I think that in order to be a Peace Corps volunteer you must be a rather independent person. However, the PC training process takes just about independence you have away. As I mentioned before, we have training from about 8-5 six days a week. After leaving training we leave to go home to our home-stay families and many of us loose even more freedom. Ugandans are some of the most hospitable people in the world. They want to make sure you are safe and by all means well fed at all times. While I really appreciate their care and concern, for someone who is rather independent this can become a bit stressful. Throw in a language barrier and four screaming children it can become quite stressful. Last week I was having a bit of a hard time dealing with all of this. My family expected that I would have afternoon tea at 7 pm which would consist of three fried eggs, noodles, and bananas. Then around 9 pm they would try to feed me an even larger meal. It was incredibly hard for me to find a way to tell them that Americans eat small amounts of food. Luckily, the home stay coordinator spoke with my home stay mother and she now understands my dietary needs and I think we both feel much better. I now look forward to going home at night and really enjoy getting to know my Ugandan family. For those of you who may be wondering, I do have temperamental electricity, but no running water. With that being said, my bathroom in a hole in the ground outside and I take a cold bath out of a bucket. To simplify this process I had a friend cut almost all of my hair of. It was a fabulous idea and others are being to follow.
As a Peace Corps volunteer I will be training primary school teachers. While at first I was a bit overwhelmed with this task, I now feel very confident and excited to begin my service. Last week I had the opportunity to observe and teach in a primary school; my class had 111 students. How they were able to pack that many students into one classroom I will never be able to understand. It also gave me a greater understanding of the kinds of challenges a teacher in Uganda faces. Being at Kayunga Primary School gave me many ideas as to what kinds of secondary projects I would like to do. This past week I visited a coordinating center where I had the opportunity to conduct a workshop for ten teachers emphasizing different teaching methods. It went exactly as I, and our supervisor, had hoped.
I have so many things to say, but I want to enjoy Kampala while I can! For those of you who spent time with me in Kenya please know that I am eating plenty of chapati and enjoying my fair share of Nile Special. Also, if anyone would like to send me any donations in the form of snack, photos, letters, or MUSIC I would be forever greatful! My address is:
Autumn Radtke
Peace Corps Trainee
PO Box 29348
Kampala, Uganda
Be sure to write air mail and if you write "god bless" or something religious on it, it is much less likely that it will be tampered with!
Peace and Love,
Autumn
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