Saint Andrew's Hullabaloo

This week started off with a simple assignment for my P.6 class at St. Andrew's, write a poem. When they handed them in I scanned them as I collected them, and I noticed a recurring poem, so I asked the culprits where the poem was from, and after a little more inquiring I found out that nobody in the class had actually written a poem they all just copied one and handed it in. So I acted really mad, told them it was serious and a really bad thing to do, plagiarism blah blah blah, and they just laughed and made fun of me. So after giving them another chance, and them lying to my face saying they really did it this time, it was obvious they had done the same exact thing. So all in all it was a real exhausting class, acting like I was mad the whole time, writing "You Fail" across their poems, and meanwhile being completely mocked. So I threatened to tell Moses, the teacher that is cold as ice when it comes to discipline, and that got a few of them worried because I looked quite serious, even though I was not because Moses would just beat them, and I don't think I am that cold hearted.
The next day was significantly easier. I had two hours with them, so I just wrote sooo many math problems on the board, and sat back and laughed the rest of the period (inside of course... I continued to be angry on the outside).
I slowly eased back into my normal self the rest of the week, and had a fun time hanging out with some of the girls Wednesday evening. They are so funny and they just ask me questions a fall on the ground laughing. They taught me a little bit of Lusoga, and did some Ugandan dances, their favorite being "Calypso" which is really a terrible dance with zero gracefulness, but they sang some nice songs.
Today I had a nice walk to school with a beautiful breeze blowing from the lake, but that was not the only thing blowing in from the lake. Right when I finished with class, we got a downpour. I was stranded, but delighted to watch the kids loving it. I leaned up against the wall, and listened to some happy music on my ipod while the kids were running around and dancing to the sound of the rain pounding on the metal roof. Oh, but then came stone cold Moses, and when he puts his serious face on it is quite scary. He came marching down with his favorite stick, and the children went from jubilant to seriously alarmed, and they scattered like wild animals under attack. It was quite hilarious, and I only regretted that I didn't have a video camera to capture all the excitement over the rain. After Moses locked one class in their room the rain stopped, and I had to walk home in a red clay river.

"Impenetrable Darkness"

On Thursday morning my dad and I flew to the southwest corner of Uganda where the Congo and Rwanda meet in the Heart of Africa. This is where the rain forest becomes an enormously fierce and cascading jungle, and is ruled by the mighty silverback gorilla, nearly wiped out by the greed of man. This land is as intimidating as water is wet, and leaves you with the impression that this is not only the Heart of Africa, but the Heart of the Earth. This place is called Bwindi, the English translation, "impenetrable darkness."
My dad and I arrived in the late morning after a two hour plane ride and an hour car ride along the Congo border. We stayed in an eight room tented lodge at the border of the community land and the jungle. The absolute lack of sound pollution to distract us from the nature made it the perfect place to relax. After a peaceful lunch we went on a guided community walk. On this walk we saw the tea farms, the local medicine man, a banana plantation where they made banana wine and gin, and a displaced Pygmy tribe that was evicted from the jungle and their way of life some thirty years ago. When we returned from the walk we had massages, dinner, and hot water bags in our beds to keep them all warm and cozy for us in the chilly night. The next morning we woke to some hot tea on the porch of our tent, and ate a nice breakfast before GORILLA TRACKING!

We took a twenty minute car ride to the point nearest to where the gorillas were seen the day before. From there, we walked up a steep hill on the community land where we reached the outskirts of the jungle which seemed to be straight out of the Disney movie Tarzan, but startling real.We then entered behind our guide who made us a trail with his sharp hacking tool, and it did not take us long to pick up the gorillas' path. We found their nests where they stayed the night before, and from there we followed the trail that they had made traveling like wrecking balls through the vegetation on the jungle floor. The gorillas were busy eating when we arrived, and seemed unfazed by our presence. There were nine of them in this particular family. The silverback was astounding! When he got up and walked toward us chills ran down my spine. He was the ultimate male specimen, but he was old and lazy and did not do much else for the hour we were there. There was a baby that was seven months old and so adorable. The others were fun to watch, for they just played around the whole time we were there while we stood hardly ten feet away. It was amazing watching the gorillas and the tracking through the jungle was also extremely cool.

We got back at two in the afternoon and relaxed the rest of the day under cover as the afternoon rains came downs making the jungle steam up like dry ice in hot water. Unfortunately we had to depart the following morning, and return to the much more tame part of Uganda.

Long Weekend

This past Friday I walked to school only to find that there were no classes and no one had bothered to tell me. It was Ede, the last day of Ramadan, and I guess since there are a good bit of Muslims in the Holy Cross schools Friday was taken off. So to celebrate this Muslim holiday the OLM's (the ND grads)and me went to town for pork and beer.
On Sunday I went for a run up the hill. While I was up there I had a pretty scary encounter with a bull. I was stretching in the field on top of the hill where I had previously never seen anything but bushes and rocks. But when I stood up I noticed this bull that was coming toward me, and it was startled a good deal. So then it doubled around and I started power walking the hell out of there, but then the bull started to charge. When I realized it was committed, I knew that I wouldn't do any good running so I stopped and faced it. I was damn lucky too because it pulled out of the charge about fifteen feet in front of me. That's when I decided it was time to end my run and head back.
Yesterday I taught English and also Science, and both classes went very well. Today I will meet my Dad who is arriving in Entebbe at 8:15 tonight. On Thursday we are flying to Bwindi, the southwest corner of Uganda, where we will track Gorillas on Friday.

Field Trip!

This Thursday I was a chaperon on a field trip for the St. Andrew's students that could afford the 5,000 shilling cost (a little less than three dollars). The plan was that we would leave at seven AM for the Entebbe Zoo and than go to parliament in Kampala. For our seven o'clock departure the teacher showed up around 7:30, and we finally left at nine o'clock.
The other instructions the students were given the day before, were to go home early and wash there uniforms. I had class that afternoon, and since about ten percent of the kids had not been coming the past week because they could not pay the school fees and a little over half of the remaining kids where going on the trip I had 22 in class. So instead of learning anything new, we reviewed some math, English, and computer stuff that I had taught them that week. After that review I spent the rest of class teaching the kids an American Song, "Escape" by Enrique Iglesias. That was very enjoyable for me, and it made my day when they serenaded me and Lizzie from class as the we were leaving on the field trip the next morning. She was blown away, and I could not stop laughing
It was a three hour drive to the Entebbe Zoo, and I was quite lucky receiving the best spot on a bus that was packed to the brim. There were 82 students and eight teachers packed onto two buses that seated about 35 each. It was surprisingly not that bad, and the drive was beautiful as we passed through the verdant hills of the Ugandan countryside and Mabira Forest, the largest forest in Uganda. So despite the irony of passing through a huge African jungle and going to the zoo we pressed forth.
Upon arrival we emptied out of the buses, and there were vendors that had candy and "ice cream," which was really just water ice. I went up to buy some, and he said that it cost 500 shillings as he was simultaneously selling it for 200 hundred shillings to the students. So I gave my money to Arnold, a student of mine, and he bought it for me, but this did not work as we were entering the zoo.
Being a school field trip we had paid for admission in advance, but as Lizzie and I walked in, the man at the gate stopped us and the teacher running the trip explained to him that we were teachers and the school had paid for eight teachers. Then he said "You didn't tell me any of your teachers were whites. It is going to cost them 15000 shillings to enter (the tourist fee). The whites are the only way we make any money." So despite being teachers and chaperons with the school we had to pay 15000 instead of 3000. I'm not sure what "whites" go to Africa for the zoos.
It was a really crappy zoo, and we had the most annoying guide who would tell the kids something and then make them repeat it like robots four times in a row. The exchange would go something like this.
GUIDE: This is an antelope. A what?
STUDENTS: An antelope
GUIDE:A what?
STUDENTS: An antelope
GUIDE:A what?
STUDENTS: An antelope
GUIDE:A what?
STUDENTS: An antelope
I was thankful when that was over. We then ate lunch, and drove to Kampala to parliament. When we arrived at parliament, we weren't allowed in because they were renovating for CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) which is in November, and is apparently something that everyone has to be ready for. On the drive back to Jinja we passed probably twenty signs saying, "Are you ready for CHOGM?" I know I'm not ready, and my student sure as hell aren't ready, so I spent the rest of the drive trying to figure out how in the heck we are going to get ready for CHOGM.

Bujagali

I apologize for my sparse posting and the lack a news as a result, but it has been a busy week along with the power outages and internet malfunctions coinciding with all my free time. This includes Tuesday in which we had off of school for Uganda's Independence Day.
A big event from the past week was the weekend trip to Bujagali where we spent the night at a backpackers bar on the Nile. I went with Clay, Patrick, and Jimmy, the long term volunteers, and to get there we took public transport to Jinja town and from there we each took an extremely thrilling boda ride to this little utopia looking down on the Nile. We were able to get a tent space and also reserve two beds for the night. The tent was right next to the building with the beds and the dirty bathrooms, and across was the bar with the American music putting the four of us in a wonderful mood.
The bar, complete with couches, tables, a bunch of Canadian and British backpackers, a dirt floor, and of course a bar, was situated on a steep slope and had a deck protruding out high above the river, and had GREAT food. I ordered the belly buster cheese burger which had two enormous patties and bacon to top it off. I had to take off one patty and eat it by itself just so I could barely get my mouth because they were so big. Once I finished my meal I used up all my airtime calling people to tell them how cool this was.
At around 2:30 we called it a night, but the room where we had reserved our beds had been locked by some jerk that wanted the room to himself, so the four of us had to share a two man tent. This did not look very good, and I knew that I was not nearly assertive enough to demand any space so I curled up in the corner and went in and out of sleep for four hours until sunrise. At that time I abandoned the tent and went to try and draw some comfort from the rising sun, and just as it came up I fell asleep on a couch in the bar. I then found peace two hours later when I found out the breakfast came with sausage, bacon, eggs, tomato, beans, mushrooms, and a biscuit.
After that glorious meal on the deck under the morning sun, we walked about a half mile to Bujagali Falls, a small section of the Nile, and a class five rapid. This high powered blender of Mother Nature threatens to destroy anything that comes through, even the natives. Yet they still try to get us to pay them to jump in with no more than a jerry can (a four gallon container). I did not get to see it, and I would not pay or encourage these men to risk their lives like this, but I don't think that I would look away if one of them just jumped in for fun.
When we had finished marveling at the incomprehensible power of the Nile, we walked back, packed up, and headed home.

Week Two...Big Post

So in my first week I was asked by one of the guys, what I dislike about living here, and I did not have a real answer, but now I am ready. The bats and drive by bodas. I will explain the former later in this post; the latter is what I am concerned with. When I return home I will definitely have much more awareness, not just emotionally and mentally, thanks to the bodas and everything else driving by on the streets I will have some serious physical awareness to accompany those. Wow, when you are walking anywhere watch out! These things come flying by inches away from you, and I can't count how many Ugandans now know the phrase "Holy Sh%&!" because of me. So I have now grown eyes in the back of my head and can easily escape into the ditch on the side of the beaten dirt road a good few seconds before the motor bikes come whizzing past. It is much easier to hear the eighteen wheelers charging down what is not big enough for a two way road, and at that point you just jump into the bushes with the cows and the bulls a meter or so from the road. I still have not determined whether it is safer to be walking or on a Boda because the road is a literal free for all, and either way you are going to get the black lung from a the black clouds of exhaust coming out of all the passing vehicles. Despite the moments where I am thinking "What the hell!" when something is going too fast to be that close or when traffic momentarily switches sides, it makes the journey to school interesting.
Now to get to the bats I have to explain my evening journeys up into the hills. Where I take my iPod, which draws many interested looks from the locals, and my book, "The Power of One," which I know that I probably won't read but for some reason I bring it anyway. Once I have my not so necessary necessities I start on my run, jog, walk, frolic up the road. It is much nicer going up than going down. As I ascend the hill, at a pace that is set by the song I am listening to, I start to see the vast beautiful nature that makes up the "Pearl" of Africa, and down below Jinja is funneled into one clump of smoke from all the trash fires, and the kind of smoke that tries to blackout the sun, billowing out of the all purpose factory. Yet this is a small scar on the vastness that you encounter on your ascent. Everyday I pass shells of houses that have been started but seemed to be abandoned, the groups of kids I race that have jerrycans in each hand are going to fetch water, and obviously the cows and bulls. When I reach the top I have the same feeling you get when you have the house to yourself, it is a marvelous freedom and independence, but instead of being in New Jersey I am in Uganda which is really quite funny. With the hill to myself I practice my vocal exercises which are quite obnoxious and embarrassing, but there is no up there, so when I arrive, the hills are most definitely alive with the sound of music. My first adventure up the hill I was foolish enough to sit up there enjoy the amazing view of Lake Victoria and the beautiful sunset, and walk down at dusk...Bat time! Holy crap! I tried to keep my cool descending the mountain with bats fly by me left and right, and a couple of injured bats flapping around on the ground, Gross! I then passed this house that people actually live in and out came hundreds of bats just as I arrived. I could not quite take being surrounded like that, which I had only seen in movies, so the rest of my journey became a sprint home. I used my book to cover my face because at that point I felt I could survive a bat flying into my arm or something, but a bat to the face would be way too traumatizing to recover from.
Class is going well. I now have about 270 students. Yet I have the most classes with P.6 at St. Andrew's, and I have come to enjoy them the most. Yesterday I had two classes with them that straddled an hour long break. At that time they proceeded to make a huge raucous trying to get me to dance for them. So I told them that if one of them came up front and did a dance move then I would do one as well. By this time we had all the kids that weren't in P.6 shoving their heads through the windows, and trying to get a look through the door. This then proceeded to turn into walkoff where they would do a dance move and I would follow it up. I went through every move in my repertoire including a super crappy moon walk, and by that time the classroom including the ten foot perimeter surrounding it was going nuts. All the kids were laughing and screaming, and that was pretty hysterical.
Class has been going well, and the kids are actually learning a lot. I am a far superior math teacher than anything else and I quite enjoy it. I get to teach but it is also a lot of fun in the classroom. I play seven-up with them most classes, and I tell them stories when they nag me, and when I embarrass a kid that is not paying attention or I get "mad" with the class it is quite affective and also kind of funny to me because who am I to punish anyone.
There is just an enormous amount of stuff that I am experiencing that otherwise, I probably would never get the chance to do. I am incredibly lucky, and giving my time to teach these wonderful kids is not something I do not quite consider payment, it is more like a reward.

Just Doing My Job

Power has been out most of the past weekend so it has been hard to get to the computer. None-the-less it was a very nice weekend.
I did my laundry yesterday and that sucked. It took me three hours, and my clothes were so dirty with red clay. I washed them very hard, and by the end I hardly had enough energy to ring out my clothes and hang them up.
Today I got back to teaching. I was woken up by what sounded like a wall of water coming down on the house. Luckily that cleared up and I was able to make it to St. Andrew's dry. When my Englishh class was over I had little time to get over to Holy Cross for a science class so I was forced to ride on a Boda sandwiched in between two African men. You know it is bad when the people you pass look just as uncomfortable as you are, and I didn't even get a discount from the usual thousand shillings (sixty cents).
I am finished my classes today, and they were pretty successful. But I still know only about five names of my one-hundred-fifty students.

-Andrew