Home For The Holidays

After being home for a few days, I have finally gotten over my jet lag. The adjustment has been fine, and I am really enjoying how clean everything is here, myself included. It is kind of strange thinking that I had just been in Uganda for three months. The time just disappeared.

It was such an amazing experience, getting that experience and exposure will better me forever. I just fell in love with the kids when I was there, and loved spending all my free time just hanging out with them, and also teaching them how to throw and catch the football I brought with me. It was funny when I went to my little brother's wrestling practice last night, and I was asked to teach the kids some moves; I totally got into Uganda teaching mode, talking so slow with big pauses and exaggerated annunciation, and then repeating it over and over. They all looked at me like I was nuts.

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it. In about two weeks I hope to have a video put together showing some of my Uganda experiences.

-Andrew

Dust Bowl

I went to school yesterday to see my students for the last time as they came to get their exam scores, and I closed my eyes the entire ride there as a thick layer of dust settled on my face. This place had turned into a dust bowl with the lack rain in the past few weeks so it was fitting that I was kept up all last night by the rain hitting the roof like something hitting metal in a very loud manner.
The exam scores were not so great, and as a result, twelve of sixty-five will not be promoted to P.6. The exams themselves were a pretty poor assessment of what the kids were taught this term, and contained most of what they had forgotten from the first two terms. With a good study and review program I am confident that the scores would be much higher and very few kids would have to repeat, but the schools just don't have the organization for something like that, and the classes are too big to pay attention to everyone.
Anywho, I said goodbye to all the kids, and today is the teachers' party. I am now packing to come home, and hoping that the Ebola outbreak in the west will not have an impact on my travel.

School's Out

I rode home on a boda because I was too exhausted to walk after Speech Day which was supposed to start at 11:00, but that turned out to be African time so we commenced at 1:00. It was a long day with the typical thirty minute speeches that are all too common with events like these. Despite the oppressing sun and late start, the show was entertaining with the kids' performances, accept for the computer demonstration which was very impractical because no one could see the computer screen on the stage, but at least the pupils I chose learned a little on the way.

As it dragged out the only thing keeping people there was the free lunch that was eventually served at five o'clock. I had already made plans to go to the Source of the Nile for dinner at six so I skipped lunch and the 100 yard queue. I didn't have much time so I took the boda straight to the Source, and Mother Nature provided an in prompt to shower. Despite the shining sun, the rain poured down down just as we reached the main road. It was pretty cool, but I was worried because the rain was very painful, pelting us in the face making it very hard to keep our eyes open, and on top of that it hadn't rained in a while so there was a nasty mixture of oil and water on the road. I said to the guy driving probably ten times, "Be very careful, the roads are very slippery." At the Source it was not raining, and I walked in completely soaked by the downpour we encountered on the way.
I was once again awed by the Nile, and I had the whole talapia and chips as the sun set on the exhausting and final day of school. I will say goodbye to the kids on the coming Friday when they come to get their grades, otherwise I am all but finished.

Phillip

I met Phillip while we were both excersising on top of the hill which was a wierd start because I did not expect to see anyone running. When I run up the hill the people look at me like I'm nuts, and I feel so out of place while everyone around me is carrying heavy jerry cans full of water. Anyhow, Phillip (who is 21) and I started talking, and he told me he was exercising for martial arts. We descended the hill together, and he showed me the dirt floor, one room house he lived in. He also showed me his yard where he uses every inch in order to somehow make money and eat, whether growing maiz or making bricks. I asked him whether he went to school, and he told me that he could not pay school fees, and I did not doubt that because he lived alone with his younger brother. He told me his goal was to make four-hundred-thousand bricks so he could pay school fees. I told him I was impressed with his goal and how hard he worked to live, and in a reassuring tone he said, "Whatever happens I will be ok because I have God in my life." At that moment I was very humbled.
Phillip's parents both died of AIDs when he was younger, and he was taken in by his Uncle. I told him that I would go with him to mass on Sundays, and one Sunday he showed up at my house in the afternoon. I hadn't seen him that morning, and he came to tell me he wasn't there because his brother had been stabbed and killed the day before. Since then though, things have been looking up for him. He somehow got a job with a wealthy family taking care of their cows and other livestock, and their land. He now lives in a room on the outside of their house, is fed well, and whereas before he was uncomfortable going to church because he had nothing nice to wear, he now has some presentable clothes.
This week Phillip took me on a trip to see his village where he grew up. It was a little ways away in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. He was delighted to introduce me to his neighbors and his family whom had probably lived there forever. This visit added to the already large amount of produce that had been bequeathed to me. Phillip always comes by with papaya, mangos, and avocado, and his family gave me a load eggs and maiz on this visit.
Phillip is an amazingly happy person, and I just don't know what keeps him going, but he'll definately be an inspiration for me when things go wrong.

I have finished teaching, and tomorrow is Speech Day. The kids have prepared some really entertaining songs and dances, and I was forced into arranging a presentation of the computer skills and knowledge that I taught six of my students. I will be saying goodbye to everyone very soon, but I am very excited to see everyone at home in ten days.

Holiday Away

-The past week has been powerless for me. I spent the holiday weekend at Lake Saca, a Holy Cross formation house in Western Uganda, which does not have power, and when I returned to Jinja I was greeted by two days of no power.During my stay at Lake Saca I did some amazing swimming in what is probably the only body of water in Uganda that is not infested with crocodiles, hippos, or parasites.

-I spent Thanksgiving evening in the capital, Kampala. I had a nice dinner, but it did not quite have the same feel as turkey and stuffing. Although, when we arrived at Lake Saca where there is an American priest there was a Turkey and some pumpkin pie for a belated Thanksgiving feast.

-After blood, sweat, and tears, and two-and-a-half hours of serious heat from the oppressing sun, the Superboys came out on top of Turkey Bowl Uganda 2007 with an eight to seven defeat of the Young Guns.

The Superboys

Consequences Shmonsequences

Once I arrived at St. Andrew's this afternoon, I immediately realized that again I had not been informed of the classes being canceled. Despite my chagrin, I stayed to watch the children practice their speech day performances, and hang out with them once they finished. Once they finished practicing their songs, I went up to the field with a few of the girls and played some soccer which was just running around kicking a tightly packed ball of trash. Trash balls are the main source of fun for the children here in Uganda. No lie.
After some yelling and laughing, the disciplinarian came up yelling at the kids to come to assembly when they hear the bell. The girls looked terrified, and ran as fast as they could back to the assembly. I felt terrible. When I got to the front of the school building, where the kids were supposed to gather, I walked over to the girls who were in a group off to the side where they looked like a bunch of abandoned puppies. They were saying to me, "Help us sir, she is going to beat us." When she got back, she walked over to them with this big stick and a mean look on her face. She yelled, "Lie down; all of you." This was so she could get a clean shot at there butts. I then stepped in, and tried to tell her that they were with me, and we did not here the bell from the field, but she, "No, they're not being forgiven." Boy, could she ever swing that stick. The girls showed obvious pain, but tried to remain tough in front of the spectators. So I got that on my conscience now, but the burden was softened a little when the girls all laughed at me when I looked so disconcerted.

Speech Day

Today I had a fantastic class. The kids listened, and actually learned what I taught. I started off by asking them what they wanted to review. They really responded well to that, and when we did the review I actually made sense and didn't confuse the hell out of them. So since I was in a good mood I decided to teach them the song "Every Time We Touch," and they really had a good time banging on the desks. It was absolutely hilarious, and I was rejuvenated after the terrible class I had yesterday.
With review being the only thing standing between us and exams, we have started on another focus, Speech Day. It set for one of the last days of school, and the kids sing songs, do dances, and anything else aimed at entertaining their parents. The headmaster wanted me to teach them a song, so I decided to go with the school theme and not my totally irrelevant songs. I resolved to make up some really corny lyrics about working hard and being promoted to P.7 to the tune of "Sweet Caroline." Although the children enjoyed the theatrics, it was a disaster, and I had to scrap it. After breaking the news to the headmaster he said, "OK, well then teach them to use the computer so we can show their parents." I picked six of the smartest kids for the Speech Day demonstration, but it has been very hard trying to teach them on one computer when the power has been out the past two days. I am really hoping the power goes out on speech day so the plan is destroyed, and I have no part in the big day.
Thanksgiving is coinciding with the national CHOGM holiday, and I have Thursday and Friday off. Today I met with the kids at Holy Cross, and told them about Turkey Bowl Uganda 2007, and to start vamping up the competition we created the teams, and we are going to have team practices tomorrow. The team names they came up with were the "Young Guns" and "Superboys." As I left this evening they were already chanting their team names so the emotional aspect seems to be set, but the organization as always is doomed. The game will be at 10AM Uganda time (1AM EST). It looks to last until anywhere between 10:01 and 11:00. After that I am heading to Kampala where we are having Thanksgiving dinner, and on Friday morning a group of us will continue west for the holiday weekend.

The White Nile

This past Saturday I went rafting on the Nile. The rapids we experienced are the largest commercially run rapids in the world. This was definately the most extreme experience of my life, and totally amazing. Though we did not go without incident. On the first class five one of the rafts flipped at a dangerous spot, and three people came down on some rocks. My raft also flipped at that point, and after what was a complete blur I was flushed out without injury. The people that had hit the rocks were not able to go on so we dropped them off and continued down the river. At the end of the day our raft was flipped twice, and I had been ejected on another occasion, but we still had the last and biggest rapid of the day, "The Bad Place." When you go into the "Bad Place" no one knows what to expect, but you can probably count on a swim. I had the longest swim out of all forty people. I was definately ready when I finally got back to the surface to get a short breathe of air before I was sucked under again and taken down the rest of the rapid whereas everyone else was spit right out.

I did a ton of laundry yesterday only to have a huge storm come in last night. When it rains that hard you can't really sleep because besides it sounding like there is chainsaw next to your ear, it pretty much vibrates the house. In the morning I went and assessed the damage, and found my clothes all over the yard so I hastily rewashed them before heading off to school which was a miserably muddy walk on the flooded road. Although that was a little bit unpleasant, it was quite typical, and those are the kinds of moments that just come with the territory and fade into the week.
The one moment of the week that stands out in my mind is the mass we had Thursday morning at St. Andrew's. It was a beautiful site, and just so much fun to be at. The kids packed the small church to the brim, and then they filled all the remaining space with jubilant singing, clapping, and dancing. As I half participated, half observed, I was overcome with peace and reflection. It was that gorgeous African morning when I finally felt the real beauty of this place, the spirit, and I took a piece of it for myself. I could have sat there all day in complete euphoria as I was serenaded with the African music through the voices of these children. I love the African hymns, and the boys that play the drums are so good, which in my eyes makes up a little bit for them being the most troublesome group in my class.
It seems like I really prefer hanging out with the kids over here. When it is break or lunch, I just stay in the classroom, and a group of us will hang out in there. Also, I again spent my evenings playing with the boarding students at Holy Cross this week which is just next to where I live. Even though these kids constantly ask me to take them to America and I refuse, I will without a doubt bring a big part of them home with me.

The Source of the Nile

This Saturday I was feeling a little tired and sluggish, but in one of my better decisions I decided to go golfing with Jimmy, one of my buddies who is here for 16 months. There is a club in town that has a nine hole golf course overlooking the Source of the Nile, and Jimmy and I set off for the Source with four golf clubs, three balls, and some broken tees. When we arrived we were given a caddy. His name was Alfred, and he had shoes that his heels were sticking out of, and a shirt that was buttoned once at his naval. He carried our four clubs while we carried our drinks and hacked at the course, and when we would hit a good shot we would get a quiet but elegant "splendid" out of him. It was a hilarious and wonderful time, and I actually played well, probably inspired the scenery. Half the time we were playing under a rainbow, and when I noticed it I said, "Hey Jimmy, look a rainbow," and he responded, "Oh look, the River Nile," in a voice as though he was thinking, "How bout that." It was really quite hilarious, and it put the awesomeness of the situation into perspective.
After the best spent ten thousand shillings (a little less than six dollars) in all my time here. We walked down to the a bar on the water where Lake Victoria changes into the starting point of the longest river in the world. I got a coke, and we sat down on the rocks on the bank to watch the sunset. No sooner after we sat down did the locals come up to us, and sit right in front of us completely blocking our view. They then persisted to offer us these leaves to chew on, which I assume were something like cocoa leaves. After refusing that, they then struck up a conversation distracting us from what we came to do which was sit, shut up, and watch the amazing beauty of Africa. Whenever I go to the Nile, I am wowed every time. And the African sky is something to behold; you just need to take the time to look up. Flocks of different kinds of birds were flying over the river to settle for the night on an overpopulated island in the middle of the water that was probably covered in bird poop, but looked awesome as every inch was covered with birds. Once the sun went down we walked back into town, and grabbed a bite to eat at a nice restaurant before returning home.

Make-up Holiday

On thursday we had a staff meeting at St. Andrew's, and it is a good thing I showed up because a big part of the agenda was the question of my last name. So once we cleared up that issue, we continued onto the issue of P.5 because apparently they are way behind, and in Uganda way behind means waaaaay behind (stress on the waaaaay). So after the meeting it seems that we agreed that everyone would pitch in to help get this impossible class of eighty kids up to speed before exams, but before we get started let's take a day off tomorrow.haha what a country.
On Friday the Jinja district decided to take off for a teachers' holiday that was actually on October 5. It is kind of like when you miss a day of school and you have to make it up later, but exactly the opposite. The miraculous thing though, was that I was informed beforehand of this day off. So with a wopping two days of classes this week, I do not feel too comfortable with the progress as the exams are approaching, but on the bright side, with no classes I had the whole day to prepare my football team for their exam, Turkey Bowl Uganda 2007.

Exams, Ivan, and a Dirty Place

P.L.E. I heard that term a lot for the past few weeks. Everybody was talking about P.7, the final grade in primary, taking their P.L.E. exams so they can move on to secondary. We had a mass for the P.7 students where we blessed them and their writing utensils. Uganda took a break from getting ready for CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) for a few days, which is going to be a complete disaster, so they could get all hyped up about these exams.
So I walk to school Monday morning, and when I arrive I don't have class. What a surprise... No one bothered to tell me when the P.L.E.s were going to take place, and that P.6 would not have class. This is the sixth time I was not informed that I would not have class because of exams or holidays. You know how when your are going to work or school some days, and you just hope that for some reason upon arrival no one is there, or you are sent home... and it NEVER happens. Well it happens in Africa, but only after walking miles to get there, and it is also something you could have been informed of a week ago, so you get to turn around and walk home thinking about that.
With my two days off for P.L.E. I read a lot, and also hung out with my boys from Holy Cross Primary next door. They are great kids, and I love playing around with them. Ivan, my eager laundry helper who is in P.5 and looks about 12 years old, has bought me sugar cane the past few days, and all the kids laugh at me as I try to chew almost breaking my teeth. I think I can do without his generosity in the sugarcane department because I am about to lose a tooth, but I am ever grateful for his expertise in washing because my fingers are all scabbed up for the moment, and his questions about vampires and the States are hilarious.

The other day I went into town and got a nice button up shirt with French cuffs for 10,000 shillings less than six dollars. If I didn't have Ekou, a fellow teacher at St. Andrew's, with me I would not have been able to get a shirt for 25,000. He took me to the dirtiest place back in the shabbiest part of town where he bargained in Lusoga for my shirt, and he nonchalantly passed it off to me once he made the purchase. The stall owner was not very happy about that. Then we went further, and we passed a few big puddles of stagnant water that were threatening to eat the foot of anyone that wasn't already aware of their presence from a mile away. They smelled worse than anything I could ever remember in my life, and looked the part. On top of that, the trash, waste, and smoke made it the most unsanitary place I have ever been, and plan to be in my life. After Ekou bought a few kilos of flour, in which the lady clearly screwed him over when weighing it, we got out of there before we caught some nasty disease.

I am coming up rapidly on the end of classes, and trying to desperately to get in all the material before the kids have their final exams, but after talking to a few people it seems that I am not really expected to finish teaching the subject, and whatever they don't learn, we'll test them on it anyway, just like they did last week with some random questions from my unit that we had not even gone over yet. The inefficiencies are ridiculous, but this is Uganda and that is why CHOGM is doomed.

Some of the Kids

Namaganda Hadija and Namawejje Maria

Immaculate

P.7 Bash

A Beautifully Gloomy Sunday

I woke up to cool somewhat dry weather with a nice gloomy overcast. The weather was very comfortable and a beautiful change from the ferocious sun and terrible humidity. The only problem was that the autumn-like conditions reminded of the ND Navy football game I stayed up listening to until two o'clock in the morning, but the days events brought me back down to Africa, and I think I am at peace now.
I woke up and had my usual breakfast, tea with milk and honey, and two pieces of toast, one with peanut butter and one with jam. I then went to mass in my freshly washed and ironed pants, and it was a nice service with the usual clapping and waving of the hands during the hymns. After mass, I relaxed and read a bit until lunch time. Once I was finished with my lunch, I washed some dirty clothes. After about an hour and a half of aggressively attacking every speck of red dirt on my clothes, my hands started to bleed and I still had quite a bit to go so I brought in some reinforcements. My P.5 boys that I play football with most evenings were so eager to come help me and my "soft hands," that I had to turn away about twenty kids. So I sat there with my three favorite and a little boy with snot all over his face while they washed like they have their whole lives, and I answered their questions about America, Chuck Norris, and Steven Seagull. We finished quickly and then went to throw the football for a little.
Later that evening I went to the seminarians' house that is down the road, and I have been teaching a few of them how to play the guitar. So we had a little lesson and then dinner.
It turned out to be a wonderful day, and now I could use a good night of sleep before I go and teach my P.6 St. Andrew's class what a paragraph is.

Update in Africa

The internet has been down for the past four days, and now that it is back everyone wants to get online so here is a quick update.

- I went to a party on the Nile this Tuesday that was for all the P.7 students who just took their exams to go on to secondary school. Watching the huge girls dance with the much smaller prepubecent boys was hilarious, and the Nile is beautiful as always.

- I continue to not be informed of testing days, and I walk a mile and a half to school to find that I don't have class.

- We have been hit hard by Malaria. Mathew, one of the ND grads that is here, is recovering from Malaria that kept him immobile Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in what looked and sounded like severe pain. Father Pascal, a priest that I live with, spent last night in the hospital, and just returned. He looks seriously ill, but both him and Mathew are thankfully improving.

- I am going to Bujagali tonight and relaxing on the Nile.

- Go Irish! Beat Navy!

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

Muzungu Byebye

Well whenever the weather feed on this blog says light showers it is actually beautiful, and at no time yet have I experience a continuous rainfall. Every day I walk to school in the beautiful weather, sticking out like sore thumb of course, and the children yell as try to dodge a boda that is fly right at me, "Muzungu Byebye." I know Muzungu is the word for white person yet I dont think it is as bad as gringo, but I don't know what the byebye is all about.
I picked up quite a few more classes. Now I have eleven a week, but I most look forward to classes at Holy Cross primary. The P.6 class there treats me like a celebrity yet they pay attention, and learn much easier than the St. Andrew's P.6. class.
The kids that come out every night to play football are starting to pick up the game. They are catching the ball and running toward the endzone, and they no longer throw the ball when a defender get close to them.
It is the weekend, and I think I will get some good reading in, and then I will tune in on CSTV for the ND game.

Muslim Funeral

I was supposed to teach in Holy Cross primary today, but classes were cancelled. Instead many students and teachers were attending the funeral of a girl in P.6 who died yesterday from an asthma attack in which she could not get proper help quickly enough. I will be teaching P.6 tomorrow, so I went to the burial with Father Pascal and Jimmy, an ND grad who is also a teacher at Holy Cross. Despite going to a Catholic primary school the little girl's family is Muslim so they had a traditional Muslim funeral. They burried the girl behind her house and said a bunch of stuff in Lusoga that I could not understand. I did not witness it, but apparently they burried the girl naked according to their traditions, but they kept her hidden from view the entire time. Once she was placed in her grave all the men took a turn to shovel dirt in while the women stayed behind.
After that it was about time to go to my evening class at St. Andrew's which went quite well.
I am working on posting pictures, but this computer seems to slow to download them.

-Andrew

First Day of Class

Well I went to my first class today, and it went quite well for the first hour. Then, the teacher who was supposed to teach english the next class did not show up, so the headmaster told me to continue teaching, but I had not lesson planned for two hours of class. All in all I broke even. One hour of progress and the next hour to confuse the hell out of them and bring them down to where they were when I enterred the classroom. I then ate lunch which was mashed plantain type bananas that we ate with our hands.
After a boda ride back I walked over to Holy Cross primary to lesson plan for one of the three other classes I picked up (P.5 Algebra). I also expect to be teaching a computers course at St. Andrew's.
I just got back from a backyard football game. I was steady Q, as the Holy Cross students ran around trying to catch the ball.

Saint Andrew's

Today I woke up at 2:30AM, and could not fall back asleep. I hope this does not continue, but on the positive side I was awake when it was time to go to St. Andrew's Primary School which has a beautiful view over-looking Lake Victoria. Father Pascal had arranged for me to speak to the headmaster to talk about what I could teach for them. Luckily Father Pascal wanted to come along and show me around so I rode in the car with him, and was spared the two mile walk in the terribly intense sun. I got there and was showed around the property. The boys dormitory was in the beginning of what looked like would be an overly drawn-out construction phase so the sixty or so boys that are boarding live in a class room with mini triple bunks from wall-to-wall with no space in between, and a boy that may have been too old for primary school would literally have grown out of it. The girls dormitory was constructed and under marginally better conditions than the boy's sleeping quarters. In the girls dormitory there was a little girl who looked to be about eight years old and was suffering from malaria. She was not a boarding student, but she was the only one in the dormitory when I walked up. She was completely comatose, was burning up, and was nearly nonresponsive. The house mother said she had come from her home the past two days and just lied in the bed. I would bet anything that the dilapidated dormitory was a hundred percent better than what she had to live in.
When walking back from St. Andrew's after meeting and lesson planning for tomorrow's P.6. math class, I was easily persuaded under the blistering sun to hop on a modern boda boda, which is a motor bike that you hop on the back of, a traditional boda boda being without a motor. So far from what I have seen the capacity is about five.
I get thrown into the fire tomorrow, and I hope I don't return with amusing stories of me bombing, but if there are such stories I will be sure to post them.

-Andrew

Storks in Trees

As you can see from the title there are storks in the trees out here. It is very beautiful here, yet I can not show you as of now b/c I forgot the cord to put my pictures on the computer, but I think one of the ND grads has one I can borrow. The past few days have been great. I have not done much, but I have relaxed and read. One thing I am very pleased about is that we have some football enthusiasts here, and they enjoy throwing the pig skin. There also some kids in the school next the house that want to learn to throw and play. So now I have have discovered my mission, it is to bring American football to Africa.
Along with my main mission, it looks like I will be teaching math and science at St. Andrew's primary school. I find out more tomorrow when I go there for the first time.
I went to the English mass this morning, but I might as well have gone to the Lusoga mass because I could not understand a word that the African priest, Father Pascal, was saying. Everything is going great, and I am really enjoying reading my book "Bringing Down the House." The food will take some getting used to, but I will discuss that later.
Go Irish!
Beat anyone!

-Andrew

Arrival!

I arrived at about 8:15 last night, and walked off the plane and couldn't stop smiling. It was a little outrageous walking out into the heart of Africa where I would be living for the next 80 days. I walked out and was greeted by Mathew, an ND grad, and Ciprian, an African deacon who I am living with at the Moreau House in Bugemebe. The following three hour drive from the airport to our house was definately the scariest of my life accompanied by a soundtrack of Britney Spears and Jojo. The road was pretty much just a free-for-all. We got in late and I fell dead asleep until lunch-time today. The house is actually very nice and I am very pleased with my room. Along with Ciprian, the others who live in the house are Father Serrapio and Father Pascal, and others join during meal times.
I recently found out that I am seven hours ahead of EST. I also just got my cell phone working. I will figure out what one would need to dial to reach me from the US, and post it later today along with some pictures.
-Andrew

I am very tired

Tonight I probably won't have any trouble getting sleep, and this is evidence to me that this whole Africa thing has not really sunk in. That realization will come in time, but as of now I am just thinking about not being in my comfortable bed and the comfort of my home where everything is so easy, and life is good.
This is quite wierd doing something so unbelievably different. I do NOT know what to expect, and as things come along I will definately post them, but right now I just feel like sleeping.
My flight leaves at 4:40 PM tomorrow and I fly to Amsterdam (8hrs) where I have a five hour lay-over, then I procede to Entebbe, Uganda (another 8 hr flight). I'm not sure what the time difference is, but when I care to do the math I'll let you all know.
I am getting a cell phone once I get there, and I will post the number, and I will keep in touch. I will miss you all!!

All my Love
~Andrew