Miscellaneous…

When you sleep on the top bunk of three high bunk beds don’t forget how high up you are when you get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. It is a long fall to the concrete floor.

I keep posting pictures of the “fun” stuff on my Facebook. I feel awkward taking pictures of people- I feel voyeuristic and creepy, so I mainly stick to photographing my IC friends and partner teachers. With that said I am having a lot of fun (on the weekends) but Monday through Friday I work my butt off. My Sunday night through Thursday life here consists of working (the reason I came), writing lesson plans, working on research, running, and a lot of after dinner conversation (I live in a house with a ton of people with no TV and relatively little to do other than talk).

I have been here for almost three weeks. I wish time would stop. I am not ready for this experience to pass me by.

The Head Prefect at my school proposed marriage to me. He said he had a dream about me two years ago and when he saw me he knew god’s plan was finally being put into action. I said “no” we would not be married but he is going to buy me a ring and cow anyway because it is “gods plan” and I will marry him even if I am not aware of it. I’m a little scared of him. I try to avoid alone time with him.

My teacher took her daughter to get her ears pierced because human sacrifice is on the rise in the villages. If a child/person has lost blood they are no longer pure and cannot be sacrifice so a simple ear piercing will ward off those who kidnap kids to be sacrificed. Another teacher said, “you do not sacrifice in the United States?” It is just assumed that these events occur worldwide.

My teacher told me she was lucky because she “wasn’t kidnapped during the conflict, not even once.” It was common for children to be kidnapped only to escape and be kidnapped again. Another teacher told me how the LRA surrounded his hut and his bothers and sisters took off running through the bush. Half were kidnapped, half were not. He escaped but has scars all over his legs from his skin being ripped off while running and being too afraid to stop. I can’t handle the stories, they are so intense, so emotional- for me, for the Acholi it was such a way of life that they speak of these events like any other “normal” life event. I can’t decide if it is a positive or negative stance.

I thought that I would lose weight here. I don’t eat badly in the states but I eat a lot. I though, “since I will not be eating as frequently as I do at home, it is logical that I will lose some weight.” WRONG! I lost 5 lbs my first week here, I assume it was because of the change in diet and complete lack of food. Now that I am settled I am putting the pounds on quickly. My diet consists of posho (nasty white mush made of flour and something gross- think white play dough), beans, rice, white bread, pancakes, pasta, and potatoes. Do you see a pattern? All I eat is starches and carbs. Occasionally I eat goat but I rely primarily on peanut butter for protein. Basically I am eating massive amounts of starches and peanut butter. And to top it off I eat massive amounts of food at every meal because I have an irrational fear that I might get hungry and food won’t be available. Arg…

I love my new accent; it is a weird African/British English tone. It is so silly and I love it. I think I will talk like this forever.

I just found out that Obama’s family is from the same tribe as the Acholi. His family is from Kenya. When the British colonized Kenya and Uganda, tribal lands and boundaries were ignored and split so even though his family is not from Uganda his family is from the same tribe. I have no point to this I just found it interesting.

Interesting is my groups motto. Almost every sentence ends with, “it was/that was really interesting”

What my trip still entails…
1) Visit to St. Jude’s Orphanage
2) Dinner at Apollo’s family farm- I don’t know to much about this man but I know that his family had to flee the country fearing their lives. We will get the entire story at his house.
3) 3 weeks more of teaching which includes creating a teachers handbook and conducting research on student empowerment.
4) Day trip to Fort Patiko (Slave trade site) with my partner teacher.
5) Weekend Safari (This is an additional cost that I will pay- donors did not pay for me to have fun!)
6) And then home ☹ wow that was fast…