Random Update

I’m not sure where to begin with this blog. It’s been awhile since my last post and I have random things I’d like to share with you.

So Term 2 of school is still going on. Not much to say there really. I’m still teaching English to the P4 class. I have begun doing reading intervention groups with 10 of my 50 pupils to hopefully increase their literacy skills a little. I am also planning for renovating the library at my school, but that won’t be until Term 3 or even Term 1 of next year.

A few weeks ago there was a craft fair that I went to with some friends. They had a lot of African crafts for sale. I bought three paintings and some little ceramic animals that I sent some people back home. It was really cool to look at all the things in the different booths. Bowls, candle holders, jewelry, what. They even had that swing ride that goes in a circle! But def not gonna ride that kind of thing here :P I did want to do the bouncy house but they refused and said children only :/ How unfair

Grasshoppers are considered a delicacy here. Which might sound a little strange, but you wouldn’t say that if you tried them. They’re super good! My shop keeper friend bought a bag of them and invited me to help him prepare them. They were still alive (so they’re fresh with no diseases he said) and you pull off their legs and wings then you fry them in a pot with a little bit of salt til they’re crispy. Some of my pupils were walking by when we were doing it and stopped to help us. We had a lot of fun doing it :)

There’s two Americans in my village! They met a priest who lives here when he visited the States and they came to stay with him and check out the place. One is leaving soon but the other will stay for a couple more months. It’s nice to have them around to talk and hang out with. Makes me feel weird being the one who “knows everything” about the place because it feels like I haven’t been here that long and still don’t know what’s going on half the time. But I guess I do compared to someone who just arrived.

Some sad news. The baby of one of my favorite teachers died a couple of weeks ago. Death is handled so differently here. It happens all the time so it doesn’t seem to have as much of an impact on their lives as it does ours. Of course they are sad, but he was back school teaching the next week. He said there’s nothing that can be done and we have to move on. Which is true, but still… I baked his family some banana bread and you could tell his wife wasn’t handling it very well. It’s just very interesting to see the cultural differences in these situations.

My best friend teacher told me he hasn't been paid in 4 months. Sadly, this is a very common thing to happen to primary school teachers here. He was offered another job in a different district, but he turned it down and is going to stay here. I'm sad because he's not getting paid for all the hard work he does, but I'm happy because I don't know what I would do if he left. He really helps me out a lot.

My days at site are still pretty much the same. School during the day and the majority of my evenings are spent watching tv shows on my computer, messing with my guitar, dancing, or reading. Of course the essentials too: cooking, washing clothes, cleaning, etc. So daily life isn’t all too exciting, but I go see friends sometimes and that makes it pretty interesting. I’ll be doing a fun trip with all the other PCVs for the 4^th of July so I’m pretty excited for that! More info to come later ;)

I’ve been debating if I should cut my hair. It’s the longest it’s been since high school! I’m worried that if I cut it shoulder length again, it’ll look weird since I don’t blow dry or straighten it here. And then would I get bangs again? Those would definitely do some funky curl out thing.

Other than that, I don’t think there’s much to report on. Things are going fine here. The days go slow, but the weeks go fast. Nothing really to complain about but I still miss home and all the people there quite a lot. Don’t worry though, it’s nothing too serious. I’m pretty sleepy now so I think I’m going to watch something and go to bed early tonight. Until next time <3

PS. I got my first package this weekend from a co-worker! It was a box of candy and it made me so happy :) Mail from home is always the best so don’t ever be afraid to drop me a line ;)

Eating our freshly prepared grasshoppers :D

Random baboons on the road

One of the many booths from the craft fair

6 Months in Country

Today is the half year mark since I arrived in Uganda. Wow! Where has the time gone?

On the one hand it doesn’t feel like I’ve already been gone from home for that long. On the other, it feels like I’ve been here much longer than only 6 months. So much has happened in such a short amount of time!

I’ve met so many amazing people and made some great friends. I’ve traveled and seen some cultural differences around the country. I’ve seen life through a different perspective and gained a great appreciation for how lucky mine has been.

After being shoved 12 people into a 5 passenger car and weaving in and out of an almost nonexistent road that takes 3x as long to travel on as that same distance in America, never again will I complain about long car trips.

I don’t consider going four days to a week without washing my hair, finding bugs in my food but still eating it, and wearing the same outfit 5 days in a row gross.

It’s not weird to see police men with AK47s on the street nor do I give a second thought to10 year olds slashing grass with a machete.

These people can make anything fit anywhere no problem. They’re also like McGyver when it comes to fixing things. And carrying things on your head? Forget about it.

Don’t know if I’ll ever understand why no one bats an eye at exposed breasts, but if a woman’s knee is showing everyone loses it. Also how the traffic cops keep their uniforms so white when they’re standing on a dusty road all day when I can’t even keep mud off my ankles for more than a few hours.

A typical day of a villager might be: cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a fire in the outside kitchen, sitting in their very small duka (shop) waiting for someone to buy some small item from them, or waking up at dawn to go dig on their plantation and returning home to sleep at dusk.

The highlight of that villager’s day might be: cooking something slightly different than the usual matooke, earning more than a few thousand shillings at the duka, or it being slightly cloudy so they suffer less from the sun.

If there’s a reason to party, a Ugandan knows how to throw a big one.

I’ve learned that privacy is a privilege that you don’t really have when you’re a celebrity or a mzungu. I now know for sure that I do not want to ever be famous.

Whoever said that milk, butter, cheese, eggs, yogurt, or anything for that matter, needed to be refrigerated?

Important rule: Be sure to keep your electronics charged in case of random power outages.

Weird to think about how I’ll be able to drink from the tap without having to boil the water first when I go back. Nice to think about how I won’t have to worry about bargaining on prices when I go back.

Will I buy a washing machine/dryer back home? What about a hair dryer?

Just realized I won’t be able to use “It was raining” as an excuse for being late to work because I’ll have a car and roads are paved instead of walking in the mud.

I feel super behind with what’s happening in the pop/trendy part of the world thanks to lack of Youtube, radio, and fast internet to look up memes.

Living here really can change a person. I definitely think it’s changed me in my short time here and not only by making me look more and more like a tomato from sunburns. There are a lot of things I miss from the states. Certain foods, convinces, cultural norms, etc., but I really have enjoyed these last 6 months and I’m very glad I’ve been placed in this country. I’ve been very lucky to have had such a great first ¼ of my service. I know it won’t always be so easy and challenges will come, but I have a great support system from family and friends, both here and back home. With that I know that every day can be better than the last and I’m looking forward to see how this experience plays out :)

Can’t appreciate the good without a little bad

I arrived home late last night after spending the week at In Service Training. All the volunteers in my group meet and we had a follow up on how the 1^st three months at our sites went. Our counterpart Ugandan teachers were also invited and we had training sessions with them so we could talk about future plans. There were some pretty good sessions and it was so nice for all of us to be together again.

We spent the evenings hanging out in each other’s rooms talking, going out to the nearby club/bar establishment, playing volleyball, or other misc. The last night was so much fun because one of my favorite volunteers arranged a cooking competition set up like Iron Chef. I was on a team with another best friend PCV and we got 2^nd of 4 teams. Lost by only 1 point! I had such a great time using matooke, mangos, and Doritos to make a dish. Then later, two other PCVs arranged a trivia night. My team got last place for this, but it was still a great time :D

Yesterday was a very annoying travel day. I waited in a bus for 3 ½ hours before it left! I took the bus to one town but I still had to get another taxi car to get to my district. Half way home in this taxi, the driver pulls over and we have to get in another car because it turns out the 2 year old next to him was given to him by a man who told him to drop the boy with his mom in this other village, but the phone number for the mom wasn’t real. So the driver went to the Police. I hope he figured it out! Poor kid…

I was so tired when I got home I passed out almost instantly after unpacking and doing some small laundry.

This morning I was still super tired, but I had to hurry to the salon in town because today was the wedding day of the teacher who I agreed to be a bridesmaid for. She was an hour late…but it was fine because it gave me some reading time. They took a long time to style my hair. They weren’t sure how to fix mzungu hair so they tried a few things. Finally settled on putting mine in a bun and then pinning a braid of red and blonde fake hair around it. They put a lot of product in it though that made it feel greasy, but no matter. It was so relaxing having someone mess with my hair that long so I enjoyed it.

We all got dressed. The bride was SO beautiful! I had a bright, lime green, strapless, slightly above the knee dress. I thought I got a lot of stares before… everyone was so fascinated by the fact that a mzungu was a maid :P We then went to the parish and had mass/the wedding ceremony. So different than an American ceremony. There were two wedding parties there. We walked in, sat, listened to mass, the bride and groom stood up and repeated what the priest said (it was all in local language so I was lost), and then they signed the contract and we left.

The reception was at their home. They had tents set up and lots of people waiting, but we had to eat 1^st. They made an announcement over the loud speaker that “the mzungu doesn’t like to eat beans” and everyone laughed. The wedding party danced in and we took our seats. So began the process of speeches. Again, all in local language, but I picked some (mostly mzungu comments). We watched dancers, served cake, and received gifts.

One of my all time favorite quotes!

It was dark when it was time to dance. That’s when I got my bag and found that my camera had been stolen from it… Of course I’m frustrated by this, but honestly it’s not the fact that my camera is gone. It’s that I hadn’t uploaded pix to my comp since nearly a month ago so now all of those are gone :( And what’s worse, I even thought to do it last night when I got home, but I was sooo tired I didn’t. Gah, so mad at myself. But oh well. It could’ve been much worse! Nothing else was taken so that’s good.

Anyway, wish I could show you some pictures, but as mentioned, I can’t. Sorry! I need to do a lot of things, but I think I’m going to eat suckers and watch a movie instead. I got some new ones this past week so that’ll help take my mind off it :P

Home is where the heart is, so your real home’s in your chest

Term 1 has ended! The last day of school practice for the student teachers was soooo much fun. We had a two hour dance party in the classroom before lunch. They brought in a drum and busted out some sweet beats while the room filled up with pupils who could really shake it. I, of course, joined them and we had SUCH an amazing time!

Me with my P4 class, my counterpart,
and our two student teachers

Me with my other teachers
and the student teachers

At lunch, my school wanted to say well done for the student teachers so they made a lot of matooke and meat and we had a really good lunch. Then they played a football game out on the pitch.

Last week was end of term exams so since I finished marking (grading) the English ones, I am on break for the next month until term 2 starts :D

Next week my Peace Corps group has a training that we all must go to. I’m soooo excited to see everyone in the same place again! The last time was when we were sworn in at the end of January. Can’t wait!

Random updates:

*I now officially have chaco tan lines on my feet! I didn’t think it would ever happen :P
*Also, got some new music and been having none stop dance parties in my room since yesterday. Probably the best way anyone could ever spend their time.
*Yesterday I went over to my VSO friend's house and she opened the bag of rice and was pouring it into a bowl and a spoon came out XD I thought I was going to die laughing.

Ok, time to go! I’m sure there’s lots of other things I was meaning to tell ya’ll, but it’s escaping me at the moment soooo…. BYYYEEEEEE! <3

P.S. The title of this post is from a Dr. Horrible song if you didn’t catch that ;) I’m starting to have small episodes of homesickness, but I’m happy to have this place as my new home so it’s somehow working out :)

Village time=Good times!

I know I just wrote a blog not that long ago, but I wanted to share some of the great experiences I’ve enjoyed these past few days…

Starting with what I just got done with!

The sisters I live with told me that today was their annunciation day where they renew their vows and that they were gonna celebrate in the evening time. Celebrations for them always mean good food so I was excited the whole day! Dinner consisted of matooke and millet of course, but also rice, mixed vegetables, chips (fries), sauce, chicken, and fish with cake for dessert! We had some visitors as well. Some other sisters and two fathers so the wine and beer was busted out. After we finished eating, they cranked up the music and pushed the furniture aside in the living room and we started dancing!

They made sure that my glass was topped off and one of the priests said he’d buy me for 7 cows so I should inform Obama. Also, they thought it was so funny to see me dance and were surprised. Us white people get a bad rep even here I guess :P Anyways, it was so much fun! Even now, I’m back in my room, but they are still going strong. I can hear all the laughs from here. Nuns keeping me up on a Tuesday night..... can you believe it? XD

Yesterday when I came home from school, two of them were watching 90's love song music videos. I got so excited and we sang and danced a bit to those as well! Then some other visitors were coming to visit and they joked exclaiming that I was going to be meeting their boyfriends ;) Our regular Mexican soap opera that we watch wasn’t on, but instead a Ugandan drama and they kept laughing about what terrible actors they were and how boring it was haha! Later, the two girls who are hired to help cook and clean here braided my hair. I’m really glad I live with all of them. They make these evenings at site exciting (which I hear doesn’t happen much in the Peace Corps life) and it reminds me of my housemates from back home :)

On Sunday, I meet up with my shop keeper friend. He closed up and we went for a hike up the hill behind my place. It was sooooo beautiful! Finally was able to look over my village in its entirety. See picture below! After heading down, he introduced me to his adorable 97 year old grandmother and then we went back to his shop where we shared some akotogo for lunch.

My village!
Beautifully labeled if I do say so myself
Ok, maybe not, but it's good reference!

My friend outside his shop
and some others

Part of my bustling trading center!
(shops to buy some things)
That's the hill we climbed in the background

In other school related news: This week is midterm exams so I’ve sat in to proctor some and have some English ones to mark, but it’s allowed me to get some serious reading in! Or some really good/funny conversations with the other teachers when we’re not busy. They’ve started serving posho and beans for lunch instead of matooke :/ but my best teacher friend always hooks me up with an avocado. I’m going to meet him in town tomorrow morning for the final district level athletics competition! One of my P4 pupils qualified to compete in it :’) So proud. They've been surrounding me when class is over and talking to me in Runyankore. They're super cute even if they are hoodlums sometimes.

Also it's rainy season which means the temperatures have been very favorable to me, but last night I was actually cold enough to sleep with fuzzy socks! It was wonderful!

So there ya go. Some inside stories to some of the great times I have here. Hope you enjoyed! I know I sure have ;D

Mawidge (and cows) is what bwings us together today

I attended my first Ugandan wedding today and like most things here, it was long, but fun! The groom was one of the sisters I live with’s nephew. I didn't know the bride, but one of her bridesmaids was a younger girl I also live with. The wedding party came to the compound to take pictures then we all headed to the house the ceremony/reception was taking place. They had already gone to the church before pictures. We got there and ate and drank then we were seated and waited for the wedding party to show up. There were SO many people there! I don’t usually feel like an out of place minority here, but let me tell ya, I could definitely feel my whiteness showing. The sisters laughed and translated a part of the speech from the groom for me when he said he was lucky to have a white at his wedding :P Everyone looked so smart! (What they say when someone dresses nice). The seating was set up in a square kind of shape instead of two rows with a walk way down the middle. One side was for the wedding party and the other three were full of guests. The gifts, speeches, and cake were done in the middle of the square. And dancing. So much dancing. The party danced down the walkway. Anytime anyone moved anywhere, the music played and they danced to their destination. Even if it was just three feet away. And the music was jumpin’ thanks to the very energetic MC. Gifts were given (goats and such) and entertainment was provided (a cross dressing man singing with girls dancing around). We went down the line to say hi to everyone and then we headed out so we could arrive home before it got dark. It’s not good to travel at night. I was a little sad to leave before the real dance party started though, but it’s ok. I still had a good time. Did I tell ya'll that a co-teacher of mine asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding?? I'll be dancing late into the night for that one I'm sure :D

Speaking of weddings and love type things… Funny story time!

Here in Uganda, if a man wants to marry a woman he gives cows to her family as payment for her. The more cows, the higher the value of the woman. I’ve heard that a really good cow can cost 1,000,000 UGX (Ugandan Shillings) which is about $400. They tell me that an average woman can go anywhere between 5-10 cows. So anyway, a few weeks ago I was in a small village with some other Peace Corps friends. A Ugandan man approaches the guys I was with, points at me, and says, “How much for that one? I like her.” WHAT! Luckily my friends were nice and made outrageous offers to him, but he still followed us asking until we go in a taxi and drove off XD This week, I was talking with a shop owner friend of mine and my head teacher saw us so I went over to talk to him and he said, “How many cows should I ask from him for you?” hahahaha! So mom, if you’re reading this, be ready for some cows to come off the plane instead of me ;)

Speaking of head teachers and school related things… Update!

School practice has started! “What does that mean, Hannah?” Glad you asked! It means that the students from the college who are studying to become teachers have to come to the primary schools to practice teaching for the next four weeks! So I have some “time off” if you will. Then the term is basically over and we have break until term two begins! :O

Also there was an athletics competition yesterday in town. I think 28 schools from the district were there. I got half way there on my bike and then felt a little sick so I went back home and chilled in my room reading and watching some tv shows on my computer. I felt much better by evening time, but by then it was too late. I’m sad to have missed it. At least I got to see some of my pupils practicing on our pitch at school! And they let me throw a discus! Which went terribly :P hahaha

Speaking of bikes… I bought a bike! Yay! Now I can get to town much easier! 25 minute ride instead of 1 hour walk. I've already made friends with the local bike shop owner guy who gave me some bananas and his super cute son who told me funny stories about his stubborn brother :)

Now here's something you'll really enjoy: Pictures!

Amigas <3

 I realized I don't think I have pix of my room... So even though it has nothing to do with the blog topic, here's some! :D

Taken from my doorway
I like pictures
Maybe too much?
Nahhhhh

And the other side!
Legit huh?

Thanks for visiting this post! It was great having you! Hope you enjoyed your stay. Please come again soon <3

P.S. I went over to my VSO friend's house for dinner the other day and she gave me a big jar of unopened Nutella cuz she doesn't like it. And I splurged and bought some muesli. Best day ever! Ok, now you can go :)

Home/Site Life

It’s going on almost a month since I swore in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer… Crazy! Since then I’ve been hanging mostly at site which I’ve said some about, but I thought maybe I’d dedicate this blog to specifics of it. Sorry it’s so long :P

Firstly, site is the village I am living and working in for the remainder of my service (two years).

Secondly, in case you weren’t aware, I am a Literacy Specialist meaning I will be working with Primary school pupils on their reading and writing in English. Now I am teaching English in the P4 class. They are super cute and it’s only the 3^rd week of school, but I’m already in love! Even though sometimes they can be very talkative, but kids will be kids ;) P4 is the same as 4^th grade. This is the first year of school for them where they are taught in only English. Before this, they learn English in class, but they are taught in the local language. So they have a difficult time picking my accent and I have to talk very slow and clearly and repeat myself a lot. One of my pupils drew me a picture of me teaching and gave it to me :) On Valentine ’s Day, my lesson was teaching them how to make Valentine’s day cards. Some of them gave them to me when they had finished :D

Has for my actual home, I have a room located in a nun convent. Maybe that doesn’t sound like too much fun, but in all actuality, it’s really been a blast so far! The sisters I live with are SO funny! They have a great sense of humor and we are always laughing together. It’s nice to have them here because I quickly felt welcomed into a family and they are willing to answer any question I have and help me out in so many ways! They are so nice and I love them!

My room is big enough for my twin size bed, a nightstand, desk, wardrobe, and even a sink in the corner! I have enough space for all my things to fit nicely and a big window to look outside. I have my walls totally filled with pictures, cards, notes, quotes, maps, and postcards so it feels homey :) I have a “pet” gecko as well who shows up every couple of days. I’ll see him hanging out on a wall. Geckos are everywhere in this country! I don’t try to remove him cuz I know he’ll just come back :P but also because he eats other bugs who enter.

But of course I’m not confined to my room only. The convent has a big kitchen, a dining area, a living room, a sitting room next to my room, storage rooms, and a nice grassy area in the center. The convent itself is set somewhat far away from the road, is gated, has a fence on one side, and a banana plantation on the other so I feel very safe and have privacy! Which is something very hard to come by in this country so I’m very grateful haha!

A typical day for me goes something like this during a week day:
I wake up between 7-8am. I’ve resorted to only washing my hair twice a week (unless it really needs it) so I’ll do this in the morning so it can air dry throughout the day. I eat some breakfast and head to school. It’s a 5 minute walk down the road. I greet my friend who owns a small shop along the way and anyone else I pass (pupils going to school, boda (motorcycle) guys, or other random villagers). I get to school at 8:30 when the morning assembly is ending. I spend the first part of the day talking to other teachers/lesson planning, then we have break where we eat maize porridge. I usually teach my lesson after that then it’s time for lunch. I sometimes go home to eat with the sisters and other times I’ll stay and eat with the other staff members. We eat matooke (like plantains) and then after that I pull individual pupils to do a quick reading assessment with them to see where their reading level is. That or talk to the teachers some more :P haha! Then I head home. I’m starting to get a routine for how I spend my evenings. I arrive home, get on the computer for a bit, do a small exercise session, shower, cook/eat, watch a terribly awful Spanish soap opera with the sisters, call some other PCVs to chat, read or mess with my guitar, listen to some music, write in my journal, and go to sleep.

Not all days are like this though, just most. On the weekends I go visit some other nearby PCVs to hang out and maybe eat some Mzungu (white/foreigner) food. I don’t have a site mate (another PCV who is living in the same village as me), but there are TWO other Mzungus here! One is a British VSO and the other is a French girl. They are both super cool and we’ll hang out sometimes. We had dinner last week. The electricity randomly goes out, so we cooked/ate by candle light. We went to the nearby town to buy the food. There’s a big outdoors produce market and some small “super”markets where we can buy other food stuffs and even some refrigerated “cold” things! The town also has shops where you can buy clothing and other things you may need. Nothing too exotic though. If you need something like that, you have to travel to another district that has a bigger town (this is usually where I go on the weekends).

Speaking of travel: Bodas (motorcycles) are prominent in my village, but PC does not allow us to take them. I don’t really want to anyway though cuz they are so dangerous! So I’ve been walking everywhere unless there happens to be a car passing, then I hitch hike a ride. It’s an hour walk to town vs a 5 minute car ride. I think I’m going to get a bike though so that’ll help shorten the journey. If I need to leave my district though, I first need to get to town then get a “taxi”. There are cars that go back and forth between the different major towns every day so I walk along the road going the direction I need to go until a driver stops and says he’s going to where I need to go. When the car is full (and I mean OVERLY FULL) of passengers, then we go.

I am really liking my village and district. It’s very beautiful and has a lot of nice looking hills everywhere. The climate is also very nice. I am just south of the equator so the sun can be very intense during midday, but if you stay inside or the shade, it’s really not that bad. And it gets pretty cool at night! When I wake up early to do laundry (by hand outside) I’m sometimes cold! There also aren’t that many mosquitoes here! I think I’ve only seen like 2 this whole time so far! Unlike most other districts, the electricity doesn’t go off on the weekends. But it still does go off sometimes randomly and you’ll never know when it’ll come back on, but it’s usually not off for very long. The people are also very nice and easy to talk to!

So yeah, that basically sums up how the last month has been for me. I’m settling in, making friends, and getting a routine developed! All is going very well so far :) but internet is still somewhat of an issue so sadly I don’t know if skype will happen (definitely won’t be often), but I still want to keep in touch with all of you! Please send me a letter or message via facebook. I’d love to hear from you and all about your life too :D

<3 Hannah

Looking out the window of my school
at our pitch during break time

My P4 class working on an assignment