Hello all, and sorry it's been so long since my last post. What with the new term starting and everything, I've become a bit busy. I'm teaching more classes this term, and it's been hectic with all the changes the Ministry of Education handed out and then took back. But things are beginning to settle, and I'm getting used to the constant writing of lecture notes and correcting of assignments. My poor physics class is more confused than ever, but what can you do. They try anyway. So now I have another of my famous animal encounters that y'all so love to read about.
I was minding my own business, just reading or doing crosswords or sudoku or something equally enthralling, when I thought I heard someone enter my house through the back door. I'm in the living room, which is in the front of my house, so I called out a very inviting and not at all frightened "Hello?? Anyone there?" no answer. So I continued with my entertainment, and was not at all surprised when a furry, horned, white head poked itself through the door from my bedroom to my living room.
"Wink!!! What are you doing in here?!!" It was Wink, the oldest of the 3 cows born since I've arrived at my school. Her two partners in crime, Danny and Casey, weren't far behind. I didn't waste any time shooing them out the door, and a good thing it was too, because Wink let go a hot torrent of urine, and what volume! just outside the door. Then all three just stood there looking at me, and I could tell they were thinking that I had no reason really to kick them out because they had done absolutely nothing wrong. Silly girls. For whatever reason, my house is incredibly inviting to all of the animals living at my school. I guess I just have to be less friendly. Although the cows are babies, they're still cows, and much bigger than the goats. They definitely were too big for my small house. Bull in a china shop indeed.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Overtime On My Ass
Greetings all! I know it's been awhile since my last entry, so I thought I'd update you on my latest happenings. I recently went whitewater rafting on the Nile in Jinja, and let me tell you, it was quite an adventure. I went with some friends, Jessie Ray, Bubba and Unibomber (just a nick-name, but apt, I think). I'll start at the beginning.
Jessie Ray has a water phobia, so she was quite nervous about the whole thing. The rest of us were pretty pumped up, and the day of the event came quickly. Right away 2 South Africans decided we looked normal enough and decided to tag along with us, since there were 6 people to a boat. The day started out ok, beginning with practicing the important things like flipping the raft and getting back in it, as well as following important commands. The flip was frightening, because we were in calm water and everyone fell on top of each other, and Jessie Ray and I came up under the boat. We looked at each other, and we could both see how scared the other was. But then we came to our first rapids, and everything seemed ok. We went over Bujagali Falls, didn't flip, and made it through some other big class 5's, including Silver Back, which was huge and felt more like a mack truck hitting me in the face than water, but after pinballing around the boat and whacking people with my paddle, I stayed in and everything was ok.
I don't know what time it was, but we hit a calm stretch about 3 km long where we could swim and take pee breaks, and also had a light lunch of delicious pineapple and some biscuits. Everyone in my boat must have eaten too much, because the next rapid, called Overtime, was not quite as joyful as all the rest had been. Our guide warned us, again and again, we had to do exactly as he said, because this is the one shallow rapid of the day, and if we flip on this one, someone is going to get seriously injured. Well, we didn't listen. It started bad from the beginning. We got stuck on the rock at the very top, we were supposed to go to the right of this rock, and instead went to the left. We soon flipped the boat, and I remember very little of the next, say 30 seconds or so. I remember grabbing onto my paddle for dear life, and just relaxing. I hit my butt on about 4 big rocks, and pretty hard, but then finally came to some deeper water (this is probably the point where I went over the 12 foot waterfall). I must have had my eyes closed, because next a safety kayaker is screaming at me to grab ahold of his kayak so he can paddle me to safety. He got me to a different raft where someone else yelled at me to let go of my paddle (I have no idea how I held onto it for so long) and then someone pulled me into the boat. I landed in a heap at the bottom, and didn't want to move. The guide from that boat asked me if I was ok, and all I could answer was, "I don't know, I think so, let me check." I was of course fine, since I am writing this blog now. All I suffered was a giant purple/black shades of grey goose-egg on my right cheek. It's slowly going down, though even now it still can be difficult to sit properly.
Bubba had the same fate as me. He was the first one to go over the waterfall, and has a bruised tail bone. Unibomber went over on his stomach, and cut up his arms, but not bad enough to require stitches. The SA woman also bruised her tail bone, and the SA man got scratched up like Unibomber. Only one in our group went unscathed, and that's because she got stuck. Jessie Ray ended up somehow standing still at the top of the waterfall on some rocks. A safety kayaker managed to wedge his kayak into some rocks near the base of the waterfall, climbed up to Jessie Ray and helped her slide on her bum down to a point where she could then jump over the waterfall and into a waiting raft. What an adventure.
After we all survived, without one serious injury like we had been warned would happen, I think we felt pretty invincible. I know I did. After that, I was afraid of no rapid, and asked the guide to go the hardest route on all of them. At the last rapid, where the boats have a 90% chance of flipping, we managed to keep afloat. So on the one rapid of the day where you are absolutely not supposed to flip, we did, and on the one where its pretty certain your going to, we managed to not flip. I supposed its just characteristic of me, I tend to go the opposite way I am told. Oh well. I conquered the Nile River, and its shallow Class-5 rapid, Overtime. Hoo Ahhh!!!!
Jessie Ray has a water phobia, so she was quite nervous about the whole thing. The rest of us were pretty pumped up, and the day of the event came quickly. Right away 2 South Africans decided we looked normal enough and decided to tag along with us, since there were 6 people to a boat. The day started out ok, beginning with practicing the important things like flipping the raft and getting back in it, as well as following important commands. The flip was frightening, because we were in calm water and everyone fell on top of each other, and Jessie Ray and I came up under the boat. We looked at each other, and we could both see how scared the other was. But then we came to our first rapids, and everything seemed ok. We went over Bujagali Falls, didn't flip, and made it through some other big class 5's, including Silver Back, which was huge and felt more like a mack truck hitting me in the face than water, but after pinballing around the boat and whacking people with my paddle, I stayed in and everything was ok.
I don't know what time it was, but we hit a calm stretch about 3 km long where we could swim and take pee breaks, and also had a light lunch of delicious pineapple and some biscuits. Everyone in my boat must have eaten too much, because the next rapid, called Overtime, was not quite as joyful as all the rest had been. Our guide warned us, again and again, we had to do exactly as he said, because this is the one shallow rapid of the day, and if we flip on this one, someone is going to get seriously injured. Well, we didn't listen. It started bad from the beginning. We got stuck on the rock at the very top, we were supposed to go to the right of this rock, and instead went to the left. We soon flipped the boat, and I remember very little of the next, say 30 seconds or so. I remember grabbing onto my paddle for dear life, and just relaxing. I hit my butt on about 4 big rocks, and pretty hard, but then finally came to some deeper water (this is probably the point where I went over the 12 foot waterfall). I must have had my eyes closed, because next a safety kayaker is screaming at me to grab ahold of his kayak so he can paddle me to safety. He got me to a different raft where someone else yelled at me to let go of my paddle (I have no idea how I held onto it for so long) and then someone pulled me into the boat. I landed in a heap at the bottom, and didn't want to move. The guide from that boat asked me if I was ok, and all I could answer was, "I don't know, I think so, let me check." I was of course fine, since I am writing this blog now. All I suffered was a giant purple/black shades of grey goose-egg on my right cheek. It's slowly going down, though even now it still can be difficult to sit properly.
Bubba had the same fate as me. He was the first one to go over the waterfall, and has a bruised tail bone. Unibomber went over on his stomach, and cut up his arms, but not bad enough to require stitches. The SA woman also bruised her tail bone, and the SA man got scratched up like Unibomber. Only one in our group went unscathed, and that's because she got stuck. Jessie Ray ended up somehow standing still at the top of the waterfall on some rocks. A safety kayaker managed to wedge his kayak into some rocks near the base of the waterfall, climbed up to Jessie Ray and helped her slide on her bum down to a point where she could then jump over the waterfall and into a waiting raft. What an adventure.
After we all survived, without one serious injury like we had been warned would happen, I think we felt pretty invincible. I know I did. After that, I was afraid of no rapid, and asked the guide to go the hardest route on all of them. At the last rapid, where the boats have a 90% chance of flipping, we managed to keep afloat. So on the one rapid of the day where you are absolutely not supposed to flip, we did, and on the one where its pretty certain your going to, we managed to not flip. I supposed its just characteristic of me, I tend to go the opposite way I am told. Oh well. I conquered the Nile River, and its shallow Class-5 rapid, Overtime. Hoo Ahhh!!!!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
One Term Down
Well, I've finished teaching my first term here in Uganda, and what a term it was. It was a bumpy ride to say the least. My students have trouble understanding my outrageous American accent, and then the material is also difficult, physics and math are tough subjects. They are trying anyway, and I think they enjoy having a mzungu teacher. They have more to laugh about during class than those who don't have me, and really its just because I'm so strange. But I enjoyed it, and am glad to have a new term to think about and new lessons to plan. Now that I have some decent textbooks, thanks Dianne, and the church for sending them, teaching has become a little easier. Logical flow of material and lack of errors and typos is really quite a relief. I think the students will really benefit from this.
Not much new to say here, I'm finally feeling like I somewhat belong, and am making friends among the teachers. I have fed them stir-fry, and they absolutely love it. I also made them macaroni and cheese, which didn't go over so well, and chicken salad sandwiches, which they loved. Well, not so much the sandwich part, but the chicken salad anyway. I'll have to come up with some more dishes I think they'll like. Anything that isn't matooke can be daunting, but they're learning that American food isn't so bad. I even made fried green tomatoes, which were ok, but not the best. My neighbor enjoyed them. I"ll have to try it again, with greener tomatoes and a different batter. I'm becoming quite the experimenter in the kitchen. I"ll let you know if anything turns out well.
So this is a pretty boring post, but I guess learning about my everyday life might be stimulating to others. Who knows, stranger things have happened.
Not much new to say here, I'm finally feeling like I somewhat belong, and am making friends among the teachers. I have fed them stir-fry, and they absolutely love it. I also made them macaroni and cheese, which didn't go over so well, and chicken salad sandwiches, which they loved. Well, not so much the sandwich part, but the chicken salad anyway. I'll have to come up with some more dishes I think they'll like. Anything that isn't matooke can be daunting, but they're learning that American food isn't so bad. I even made fried green tomatoes, which were ok, but not the best. My neighbor enjoyed them. I"ll have to try it again, with greener tomatoes and a different batter. I'm becoming quite the experimenter in the kitchen. I"ll let you know if anything turns out well.
So this is a pretty boring post, but I guess learning about my everyday life might be stimulating to others. Who knows, stranger things have happened.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Oh Life
Well, I've had some very interesting conversations as of late. Including immoral sleeping positions, why bicycle riding is bad for your sexual health, and have been told several interesting stories about former student revolts around Uganda. All of these conversations happened in the same day, and what a day it was. I learned alot.
I also had a conversation with a somewhat intoxicated man in Muhanga, the town halfway between my village and Kabale town, about how disturbing certain American's have been to him. He asked me to get a message to George Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Lee, to tell them to go to Muhanga, Uganda immediately to explain to this man exactly why they have been bothering him, or he is planning bodily harm. I said of course I knew these people, and would get the message to them as soon as I could. I was sitting in a stationary car, and since he was promising physical violence, I wanted to placate him. He said he could fire me on the spot, but he wasn't going to. He once again made sure I knew the 'ninjas', and that I was absolutely going to get the message to them, and then staggered away. I was glad he left, but the conversation was stimulating.
Back to the animal front, I now have a cow that is stalking me. She comes to the back door of my house every evening around 5 or 6 and moos loudly. She wants sweet potatoes, but I am currently all out. I suppose it's my own fault for giving them to her in the first place. Now she also comes running whenever she sees me around school, and needless to say its a bit frightening to see a full grown cow galloping towards you. She always stops short, but nonetheless its nerve-wracking. She came to my classroom one day while I was teaching. Now here in Uganda, the teachers move from room to room, and the students stay put. So this took some planning on her part. She stuck her head into the s1 classroom and started mooing loudly at me. The students erupted in laughter, as did I, and I tried to continue my lesson. She wouldn't leave. So I put a problem up on the board, and had a student come up to solve it. Then I tried to push her out of the doorway, but once again, a cow doesn't move so easily. The students laughed even harder. Eventually she got the picture and moved along, but for now I am looking over my shoulder constantly.
There's also a daily goat race at my school. Every day at about 2pm, as I'm resting in the shade after a large lunch, the goats come racing by on their way to eat the banana peels by the canteen. The same goat one for the first 3 days this week, I call him Speedy, but then was overtaken on Thursday and Friday by another. I think I may start taking bets with the other teachers on this daily race. It's entertaining anyway.
A shout out to Scott's mom, he says hi.
I also had a conversation with a somewhat intoxicated man in Muhanga, the town halfway between my village and Kabale town, about how disturbing certain American's have been to him. He asked me to get a message to George Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Lee, to tell them to go to Muhanga, Uganda immediately to explain to this man exactly why they have been bothering him, or he is planning bodily harm. I said of course I knew these people, and would get the message to them as soon as I could. I was sitting in a stationary car, and since he was promising physical violence, I wanted to placate him. He said he could fire me on the spot, but he wasn't going to. He once again made sure I knew the 'ninjas', and that I was absolutely going to get the message to them, and then staggered away. I was glad he left, but the conversation was stimulating.
Back to the animal front, I now have a cow that is stalking me. She comes to the back door of my house every evening around 5 or 6 and moos loudly. She wants sweet potatoes, but I am currently all out. I suppose it's my own fault for giving them to her in the first place. Now she also comes running whenever she sees me around school, and needless to say its a bit frightening to see a full grown cow galloping towards you. She always stops short, but nonetheless its nerve-wracking. She came to my classroom one day while I was teaching. Now here in Uganda, the teachers move from room to room, and the students stay put. So this took some planning on her part. She stuck her head into the s1 classroom and started mooing loudly at me. The students erupted in laughter, as did I, and I tried to continue my lesson. She wouldn't leave. So I put a problem up on the board, and had a student come up to solve it. Then I tried to push her out of the doorway, but once again, a cow doesn't move so easily. The students laughed even harder. Eventually she got the picture and moved along, but for now I am looking over my shoulder constantly.
There's also a daily goat race at my school. Every day at about 2pm, as I'm resting in the shade after a large lunch, the goats come racing by on their way to eat the banana peels by the canteen. The same goat one for the first 3 days this week, I call him Speedy, but then was overtaken on Thursday and Friday by another. I think I may start taking bets with the other teachers on this daily race. It's entertaining anyway.
A shout out to Scott's mom, he says hi.
Friday, June 27, 2008
What a Day
Must be because it's Friday the 13th or something. I woke up to yet more bits from some indestructable yet miniscule (and invisible to the naked eye) creature that has invaded my sleeping space, despite airing my mattress, blanket and pillow, spraying all 3 with insecticide, and washing my sheets and pillow case with hot water and an obscene amount of Omo (strong detergent).
Not such a happy start to a lovely work free and sunshiny Friday. So I made a list of songs on my ipod to match my mood, and set about doing my laundry. Then I swept my house, scrubbed my cooktop and toilet, and mopped the place down, including under my food storage box, which wasn't a pretty site (who knew mold could smell like that?).
Then I headed down to the school for lunch and to grade some assignments I gave to my physics students yesterday. After completing that, I didn't quite feel up to making notes to lecture from about Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, so I sat outside the staff room in the sunshine, and enjoyed the weather.
That must have cheered me up a bit, because I decided to return to domestic pursuits. I spent an entire hour... sewing. That's right, you read correctly, sewing. I decided to make a drawstring pouch for scrabble tiles. I don't even own scrabble. And the little bag actually works. It won't last long, the sewing isn't the greatest considering I don't even know how to do any real stitches, but it looks good. I think Uganda is turning me into a housewife. If you could see me now...
But of course the day came full circle. My ipod died and wouldn't recharge, my phone has become irrational about which text messages it will send and receive, and I get to look forward to another night of scratching. But I did successfully handsew a drawstring bag...
Not such a happy start to a lovely work free and sunshiny Friday. So I made a list of songs on my ipod to match my mood, and set about doing my laundry. Then I swept my house, scrubbed my cooktop and toilet, and mopped the place down, including under my food storage box, which wasn't a pretty site (who knew mold could smell like that?).
Then I headed down to the school for lunch and to grade some assignments I gave to my physics students yesterday. After completing that, I didn't quite feel up to making notes to lecture from about Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, so I sat outside the staff room in the sunshine, and enjoyed the weather.
That must have cheered me up a bit, because I decided to return to domestic pursuits. I spent an entire hour... sewing. That's right, you read correctly, sewing. I decided to make a drawstring pouch for scrabble tiles. I don't even own scrabble. And the little bag actually works. It won't last long, the sewing isn't the greatest considering I don't even know how to do any real stitches, but it looks good. I think Uganda is turning me into a housewife. If you could see me now...
But of course the day came full circle. My ipod died and wouldn't recharge, my phone has become irrational about which text messages it will send and receive, and I get to look forward to another night of scratching. But I did successfully handsew a drawstring bag...
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Too Many, uh, Cows in the Kitchen?
Even one cow is too many for any kitchen, even if she's only two years old and not quite fully grown (most of the way there though). I think it must be her youth that makes her so brazen, but she could just be an anomaly among cows. I call her Bananas, because she likes them so much (the same cow who tries to enter the staff room everyday after break tea to clean up the peels). But I suppose I should start from the beginning...
It was a Monday morning, which for me is laundry day. I was patiently performing that mundane task when I heard Bananas coming through the gate into my yard. My neighbor's kitchen is seperate from her house, and attached to some storage room (what was the kitchen for the previous occupant of my house, prior to the additions). I was washing my clothes in front of this mud/thatch hut when Bananas came around the corner, walked right by me and tried to enter the first door, the storage room, but it was blocked and she couldn't force her way through. So she backed up, stuck one big back hoof in one of my basins full of soapy water and, luckily, dirty clothes, and continued to the next door. It was open, and had no obstructions to bar her passage.
I continued with my laundry for a bit, thinking she must get bored of the room after a little while. But, the door had closed behind her and thinking she might panic and bust the place up, I went in to shoo her out. Bananas had other ideas. I walked in to find her munching happily on my neighbors food stores, particularly the matooke (plantains) and potatoes. I tried to stop her, but if you've ever tried to force a cow to do anything with brute force alone, you'll know you're no match for such a large animal (I've never been cow tipping, but I imagine it goes something like this did). I decided the only way to get her out of there and save my neighbors food was to lure her out with her favorite food of all, little yellow bananas.
So I ran into my own kitchen, grabbed the fruit, and began the long and arduous process of luring a 1500 lb hungry animal out of a room full of food. After much convincing, pushing, giving of bananas, throwing lure bananas, and frustrated arguments (all on my party), and after she knocked over the bench and cookstove, I got her turned around and out the door. This I also wish I had captured on film. I bolted the door closed after her, and felt a huge sense of accomplishment. Too many cows in the kitchen? Not with this trusty cowpoke around.
It was a Monday morning, which for me is laundry day. I was patiently performing that mundane task when I heard Bananas coming through the gate into my yard. My neighbor's kitchen is seperate from her house, and attached to some storage room (what was the kitchen for the previous occupant of my house, prior to the additions). I was washing my clothes in front of this mud/thatch hut when Bananas came around the corner, walked right by me and tried to enter the first door, the storage room, but it was blocked and she couldn't force her way through. So she backed up, stuck one big back hoof in one of my basins full of soapy water and, luckily, dirty clothes, and continued to the next door. It was open, and had no obstructions to bar her passage.
I continued with my laundry for a bit, thinking she must get bored of the room after a little while. But, the door had closed behind her and thinking she might panic and bust the place up, I went in to shoo her out. Bananas had other ideas. I walked in to find her munching happily on my neighbors food stores, particularly the matooke (plantains) and potatoes. I tried to stop her, but if you've ever tried to force a cow to do anything with brute force alone, you'll know you're no match for such a large animal (I've never been cow tipping, but I imagine it goes something like this did). I decided the only way to get her out of there and save my neighbors food was to lure her out with her favorite food of all, little yellow bananas.
So I ran into my own kitchen, grabbed the fruit, and began the long and arduous process of luring a 1500 lb hungry animal out of a room full of food. After much convincing, pushing, giving of bananas, throwing lure bananas, and frustrated arguments (all on my party), and after she knocked over the bench and cookstove, I got her turned around and out the door. This I also wish I had captured on film. I bolted the door closed after her, and felt a huge sense of accomplishment. Too many cows in the kitchen? Not with this trusty cowpoke around.
The Rat Dance
This may sound odd to you, but I believe the rat dance is something many PCVs have experienced during their to years, and one I'm becoming very adept at. It goes something like this:
Laying awake at 2am, hoping the noise will go away, knowing it won't, you toss and turn, hoping to make enough noise to scare the evil little creature out of your house. You eventually resort to fists, pummeling the mattress and walls, all to scare something about 1/20th your size.
And still, the rat is fearless, having performed this routine many times, knowing you don't want to leave the safety of your net enshrouded bed, it continues to hop around your kitchen, playing your dishes like drums.
So you lay a bit longer in your bed, gathering the courage to confront the beast. After you can procrastinate no longer, you turn on your lamp/flashlight, carefully leave the sanctity of your net and gingerly put your feet in your houseshoes (praying the rat hasn't taken refuge inside them) and proceed slowly and carefully towards where you last heard the noise (realizing you actually did leave your bed, the little devil is now stealthily silent).
Heart beating loudly with fear, you approach, and here's where the real footwork begins. The rat makes a run at you because you are between it and the exit. You scream and jump high into the air, praying you don't land on the thing and it doesn't dash into your foot again. In it's confusion, or ultimate brilliance, it scampers back for the kitchen, then back at you again, all the hile you're prancing around like an idiot trying not to touch the damn thing. After many little screams and shouts of "get out already!", the rat spies it's exit and runs for the outside, almost always right over the foot you failed to lift out of the way in time. The dance complete for that night, you return to bed and try to get back to sleep.
I finally found rat traps. No more dancing for me.
Laying awake at 2am, hoping the noise will go away, knowing it won't, you toss and turn, hoping to make enough noise to scare the evil little creature out of your house. You eventually resort to fists, pummeling the mattress and walls, all to scare something about 1/20th your size.
And still, the rat is fearless, having performed this routine many times, knowing you don't want to leave the safety of your net enshrouded bed, it continues to hop around your kitchen, playing your dishes like drums.
So you lay a bit longer in your bed, gathering the courage to confront the beast. After you can procrastinate no longer, you turn on your lamp/flashlight, carefully leave the sanctity of your net and gingerly put your feet in your houseshoes (praying the rat hasn't taken refuge inside them) and proceed slowly and carefully towards where you last heard the noise (realizing you actually did leave your bed, the little devil is now stealthily silent).
Heart beating loudly with fear, you approach, and here's where the real footwork begins. The rat makes a run at you because you are between it and the exit. You scream and jump high into the air, praying you don't land on the thing and it doesn't dash into your foot again. In it's confusion, or ultimate brilliance, it scampers back for the kitchen, then back at you again, all the hile you're prancing around like an idiot trying not to touch the damn thing. After many little screams and shouts of "get out already!", the rat spies it's exit and runs for the outside, almost always right over the foot you failed to lift out of the way in time. The dance complete for that night, you return to bed and try to get back to sleep.
I finally found rat traps. No more dancing for me.
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