Well it looks like I've survived everything that happened to me last week, and I'm feeling good about life. My wounded foot is finally draining of pus, and the water is back so I'm rid of the bedbugs (after a heavy dose of insecticide). I've found the best way to make it through is to think of whatever good is coming of the terrible situation. The following are a few of my favorites that I've come up with.
8 days dirty hair: No frizzies or fly-aways. Every strand of hair stays exactly where you placed it, and there's none of those bothersome little hairs tickling your face. It might itch a bit and feel disgustingly greasy, but at least everything stays put.
no water: When the tap runs dry, you might think I'd be upset. Instead I make a game out of using the least amount of water for the most tasks I can think of. I'm getting pretty good at conserving water. I can clean my house, wash my dishes, and bathe myself with 5 liters. I'm very happy about that. Maybe you can beat me, but somehow I doubt it.
large patch of bug bites: The more bites there are centered in one spot, the less you have to scratch. It means less scabs and later less scars. Maybe this seems like a very minor benefit, when you have more than 30 bites it becomes better and better.
3 hour long ride that should take 1 hour: There are many benefits to this one. There are plenty of ways of improving yourself when this happens. First, patience is the obvious one. You work on coping with the frustration of impatience, especially since you don't have a time-frame you're following. You also have plenty of time to sit and contemplate life and your place in it. Not to mention thinking up interesting blogs for your friends and family back home to read. So this one is not only beneficial to me, but also to all of you. You also can work on your personal space issues, since generally 4 or 5 people are squeezed into seats that are meant for 2 or 3.
no pre-prepared meals: I'm learning how to cook just about everything from scratch, which is a good skill to have, I think. Last weekend at our Thanksgiving celebration we had to prepare our turkey from a live bird, which was definitely a new experience for me. Spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, stir-fry, all of the things that used to be my easy meals at home now take time and preparation, but I'm learning how to cook everything from the basic ingredients, which is fun and rewarding.
Well, that's all I have for now, but if I think of any more, I'm sure I'll give them to you in future blogs.
Peace
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Illness, Infestation, and Infection
Oh friends, it's been one of those weeks.
One of the weeks you would associate with Peace Corps life when you think about it. On Monday I noticed a flea bite on my foot was looking pretty scary. It became pretty badly infected by Tuesday, and now I'm on antibiotics to try and heal the sucker. But if that was all, I'd probably count myself lucky.
Later in the day on Monday, I started feeling very tired. I figured Spencer just woke me up too many times during the night to pee, so I didn't think anything of it. Then around about the time I'm going to bathe, I feel achy and very cold. I have a lovely little fever. First one I've had since I was about 7, so of course I think I'm dying. Oh well, I laid in bed for about 20 hours, and the fever and aches went away, along with the nausea and diarrhea that came with it. But if it was only the infection on my foot and 24-hour bug I had, I still might think the week went ok, especially since I seem to be surviving both.
But of course that's not all. As I lay in bed, sick and unaware of the danger, the bedbugs or fleas or whatever the devilish little creatures are that love me so much returned to my life. They chewed me to bits, especially since I was in bed for so long. I have a lovely patch of about 30 bites just below my right butt cheek, and they itch like crazy, which is how I'm going to end up if these little demons don't disappear soon. But seeing as my water is out right now, washing my sheets and clothes isn't an option, so it could be awhile before anything improves. Oh life. and Hydrocortisone cream.
One of the weeks you would associate with Peace Corps life when you think about it. On Monday I noticed a flea bite on my foot was looking pretty scary. It became pretty badly infected by Tuesday, and now I'm on antibiotics to try and heal the sucker. But if that was all, I'd probably count myself lucky.
Later in the day on Monday, I started feeling very tired. I figured Spencer just woke me up too many times during the night to pee, so I didn't think anything of it. Then around about the time I'm going to bathe, I feel achy and very cold. I have a lovely little fever. First one I've had since I was about 7, so of course I think I'm dying. Oh well, I laid in bed for about 20 hours, and the fever and aches went away, along with the nausea and diarrhea that came with it. But if it was only the infection on my foot and 24-hour bug I had, I still might think the week went ok, especially since I seem to be surviving both.
But of course that's not all. As I lay in bed, sick and unaware of the danger, the bedbugs or fleas or whatever the devilish little creatures are that love me so much returned to my life. They chewed me to bits, especially since I was in bed for so long. I have a lovely patch of about 30 bites just below my right butt cheek, and they itch like crazy, which is how I'm going to end up if these little demons don't disappear soon. But seeing as my water is out right now, washing my sheets and clothes isn't an option, so it could be awhile before anything improves. Oh life. and Hydrocortisone cream.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Life Goes On
Hi all,
Thought I'd throw in an update on my life. I guess the biggest news is that I got a dog. I named him Spencer, and he is a typical village dog. I'm training him to become an American. It's taking some work, believe me. He is pretty smart though, it took less than a week to potty train him, so I think it can be done. It's a matter of teaching him how to walk on a leash, which most Ugandan's find endlessly amusing. I'll do it though, no matter what kind of humiliation I face walking through the village. He's been vaccinated against rabies and has been neutered, so he's ready for the states.
Teaching continues, and I hope I'm improving. Next week is going to be the last week of classes before finals for the 3rd and final term of the year, and then its 2 months away from school. This is going to be an incredibly quiet time for me, as I will be the only person living at the school. It's a good thing I've got Spencer to keep me company now. And Mom visiting in January, that ought to keep me fairly busy. I've still got to plan the itinerary, but I think it will include Lake Bunyonyi, Bwindi to see the gorillas, Rwanda for a bit, my village, and possibly Queen Elizabeth National Park. I'm pretty excited.
I think my life has become incredibly boring, because I have no new stories to tell. Things are going on as is now usual for me, so I forget what would be interesting to tell you all. Oh well, I have no idea if anyone reads this thing anymore anyway. This is pretty short, but I don't have much to say, so I guess I'll stop here. email me if you want to know anything specific. Peace.
Thought I'd throw in an update on my life. I guess the biggest news is that I got a dog. I named him Spencer, and he is a typical village dog. I'm training him to become an American. It's taking some work, believe me. He is pretty smart though, it took less than a week to potty train him, so I think it can be done. It's a matter of teaching him how to walk on a leash, which most Ugandan's find endlessly amusing. I'll do it though, no matter what kind of humiliation I face walking through the village. He's been vaccinated against rabies and has been neutered, so he's ready for the states.
Teaching continues, and I hope I'm improving. Next week is going to be the last week of classes before finals for the 3rd and final term of the year, and then its 2 months away from school. This is going to be an incredibly quiet time for me, as I will be the only person living at the school. It's a good thing I've got Spencer to keep me company now. And Mom visiting in January, that ought to keep me fairly busy. I've still got to plan the itinerary, but I think it will include Lake Bunyonyi, Bwindi to see the gorillas, Rwanda for a bit, my village, and possibly Queen Elizabeth National Park. I'm pretty excited.
I think my life has become incredibly boring, because I have no new stories to tell. Things are going on as is now usual for me, so I forget what would be interesting to tell you all. Oh well, I have no idea if anyone reads this thing anymore anyway. This is pretty short, but I don't have much to say, so I guess I'll stop here. email me if you want to know anything specific. Peace.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Unannounced Visitors
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.
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, 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.
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