I'd like to take this moment to remember to be thankful for all the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy on a daily basis as Americans. It is truly remarkable and we are blessed to live in such a privileged country.
I've been a little MIA on my blog, all part of my life goal to go completely "off the grid". Anyways, I'm still alive. Things are going well at my site overall. No major complaints.
Distinguishing Achievements Thus Far..
- A side dish proposal via written note from my married, 20-year old neighbor, left in my book while I was in the latrine. Her heart longed for me.
- Being placed in a Lugwere speaking region after 10 weeks of Ateso language training :)
- Listening to my supervisor curse himself for 30 minutes because he considers himself too lazy to finish my house (as a side note, I have all the necessities, but I'm told more progress is coming)
- A bat, mouse w/ "squirrel tail", and about 30 lizards living in my home - time to get a cat!
- Digging a garden and planting tomato and pepper seeds
- Halting all productivity after 7 PM due to complete darkness
- Riding my bike to Pallisa Town, good bye death taxis!
- Learning to clean, gut, and cook fresh fish
I've been in Kamuge for over a month now. Last week I began teaching math and physics. I'm currently teaching five classes from S1-S3. Total in-class teaching amounts to 16 hours. I think this will be more than enough to keep me busy over the next 13 weeks. When I'm not in class I will be working on lesson plans, term schemes, grading, and writing exams.
My first day of school consisted of me walking the 2-minute walk from my house to the school at 7:55 am (school starts at 8) to discover there were about 3 students out of 593 present and no staff or teacher had arrived. The head teacher (our equivalent of principal) was not there. The entire school looked just as it had during term break, with the exception of the 3 students. So I guess it was a "soft" start to the term. By mid-week about 50% of the students showed up and a few teachers had also decided it was time to begin a few lessons. Since i was there, I began the first day. Overall, teaching is going very well. My students are very quiet but very motivated at the same time.
They are incredibly timid in the classroom. They raise their hands ever so slightly and respond to questions speaking just louder than a whisper. I'm like, are you serious? You expect me to hear you at that volume? Anyways, there is definitely a huge disconnect between American style teaching and Ugandan style learning. I think its going to take me half the term to fully realize how I can be most effective as a teacher. Oh, PS, I've never taught before. But I don't feel like that should be a requirement anyways.
I got my first real moment of euphoria since being at site on Wednesday. I was standing in the middle of my classroom watching my students perform an exercise I had just taught them, and I just thought, wow, I'm actually doing this. It was pretty incredible. That was swiftly followed by frustration, as most good moments in Peace Corps are.
Attached below are some pictures of my house as it was a couple days after I arrived at site. I have spent the last month filling it with furniture and making it a little more comfortable.
My main road, turn right for Mbale, turn left for Pallisa
View of my house from the front (main road) side
View as you walk in the front door (living room)
View of front door and window (living room)
Main bedroom, notice the lack of ceiling
