Bead Lady, Morris, and the late great MJ.... And Noah.

We were all off to a slow start on Sunday morning and we had the unfortunate task of going to a book talk on “Song of Lawino.” Bill and I decided to walk to the IC house so we would be late to the book talk and when we walked in the talk was half over. I have to admit that I did not participate in this book talk and kind of felt like a fool showing up late. However, it was kind of foolish to schedule a book talk the morning after our 4th of July party. Anyway, after the book talk we had a little time to kill before the bead lady showed up. While we were waiting we decided to get a volleyball game going at the IC house. It was basically group 2 and 3 and it was good to get to know each other better. The game started out real slow because we were all dragging a little bit, but as more people joined the game, our competitive sides started to come out.

The bead lady showed up for group 2 and3 just as we were finishing our game. I was stunned by how many beads she had. Believe it or not, these beads are made from paper although you could never tell by looking at them. We all bought an exorbitant amount of beads and I am sure made the bead lady’s day. Most of group 2 left after buying the beads the Pabo guys headed back to Pabo, and everyone else headed back to our place. I hung back at the IC house for a while and talked with some of the kids from group 3. 5 of the will be headed to Ananka for the week and the other 10 or so will be here the entire time. Darren is actually from Connecticut and Jo lived in Groton, CT for a while. They all seem to be real cool and I look forward to spending the last 3 weeks with them.

That was absolutely all we did on Sunday. Nobody had any energy left and it was great to just hang out at home and relax.

Monday came and Sharon and I played our usual role as mom and dad when the Atanga boys went back for the week. Lisa and Wendy joined us this time and I tried to get it on film but my battery was dead, so next week I will be sure to capture the moment.

I then went to school for an afternoon class. I taught about the British methods used in colonization of East Africa. The students seem to be much more comfortable with us now and it is easier to do our job when we are not being treated so differently.

I used some big graph paper and made a flow chart explaining the process of colonization and how one thing led to another. It is amazing how a simple chart or visual aid can help so much in student understanding.

I then explained the ten major methods used in colonizing East Africa. The people here speak very soft, and it is hard for us to hear what they are saying. On the other hand, I am sure that for them it is like we are screaming. While teaching I had to force myself to talk softer and not be so loud. After getting through the teaching I played a review game with them. I had them get into teams of 2 or 3 and designate one person in the group to be the scribe. Once that was settled I put up another piece of graph paper with the ten methods on it. I would say a sentence describing one of the methods and they had to tell me which method I was referring to. For example;
• These were used to spread rule in Uganda and Kenya. Some offered their men to fight for the British or their territories were used as bases for fighting the enemies of the British.

The students then had to choose the correct answer, which we all know is African Collaborators.

I also had a blown up beach ball in class, which doubles as a globe. I would throw it to a student and he would have to answer the question. The students loved catching the ball or letting it bounce off their heads. It is not often that the students have fun in the classroom here, and if I do anything here I want to help the students and the teachers understand that learning can be fun, and if the students are having fun while learning, they would be more excited to learn.
I also talked to Morris today, the kid that asked me last week to promise to not forget him. After class we walked to another building and sat down at a desk. Morris is 16 years old and told me that both of his parents died when he was a child from Aids. He has been living with his aunt since, but he cannot live with her much longer. He says he has much difficulty paying his school fees (which is a very common and major issue here.) He kept stressing that he was not asking me for anything, he just wanted to be friends, and said that my friendship is what is important to him. We have rules here that we are not suppose to give money away to kids so I told him of the Invisible Children scholarship program and said maybe next week we can get the form and fill it out to see if he is eligible for one. He seems like such a nice kid and I would love to be able to go to the ATM and give him money, but I understand that that is not what we are about, and it would go against Invisible Children’s policy. I told him that I would talk to him more about it on Thursday and we would go from there. I am looking forward to getting to know Morris more and doing whatever I can to help him. The main reason I came to Uganda was to form these relationships with the Acholi people and I am happy to have bonded with many of them already.

Monday night Phil from group 1 and some of the group 3 girls came over to our pad to watch a movie, right when they got here the power went off, so we have to watch it on a laptop, which kind of sucked. I actually went into my room and Michael and I tried to read over the roars of laughter from our roommates watching Dodge Ball. It was a mellow night, but I wanted to rest up for the big Michael Jackson memorial the next day.

I had a day off on Tuesday although I still went in at 4pm for a round table with the teachers, which is always a blast (I am being very sarcastic.) So, Tuesday was jam packed with things that I have wanted to do. A few of us had the day off so we went all over town together. Let me try to remember what we did.

1. We went to the Ethiopian restaurant which I have heard was delicious. Delicious is an understatement as it almost brought a tear to my eye. Maybe I am an idiot, but I have never even heard of Ethiopian food. We got a sample platter, which is HUGE, and was more than enough food for the 4 of us. The sample had 8 different famous Ethiopian foods and I am telling you, SEVEN of the EIGHT of them were unbelievably good. The other one was not bad, but I chose to stay away from it. It kind of looked just like dog food. Here is the best part: The food platter was 15,000 shillings, which is about 7 American dollars. Our entire lunch came to 19,000 shillings, less than 5,000 shillings each which is less than $2.50.

2. We then went to get some fabric. I know, I did not think that those words would ever come out of my mouth in my life, but they did. Most of the fabric around seems to me to be what I call “girl fabric.” We then made it a mission to find me some “man fabric.” Of course, being the spender that I am, I bought some fabric at “One Mango Tree” and had them make me a shirt which they said will be ready next week. I could have stopped there, but about 2 shops down I saw some man fabric that I liked much more. So I asked for them to make me some shorts. The girls gave them VERY specific directions of what I want. They took my measurements, told the lady that I do NOT want pleats (whatever that means) and that I want them to look like “American Man Shorts.” I will let you know how this turned out when I talk about Wednesday. Before I left the lady said “would you like me to make you a shirt too.” I obviously said yes, even though I JUST had a shirt made for me. So I gave the lady 20,000 shilling to make me custom made shorts and a matching button down short sleeve shirt. FIVE DOLLARS! It was actually a lot of fun shopping for fabric, and I think I am now obsessed with it.

3. We did a little shopping for gifts too. Although I just ended up buying more stuff for myself. Shocking, I know.

4. Before heading home we went to Crane Bank. I cashed in $100 and in turn received 200,000 shillings. I love this place.

5. After a long day of shopping and eating I decided that I needed to reward myself. Kate and I went to Da Pub (which I now call “The Da Pub” because I think that is hysterical) to have a Nile or 2 before dinner. While we were sitting outside having a drink and enjoying each others company something VERY bizarre happened. A man walked up to us with a big black garbage bag in his hands. I still have absolutely NO IDEA why he came up to us, but he pulled out THE NICEST FABRIC I have seen since I have been here. As Kate was shooing the man away I told him to wait because I wanted that fabric. He told me it was 30,000 shillings for 6 feet (? Or yards, I have no clue) and Kate told me no, that was too expensive. If she was not with me I would have given the man 30,000 shillings and called it a day. So I did a little wheeling and dealing and ended up giving him 25,000 shillings and walked home very happy with a few Niles in me and the coolest fabric in Gulu. I still have no idea what I am going to do with this fabric, but I like having it.

6. Dinner left a little something to be desired and I had about 2 bites of whatever it was, but I did not care. We finally went back to our place and watched the Michael Jackson memorial service LIVE which started at 8pm here in Gulu. It is something that I will never forget; watching Michael Jackson’s funeral service in Gulu, Uganda literally sitting next to a man holding an AK-47 in my home (David our guard joined us for the memorial.)

7. Tuesday ended with Michael and I talking about Noah, from Noah’s Arch, for about 2 hours in our beds. Don’t ask.

I was going to continue, but I have to go. People are now going back to the Ethiopian place for lunch and I need to go. I will post about Wednesday and Thursday (last trivia night at Bambu with group 1 girls!) hopefully later on. Also, we are going on our Safari this weekend, so I might not be able to post for a few days.
Hope all is well, and Big Brother 11 is keeping everyone occupied. No spoilers either, I am looking forward to watching 20 hours of nothing but Big Brother when I get back to the States.

***** Also, I DID NOT HAVE TIME to edit this, or even re-read it, so if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, I dont want to hear about them.******