Amy's Birthday
Trip Start
Jun 22, 2008
1
10
36
Trip End
Jul 31, 2008
Gulu,
Uganda
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
(drum roll please).....9:30 am. I know this sounds crazy. In total, I got a
restful 10 hours of sleep. Needless to say I felt rejuvenated and ready to go.
I arrived at Pope Paul VI around 10:40 a.m. This was
perfectly timed. My teacher had just finished his earlier lesson and was ready
to plan with me during "morning tea." We sipped tea and discussed how we would
present the Ankole Land Scheme in Western Kenya. I came up with several ideas.
Amy's bday
He insisted that given my enthusiasm, I teach the lesson tomorrow. Rather thanboring you with the details of the lesson plan, I will give you a full synopsis
once I teach it tomorrow. After morning tea, my teacher had to get back to
another upper level class he was required to teach. This left me with yet again
another hour of "down time." In my vocabulary there is no such thing as "down
time." This was an hour of invaluable time. I decided to prepare my map and
teaching materials for tomorrow.
After outlining the plan on the East African Map, I was left
with creating a supplemental visual. How could I demonstrate irrigation? I was
thinking too grand scale. I had to shrink the irrigation system into something
manageable. I know! I could get a cup to represent the reservoir, cardboard
with holes to represent precipitation, a beaker broken on either ends to
represent the piping, and water to demonstrate rainfall
Dance Party Night 2
. This all worked outperfectly minus one small problem. How would I create a hole in the cup in
which to place the tubing? The other teachers in the staff lounge came up with
the perfect solution: Use the Bunson Burner! They lit the burner, placed a
circular metal prod to the flame, and then transferred the heat to the plastic-
burning a perfectly symmetrical hole in which to place the beaker tubing. I
applauded myself for this ingenious model. When pouring the water into the cup,
it transferred to the beaker with little problem. Yes!
I created this visual in ideal time. That's because right
when I finished, Adam arrived to accompany me to town. In town we would find a
carpenter to create our library shelves. We took bodas into town and decided
that we would first use the internet
Drama Crew
. This once again proved to be problematic.The network is quite deficient at Ma's Computers. The connection is sporadic
and the resources minimal. Eventually I found a desktop to use. This limited
the problems I faced when loading pages and checking e-mail. After Ma's I
headed to the woodshop to order the shelves. However, when I arrived I realized
that I had forgotten the dimensions. Shit! Without the dimensions they would
not be able to make the proper cuts. Ugh! I was so excited about this mini-
project too! Oh well. I would go into town tomorrow to redeem myself.
From the woodshop we headed to Mac Café for lunch. Let me
tell you something about service in Uganda- it is VERY SLOW. And don't ever
order toast! Apparently they use a world class toaster. Why else would it take
one hour to toast bread?
Get your freak on right
! Fortunately I was not the one who ordered toast. Iordered lasagna. How ironic that my lasagna was cooked faster than a piece of
bread. Ashley vowed never to return to Mac Café.
Following lunch we purchased some wine and cookies for Amy's
birthday. Amy is the program director. We walked the gifts to the IC house-
approximately 1 kilometer away. Nobody was there except Amy. Finally, some good
luck! She was pleasantly surprised with our kind gesture. We made small talk
thereafter- discussing our positive experience with the program thus far. This,
she said was the greatest gift we could offer her.
After our time with Amy, we headed back to Christ the King
to exercise. I was so excited to run. It's probably the first time in my life I
felt this way
Happy Birthday!
. The experience to come would be even more exciting. Afterchanging and waiting on Sarah (she is very slow), we were ready to embark on
our journey. Wanting to be bold, I removed my shirt. This might not have been
such a good idea. To the Acholi I was very "Muzungu" even with a tan face,
imagine what they might say when they saw my white chest.
The route for our run included Pope Paul VI, the Catholic
Church on the corner, and the small village nearby. We were the laughing stock
of every place we passed. "Muzungu," "Muzungu." Apparently nobody runs for
exercise in Gulu. Us running at such a fast pace meant one of three things: A. The
LRA was after us; B. We were crazy; C. We had way too much free time on our
hands. Regardless of the reason, we were definitely out of place. Some young
kids started running with us but they had trouble keeping up
The Godfather
. Especially givenmy obliterating 6 minute mile pace (I made this up). The mosquitos were out in
full force this afternoon. Part of my quick pace could be attributed to this
reality. Even with bug spray, the mosquitos couldn't resist me. If only people
had the same response.
Our run ended about 30 minutes later with me sprinting
through the Christ the King complex. Imagine how funny I looked then. I was too
focused to notice but I'm sure there was a lot of laughing and finger pointing.
After running, I showered and prepared for our meal. Guess
what we ate?....The same thing we have eaten for the last 4 days. Beans, rice
and potatoes. I was dying for some sushi. Or macaroni and cheese. Or anything
but BEANS, RICE and POTATOES
The worm
! Following my redundant meal, we were greeted by the crew
from the IC house. They came with Amy, who was celebrating her 31st
birthday. After cake and socializing, it was time for the obligatory dance
party to follow. The house had coordinated an entire routine on Amy's behalf.
They wore blue, polka dot clown outfits with little ribbons wrapped around
their neck. The dance/ song was performed in the tune of "Mickey Mouse"
(Mic...key....m-o-u-s-e). "Amy Cor d-i-l-e-o." We then broke out into full on
party. A dance circle soon formed with everyone showing off their best moves.
The party became even more fun when Sister Apolonia entered the dance floor. Imagine
a 65 year old woman completely getting her groove on. Nancy joined later. She
was a party animal. She was like the Paris Hilton of Gulu. Her "Ay-yay-yay's"
and hip swaying were impeccable.
Proceeding an hour and a half of dancing, we brushed our
teeth and got ready for bed. I would have taken a leak but Adam was busy
worshipping the porcelain god. Apparently he had too much to drink.
See you tomorrow!
