Toilets are for Wimps

I've now been here for almost two weeks, and while I am not yet officially Ugandan, I'm getting close. I am becoming increasingly more adept at weaving through moving cars without fearing for my life in areas as crowded as this -

(though yesterday I did sustain a toenail injury), I can competently build sturdy structures like wells with homemade bricks and cement -

I can wash my clothes by hand -

(while I'm not technically in that picture, I was HELPING - I swear) and lastly, but definitely not leastly, I can successfully complete my private business in bathrooms that look like this:

(Yes, that is my bathroom, and yes, that hole is approximately 4 by 9 inches. And yes, I have never appreciated toilets so much in my life.)

This past week, I've begun to really get into my routine here. I moved into a small house in Namayumba, where I live with five other volunteer American teachers my age and one Ugandan teacher from the secondary school where we work ("Extreme College"). I started teaching on Monday, and have taught  about 2 - 3 classes of English grammar and composition each day. My "schedule," though, is...let's say... hardly a schedule at all. Classes here seem to begin and end at random times, teachers are repeatedly and unexpectedly absent, and half the subjects on the posted "schedule" are not actually taught. I've realized that it's easy to teach on a regular basis - but I have to take some initiative and be a little bit creative to do so. I can't depend on being in the classroom at set times everyday; instead, I generally walk down to the school in the morning and slip in when classes don't have teachers (often), or when the head teacher suddenly sends me to a classroom. I'm getting used to the spontaneity of it all, and the flexibility in my schedule leaves room for day trips, extended naps in the grass, sick days if ever necessary, and so on.

The teaching itself is an absolute breeze. I don't know if it's all teenagers in Uganda, or just those at this particular school, but the students here are just... a teacher's dream. Pleasant, eager to learn, sweet, friendly, mature, and hardworking. They've all been through some hardships (lost parents, HIV, poverty...), and some don't have families to go home to when the boarding school lets out. They study hard, and they dream large. If all goes as they wish, in some time they'll become doctors, engineers, teachers, social workers, and soccer players. Unfortunately, though, the reality is that most won't have the privilege to attend university after graduating. Even being able to come to high school is a treat for a lot of them. Segawa, the head of the secondary and primary school attached to it, worked hard to gather the funds and resources necessary to educate all of these students. Working with him, and meeting the students, has been continuously inspiring.


Living in Uganda is not very expensive. My rent is exactly $5.70 a month, and no, I did not accidentally put the decimal point in the wrong place. Cheapest rent I'll ever have? Unless I live in another African village someday, most definitely. Our electricity is unpredictable and we don't have running water (refer to the photo of our "toilet" above), so utilities don't add very much to the cost. We live in a cement house with four rooms, an outhouse, and a stall for bucket showering. The house is actually quite luxurious - and massive - for our village:

The smaller house to the right is more typical-looking. I tried to take a picture of our neighbors, an over-sized mama pig and her babies, but the lighting wasn't right. Our other neighbors, who all appear to be under the age of six, and who seem to number 5,000, enjoy constantly invading our little backyard to catch a glimpse of us strange white Americans. Here they are helping us build our new table:

(I'm proud to say I helped build that table also. Between that, building the well, and hand-washing clothes, I'm becoming quite handy.)

That's everything for now. I'm really looking forward to this weekend - we hope to go out tonight in Kampala, and to a Uganda national team soccer game tomorrow night. Hopefully soon we'll make it to Ginga to go white water rafting on the Nile. I'll leave you with this little piece of home I saw so (SO) far away from home:

(See the Patriots shirt on the bottom left.) Patriots fans in Nansana, Uganda? Why not. Still don't know how to say goodbye, but "Sela Belunji" - goodnight.