Think about this for a second. How do you make friends?
I had to think about this the other day while turning down, yet another, proposition for a friendship. I know I sound pretty mean, but it’ll all make sense in a moment.
Here’s what I’ve narrowed making friendships down to: a shared experience, friends in common, common interests thus leading to a good conversation, or close proximity/frequent encounters. Have I covered all the bases? I hope so. Here’s a somewhat common exchange with me in Uganda:
“Good afternoon,” an older Ugandan man on a taxi says to me.
“Good afternoon,” I reply.
“Well done,” the Ugandan says, thanking me for my work, (a habit influenced by the mother tongue).
“Ah, thank you, you too,” I reply.
“So, you are from which country?” He begins, with a long string of predictable, and on my end, well rehearsed questions.
“America.”
“Ah, how is Obama?”
...and so it goes...and after some time, we arrive at this point--
“So I would like to be your friend. Can I get your contact?”
At which point I’d really like to say, “Why, so you can call me at 1 AM when your phone calls are free and ask me 100 questions about how to get to America/how to get a sponsor/how to marry a mzungu? In reality, ssebo, we have nothing in common enough to talk about, so no you cannot have my contact.” But that would be kind of harsh. Instead I just make jokes and avoid giving them my number until I get out of the situation.
My question to people everywhere is, is this a natural way of making friends? You strike up a conversation with a complete stranger, make small talk and then state that you would like to be their friend. Personally, I can’t think of any friend I’ve made by stating that I would like to be their friend--it just happens. What I’m really wondering is, do Ugandans make friends this way, or is it because I’m the mzungu? I’m almost positive I know the answer to this, but I still feel bad when I turn people down for friendship. It just sounds mean.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
THE MOST EXCITING BLOG POST EVARRRRRR
Due to a shortage of exciting material, I’m going to take my everyday life and hype it up to see what happens.
SO I’M STILL TEACHING!
Although my second-year students are getting restless and thoroughly irritated with me, as they want to do nothing but review for three weeks for their final exams, I continue to drive through my last topic, drugs and medicine. I try to make my lessons fun, but it seems that when I do that, the students don’t take me as seriously, even when I’m still teaching a lot of new information. I won’t give up though, I continue to do REALLY EXCITING, STUDENT-CENTERED LESSONS! WOOT! For example, to wrap up drugs and medicine, we talked about alcohol--particularly alcohol in Uganda. Here are some quick facts I got from a report available from the yeahuganda.org website:
“Worldwide, adults (age 15 years and older) consume on average 5 liters of pure alcohol from beer, wine and spirits each year. For the Africa region, the adult (15 years and older) consumption of alcohol is about 4 liters of pure alcohol each year. The WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol released in 2004 showed that in Uganda, 19.47 liters of pure alcohol are consumed per capita each year.”
19.47 liters...I just went ahead and rounded that up to 20. To open this lesson, I flooded them with stats from this one report, and then showed them, through the use of colored water and liter-sized water bottles, how much 20 liters really is. (In hindsight, I could have just brought in a jerrycan...) I think it was informative to the students, and somehow eye-opening. I then had them do a skit of someone getting progressively more drunk at a party, and how the drinker acts according to his increasing BAC level.
One question that arose from class was, “How is it that Uganda has such a high alcohol consumption rate, yet there is also a high poverty rate?” As in--how can Ugandans afford to drink that much? Great question--the answer? Mwenge bigere/Tonto/Malwa/Kwete/Waragi...also known as the home brew. “Informally produced alcohol make up about 80% of alcohol drunk in Uganda today.”
MID-BLOG ENERGIZER:
What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
BACK TO ME
I'm hoping that the class was effective in opening students eyes to the drinking situation in Uganda, and I left them with something to reflect upon as what their role as educators is in influencing their future students positively. Next week I will bend down and bow to the evil monster that is standardized exams, and begin doing some serious review with them.
I READ SOMETIMES!
I finished Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad. I love any true survivor stories--it was a good one. I lent it to a Ugandan tutor at the college, who said he enjoyed it. (Truthfully, I hardly believe he understood any good portion of it, especially when Ollestad narrated in surfer and skiier lingo--I didn’t even understand those parts. Additionally, it’s laced with American cultural references, of which I’m certain he wouldn’t grasp). I am now reading The Book Thief, which I’m loving. I clearly do not read as much as my fellow PCVs. Perhaps that’s next month’s goal.
I ALSO WATCH THINGS ON MY COMPUTER!
I started and finished the whole of Friday Night Lights. I want to thank the good people at Owen Falls Dam for giving me a solid week of power. I at the same time want to apologize to the students at college who were hoping that I would open the library at night that week (it was raining...kinda...)
I HANG OUT IN JINJA TOWN!
I think that some shopkeepers think that I live there, actually. I celebrated Halloween with other PCVs at the NRE (Nile River Explorers) and it was a blast! It was a very American event. The following day I didn’t have much energy to do my wash...which really disorganised me. I explained this to my counterparts Nora and Immy, and they INSISTED on coming over and helping me do my wash that Monday afternoon. Not only that, they pretty much cleaned my whole house. I consider myself the luckiest in terms of workmates. They probably won’t read this but THANKS GUYS! :D
MY LIFE IS SUPER EXCITING! UGANDA!
This blog was brought to you by the letter M.
Hint, hint.
SO I’M STILL TEACHING!
Although my second-year students are getting restless and thoroughly irritated with me, as they want to do nothing but review for three weeks for their final exams, I continue to drive through my last topic, drugs and medicine. I try to make my lessons fun, but it seems that when I do that, the students don’t take me as seriously, even when I’m still teaching a lot of new information. I won’t give up though, I continue to do REALLY EXCITING, STUDENT-CENTERED LESSONS! WOOT! For example, to wrap up drugs and medicine, we talked about alcohol--particularly alcohol in Uganda. Here are some quick facts I got from a report available from the yeahuganda.org website:
“Worldwide, adults (age 15 years and older) consume on average 5 liters of pure alcohol from beer, wine and spirits each year. For the Africa region, the adult (15 years and older) consumption of alcohol is about 4 liters of pure alcohol each year. The WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol released in 2004 showed that in Uganda, 19.47 liters of pure alcohol are consumed per capita each year.”
19.47 liters...I just went ahead and rounded that up to 20. To open this lesson, I flooded them with stats from this one report, and then showed them, through the use of colored water and liter-sized water bottles, how much 20 liters really is. (In hindsight, I could have just brought in a jerrycan...) I think it was informative to the students, and somehow eye-opening. I then had them do a skit of someone getting progressively more drunk at a party, and how the drinker acts according to his increasing BAC level.
One question that arose from class was, “How is it that Uganda has such a high alcohol consumption rate, yet there is also a high poverty rate?” As in--how can Ugandans afford to drink that much? Great question--the answer? Mwenge bigere/Tonto/Malwa/Kwete/Waragi...also known as the home brew. “Informally produced alcohol make up about 80% of alcohol drunk in Uganda today.”
MID-BLOG ENERGIZER:
What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
BACK TO ME
I'm hoping that the class was effective in opening students eyes to the drinking situation in Uganda, and I left them with something to reflect upon as what their role as educators is in influencing their future students positively. Next week I will bend down and bow to the evil monster that is standardized exams, and begin doing some serious review with them.
I READ SOMETIMES!
I finished Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad. I love any true survivor stories--it was a good one. I lent it to a Ugandan tutor at the college, who said he enjoyed it. (Truthfully, I hardly believe he understood any good portion of it, especially when Ollestad narrated in surfer and skiier lingo--I didn’t even understand those parts. Additionally, it’s laced with American cultural references, of which I’m certain he wouldn’t grasp). I am now reading The Book Thief, which I’m loving. I clearly do not read as much as my fellow PCVs. Perhaps that’s next month’s goal.
I ALSO WATCH THINGS ON MY COMPUTER!
I started and finished the whole of Friday Night Lights. I want to thank the good people at Owen Falls Dam for giving me a solid week of power. I at the same time want to apologize to the students at college who were hoping that I would open the library at night that week (it was raining...kinda...)
I HANG OUT IN JINJA TOWN!
I think that some shopkeepers think that I live there, actually. I celebrated Halloween with other PCVs at the NRE (Nile River Explorers) and it was a blast! It was a very American event. The following day I didn’t have much energy to do my wash...which really disorganised me. I explained this to my counterparts Nora and Immy, and they INSISTED on coming over and helping me do my wash that Monday afternoon. Not only that, they pretty much cleaned my whole house. I consider myself the luckiest in terms of workmates. They probably won’t read this but THANKS GUYS! :D
MY LIFE IS SUPER EXCITING! UGANDA!
This blog was brought to you by the letter M.
Hint, hint.
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