Town Mouse, Country Mouse

Fabulous City Life

 

Chelsea and Caroline with Claudian, interviewing two applicants.

That's a misleading sign if I've
ever seen one...

I had the opportunity to be in Uganda's capital, Kampala, this entire week!  What in the world for, Mary?  Well, three other education PCVs and I were invited to help conduct interviews at the Rwanda High Commission for Diploma or Degree holders in Education for a mentor-ship position in Rwanda.  Rwanda used to use French as their other "academic" language, but in 2008, they switched to English.  The government first had a teacher-training program, where they sent Degree and Diploma holding teachers from Uganda to just teach English.  This time around, they're there for a longer period of time, and are required to do more guidance and monitoring of teachers teaching.

....Why did they ask you to help interview? 

I really had no idea, and I never asked, but as the interviews went on, I realized that the qualities and motivation to take on this position are very similar to those that are required to be a Peace Corps volunteer.  For example, these Ugandans would be living and working in a different country, surrounded by people who speak different languages, and all the while they'll be missing their families at home.  Perhaps that was the reason, or perhaps Rwanda wanted a "natural" speaker of English on the panel. During the interviews, I could differentiate between those who really had the heart and the spirit and those who just responded like they were doing an oral exam.  We had some really fabulous applicants, and for several of them I wanted to say, "Why aren't you working at my PTC!?  We could use you!"  One of my favorite applicants was a sweet old man and a wood-badge holding Scout master who has a ton of experience with teaching.  He even gave the Scout salute and recited the promise.  I wish he could lead my Scouts at the JPTC!   

Nothing says you're 26 like
gold party hats.

     I had a lot of fun with the team, Emmanuel and Emmanuel, Claudian and Peter.  I learned how to greet in Kirwanda (mwara mutse), and some things about the 1994 genocide.  Also, throughout the interviews, Emmanuel (the man with whom I was co-interviewing) was quizzing the applicants on their knowledge of African literature.  Through this, I'm now interested to read several books, including The River Between, Kosiye Kifefe, Things Fall Apart, Fate of the Banished, and two others which are not yet published. 

I could smell the deli meats through the space
in the glass.  It was phenomenal.

Bowling!  Somehow blurry...

    The day-to-day work wasn't too intense, and we had the evenings to ourselves.  It was Alex's (another PCV based in Arua) birthday, so we celebrated at a Mexican-themed restaurant (Lotus).  It was pretty darn exciting...until the bill came.   We also went bowling, and believe it or not, I WON!  (Friends back home, think to yourself, has that EVER happened?!)
     The exercise was good in that we had a lot of fantastic, intelligent, motivated and adventurous applicants; however, we just didn't have ENOUGH.  Rwanda wants something like 1,000 mentor teachers and we only interviewed like 280 or so this week.  So, Ugandan Diploma or Degree holders in Education, if you're reading this, keep your eye out for another mentor-ship announcement in the paper from Rwanda. 

Alex and Peter, interviewing an applicant.  "What are the qualities
of a good mentor?"

Banana ladies!  I didn't get a good picture of the mango selling ladies
but I'm pretty sure I had like 5 mangoes this week. 

Bogoya anyone?

We had a very chill Saturday.  Kelsey and Alex at BROOD, a
bakery and cafe with some of the best bread IN THE WORLD!

We scaled a lot of hills shopping on Saturday. 
Kelsey here, taking a break.

Alex, bargaining with a shopkeeper for guitar strings

"Uganda's like, hereish, right?"

"Look at this giant globe!"  (PCVs, in case you're wondering, this 

giant 

globe DOES spin!)

I made Alex and Kelsey try out the new city bus with me.  I wasn't the
only one taking a picture, those ladies in front of us were too.

The new bus!  It's so clean! And fun to ride.

Dress: Owino market, secondhand, $6.82, or 16,000
Uganda Shillings. 

The Rwanda ambassador to Uganda invited the whole team to
the rotating restaurant at the golf club in Kampala.  It's probably the
snazziest place in the whole country.  That waiter was also the most professional and with-it waiter in Uganda.  Alex and Peter, ordering
dinner.

We passed the pianist two times.  I think this was my first time
seeing a Ugandan pianist.  Not even sure if he was Ugandan...

Roasted lamb with MASHED POTATOES.  I was sadly more
excited about the mashed potatoes.  I would have licked that plate
clean if I wasn't trying so hard to be proper.

Claudian and I, when we were rotating in front of the bar.  He
wanted to take this again because he wasn't ready for the picture. 
Sorry Claudian!

    I’ve had a pretty hectic month, but don’t worry, I have a big blog coming up.  Until then, I want to share an adorable tidbit from my ride into Kampala. 

    I was on the Jinja-Kampala coaster, in the back, with a mother of what seemed like six young children.  I’m also fairly certain that the mother was a teacher, because she seemed patient and educated.  You could tell they were Kampala kids, because they didn’t bat a lash when I sat down, and ignored me the entire trip.  When the kids started singing songs from school, she would chime in and help them with words.  The kids were chatting the whole way, pointing out things and naming them in English.  It was adorable. “A pine tree!  The river!”  When we reached the edge of Kampala city, there were many shops.  Some of the older kids were saying words in English, like shop, sell, buy, and shopkeeper.  The older ones were then trying to get their younger brother to say some of the words, and even quizzing him on the spelling.               
    “Spell the word ‘cow’”
    “C-O-W, the word is ‘cow’”
    “Spell the word ‘car’”
    “C-A-R, the word is ‘car’”
    (Get ready and say the next part out loud to yourself...)
    “Say the word ‘shopkeeper’”
    The boy struggled a bit, tried as hard as he could, and proudly said, “shock peeper!”
    I tried my darndest, but I couldn’t help but laugh.  The kids and the mom were laughing too, and the little boy just smiled and asked his mom in Luganda, “wait, what was it?”
    She said, slowly and clearly, “shoP keePer,” emphasizing the ‘p’ sound.
    “Shock--shock peeper.”
    His brothers were in stitches. 
    Anywho, there’s that for now.  Pictures and stories to come.

The Day Without My Camera

 I didn’t see any monkeys or other exotic creatures today, but there were moments that I wished I had had my camera to spice up the blog.  Reflecting back, there have been many moments I had wished I had had my camera, like the night another PCV, Rashida, and I had pizza delivered to my work..which is awesomeness that you can only appreciate if you’ve been living in Africa for some time.  To read more about that, and about Rashida, click here.  She’s my closest PCV neighbor, just down the road two minutes by taxi in Bugembe. 

   So why didn’t you have your camera, Mary?  Well, do you leave your house everyday anticipating that you’ll have something to take a picture of?!  Probably, which is why you have cameras on your phone.  Well, I don’t, and I don’t always think that there’ll be something photo-worthy.  Now that I’m talking this up so much, I feel guilty that there is no epic photo-worthy moment I missed.  Stay with me--here was my day: I began by waking up from a very odd dream (which involved my sister visiting Uganda and me dancing en-pointe...very strange) and eating breakfast.  After procrastinating for some good time, I finally got dressed and went over to Rashida’s place to help cut pads for RUMPS (read more about that on Rashida’s blog).  She had, at one point, 300 towels to be cut into about 40 squares each, but with the help of her new place, and some help from me, the pile has seriously diminished! 

So, photo #1:  A picture of Rashida and I, cutting towels in her office.  Her office is actually a “demonstration room,” which has all of these medical laminated charts displayed, as well as some superfun human anatomy models.  (I’ve taken apart and re-assembled the heart a few times, just for kicks).  From this experience, I now know how to efficiently and quickly cut large bath towels into equal size-ish washcloths.

After a full afternoon of snipping away, and cutting our way through 30 some towels, we headed down to Bugembe trading center for dinner.  On the way, at a small roundabout, there was a group of guys who were all playing a neat Busoga tune on a giant xylophone.  I looked this up on Wikipedia, and I guess this instrument is called the “akadinda,” which originates from the Buganda kingdom.  It was larger than any picture of it I can find on the web, and instead of being mounted on a wooden rack, it was played on two large banana-tree branches.  Again, a picture would explain all of this, hence--

Photo #2-- Local men playing the akadinda.

In Uganda, it’s near impossible to listen to the music and stand still.  It’s quite a feat.  Luckily, this music didn’t go to waste, because along with the traditional instrument, there were traditional Busoga dancers, doing the Busoga dance right there in the street!

Photo #3--Busoga dancers, just dancin’!  Wrapped in (the fabric that goes under the gomezi, I don’t know what it’s called but I think it’s a kitende,) striped black, reddish and yellow fabric, rolled thickly at the waist and topped off with fur, the dancers shook their behinds in time with the music.  We applauded and continued on down to the stage. 

Rashida and I must be very obnoxious to be around when decisions need to be made, because we’re both so indecisive.  The decision was dinner, and we had made a plan to make cheese sandwiches.  We needed Laughing Cow cheese, which is available at some supermarkets.  We walked all the way down to the big Bugembe trading center to go to the one supermarket there.  Once we had reached the place, we found it closed.  Conductors nearby were shouting “Jinja! Jinja!” and good grief it’s just too darn easy to go to town when you’re out of ideas for dinner.  So we boarded a coaster going to Jinja, giving the conductors a silent victory for the day, (yes, I TOTALLY convinced the bazungu to go into town, I’m so persuasive).  We were intending to eat at a Ugandan local-food joint, but the place I had in mind was closed.  We found ourselves at the end of a dark main street, save for the light coming from “Leoz.”  I had heard of the place before, but Rashida hadn’t, so in we went.  Once the aroma hit us, we knew immediately it was Indian food...mmm.....

Photo #4--Our dishes, which were each served with its own warming dish--adorable!  Quite a tasty night for no original plan.         

Lesson learned: I will bring my camera everywhere, and take pictures of everything, because it’s a lot easier to just post a picture than trying to explain everything.  Until next inspiring moment-- weraba! 

Things that I did remember my camera for, (that did not happen today and have absolutely nothing to do with this blog post):

Students using the library, and patiently waiting to check out books.
Standing at far right--Efulansi, the Library Minister and 100% sweetheart

Shakira, smiling big

Rashida and I getting our toes done.  Yes, this is on my veranda,
and I actually called this guy to come over at 8 PM.