Monday was my first day of school! I woke up at 5:30am, got ready, ate breakfast (eggs with tomatoes and chapatti), and left the house with my host dad and little sister at 6:30 while it was still dark outside. Driving on the road by our house, my host dad saw his “sister” (not sure if biological or just Ugandan) walking on the side of the road, and we pulled over to give her a ride. We ended up dropping her off at a has station (I was very confused the whole time because they only spoke in Luganda together) then dropped off my sister at her primary school. We got to the SIT Resource Center, my school, at about 7:10 am. I was the first person to arrive, because school starts at 8:30 and most of the other students were riding in the crazy/unreliable taxis, but the program assistant got there moments later and we went in together.
Our school is very secure. We have a gate around it and a guard has to let us in. Sometimes he pats us down or checks our bags. We’re also really lucky to be in a nice part of Kampala. It’s very quiet and peaceful around there, and we like to call it our little oasis.
School was great. I have Luganda class from 8:30 to around 10:30, then break until 11, when I start another class until lunch around 12:30 or 1:00. Lunch ends at 2:00, when we have a guest speaker or site visit every day, and school will usually end somewhere between 3:30 and 5:00, depending on what is on the schedule. Yesterday after school my host family (Dad, Mom, and I think some clergy person) picked me up in our car. They arrived at about 5:30pm. We had a little bit of confusion because school got out at 4:30, and my host sister was coming to escort one of my classmates to her home on the taxis. We decided to all leave together in our car, so it was my host dad and the other guy in the front, and my host mom, me, my classmate, and my host sister crammed in the back seat of a little car. We then picked up my little sister from school, making it 5 people shoved into the sweaty back seat.
As I’ve mentioned before, traffic here is ridiculous. I’ve never ever seen anything even close to it. There aren’t any lanes, and people swerve in and out of incoming traffic on a regular basis. Cars and motorcycles even drive onto the sidewalks and honk at people to get out of the way. There are potholes/craters the size of sedans and speed bumps that hit the bottom of the car when you drive over them, regardless of speed. Traffic can stay at a stand-still for very long periods of time, and drivers just cut the engine to save fuel. We sat with the engine off for at least 11 minutes, and it took about 45 minutes to go 2 or 3 miles.
When we finally got home, I worked on my homework, ate my dinner, bathed, and went to bed. I was so exhausted by the end of everything.
Yesterday morning I woke up, ate breakfast, and drove with my host dad to drop my little sister off at school. I got to escort her to the gate this time and wished her a good day. At this point it was about 7:00, and my host dad told me he had to stop at a meeting then would drop me off at school.
It was actually a Rotary Club meeting, and he is about to be inducted I think. They introduced him to the whole room of people, then I was introduced as Shannon/Nalule from the US. We were only there for a short while, then he dropped me off at school around 7:45.
After school, my host sister came to escort a classmate and me home, and I rode the taxis home from school for the first time. I take two taxis to get home; one to the old taxi park, and one to my home. You never really know what you’re going to get on a taxi here. In my taxi, the conductor and a passenger got into a small fight, yelling at each other in Luganda and sort of swinging at each other as we were moving along. I was horrified, but everyone around me was laughing. I asked later, and apparently the passenger only spoke a certain dialect of Swahili.
At the taxi park, I found my taxi and rode home by myself. I was a bit nervous, but it was a very easy and surprisingly fast, about 30 minutes (no “jams” on my route!). The cost was about 1000 Ugandan shillings, which is less than $1. When I got home, my younger sisters were eagerly awaiting my arrival. I brought some bubbles with me to Uganda, so we decided to play with them outside. We had a lot of fun, as you can probably see from the pictures I posted! They were obsessed with my camera, and they loved taking and posing for pictures!
Later I brought out my computer and iPod touch, and everyone completely freaked out with excitement and curiosity as I showed them how each device worked. On my computer I showed them the pictures and videos we had just taken, as well as some of the other pictures and videos I had on my computer. On my iPod I showed them how to play music and play games. Two of them sat together, one headphone in each ear, and I laughed as they sang and danced along with the music.
til next time
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