Kampala

So, the last week or so has kinda flown by, I can't believe we've already been here 5 weeks! First off, apologies on the vagueness of locations and names - the Peace Corps (PC from now on. I'm a PCT - PC trainee, hopefully soon to be a PCV - PC volunteer, currently in PST - pre-service training. The PC likes their TLAs) anyways, for security reasons they've asked us to not include locations/names on publicly-available sites. If you want to know the names of places just send me an email/letter.

We're finally settling into a routine. I'm up at 6, off to school around 7. On my bike I get there 7:20-7:30, depending on how many people I say hi to. Walking 7:50-8:00, for the same reasons (it's a great time to practice language). It's so nice and cool in the morning, and quiet. People here seem to be most active later in the day, and our town really comes alive at night. This week we've been focusing on language. We took our mock LPI (hmm...language proficiency interview? it's an oral language test, in 'conversation' form). We've been working up to it all week. Thursday some community members came and spoke with us in the language we're learning. I'm really lucky that Lusoga is very similar to Luganda - the main language spoken in the central part of the country, where we are staying. It's akin to Spanish and Portugese, sort-of. Some PCTs are learning non-Bantu languages, so there is no similarity and it's impossible to practice in the community. So, having native speakers come in was very helpful.

I had thought I was doing okay, but hearing the language spoken at normal speed, and not by someone who is carefully enunciating for my benefit, I've got a lot of work to do. So, that was good practice for the practice LPI, which wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. It was a 20-30 min talk with our language instructor where he basically tried to see what tenses we could use, and how many different vocab words we can include in our responses. Turns out that when I'm asked what foods I like, I'm supposed to use it as an opportunity to show how many food words I know. Slightly awkward, but I guess it's better than a written test.

So that's been most of training, besides occasional technical talks: Ugandan grading system, NTCs (National Teacher's Colleges, blame Uganda for that one) and PTCs (Primary Teacher's colleges - for primary school teachers), mental health, nutrition (included a bit on body image - telling someone they've gained weight is a compliment here. My family has not shied from the idea that they're trying to fatten me up, and succeeding with all the good food). After training we've been getting into the habit of nightly runs. 6/6:30 - 7:00ish it's just cooling down and there's a nice breeze. There's a regular group of 3 us now, though it varies. Especially the last few days. Wednesday my host sister, Martha, joined me for a short run beforehand, and then Thursday my host 'siblings' Badil and Angela (actually a niece) came along. I should mention that Angela is 13, about 2/3 my height, and was wearing flip-flops. We went up this huge hill near my house - I was impressed with her gumption and running skills. Friday, 4 neighborhood boys joined us, so 9 in total - 3 muzungus and 6 Ugandans - it was so much fun, and interesting to hear how the comments of people on the roads changed. Much fewer cries of 'Muzungu!' and much more poking fun at those running with us. I'm not sure what they were saying, though....

Now we're back in Kampala. We came yesterday for a tour of the Bugandan Kings' Tomb (central region), and the National Museum. The National Museum had a lot of the native cultures in Uganda. They had cases showing traditional pottery, clothes, weapons, weaving, woodworking, and much more. My favorites were the the barkcloth clothes. They take strips of bark from the ficus tree and then pound them into this thin, yet strong, brown fabric. The exhibit said that an 18" stip of bark would make a 7' wide cloth. Though now, thinking back on it, it's weird that the units weren't in metric. They also had a map with the locations of the major groups within Uganda: buganda, busoga, acholi, nyoro, ntoro, teso, and many more (and I'm sure I misspelled the ones I listed). They also had a section on paleoanthropology in the area. Not too in-depth, but it was fun to look at various skulls, especially the really tiny ones. There were some about the size of my fist!

We got permission to spend last night here, which was quite the adventure. We had managed to scrounge up a hotel - 2 rooms, 7 beds, 14 people. We got there and it was so much nicer than we were expecting. There was plenty of space, a shower!!!, and a balcony. This weekend happened to be the party for those COSing in April (Close of Service - the group heading home). Which may have been part of why they were cool with us staying in Kampala - there were a decent number of PCVs around to make sure we didn't get into trouble. They had a nice dinner, and we joined them towards the end of it, in time to see the slide show of their time here. It's a lot to look forward to. You can tell they had a blast, and really bonded together. It's going to be hard to leave everything behind in two years...

It was a fun evening, though. We had some quality bonding time in the hotel before heading out. Lots of make-up, hairstyling, and accessory selection (I felt sorry for the few guys in the group). It was nice to get to really relax and hang out with the group, especially not having to worry about walking home before dark, or class the next day. They insisted on doing my make-up and hair, and did a really good job. It was cool to learn something to do with my shorter hair, besides a pony tail.

After meeting up with the PCVs in town, we got our introduction to nightclubs in Kampala. Okay, so just one, but that's enough for me. It was a lot of fun - I've missed getting to dance here, and while it was miles away from swing dancing, dancing is dancing. There was a surprising amount of American music, which was a treat when it came on, with everyone singing along to whatever was played, even if it was something they turned their nose up at before. Just in case anyone's worried about our safety - we were always keeping tabs on our numbers, traveling in groups, and taking taxis. And, dancing in Uganda is much cleaner than in the US, at least, there's more space between dancers. Though maybe that's because everyone's pouring sweat...

Today I'm on my own. Everyone was headed for an American breakfast, but I had filled up on the granola I found (it's the little things that really get me here - granola, yeast, American music, someone playing a guitar....). So, I'm doing internet, a couple of errands, and then heading back home to the pile of laundry that awaits me. It's kinda soothing to tackle the pile though, and a good arm work-out wringing out each item between wash, rinse, rinse, and dry. So, about it from here. Mail has started arriving, and it's been so great to get letters from people! Please do keep in touch and let me know what you're up to!