The school year has begun and is in full swing. I am teaching S1 south biology, S2 north biology and math, S3 west biology and A level biology (S5 and S6). I'm also trying to become more involved in extra-curricular activities. Soccer is beginning this term and we're in the middle of inter-house competitions (think Harry Potter). The girls are excited to be playing, but I'm hoping to begin real training soon. If anyone knows any good ball control drills that can be done with only one or two footballs, I'd love some ideas.
There is also another volunteer teacher now, Alan. He's from the UK and graduated from university in 2009, so he's kinda in the same situation as I am. He's only here for a month (he leaves Sunday) but it's been nice to have another 'muzungu' around. With two of us it's easier to get things started. We've put up a question box for students. They put in a question, we answer it. Questions have varied from "what is the shortest letter in the English language?" to "if America is the superpower, why are they scared of Russia?" to "what is homosexuality and why is it practiced?" to "why are girls shy around boys?". They've been a lot of fun to answer. I've also started trying to get some clubs started or more active. Monday I met with students interested in debate - we're going to have a debate next Monday on whether traditional or modern living is better. Tuesday I met with students interested in chess and/or scrabble. No one showed up. Wednesday was reading. Some students showed up and I suggested meeting two days a week at lunch to read bits of a book, discuss them, and slowly progress through them. We're meeting Mondays and Wednesday and beginning with The Old Man and the Sea. I'm curious to see how that goes. Today is writing. Tomorrow baking and arts and crafts. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Also, Alan knows how to swing dance (Jive, to be specific) so we got a bunch of the students learning Jive yesterday. Pairs dancing is a very western thing, and so most students didn't even have a concept of lead-follow, turning, etc. But, they have a fabulous sense of rhythm. I took some photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/becky.uganda/Dancing#. They picked it up pretty quick. We're going to try again today, before Alan goes and I'll have to teach lead and follow (which could be a disaster).
Oh, and the kittens are growing at an astonishing rate and are starting to cause trouble. I've been slowly adding more photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/becky.uganda/TaraSKittens03#
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Kittens!!!
Okay, so this is long overdue, but I was hoping my internet would come back so I could post all the pictures, but it didn't, and then I spent the week visiting PCVs in northern Uganda and haven't been near a computer. Anyways...
Tara (my 9 month old cat) just had kittens! 6 of them! Under my bed! They're adorable, and she's back to her tiny self. Actually, way too tiny, if you ask me. I am feeding her as much as she'll eat. There are three black kittens and three tabbies. At least 4 of them are already spoken for (2 to PCVs, one to a teacher at my school, and one to a young friend of mine, as long as it's okay with his mom). I could go on about how beautiful they are, but I'll let the pictures speak for me:
http://picasaweb.google.com/becky.uganda
Tara (my 9 month old cat) just had kittens! 6 of them! Under my bed! They're adorable, and she's back to her tiny self. Actually, way too tiny, if you ask me. I am feeding her as much as she'll eat. There are three black kittens and three tabbies. At least 4 of them are already spoken for (2 to PCVs, one to a teacher at my school, and one to a young friend of mine, as long as it's okay with his mom). I could go on about how beautiful they are, but I'll let the pictures speak for me:
http://picasaweb.google.com/becky.uganda
Eclipse!
Okay, so it wasn't a complete solar eclipse, but it was still pretty darn cool.
Around 8:00am if you looked outside you noticed something weird. Nothing you could quite put your finger on, but the light seemed to almost be playing tricks with your mind. It seemed like I'd been transported to DC in the winter; the light was unusually dim. If you went outside and either squinted at the sun or (if you were a bit more intelligent) got a basin of water and looked at the reflection of the sun through that you'd see a faint shadow in front of the sun. By 8:30 the shadow was in the middle of the sun and continued it's slow progress across. By the time I finished washing my clothes and mopping the house around 11 the sun was back to it's usual intense self.
Oh, for those who are interested in such things, here's the map of the eclipse another PCV (with a degree in astronomy) sent me:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/ASE2010/ASE2010map/ASE2010_031E_034E_Uganda.pdf
Around 8:00am if you looked outside you noticed something weird. Nothing you could quite put your finger on, but the light seemed to almost be playing tricks with your mind. It seemed like I'd been transported to DC in the winter; the light was unusually dim. If you went outside and either squinted at the sun or (if you were a bit more intelligent) got a basin of water and looked at the reflection of the sun through that you'd see a faint shadow in front of the sun. By 8:30 the shadow was in the middle of the sun and continued it's slow progress across. By the time I finished washing my clothes and mopping the house around 11 the sun was back to it's usual intense self.
Oh, for those who are interested in such things, here's the map of the eclipse another PCV (with a degree in astronomy) sent me:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/ASE2010/ASE2010map/ASE2010_031E_034E_Uganda.pdf
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