Monday, July 16, 2018

Back to School

I got lost on a boda again this weekend. My sense of direction is awful and I trust boda drivers a lot, but it’s probably much more of the former than the latter. Nevertheless, here are snippets of this past weekend!

On Saturday, Kristi and I visited Edgar’s sister, Jane. She goes to Namugongo Girl’s Primary School and it was visitation day for the boarding school, which means the family gets to visit the child all day (but the students can’t leave the campus). We also met Edgar’s mom, and she brought us mangos, oranges, and cookies from Soroti, the village she lives in 6 hrs away (~300km). It’s crazy that parents send their children so far away for education at such a young age and only see them once a term [semester]. I can’t imagine seeing my child for less than a week in a school year. I mean, teachers are really important, but I guess I would want to be more involved in my own children’s lives? But then again I was homeschooled and I guess there are tradeoffs with each different education system. But Edgar’s mom is really cool! She’s the director of a private international school in Soroti and is also still studying, on top of baking some addicting cookies. Their family is just super studious and accomplished, but also so kind and gentle.
Visitation Day!

Jane is so cute! And she guessed that my favourite subject is math! When I asked her how she knew, she said I sounded like a math teacher haha. Who knew so much truth can come from the mouth of a child? I always say this, but in our short 90 minute interaction, I was reminded of how much I miss working with kids. They’re so trusting and innocent and unpretentious… Why can’t everyone be like that? Jane showed us her dormitory (there are five triple bunks in one room), and gave us a short tour of her campus. They wear the green uniforms during the week, keep their hair short, and have mass/church three times a week (it’s a Catholic school I think). Here are pics:
Bunkbeds

Laundry

Time to Shower 

2 Cute

I went souvenir shopping at the Craft Market this weekend! If you want something from Uganda, speak now or forever hold your peace. Here are some things to choose from. If you want a boring t-shirt, let me know.
What Do You Want?

I also met Peace’s mom this weekend! She runs a tailor shop, and she’s going to make some clothes for me. Since everyone else was tired, I got to go downtown by myself, and it wasn’t as scary the second time. We picked out the cloth at another shop and of course the indecisive me took awhile choosing a pattern that would be appropriate to wear in the US. If there were twenty shelves like this, how long would you take to choose a pattern?
Help Please 

After visiting her shop and getting measured, I meandered back to Bushpig by myself and that kind of cleared my mind. I guess I also miss being alone and exploring places by myself, soaking in the environment around me without commentary or conversation, being present to the people around me, not pushed or pulled in any particular direction. It’s a crazy life here, and one doesn’t get a lot of time to process everything on top of listening to the experiences of others. That’s why I find myself blogging past midnight.


We’re going to Jinja tomorrow to collect data for the rest of the week! Will update you when I get back. Thanks for reading, and goodnight.

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