Right now the power is off in the city. Everyone is sitting outside of their shops hanging out. It is pretty warm in the room where I am writing this, but I want to get caught up in writing so here goes. Our jogging crew grew by one this morning. Kate ran with Annie. Kevin, Bill, and I went a bit father into the country. There were even more bats out today. I don’t think I’ve mentioned the showers yet, or the toilets. The showers a cold and you can’t use much water. You soak, turn off the water, freeze, lather up, rinse, and freeze. It’s actually not that bad, but as Lisa knows, I’ve been know to take a long hot shower from time to time. The toilets are an adventure. Let me describe. First off, I’m not sure you can call it a toilet if there is no porcelain involved. They are holes in the ground. It actually takes a fair amount of balance and lower body strength to defecate in Uganda. Some of us have been finding this quite difficult.
This morning I had African coffee, an avocado, a banana, and chapatti for breakfast. I didn’t make it down to the internet café so I will do that soon. I have been thinking about getting a good Ugandan haircut, but the power is out so we shall see. Today we discussed the research we will be doing here. For my friends who know what WASC is, I just found out that I’ll be doing more WASC self study stuff this summer. Woot Woot!!! Actually some of it sounds good. The teachers here are interested in accessing certain elements of their school community. The have created a list of critical questions and I will be working with Yeko George to compile this information. Also, I will be a part of Amy’s research on the use of student centered activities in the classroom. Tonight I will meet my teaching partner. I’m a bit nervous, just because I don’t know what to expect, but I trust in Providence. I think we are all ready to move to this next part of the experience. There has been a lot of interesting orientation and I think it will all be useful, but it’s time to get going. On my way back for the IC office I stopped by one of the two mosques in town. I greeted the imam and we had an interesting conversation. He shared that the relationship between Muslims and Christians in this area is very positive. He asked me why I am not a Muslim and I told him that I follow Issa and that I believe he is God so I cannot be a Muslim. He argued that God can create, but cannot produce like humans or animals. It was an interesting argument, but we don’t agree on the source of God’s message to people (The Bible or the Quran) so we parted with a friendly Salaam Alekum as he expressed his desire to convert me and I told him that he may be the one to make to cross over. There is something about the Muslims I have known that evokes respect and compassion in me.
I hope you are doing well…no power, no hair cut
