Day 6: Incredible hospitality and sacrifice. Where is this in the U.S.?

23 June, 2010

The muzungu thing is on the verge of getting old. It's cute when the kids do it, but with adults it's almost offensive. I know they don't mean it that way, but still... I am excited to go walking to the market by myself, just to see if they still call me muzungu. (Obviously this is a few days old so NOTE: they do).

It has been so nice to get to bed early, wake up early, and actually have time to get ready, eat, read, anything I need or want to do.

Derrick had a talk with us last night that made me and Hollie both a little paranoid about where our sponsorship money is going. He made a good point about paying during holiday. Where does the money go? I am still going Saturday but I will ask about his school and where money goes when he is on holiday.

Today was an even less organized day at school. There was one woman that we saw on our way to school and on our way back. She asked how our day was and told us, "welcome back" on our way home. So friendly!

I taught measurement to the P2 class this morning. We measured things with our hands and feet and talked about the difference between height and length.

One of the boys, Ddamba offered me maize today at snack time. It was the sweetest thing ever...until Namale (a 6 year old girl in my class with the biggest, brightest eyes I've ever seen on a child) got down on her knees, offered me a piece of her bread, and said "for you, teacher." I didn't take the maize. I told Ddamba to keep it because he needs to eat more than I do, after which I realied he probably thought I was being rude or didn't like him or something. So when Namale offered the bread I asked Teacher Susan if I should take it or give it back since I clearly have less financial troubles (I made it all the way here, what does that tell you?). She said I should take it so I did and thanked Namale for her offering. It amazes me that kids who are orphaned, living in poverty, and know they have very little are still kind enough to offer you the one thing they DO have. Why can't we teach spoiled rich American kids to be that generous? You'd think it'd be easier, not harder. I love how much this village values hospitality and kindness. Almost everyone you pass says, "hello, how are you" without knowing you and clearly realizing you are not from around here.

We also tried jack fruit (not sure of that spelling) at lunch time today. It is very sticky. The outside of it is kind of spikey and greenish-brownish colored. The inside has these sticky/stringy things that you have to peel off, then you take out the seed, and eat the covering. Very foreign fruit, but very good. Teacher Susan laughed at us because we had no idea which part we were suppose to eat. The kids thought this was funny too and kept staring at us and laughing. Teacher Betty says she will let us try every food we have not yet tried before we leave Uganda. Yay!

After lunch I taught about the nuclear family again. I figure that repetition is a good thing, it helps kids learn. We went over it many times and I drew pictures on the board. I also showed all the kids pictures from home of me and my parents. Namale pointed to the picture of my mom and said, "muzungu." Tomorrow I will ask her if she thinks I am a muzungu too. All the teachers say, [pointing to my mom] "oh yes, this one is very muzungu."

I am going to start doing warm-ups for every subject so that we can review what they learned the day beefore without having to repeat the whole lesson.

We walked to the market after school and bought some school supplies, food, and drinks. I know where it is now and I think I will do some wandering on Sunday since I will be the only one here with the new volunteers who are arriving Sunday morning around 12 or 1am. Maybe I will give them a quick tour since that is something I appreciated.

I created a lesson plan for tomorrow. I am excited to try it out! I just wish the teacher wouldn't stare at me so much :(

Oh, I almost forgot: first day with running water since I arrived!!! I have never been more happy to take a cold shower in my life. Oh, and I was able to charge my iPod! Okay, now I feel guilty. Americans are to damn spoiled.

Tomorrow is my first day doing HIV/AIDS home visits with Sam. Should be fun!

Names I have learned in my P1 class:
Namale
Nambooze
Yawe
Fred

Names I have learned in my P2 class:
Jo Van
Roboti