Day 20

7 July, 2010

After learning
2 tens and 8 ones=28
yesterday,
__ (which at Hope they call, "dash") tens and __ones=28
was sooo much easier. They caught on so quickly and even Kibuuka understood (he doesn't understand anything I say unless I accompany it with the same word in Luganda).

Teacher Betty gave me fene (jackfruit) at break. She even gave me some to give to Mi jeung.

I played with the kids and asked them random questions after an hour and a half long chapel. I told them how old I am and asked them how old they are. I asked where they are from and told them where I am from. I let them go to games soon after and they played hopscotch and a game that looked similar to dodgeball. Nambooze asked me to get her ball which was in her bag in the classroom and one of the P2s was getting caned right in front of me. This kid was trying so hard to get away and the lady kept pulling him back. All the other kids followed me in the room to stare. I made them all get out and tried to find Nambooze's ball as quickly as possible. It's so weird because I never heard or seen caning until this past week, and it's been almost everyday since. Later the other Nambooze was repeating the action by pretending to beat Nabukalu with a piece of banana fiber. It's really soft and it doesn't hurt, but I told her to stop. Debbie and Daniela were doing this yesterday too.

Mi jeung and I took individual pictures with all of our kids. A couple of the P5s didn't want their pictures taken but we made them. I don't ever have that problem with my P1s and P2s. They always want to be in pictures. If I wasn't leaving so soon, it would be obnoxious.

On the way home, Mi jeung and I kept singing "A Whole New World" and decided we would sing it for the kids tomorrow. After making a trip to the supermarket, photocopying, and buying chapat, we came home to discover the electricity was out. We looked up the lyrics on Mi jeung's Blackberry and wrote them down. We practiced and then discovered that neither of us sounds like a man. We then went through a list of many songs including "Tik Tok" (that was for you, Jen) before landing on "We Are the World," which surprisingly I did not know (the 1980s MJ version, not the new crappy one with Miley Cyrus...and there were others). We rehearsed, after looking up the words, in front of Alissa and Brittany, Susan (the maid), the guard (who speaks French and Luganda and probably concluded that we are both a little crazy), and probably the whole neighborhood. Remember, the power was off so we were singing outside. At one point there was the sound of a cough at the gate and I shined my flashlight in that direction. I'm pretty sure a kid ran away. I'm excited that I learned the words to this in Africa.

Gotta go get ready for our performance tomorrow. Will let you know how it goes.