July 2, 2007 Ntenjeru Parents High School 10:37

I’m sitting in the principle’s office waiting for my first English class to begin. I’m really nervous because all that was given to me for today’s lesson was “Questions” and “Using Nouns” which was given to me late last night (after we got back from the 7 hour introduction) without the S1 book.

So this morning I did my best to throw some form of a lesson together. The class is 1:20 minutes long. I have no idea how long my lesson will take. They are high school freshmen, and I am a muzungu girl. So I am hoping that the novelty of it all with take up a good portion of today’s class. But I am also teaching tomorrow and Wednesday and those days S2 and S4 are thrown into the mix-it is going to be a long week.

Yesterday Joe and I went to an Introduction (which is a big ceremony-kind of like a glorified engagement party). We left the house at one, clad in our traditional dress that we got last week. It was really funny because every one was taking pictures of us together (because no one has ever seen Muzungus in traditional clothing). It felt like we were going to a Ugandan prom.

While we were waiting for a taxi to go to Ntenjeru, I was struck at how odd it was to be standing under a tree in a Gomez and having everyone laugh and stare at us as they drove by. It wasn’t what I initially signed up for when I decided to come here, but I am glad it is part of the experience.

We took a taxi into the village and then caught a boda to the party. I have been terrified of riding bodas (partially because I’ve only done it once and partially because I can barely walk down the road without injuring myself, so the thought of driving helmetless at high speeds done the same roads is not appealing-especially to someone who just had a concussion). The other problem with bodas is the fact that if you are a girl you have to ride side saddle, and that is hard enough without adding the difficulty of holding masses of material from the Gomez away from the tires. I finally managed to do this, however, I think I was highly inappropriate because I basically hiked up my Gomez around my legs and held the material in pile in my lap, fully exposing my upper knees and lower thigh (Oh. The horror).

It was about a ½ hour ride to the party and when we finally got there (although it was supposed to start at 1 and we arrived at 2) we were one of the first people there. They took our pictures and then sat us in the front row (which Joe and I were really bummed about because we had come prepared with books, journals, and mp3 players to entertain us-but we wouldn’t be able to use any of them without being completely obvious or disrespectful). SO then began our two hour wait for the ceremony to begin (which we could only listen to the blaring Luganda music and smile as people laughed and stared some more at our dress). It finally started with the MC who gave a big speech (all in Luganda) and then the wedding party (about 30 people) came and sat down (with neither the bride or groom present). Then big groups of people one by one came out to greet the wedding party (which roughly took an 1 ½ hour) Then more speeches, then a weird ceremony involving soda and the two families (it was explained to me later than they normally use wine, but they are all 7^th day Adventists as well, so they don’t drink). Then more speeches and music, then they brought the dowry which was bags of sugar and flour, 20 baskets of fruit, 6 cases of bottled soda, a chicken, beef, 30 gift bags (filled with something), 2 overstuffed chairs, a couch, and clothes. Then each gift had to be presented individually (including the 20 baskets and 30 bags) to the parents. Then the groom was found among the wedding party in some ceremonial dance, and then the bride was brought out and then taken back inside the house again (I have no idea what she did in there the whole time). Then she came back out and they ate a cake together, followed by many more speeches and then they began to serve food to the 300+ guests around 8:30. Which was great because there was no silverware, so when I finally did get my food I was chowing down, trying as gracefully as I could to eat with my hands and not get it on my Gomez. About half way through my plate I looked up and realized that about 20 people were staring at me, watching me stuff myself, and probably still wondering why I was wearing a Gomez. 

Once it was all over, we caught a bodas back to the house (once again I was horribly inappropriate, but it was too dark for anyone to see it this time). There was a huge harvest moon that was orange and glowy and was rising as we drove home. It was really beautiful.

So that is only a brief synopsis of what actually did end up being a 7 hour event (someone warned me ahead of time that Introductions generally take that long, but I refused to believe it. I do now.)

Later in the day..

I have completed my first class with S1. It didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked, but there were no major disasters either (depending if you count me tripping over the blackboard braces 3 different times in the first 5 minutes). We went through the lesson I had planned within the first 20 minutes. So I had to kind of wing the next hour (which I feel I did exceptionally well at, considering that I didn’t have a textbook to go off of and that it was my first day).

We did questions and nouns as planned, and then from there I had them do some practice sentences and checked them (there was 80 of them and it took a lot of time-which I was quite thankful for). Then I saw where many students were having trouble and worked on those things like: verb conjugation, tenses, plural vs. singular (I had to try to explain why there was no such things as “grasses” which is not as easy as you would think). So I did more practice problems and just went over stuff until it was time to leave. I thought it went well, but as I was leaving and the other teacher came in (because the students don’t switch classrooms here-the teachers do) they all burst out laughing. It might not have been directed at me, but it sure felt like it.

On a slightly more random note, I have a parasite apparently. It is the Ugandan equivalent to ring-worm as far as I can understand. I have had these weird red flat round marks since I got here, there was only one or two at first, but in the last couple weeks they have intensely multiplied. I’ve wondered in the back of my mind about them for a while now, but I just thought they might be spider bites or something (they kind of feel like after you have really itched a mosquito bite and it is really sore but still itches-only all the time). Erin and Julie saw my arms today and told me I had “Chisenti”they don’t know how you get it, or if it is treatable, but they have both had it before. Joe has it too really bad (but he has so many bug bites it is hard to tell what is what).