Personal Development and Cultural Development
This week required more organization to guarantee that we do not become illegal immigrants in Uganda. When we arrived in Entebbe airport, the woman at the immigration desk told me that she could only authorize my stay for up to 16 days and we would have to visit the immigration office. On Monday afternoon, we made a visit to the office and had to fill out a few forms to apply to extend the length of stay. When we got there, it turns out that she had actually said sixty days and I had just misheard her Ugandan accent. At least we have all the paperwork already done and we no longer have to worry about sorting it out.
Getting used to Ugandans and there unannounced visits is also quite a challenge. They are all so friendly and just turn up at your door to say hello whenever they feel like it. For example, on Tuesday morning I was woken by a visit from Doreen, Rosco called in to visit on Tuesday night, and Tim and Henry popped up on Sunday night. They all want to make sure that you are okay and it is really nice to have made these bonds already and t know that people are looking out for you.
On Tuesday night, I had my first experience of the cinema in Uganda. We decided to go and see the newly released film Valentine’s Day. I really enjoyed the movie and the Ugandans made the evening even better. The cinema was quite small and was completely full of Ugandans who laugh really loudly at every joke. Their roars of laughter made me laugh even more. They also have crazy Tuesdays in Uganda (although it isn’t actually called that) where the cinema is half price. It is only 6000ush (Ugandan shillings) on a Tuesday which is about £2.
When we arrived back to our hostel I caught a glimpse of the gecko that I had initially found on Saturday morning. I forgot to mention it last week as I got too excited writing about my rafting experience. When I was getting ready early that Saturday morning, I saw it in the bathroom and now it was back (I’m not sure if it ever left). It ran under my bed so I was a little bit frightened to go to sleep as I didn’t want a lizard crawling over me during the night but I convinced myself that I was in Africa, and I probably had millions of things crawling over me in my sleep so it wouldn’t do me any harm. We haven’t seen it again since Tuesday night so hopefully it has left our room when the door has been open at some point! I searched under my bed the other morning and couldn’t see it so I’m thinking positively!
For lunch on Wednesday, Rachel and I decided to try and find the Irish Pub that Heather and Amy had recommended to us, Bubble O’Leary. The boda driver seemed pretty clueless as to where he was going but thanks to Heather’s map we found it. It felt really homely and we had the yummiest lunch ever! I ordered a steak sandwich with chips. They were proper chips like home rather than the normal skinny fries that they have here. It was really nice to chill here for a while and we really loved the sign on the door that said ‘good craic served all day’. Nothing like a good old phrase from home to bring a smile to your face. I have even taught my American friend Dave how to use the word ‘craic’. He finds it really funny and tries to fit it into conversations now.
Thursday was a busy day with lots of work to do so we just nipped out and bought some food off the street to satisfy our rumbling tummies. We decided to try a ‘rolex’ as some of our friends had recommended them to us. A rolex is basically two eggs mixed together with cabbage, onion, tomato and green pepper all fried on a hot plate to produce an omelette. The omelette is then rolled in fresh chapatti bread. It is hard to describe but it is a little like a tortilla wrap. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like rolex but it is delicious! I reckon I will be having plenty more of those whilst I’m here as they are sold directly outside my hostel for 800 ush which is less than 30p. The boy making the rolex looked about twelve years old so it was rather funny when he asked me for my number. I have now come up with the response that I do not have a Ugandan number and my phone from home does not work out here. Otherwise you would be giving hundreds of Ugandan men your telephone number. No thank you!
On Friday, we decided that we deserved a treat after our hardworking day on Thursday (see professional development for more details on all our hard work). We got ready and packed our bags to head to the swimming pool. Our hostel does not have a pool so we headed to a local hotel. On route we decided to call into the Irish Embassy to register there. If you do this they inform you of any danger areas in Uganda to avoid and also of good events to attend. We had to wait here for a moment but they brought us out invitations to a St Patrick’s Day event at the Ambassador’s Residence on 16th March. The invitation was rimmed in gold which is very fancy. We left there and headed to Hotel Africana to go swimming. We found it no problem but there was an official event happening there so we decided to try somewhere else instead and ended up at the Golf Hotel. When we arrived, the security woman checked our bags and we asked her where we paid to use the pool. She told us that it was free and pointed us in the direction of the pool. After about half an hour a man came round and asked us which room we were staying in. We tried to explain to him that the lady had allowed us to come in but unfortunately we had to leave. We didn’t even manage to get into the pool! I was gutted as I was really looking forward to relaxing but we will have to try and find somewhere else.
For dinner on Friday night, my friend Line (pronounced Lena) invited several of the international students to go to an Italian restaurant called Mamba Point. Seven of us decided to go and we had a beautiful meal here. It was really nice to have a meal that wasn’t just fried! The place was pretty expensive in terms of Ugandan prices but it was definitely worth a visit. On the way home we called into Emin Pasha to visit some other friends. We didn’t stay here for very long as we were all pretty tired but I did manage to have a debate over whether the Giants Causeway was a worthy landmark. Of course I stood up for good old Northern Ireland but the Ugandan who had visited it was less impressed and referred to it as a bunch of rocks.
Saturday was a really good day also as Rachel and I went shopping with our friend Doreen. We went to the arts and craft fair behind the National Theatre. It was helpful to have a Ugandan with us as then the shop owners do not try to overcharge you. Each of the little shops was similar to the next one as they all sold jewellery, scarves, t-shirts, wooden sculptures and souvenirs. I don’t feel like I have been here long enough yet to start buying souvenirs but I did get some ear-rings and a scarf.
On Saturday night Rachel decided to stay in again but I went with Doreen to a local Rugby match. To be honest, I don’t even know the names of the two teams playing. I was told them at the time but I can’t remember. All I know is that the rivalry between them was like when Liverpool plays Manchester United. The atmosphere was really good and the mud was flying everywhere. I had a really good time here and met some of Doreen’s friends too. After the match, everyone piled onto the pitch and started dancing to the music that was blasted over the speakers. I was really tired so I didn’t have a late night but I hope to go to another match sometime as I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Sunday morning involved me making my first visit to church in Uganda. Rachel had been to Calvary Chapel last week whilst I was in Jinja and thoroughly enjoyed it so I thought that I would attend their service at 10am on Sunday morning. I really wasn’t feeling very well on Sunday morning and was a little sick but I was looking forward to church that much that I battled on and decided to go anyway. Let’s just say the boda ride there was not the most pleasant journey but I made it there without being sick again. I actually began to feel a lot better when I got there. Calvary Chapel is on the fourth storey of a building so we had to hike up about 100 stairs to get to it. There were quite a lot of ‘Msungos’ there so we didn’t feel too out of place. The service format included a time of worship, prayers, announcements, the sermon and then a closing song which is pretty similar to my church at home. We sang one song in Luganda which was pretty strange but nice at the same time. I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I had of understood what I was singing.
After the service, we headed for lunch with Kate, HM and two little Ugandan boys that the church sponsors. One was called Patrick; he was the cute, shy one who told me that he wants to make me a necklace. The other one was called Sam. He is the funny cheeky chap sort and he really made me laugh. He wanted Kate to take a photo of him so when she got her camera out; he lifted her mobile phone and started posing with it. We went to a local restaurant for lunch where out of their entire menu, all they had was goat and rice so that is what was ordered. They mixed some Irish (that’s what they call boiled potatoes) in too. The Irish and rice were fine but the goat was so fatty and chewy. It was definitely not as good as my mum’s Sunday roast.
This week I also emailed the charity Abaana regarding doing some work with the street kids in the homes whilst I’m here. They contacted me and are keen for me to get involved so hopefully once all the paperwork goes through I will be able to visit the homes. I am really excited and looking forward to it.
Professional Development
Yet another class was cancelled on Wednesday morning which we didn’t realise until we arrived there. The lecturer had to attend a funeral so there was a valid reason this time, but I only wish that I had known before making my way to university as the early start of class at 8am is never a highlight in my eyes.
Thursday morning class at 9am was the first full class that I have had since I got here. Gillian, the lecturer was on-time and the class involved defining evaluation and looking at internal and external evaluation. At the end of the class we were set an assignment for the following day of writing a page on our experiences of positive and negative evaluation. This would not have been very difficult but as the international students we got the additional task of preparing at fifteen/twenty minute presentation on portfolios. The Ugandans do not use portfolios so the lecturer was keen for us to introduce them to them. We also had to do a piece of writing on what we usually do on teaching practice back at home.
After class, we sorted out a few difficulties with our timetable and then headed back to begin our mountain of work. The only one which took a long period of time was the presentation. Rachel and I worked together on this for several hours, trying to decide the best way of explaining them and what all needed to be included. After the coldest shower ever on Friday morning to wake me up, we made our way to university for our presentation. It went well and the class seemed interested in the idea of a portfolio. The rest of the class was about types of evaluation, mainly formative and summative. It makes me laugh as an entire lesson here is something that we would cover in 10 minutes in Stran. At least I am getting to look at the topic in depth.
At the minute, I have still not started in my school. I have asked the people in charge at the university about starting my placement several times and they keep telling me that they will speak to someone else and get it sorted so hopefully I can begin soon. I am keen to get started and experience the Ugandan classrooms. I think that this will really benefit my experience at the university also as a lot of my studies are related to the classroom, just like our classes at home, but because I haven’t been in one yet it is sometimes hard to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment