I am a sardine!

I am a sardine. (Emma – Faulkner, My mother is a fish.)
We are now 25 in a rather small 6 bedroom house. (two bathrooms and a latrine)
I am now one of six girls in a 12x12 room with two bunk beds, three bunks high. Luckily I’m on the top bunk, which means I get to perch on high and observe the chaos below… and make people hand forgotten things up to me! On Saturday group 1 will head back to the states and we will be 11 lighter in the house. It’s strange to be just coming in as they are preparing to leave. Though it is nice to always have someone to talk to! Phil is another person that is staying with us for now. He is an assistant professor at Boise University and is writing a book on Secondary school in Gulu and his experiences with the Teacher Exchange. He came in 2007 with the very first group of American teachers. When he returned home he arrainged a scholarship to Boise for a Ugandan student named Nancy. He’s been a great person to talk to and has a wicked sense of humor, which we all know I appreciate!

Ok, here’s what different this year. For the first week I was the only year two-er. So I was deemed “know-it-all” and spent most of my time answering questions with “well, last year” Though I have been assured I wasn’t too annoying with it! We are much closer to town so I will be able to visit more often. I actually remembered where things were and haven’t gotten too lost yet. I did lead our group up two wrong streets before finding Kope café the first night. I’ve had a lot of the same food: Matoke, chapatti, posho and some new – a rolex (chapatti with egg rolled up like a burrito) delicious! There is a trivia night at Bambu every Thursday night and I plan on going often! MAC food is gone and there is a new internet café that serves actual brownies and real coffee! There are more Muzungu (white people) than last year. Gulu is growing up. It’s crazy to see the change.

I started school on Monday at Gulu High, it is quite different than Sacred Heart. They are both boarding schools, but Gulu High is home to both boys and girls and much bigger. I met my teacher in the staff room. Her name is Irene and she lives in a teacher’s house just outside of the Gulu High compound. She is married and has two young children (boy and girl) that I hope to meet soon. I walked to her house and saw her garden but they were still at school. She has grown a ton of maize – well, it’s a ton to a suburban girl like me.
Irene is great to work with. We have already planned for the next two weeks and she is very open to sharing teaching responsibilities. She has been involved in the exchange longer than I have. She was one of the original teachers in 2007 and worked with Margot for the last two years. I am excited to get the chance to teach throughout with one teacher this year. We don’t have very many classes, so I am trying to find other ways to be involved at the school, either with another teacher or some after school clubs.

We have been invited to the National Athletics Tournament this Friday - All Star teams in track and field come from all over Uganda to compete in Gulu at Pece Stadium. I’ll take lots of pics – should be a fun day! We also have the Rhino Sanctuary trip this weekend, which should be lots of fun. I can’t wait to hear how our Anaka family is. They are teaching for the first year back at their original site. The school has been displaced for many years and was being taught in buildings made of reeds here in Gulu. They have moved back to the original site and I’m curious to see what the village is like.

We took a tour of the IC offices near Pece Stadium and I saw Charles! (my teacher’s husband from last year – he works as an engineer for IC) I was so happy to see him, he said that Sarah still works at Sacred Heart and is doing well. Their daughters are doing well, but baby Jolene had spent a week in the hospital recently. I am hoping to visit them soon on one of my free days.

Again this week has been crazy busy – but now that we are at the house I have power to charge my computer and time to write – I think I’ll be writing more and posting three entries at a time. Sorry this one was spastic! I love you all - miss you a bit and will talk to you soon!

Jo

Uganda misses you too Jrob!
Liss - sad to be missing wedding stuff! will be there soon!
Em - still working on the Elephant research... will report back soon.