Oboe Chili

I’m afraid that I’m writing another blog post too soon and no one will care, but a lot has changed in the last few days. Plus, we’ve had lots of time to just hang around this weekend (something I’m not very good at, as my roommates will attest to) and I don’t think that will be the case once we start teaching, so I might as well use this time.

So, when I last left off, we were preparing for the worst– a 6 hour car ride in a cramped, hot car along pothole-covered dirt roads. It took 5 hours, it was cool thanks to the lack of a speed limit in Uganda (the wind was deafening and prevented me from noticing that my arm out the window was being burnt by the sun, but it was still a blessing), and the roads were fairly smooth until near Kasese. Not to mention that it was the most awesome thing that I’ve ever experienced. This country is gorgeous, and I got to see many towns, people, homes, and businesses, so I could see commonalities and variations in Ugandan life.

tea plantations- not super common but common enough for this area

scenery

a pretty typical middle class house

there were a whole bunch of baboons crossing the road!

a typical mosque

We were happy to settle in, meet the neighbors and Doreen, who lives with us, and choose our rooms (Cassie and I are doubling up, woop woop). Doreen is an absolute sweetheart and I’m so thankful we have her to take us to the market (and haggle prices), show us how to cook Ugandan dishes, and teach us words in Lhukonzo (“Lu” denotes a language; Luganda is the language spoken by the general Baganda population, and Lhukonzo is the sub-language spoken by the sub-group of Baganda called the Konzo or the Konjo, who live in the Rwenzori Mountains area).

But I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we were still shell-shocked, shy, and confused during our first day in Kasese. My prediction was wrong– many people were dressed formally and most people stared at us without greeting or smile, just like in Kampala. They did not seem used to bazungu, despite 8 groups of Wisconsin-Madison student teachers having been here before us. The market, and town overall, was overwhelming. The neigbors were friendly, but our conversations were awkward and we couldn’t think of how to join their late-night hang-out in the yard. I went to bed feeling dejected and intimated by the thought that we will be spending 2 more months here.

But Saturday was a new day. We met some more neighbors during breakfast (who just walk in the house, because they’re related to the former owner and Doreen), who were cheery (“you are welcome here!”). Doreen and I spent probably an hour cleaning a corner of the living room that was a disheveled hodgepodge of things left by former groups– magazines, cords for unknown electronics, a letter from a student in P4 to “Too Tall in Canada” (anyone know him?), Harry Potter, and Fifty Shades Freed (the running joke is that we’ll have an evening read-aloud of it)– covered with thick dust blown in by the red dirt roads. Well, I did most the cleaning, but we laughed and talked and it was comforting to know that we’d have at least one friend here. She taught us how to say good evening (it sounds like “mAY sibire”), so we practiced it when we got to town, and people smiled and returned the greeting! It’s amazing what your attitude can do. You act friendly, unaffected by stares or jeers, willing to make fun of yourself, and interested in people and–imagine that– people smile back.

So the last two days have been great. Kids wave, chant “Ba-zun-gu! Ba-zun-gu!” like they’re cheering us on in a competition, practice their English greeting of “ow-are-ou?” and adults smile and wish us a good day. We’ve learned a few more Lhukonzo words, like the village we live in (kawa-ewa?), and good morning (obachilre? Some of us are still struggling and it ends up sounding like oboe chili, and kids giggle at our attempts).

I love life here so far. I love how the days pass slowly, but with ease, so it feels that you’ve really had a full day. I love that ordinary life is carried out against the backdrop of an incredible mountain range. Sometimes, when I’ve been sitting inside for a while, I forget that they’re there until I walk outside again and am shocked all over again. I love that it gets so hot during the day that I have to rinse myself off in the cold shower, leaving my hair wet and curly until the next shower, but it’s so cool and breezy in the evenings and mornings. I love that the meals are simple, from ingredients grown here, bought from familiar faces at the market, yet leave you so full. I love the joy we get from sharing super sweet mangoes, papayas, bananas, and pineapples on the porch or at the table. I love all the smells outside, although the faint smell of animals is a little gross. It reminds me of my time on farms in France; animal smells are universal. So are lauging, smiling, and waving, which I love. I love that this house gives us everything we need but nothing more. I love sleeping underneath the mosquito net– I feel like I’m camping. I love the resident chicks’ constant chirping, and I even love that El Diablo, the incredibly annoying rooster, wakes us up at sunrise and compells us to get out of bed (sidenote: roosters don’t stop at yawn, they keep at it through the afternoon).

This morning, I felt so well-rested and alive that I decided we would go on a walk at 7 AM (hahaha everyone hated me). I didn’t feel it was necessary to share that my intention was to climb one of the smaller mountains, although I regreted that later because Alex wore the wrong shoes for serious walking. Anyways, we went up through the winding dirt roads, a beautiful shade of red, and greeted people along the way. The ascent was gradual, and the houses became simpler and more dispersed as we got further and further from town. We eventually were on a narrow dirt path through grasses and bushes at the foot of the mountains (not the real deal; offshoots of the Rwenzori) but we just didn’t see a good way to tackle the steep slopes, so we turned back. But it ended up being a good 2 hour walk. So we’ve spent the rest of the day lazing around– reading, eating, talking, planning our future weekends. I’ve struggled to be content with just resting in the house during the heat of midday, because I’m just so excited to be here, in a completely foreign and beautiful place. I have an incessant urge to explore and I’m ridiculously energetic.

We’re heading to the school at 7:30 tomorrow morning, and will spend the next few days observing classes so that we can choose where we want to teach. I’m thrilled that we are making this decision, since we’ve had much less say in our teaching program thus far. I’m sure it will be a difficult one to make, though. And the prospect of handling a class and planning curriculum still scares me. But I’m glad that I have this transition time to get used to life here, observe the school, and think about what’s important to me in my teaching.

I think I’ll save the next update until at least Friday, when I’ll have chosen my class. Thanks for reading!

Our bathroom. The shower head is on the wall so you just shower straight up in the bathroom. I like it because it forces you to have only one free hand, so you have to turn it off to scrub yourself, thereby using less water. Also you don't have to worry about slipping out of the tub, haha. The only difficult part is getting it to drain in the corner so you're not standing in water.

look at this dude!

this is a SMALL avacado

Our advanced security system includes broken glass bottles on the walls to deter all those wall-jumpers.