In the Jungle

Thursday July 5, 2007

A wee mo-way, A wee mo-way, A wee mo-way, A wee mo-way

In Uganda, Peaceful Uganda, the Acholi sleep tonight,

In the Gulu, the quiet Gulu, the Munu sleep tonight…

Alright, so my song writing capabilities are not very good, but there is a good reason why I’ve included this song in my blog.

On Tuesday afternoon Sheargold and I had finished teaching, but we had stayed after to do some other things. Actually, it seems as though I am always staying after. Most of the other American teachers are gone either before the end of the school day (if their classes are early) or they leave right at 4:15pm, but not Sheargold and I…lately we’ve been leaving around 6pm. Anyway, we were at school helping to tutor some of the physics students. I was helping some of them to create a graph and to find the slope of the line of best fit (woo hoo!). There were other activities going on around the school yard…native dancing, choir, some mentoring classes, other tutoring, and there are about 50 boys who are boarding students who live there. So needless to say, there were plenty of things going on. Next thing I know, I am explaining ∆y/∆x, and I start to hear… “A wee mo-way, A wee mo-way…etc.” I am not even joking. The school choir was singing In the Jungle, and they just kept on singing as if it was a great masterpiece of a song to be singing. Of course they were singing the real version and not my version. I definitely started to laugh at the absurdity of it all, but I had to keep myself composed in front of the students. I think I was the only one within ear shot who thought it was funny. Really, does it get any better than a group of African students singing In the Jungle, while honestly they were not too far from the jungle, and they are singing it quite seriously as well.

Well, yesterday was the 4^th of July, and even though we’re miles away (aka- half a world), there were definitely enough Americans around to celebrate with. Actually all of the American members of the IC staff, and then us as volunteers had a big BBQ (maybe 40 people). Unfortunately the only fireworks display consisted of two people lighting two sparklers, and then dancing around the yard. Earlier in the night I set off the only rocket we saw on the 4^th…but sorry to disappoint, it was an Alka-seltzer Rocket! I thought it was only fitting, and I was practicing to see how Acholi Alka-seltzer worked (only powder, not tablets).

Life in Gulu is getting easier every day. Although the days that we have water (which means we can use the flush toilets-no stinky latrine) are easiest. I have officially gotten use to life here b/c I was trying to remember when my last shower was, and I can’t remember…all I know is that it was more than 3 days ago and less than 6. Which may not seem that bad, but if you really knew me, you’d know that going w/out a shower is a big deal. (and yes family, my showers are extremely short. The water is probably on for less than 2 minutes.) Also, you know you are use to African life when you get out of the shower and you are ready to put bug spray on right away, which then makes you feel clean! Oh, and it’s not a big deal when your jean skirt then sticks to your legs b/c they have bug spray on them… only to realize a few hours later that you have tiny jean fuzzies stuck to your legs! T.I.A!

I have not been sick at all yet (knock on wood), and I just realized that I am officially half-way through my trip. I have another two full weeks in Gulu, and then on to the Safari and Whitewater Rafting (woo hoo!!). Then home to America. At times I am really looking forward to coming home (and ice cream; yes Becky there’s no ice cream in Gulu), and other times I feel like I just got here, and I don’t want to leave. I haven’t really been homesick yet, which may not surprise some of you. I’m not ready to think about leaving. There are too many responsibilities which await me once I return home. So I will just continue to ignore them and keep on in this ‘Acholi-State-of-Mind.’ (well, for 20 more days)