Why oh why

I'm sure you've all been blessed at some point to experience a conversation like the following at some point in your lives:

Honey, it's time to get dressed.
Why?
Because your aunt's coming today.
Why?
Because she wants to see you.
Why?
Because you're her favorite niece
Why?

And, I'm sure at this point, you're beginning to wonder why yourself.  Why do our children ask so many questions?  And how irritating is that phase when their only response to your answers is followed by but why?  You begin to wonder if it's their evil scheme to drive you absolutely crazy or maybe you start looking for hidden cameras to see if someone's punking you.  Honestly, our children are driven to be creative, to think critically about their surroundings and above all, to be curious.

On the other hand, why appears to be lost in Ugandan classrooms.  After digging through past sixth and seventh grade papers, I was completely shocked at what rock stars these kids are at English grammar, especially for being their second language.  Even for me, some the questions seemed vague, and I wasn't quite sure what they were asking for, but they appeared to have breezed through the whole section.  Maybe it's because grammar is a formula and can be easily memorized, which is exactly how it is taught here; however, when you flip the page, you find a whole different story.  Half of their exam is reading comprehension, and sadly, they leave most of the questions blank.  And, it's not just in their English exams.  Even in their social studies and science papers, whenever a question starts with why or what is the importance of, I only find a white space.  Now, this is not to say that Ugandan children aren't curious.  I can feel their curiosity as their jumping up and down outside my window just to get a peek at what I might be doing in my free time; however, it's just not channeled properly.

So, I've made it my mission to get teachers to start asking why.  I want children to start driving their teachers insane by asking why why why.  Ok, not actually, but I do want them to at least be able to answer the question themselves!

For example, let me tell you what I did with my fifth grade class last week.  We made a class story.  I gave a little bit of structure, but they had to fill in the details.

"Once, there was a lion who was named Susan.  Susan lived in Jinja with the a girl named Nahyuha (pronounced Na-shoe-ha).  One day, Susan and Nahyuha were swimming in the Nile River, until suddenly it began to rain.  Susan and Nahyuha started running because they feared getting cold and sick.  They wanted to put on sweaters, but Susan didn't have one.  So, Susan killed a Zebra to wear its fur.  Susan and Nahyuha were hungry from all the running and swimming, so they ate fish, posho and rice while drinking water."

Even though we came up with the story as a class, they told me why Susan and Nahyuha left the river, they couldn't answer our reading comprehension questions.  I'm not even sure they knew that they needed the word because in there somewhere.

So, the next time a child is tugging on your shirt, saying but whhhhhyyyy for the millionth time, just smile and be happy they're on the road to discovery and exploration.

Attention: Incoming Peace Corps Volunteers

Just real quick, I wanted to let any incoming volunteers know that I've updated my packing list to show what I'm happy about bringing, what I wished I would have left at home and what you can find in country.

For the most part, just relax, spend time with your family and eat lots of good food!

If you have any questions, you're welcome to contact me.

High Fidelity: Ugandan Edition

I don't know if any of you have had the pleasure of reading the book or watching the movie High Fidelity.  If you haven't, I would seriously recommend it.  I actually read the book years ago, and I'm not one to reread books, but alas, I did, and I fell in love with it all over again.  I couldn't exactly figure out what I liked about the book anyway.  The main character is pretty pathetic and not exactly the nicest guy in the world.  I finally figured it out though: he' a listomaniac, just like me.  What more could I ask for?!  Throughout the book, Rob incessantly makes "Top Five..." lists, so here's my top fives for all different kinds of things in Uganda and about my life in Peace Corps.  Note: the lists aren't necessarily in order, so number one isn't more special than number five).

Top Five Foods (that I make for myself)
1. Oatmeal with Peanut Butter
2. Popcorn
3. Tuna stir fry
4. Tortillas
5. Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Top Five Things I do at site to feel good
1. Wash clothes
2. Run
3. Mop my floors
4. Yoga
5. Bathe

Top Five Hardest Things about Site
1. Pests (rats, maggots, spiders, cockroaches, mosquitoes, you get the picture.)
2. Loneliness and isolation
3. Lack of direction
4. Chores
5. Guilt

Top Five Moments at Site
1. Teaching fifth graders how to play hangman, and them actually enjoying it.
2. Passing a school recently, and having fourth graders shouting "Madam Chelsea, you come and you teach!"
3. Baking pineapple upside down cakes with my landlady's family.
4. Making friendship bracelets with the neighborhood girls.
5. The first time I realized all the women at the market know me by name.

Top Five Goals for the next few months
1. Visit all of my schools in my catchment area.  There are 12 government schools, and so far I've visited five.
2. Teach library hour to my center school's upper primary classes.
3. Choose three other schools to focus my work on and develop a work schedule around visiting them.
4. Work on developing the resource room at my school.
5. Paint my house.

Top Five Things I'm most grateful for
1. My support network at home.  They're the ones that have to deal with me after all.  That being said, I guess I should be grateful for having good phone service in my house too.
2. My landlady's family and all the love and guidance they've given me.
3. My wonderful PCV neighbors that don't mind hearing me vent about the same thing over and over again.  Plus, enjoy indulging in the same things, like popcorn.
4. The headteacher at my center school being so welcoming and willing to work with me in any way.
5. Easy transport Mbale so I can get my peanut butter and internet fix.

Top Five Words or Phrases I've picked up and can't drop (even when talking to Americans)
1. Trousers - American equivalent of "pants"
2. Chips - American equivalent of "french fries"
3. To pick - American equivalent of "to understand" (ie, "have you picked me?" means "are you getting me?")
4. Sir/Madam - I think you know what this one is.
5. Demands just general are the way to get things done.  Like "You come, and we go" or "You take now."  I may forget what please even means.

Top Five Things I wish I knew
1. Worrying about packing is such a waste of time.
2. You won't walk miles with your luggage, so take the 80 lbs and get over it.
3. Yes, you can find things here.  You're not going to the moon, so bringing two bottles of shampoo is a waste.
4. Men lose weight, women gain weight while in service.  It's a fact.
5. At least in the beginning, the work is slow... very very slow.

Top Five Things I'm happy I brought
1. My kitchen knives 
2. My iPod
3. My running shoes
4. My laptop
5. My travel quick dry towel

Top Five Songs I've been listening to
1. "What's My Name" by Rhianna
2. "Bird Song" by Florence and the Machine
3. "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons
4. "Let Go" by Frou Frou
5. "Animal" by Miike Snow
(alright, maybe my music needs to be updated.  I can just feel Jessica or Grant cringing when they read this list.  Of course, I would very much appreciate any CDs with new music!  Shameless plug, I know). 

Top Five Things I miss from home
1. Family, boyfriend, friends
2. The grocery store
3. The gym
4. Being in control
5. Privacy 

I encourage you to make top five lists for yourself if you've enjoyed mine!  Feel free to post them here.

Myth Busters

Unlike the experts on the TV show "Myth Busters" that always seems to suck me in whenever I find it on, my myth busting isn't exactly as glamerous, and I don't have nearly as many cool gadgets; however, I do feel like I'm making some kind of difference, even if it's only a few people at a time.  Myths seems to prevail here about America, and some of them are so outlandish, it's hard to believe that people accept them as truth.  Other myths could have serious health implications.  On the other hand, I know that there are lots of myths about life in Africa, which I'll have to shed some light on when I come home.  It'll be impossible for me to right the wrong of all the myths here, but I'm doing my best, whether that's through answering questions in the classroom or just having casual conversations with my neighbors.

Below, I've included some of the myths that I've encountered so far.  Just remember, there's no easy access to google here.  So, when someone claims to be an expert on something, people just take it at face value.

• Americans usually marry their brothers and sisters. No, that's illegal in America.
• If a Ugandan moves to America, their skin will turn white.  Skin pigments took 10,000 years to evolve, so it'll be a while before that happens.
• As I was introduced to a school, a colleague asked the pupils to guess which country I must be from because only white people live in America.  We have people of every nationality living in America.
• Americans can only have one child, so if we have more, we either kill them or give them away.  No, there is no limit to the number of children people can have in America.  Most people use family planning to have small, managable families.
• Family planning pills cause horrible side effects that never go away, so people don't use them.  This is still one I need to do some research on, but I'm wondering if medical professionals here don't tell women to expect unpleasant side effects the first three months, therefore they don't continue.
• Immunizations are the government's method to reduce fertility.  From my understanding, that's not true.  Uganda has a very awesome program, in which they offer free child immunizations, but some mothers don't take advantage because they don't trust them.  Sound familiar to the autism fear that is occuring in America?
• Poverty doesn't exist in America.  Not true.  You can see poverty in every major American city, but the face of poverty looks different than here.  Here, the family ties and responsibilities are so strong, if you've hit a rough patch, it's unlikely you would unable to find a relative to take you in for a while; however, in America, you're on your own.
• There is no space for farms in America.  Ever driven through Kansas before?  Lots of space.
• In America, we design a contract with our fiance for exactly how many years we want to be married.  Nope, it's still 'til death do we part.  We just tend to part a lot earlier than that, about 50% of the time.
• Posho (cornmeal bread) will make you stronger.  I honestly think it's all the water I have to fetch that's making me stronger, but we can agree to disagree about this one.

I'm sure there are others I haven't discovered yet, but hopefully I'll be able to find the right answers and the right way to confront them.  I don't think Myth Busters will contact me any time soon, but if they do, I'll let you know when the episode airs.

True Life: I'm a Hoarder

Alright, so maybe I am being just a little dramatic.  I seriously hope I wouldn't qualify for that terrifying show where people are hoarding something like 100 cats in a studio apartment.  Well, I wouldn't qualify yet at least.  It does sound really silly, but I feel like I am saving everything for a "rainy day."  Funny, it rains almost every day.  And yet, I still don't use so many things I've brought, I've bought or I've been sent!  I have clothes that managed to stay in storage all during training and still look so shiny and new.  So, I just say I'm waiting for a day that I really want to look good or for whatever special occasion I think I'll be going to while I'm here.  My family and boyfriend have been amazing about sending me all kinds of special goodies, treats, clothes, magazines, books, etc.  Yes, I do use some of it, but I also have a gigantic bag of protein bars, drink mixes, instant soups and oatmeal that I just can't bring myself to eat.  Only on really terrible days when I'm missing the states do I bust out something that tastes like home.  Otherwise, whenever I think about how good a Luna bar would be, I always think: Who knows the next time I'll get a package!  And yet, I just picked up six last week.  Yes, other volunteers are jealous and sometimes I feel a little guilty about being taken care of so well.  Even guiltier that I don't use so much of it!  I also hoard, although I guess a better would would be conserve, water like you wouldn't believe.  Fetching water isn't exactly my favorite chore in the whole world, although you should what kind of amazing muscles I've developing.  Not really, but hey I do feel a lot stronger than before.  But, fetching water is always such a process, especially if it's really hot or if there's tons of other people waiting for their jerry cans to be filled up too.  So, I use minimal water to bathe.  Only on special days do I treat myself to maybe eight liters instead of my usual four.  I reuse dishwater, laundry water mops my floors, and whenever I hear just a sprinkling of rain of my tin roof, I run out to position my basins just right so I can collect as much rain water as possible.  As for cooking, basically all the volunteers use a gas cooker, which is connected to a gas tank.  Apparently the gas tank would typically last a volunteer one year before they have to refill it, if they using it wisely.  Well, just how wise do you have to be?!  While I do cook for myself of course, I always try to avoid using too much gas.  Until I found a pressure cooker, I was going to give up trying to cook dry beans because it took over an hour to get them soft enough to chew!  And finally, the last thing I feel like I "hoard" is the charge on all my electronics, except my phone.  Because I don't have power, I can only charge my laptop and iPod at a cafe when I make my weekly trip to Mbale where I stock up on all the wonderful things the supermarkets here have to offer.  Obviously, carrying a laptop can only complicate my trips because then I can't carry as much home.  So, I basically don't use any of my electronics anymore.  Again, only when I've had a terrible day, and I need some immediate comfort do I even think about firing up my lap top to watch an episode of TV.

I don't know why I'm telling you all of this.  It probably makes me sound absolutely insane, even more so than usual.  The funny thing is I didn't even realize this ridiculous behavioral pattern until this week.  Honestly, I think I'm saving a number of these things because I'm still waiting for the real volunteer life to begin.  Honey, this is it.  I am a Peace Corps Volunteer.  Have been for over six weeks now.  I need to stop thinking I should save this for when I really need it.  If it's going to make me more comfortable, I need to just use it!

As for conserving water, I really just need to see it as a mini strength training exercise.  And the gas and power, I'll figure it out eventually.  It's not like I can't refill a gas tank or recharge batteries.

Now, the real question is:  Will the behavior actually change?  Stay tuned.