Week 32 (25 Feb – 3 Mar 2007)
For a change we visited St Philips church in town on Sunday then went to Heritage Gardens for lunch. The Asiki family were there too so we joined them for a special Sunday lunch. Chicken and chips with a cold soda (fizzy drink). Worth the enormous expense to be able to sit outside in civilised surroundings – a whole Ugs10000 (~£3) for BOTH of us, not each! I think we might be eating there again sometime. After lunch we went to Daguna – the German mission compound where they have Sunday tea which is open to all mission partners. The German cakes were excellent and we were able to catch up with some friends again. Sometimes it’s a hard life here, but we just have to bear these trials!!!!
Another visit to town on Monday morning for supplies followed by a visit to Andrew who works for SIL (Wycliffe) and is the British Consulate spokesperson for the area. He’s an ‘expert’ on many things, particularly technical and solar power systems so I checked out some things with him before making further ‘final’ decisions about how to upgrade our system, especially for the laptops. It’s more complicated that I had thought, especially the Physics bits but I’m getting there. We had been invited to the Asikis again for lunch (which was excellent as usual) in return for playing games with their children for the afternoon. Andrea also gave a further knitting lesson.
I’ve forgotten to put into the blog an account of something that has happened every day since our return to Arua. Partly because I was trying to find a different way of doing the blog and making it shorter for those with little time or concentration, such as busy students at Manchester Uni! (I didn’t want to mention you by name Hannah.) At dawn (around 7am) we hear drumming. It comes from different places around the site and beyond every day and is a very fast beating with no distinctive rhythm. It sounds like several people hitting empty plastic jerry cans as fast as they can and taking turns, hence the different speeds and tones. We discovered that that’s exactly what it is! Some boys from the villages try to simulate the rain falling on the ground to encourage the black ants to think “Oh! it’s raining, I’d better investigate!”. When the first few come to the surface the boys sprinkle a few drops of water on the ground so that the ants believe “It really is raining. We’d better tell the others.” Which they do, although I’m not sure if they use Lugbara or an ant dialect, and they all troop to the surface only to be gathered by the boys. We understand that the ants are a local delicacy, presumably after they are cooked, so the boys can either eat them or sell them. Noisy for us but enterprising for them although we think that the nutritional value is probably much less than the energy expended in getting them. We have eaten ants – but the white flying ants found in Nebbi. Not as tasty as the fried mealworms! Better go now as it’s nearly lunchtime! Don’t forget to look more closely at what’s on your plate – you never know!!!
At last, a quiet day on Wednesday – until the Director of Studies called us to the staff room to discuss the revisions to the timetable and meet the new Maths/Physics teacher. He has been teaching for a few years so is familiar with both syllabuses. We are fortunate to get him although it will take us a while to get used to calling him Lucky, even if it is his name! It does mean that our timetables are reduced again – but may be increased if we’re asked to help with the English.
Andrea celebrated her 50th birthday on Thursday with a trip to town and lunch with an American family (Waffler’s) who made a cake and sang happy birthday even though it’s only the second time we’ve met them! Andrea had given their two boys another Maths lesson while I helped their 4 year old to read her books! She is teaching herself to read so I didn’t have to do too much! We checked the e-mails and later watched a double episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” one of over 30 programmes Laura posted to us!
Back in town again on Friday for some shopping but also a further lunch (with the Vandermeers again) followed by another knitting lesson – six children and two adults. I worked on the laptop for a while rather than knitting!
The highlight of Saturday was the celebration of Andrea’s birthday on the school site. A relaxed and informal affair with started only 45min late as Lillian, Andrea’s Lugbara teacher and her family hadn’t arrived. They live three doors down. We had a good time eating cake and popcorn and playing silly party games. The games were a great success, especially with the adults as most ‘celebrations’ usually involve many long speeches and big meals that take all day to prepare. ‘Fun’ doesn’t feature much but it was great to see fellow teacher laughing and playing with their children and colleagues. We think it broke down barriers with some neighbours we haven’t been able to get to know yet. It would be worth repeating but might be more difficult with 150 students on site too!
To our regular readers (or reader?) the management apologise for the delay in posting this blog. The site has been updated and I've had a little difficulty in accessing it until now, with thanks to Keith. The next week will also be delayed, not due to any techinical difficulties but because I haven't written it yet. It was the first week of term too. And it's still hot.
Another visit to town on Monday morning for supplies followed by a visit to Andrew who works for SIL (Wycliffe) and is the British Consulate spokesperson for the area. He’s an ‘expert’ on many things, particularly technical and solar power systems so I checked out some things with him before making further ‘final’ decisions about how to upgrade our system, especially for the laptops. It’s more complicated that I had thought, especially the Physics bits but I’m getting there. We had been invited to the Asikis again for lunch (which was excellent as usual) in return for playing games with their children for the afternoon. Andrea also gave a further knitting lesson.
I’ve forgotten to put into the blog an account of something that has happened every day since our return to Arua. Partly because I was trying to find a different way of doing the blog and making it shorter for those with little time or concentration, such as busy students at Manchester Uni! (I didn’t want to mention you by name Hannah.) At dawn (around 7am) we hear drumming. It comes from different places around the site and beyond every day and is a very fast beating with no distinctive rhythm. It sounds like several people hitting empty plastic jerry cans as fast as they can and taking turns, hence the different speeds and tones. We discovered that that’s exactly what it is! Some boys from the villages try to simulate the rain falling on the ground to encourage the black ants to think “Oh! it’s raining, I’d better investigate!”. When the first few come to the surface the boys sprinkle a few drops of water on the ground so that the ants believe “It really is raining. We’d better tell the others.” Which they do, although I’m not sure if they use Lugbara or an ant dialect, and they all troop to the surface only to be gathered by the boys. We understand that the ants are a local delicacy, presumably after they are cooked, so the boys can either eat them or sell them. Noisy for us but enterprising for them although we think that the nutritional value is probably much less than the energy expended in getting them. We have eaten ants – but the white flying ants found in Nebbi. Not as tasty as the fried mealworms! Better go now as it’s nearly lunchtime! Don’t forget to look more closely at what’s on your plate – you never know!!!
At last, a quiet day on Wednesday – until the Director of Studies called us to the staff room to discuss the revisions to the timetable and meet the new Maths/Physics teacher. He has been teaching for a few years so is familiar with both syllabuses. We are fortunate to get him although it will take us a while to get used to calling him Lucky, even if it is his name! It does mean that our timetables are reduced again – but may be increased if we’re asked to help with the English.
Andrea celebrated her 50th birthday on Thursday with a trip to town and lunch with an American family (Waffler’s) who made a cake and sang happy birthday even though it’s only the second time we’ve met them! Andrea had given their two boys another Maths lesson while I helped their 4 year old to read her books! She is teaching herself to read so I didn’t have to do too much! We checked the e-mails and later watched a double episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” one of over 30 programmes Laura posted to us!
Back in town again on Friday for some shopping but also a further lunch (with the Vandermeers again) followed by another knitting lesson – six children and two adults. I worked on the laptop for a while rather than knitting!
The highlight of Saturday was the celebration of Andrea’s birthday on the school site. A relaxed and informal affair with started only 45min late as Lillian, Andrea’s Lugbara teacher and her family hadn’t arrived. They live three doors down. We had a good time eating cake and popcorn and playing silly party games. The games were a great success, especially with the adults as most ‘celebrations’ usually involve many long speeches and big meals that take all day to prepare. ‘Fun’ doesn’t feature much but it was great to see fellow teacher laughing and playing with their children and colleagues. We think it broke down barriers with some neighbours we haven’t been able to get to know yet. It would be worth repeating but might be more difficult with 150 students on site too!
To our regular readers (or reader?) the management apologise for the delay in posting this blog. The site has been updated and I've had a little difficulty in accessing it until now, with thanks to Keith. The next week will also be delayed, not due to any techinical difficulties but because I haven't written it yet. It was the first week of term too. And it's still hot.
posted by J & A McAdam at 5:50 AM
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