Week 79 (20 – 26 Jan 2008)
We visited Zana Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning. The preacher was from the US and we felt that his message could have been more culturally sensitive and encouraging. It’s sad when such opportunities are missed. I spent the afternoon re-packing our cases, something we seem to have been doing a lot recently. It was a little easier as I packed as much of the heavy stuff into an additional bag. As it was Lyn and Elaine’s birthdays we went next door to watch a video and eat popcorn. About 15 minutes into the film (“Two Weeks Notice”) the power went off! The alternative was to watch a DVD on a laptop. As this was being sorted, the power came on again so all was well in the end. James’ Mum phone later in the evening – it’s always good to get news from home – and compare the weather!
Our 5am start on Monday was as painful as usual, but we managed to arrive at Entebbe airport before 7am. The Eagle Air checkout didn’t open until around 7.30am and the plane was due to leave at 8am. As it’s a small plane, we were only a few minutes late. We stopped at PAKUBA. This brought back memories of our first flight to Arua when Richard noticed that one of our cases was missing and I found it in a Land Rover that was just about to leave the airstrip with an American group! No luggage was taken off this time – although two passengers disembarked. Cathy and family gave us a warm welcome at Arua and after checking that our car started, she and Andrea had a cup of tea (cold water for me). Its much hotter here than in Kampala! After some shopping, we eventually got to Ushindi at 12.30pm and received another warm welcome. Mary had arrived and spent a few hours cleaning the 6 weeks of dust away. As we have ceilings, there wasn’t any more that we would expect after so long.
We continued our unpacking and sorting on Tuesday, reading our post and trying to cool down. It was good not to have to rush and do a little at a time.
On Wednesday we started doing some more serious work and printing from the laptops. But we managed not to do too much and also continued with the sorting. Mary’s cooking has continued to be a problem. It’s so good I eat too much so can’t to anything for an hour or two afterwards!
We have few repairs to do. Or should that be “I”. So on Thursday morning I attempted to replace the lid handles of two saucepans– the round bits that stop you burning your fingers when you take the lid off. The plastic (thermoset rather than thermoplastic) had cracked before we left so I had taken one back to the UK to find replacements. The best I could find were wooden door knobs. So I thought it would be a simple job to screw these onto the remaining projection on the saucepan lid. Nothing is that simple. There was a metal attachment on the old lids which could be put into the wooden replacements THEN they could be screwed on. But first the remaining plastic had to be removed. First one was surprisingly easily done with a hammer and screwdriver. But when I hit the second one, it objected and disappeared. I knew which direction it went but spent about 30 minutes sweeping the grass area outside our back door. I’m sure you can imagine what it’s like trying to find a small round black object in the grass. There are goats and sheep around here too so I had several false alarms! Just as I was about to give up I walked towards our neighbours house and found the offending item outside his back door. It must have travelled 3 meters (about 10 feet) and I didn’t hit it very hard either. I did later though because I was getting very hot and bothered by this stage. The rest of the process was straightforward and so far all our lids are function. Morale – if anything breaks, get someone else to fix it!
After lunch we went to meet the Cassels who are with AIM and arrived in Arua yesterday. They have two children with them – the older two are back in Canada. So we split up and went shopping. Shopping definitely has a gender split. John and I visited the hardware shops while Chrys and Andrea went to the market and supermarket. They have a large house in Arua but has no furniture - yet. They do have taps and water and electricity though. They are staying in a nearby guesthouse for a few nights. Their reactions to so many strange things all at once and wondering how on earth it is possible to sort everything out reminded us of how we felt just 18 months ago.
On Friday, I managed to actually start some lesson preparation. But only just. As I don’t find the syllabus either interesting or relevant and it’s hard to teach with no resources, lesson preparation is something I find easy to avoid. But I also know what happens when term starts and advance preparation will pay off in the end. We visited our friends, the Laceys, at Kuluva in the afternoon to share coffee, cold drinks (they have a fridge that works) and biscuits. They now have a clearer idea of their work here so it was good to catch up – and to hear about Christmas events here. We watched a very long DVD (“Snow Queen”) on the DVD player – it’s fine even though the screen is smaller than the laptop and it does run directly from the 12v battery so we should be able to keep it charged easily.
We stayed in on Saturday reading and preparing again. I even managed to do a little painting in the afternoon. And, yes, we did watch another short DVD in the evening. We find series like Star Trek, Hustle, West Wing and most recently, CSI are good as the episodes a less than an hour and we can do other things in the evening too.
So after our first week back everything seems to be very familiar – almost like a second or third home. We seem to adjust to being wherever we are – at least most of the time. It’s not helpful to wish you were somewhere else, but we do miss the opportunities to see family and friends we’ve known for many years.
Our 5am start on Monday was as painful as usual, but we managed to arrive at Entebbe airport before 7am. The Eagle Air checkout didn’t open until around 7.30am and the plane was due to leave at 8am. As it’s a small plane, we were only a few minutes late. We stopped at PAKUBA. This brought back memories of our first flight to Arua when Richard noticed that one of our cases was missing and I found it in a Land Rover that was just about to leave the airstrip with an American group! No luggage was taken off this time – although two passengers disembarked. Cathy and family gave us a warm welcome at Arua and after checking that our car started, she and Andrea had a cup of tea (cold water for me). Its much hotter here than in Kampala! After some shopping, we eventually got to Ushindi at 12.30pm and received another warm welcome. Mary had arrived and spent a few hours cleaning the 6 weeks of dust away. As we have ceilings, there wasn’t any more that we would expect after so long.
We continued our unpacking and sorting on Tuesday, reading our post and trying to cool down. It was good not to have to rush and do a little at a time.
On Wednesday we started doing some more serious work and printing from the laptops. But we managed not to do too much and also continued with the sorting. Mary’s cooking has continued to be a problem. It’s so good I eat too much so can’t to anything for an hour or two afterwards!
We have few repairs to do. Or should that be “I”. So on Thursday morning I attempted to replace the lid handles of two saucepans– the round bits that stop you burning your fingers when you take the lid off. The plastic (thermoset rather than thermoplastic) had cracked before we left so I had taken one back to the UK to find replacements. The best I could find were wooden door knobs. So I thought it would be a simple job to screw these onto the remaining projection on the saucepan lid. Nothing is that simple. There was a metal attachment on the old lids which could be put into the wooden replacements THEN they could be screwed on. But first the remaining plastic had to be removed. First one was surprisingly easily done with a hammer and screwdriver. But when I hit the second one, it objected and disappeared. I knew which direction it went but spent about 30 minutes sweeping the grass area outside our back door. I’m sure you can imagine what it’s like trying to find a small round black object in the grass. There are goats and sheep around here too so I had several false alarms! Just as I was about to give up I walked towards our neighbours house and found the offending item outside his back door. It must have travelled 3 meters (about 10 feet) and I didn’t hit it very hard either. I did later though because I was getting very hot and bothered by this stage. The rest of the process was straightforward and so far all our lids are function. Morale – if anything breaks, get someone else to fix it!
After lunch we went to meet the Cassels who are with AIM and arrived in Arua yesterday. They have two children with them – the older two are back in Canada. So we split up and went shopping. Shopping definitely has a gender split. John and I visited the hardware shops while Chrys and Andrea went to the market and supermarket. They have a large house in Arua but has no furniture - yet. They do have taps and water and electricity though. They are staying in a nearby guesthouse for a few nights. Their reactions to so many strange things all at once and wondering how on earth it is possible to sort everything out reminded us of how we felt just 18 months ago.
On Friday, I managed to actually start some lesson preparation. But only just. As I don’t find the syllabus either interesting or relevant and it’s hard to teach with no resources, lesson preparation is something I find easy to avoid. But I also know what happens when term starts and advance preparation will pay off in the end. We visited our friends, the Laceys, at Kuluva in the afternoon to share coffee, cold drinks (they have a fridge that works) and biscuits. They now have a clearer idea of their work here so it was good to catch up – and to hear about Christmas events here. We watched a very long DVD (“Snow Queen”) on the DVD player – it’s fine even though the screen is smaller than the laptop and it does run directly from the 12v battery so we should be able to keep it charged easily.
We stayed in on Saturday reading and preparing again. I even managed to do a little painting in the afternoon. And, yes, we did watch another short DVD in the evening. We find series like Star Trek, Hustle, West Wing and most recently, CSI are good as the episodes a less than an hour and we can do other things in the evening too.
So after our first week back everything seems to be very familiar – almost like a second or third home. We seem to adjust to being wherever we are – at least most of the time. It’s not helpful to wish you were somewhere else, but we do miss the opportunities to see family and friends we’ve known for many years.
posted by J & A McAdam at 4:33 PM
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