Catching Up

The life skills workshop in Gulu was 2 fridays ago friday, i left Kisubi early on a
thursday morning to catch a bus bound for northern Uganda. It was a 5
hour bus ride so i got off the bus in Gulu with enough time to tour
the technical school (Gulu Youth Development Association) where i was
going to teach, talk with some of the students, plan the life skills
session with a staff member there and attend the breakdancing class
taught by one of the Peace Corps Volunteers. I learned how to rest my
body on my elbows and pose my feet up in the air. (Its in the job
description.) I really admire her work there because Ugandan's
love to dance and she had created such a strong cross-cultural
connection that i could see the admiration, pride and confidence they
had in her.

Friday i had the morning free so i sat in on the braiding class. At
first the students were very shy and wouldnt talk with me.
Unfortunately i dont speak more than one greeting in Acholi/Lango (the
northern languages.) I told them i wanted to learn and thankfully one
student understood my english/miming efforts and pointed to a chair.
After 30 minutes of talking and glancing over in my direction they
invited me to try braiding. So one student taught me different ways of
plaiting the weave into the other students hair. They laughed at my
attempts but i was determined to show them SOME skill, i mean years of
braiding my grandma's and cousins hair couldnt be discredited in one
afternoon swoop. So i kept trying and finally some of the laughing
sounds changed to what i considered okay-thats-not-half-bad murmurs.
By the end of the morning i was sweating from the trying to braid
hair, trying to seem like i knew what i was doing, trying to
understand what they were telling me and working under a tin roof. It
was a good morning.

The life skills session went well and i hope they're able to use some of the games and excercises in their lessons. Sometimes i worry that everything i teach goes in one ear and out the other. Though I'm getting better at follow-up and evaluation.

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The Easter holidays were great, i got lots of chances to sit and talk to my neighbors and friends. I helped peel Matooke and the sisters got a kick out of that. They kept bringing people to come and watch me peel these bananas. They would laugh incredulously. Halfway through peeling the enormous pile of bananas, the oldest sister in our community, Sr.Hippolyta, said i was doing a terrible job. She said it in Luganda so i didnt know why everyone had burst out laughing until after they had caught their breaths. I turned bright red and of course, that set off the second round of laughter. =)

I'm playing guitar for the Easter Carols next sunday and i've been really excited to play. We're going to perform "Where You There When They Crucified My Lord?" Today they told me that all the sub-parishes are going to be there and i'm not so excited anymore. ..

I made maranitos for Easter and they came out surprisingly delicious, for the first 15 minutes outside the oven. Then after that they turned, more believable, unedible as they became hard as rock.