Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Today was our first day of school. I had to get up early to eat breakfast at 7:30 this morning and leave for school at 8. Last night I could not sleep…haven’t slept well since I’ve been here. I always wake up early in the morning, like 4 or so. Anyway, this morning a dumb mosquito was buzzing around my ear…my mosquito net doesn’t fully cover my bed. So, to escape the pesky mosquito I hid under my covers…but I was already sweating. I stayed there for awhile til I could handle it no longer…I ended up getting up around 6:30. We arrived at school late, typical lifestyle here. My first professor, named Peter, taught our African religion and culture class. He was really nice but the whole time was lecture…3 hours of lecture filled with lots of confusing names, places, and trying to follow his accent was quite tiring…towards the end I couldn’t keep up. At 11:00 or so, we went to find lunch. After walking around for awhile, we went to the Shell where they have ice cream and lunch stuff. I had a thick tortilla thing…called a chapati or something like that, very goo!. Then we had to return to school for our next class, African Literature, with Professor Susan. I enjoyed discussion…but, again, zoned out towards the end. We had class til 3:30…2 ½ hours long. After class we went exploring in Kampala city…the center of town. Wes, Danielle, Mindy, Jenny, and I walked together throughout town…it was sooo busy! It had rained earlier today so we were walking in mushy gush…ya know, mud, trash, and probably some other little surprises if you know what I mean. Oh, this was interesting…on our way to market we passed this 9 year old boy preaching the gospel on the sidewalk. He had a lot of umph behind his speech….shouting words, using expressive actions and everything. He was very short as you could imagine and had to stand on the top curve of the sidewalk so people could see him. We were lost for awhile…trying to find the indoor market.
Finally we found it, but I didn’t like it at all. It was very crowded and the men were ridiculous…as we passed by they would touch our arms or grab our wrists and say, “Muzungo-that’s what they call white people-you have beautiful eyes….hello, my love….oh hey, how are you…” etc. I was so uncomfortable…tight spaces and upfront men. In the culture here, it is natural to touch or stroke a person’s arm, especially a muzungo’s arm. And I understand that, but in our culture that is not normal and, in my mind, kind of disrespectful. I guess it’s a matter of adapting to different cultures. The men may obviously say some, what I would consider, inappropriate comments…but I just give them the cold shoulder. It was just an interesting experience is all.
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