In Kampala so I thought I'd check in and let you know whats going on here. Last week I was at a language training for most of the week for the new language I am learning. We were tested yesterday on our proficiency so we'll see in a few days how fluent I really am when the results come back. Also met with the Daily Monitor last week and have posted an update on the school's blog (see previous post) about those developments.
Things are going extremely well here all in all. Miss you all as always, but still loving my life in Africa. Thank you (x 10) for the care packages. I received two in the last couple weeks. Thank you Bruce and Dolores and family for the box of snacks and the previous package of magazines. You should be receiving a letter soon, so check your box. The snacks were delicious, i definitely indulged myself for a good week on them. Also, mr thomas hetman. That was completely unexpected and awesome. I'm now on a steady diet of ranch sunflower seeds, beef jerky and time magazines. Hope you're having fun out west, be safe, keep an eye on jeege.
I'm drawing a blank on comedic relief for this post. As always, life here is consistently entertaining. My luganglish is steadily improving as I add more and more crazy ways the Ugandans use english words. A few examples:
"eh" - this not so much a word, more of a sound thats got about as many different uses as any four letter word. My favorite use is the amazed "eh". Example: watching the tour de france at our hotel at language training and the announcer says "they've got 15km's to go", "eh" "15km's on a bicycle" "eh"
"extend" - this ones has countless appropriate situations. the most useful is in the minibuses where 4 people are packed on to one bench on seats and the conductor tells them to "extend" so they can fit one more person in (btw, a bench is about the size of the backseat of a sedan)
"sorrry" - keeping with their exceptionally courteous nature, Ugandans will say "sorrry" for just about anything. ie: slipping on one of the dirt roads and almost falling, running into someone walking towards you as you try to figure out which side to pass them on, dropping a piece of food while your eating, or falling on your bum into a ditch on the side of the road (won't mention any names here)
"assist" - instead of the american "can i use your pen" this word gets plugged in some backwards way and it becomes "please assist me with your pen"
the list goes on...i'll add some more as i collect them.
Thats all for now, check the school blog for the newspaper updates. Love you all, thanks again for your packages and thoughts.
Love and miss you,
Eric
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Happy errr...6th of July
Would you believe me if i said due to the crazy time difference and the slow internet cafe's here that i'm actually posting this on the 4th? probably not, but we'll go with it. Hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the holiday. We tried to be as Americana as possible here.
Friday Kel and I hung around Mbarara waiting for two fellow volunteers to arrive, but per usual Ugandan fashion they were held up leaving Kampala on public transport and didn't get in till late. After they got in we headed out to Kel's house and tried a campfire but didn't have any firewood and African tree roots don't tend to burn very well, then resorted to a small charcoal stove to cook our burgers, which took about an hour. Writing this now it seems like a boring night but we all had a great time trying our best to authenticate the holiday.
Saturday we indulged and headed to a local mzungu resort in Mbarara. Spent the day hanging out at the pool with beers and good bar food. After lunch we picked up a few things in town and headed back out to Kel's. Had bean taco's and played catch phrase before heading to bed. This lasted for just over 4 hours. And now...the true reason for this post.
African red ants....
Around 3am I awoke to the frightened shrills of three girls. Two of our fellow volunteers were sleeping on a makeshift bed in the living room made with kel's couch cushions. One was awakened by the sounds of critters above the papyrus ceiling (bats, lizards, rats, etc - a normal thing at night in this house). When she woke up she kept feeling strange pinches all over herr body and couldn't quite figure out the cause. Once we got the flashlights out we realized what we were dealing with. The house had been invaded by hundreds of fire ants. They were covering the cushions in the living room, couches, floor, walls and generally everywhere else in the house. It would be one thing if they were just plain old american black ants, but these suckers came with a bite. Anywhere you stood they came crawling up your legs and began biting. I think we were all wishing to be able to just jump into a bathtub of water to escape them. We tried going into the backyard to get away but the yard was even more populated with them. Armed with cans of insecticide and anything else that could kill we combed the rooms killing a many as we could. Kel's room seemed to be the only safe place so we all hunkered down in there and stuffed the cracks around the door and tried to forget about what was outside the room. Alas a few hours of sleep came with the (rare) dry season rain. This morning we began the cleanup sweeping dead ants up like dirt from 3 of the rooms in the house. We haven't figured out exactly why they chose last night to strike us. I've seen these ants before in her backyard but they've never invaded the house like that. This morning we acquired some more ammunition and will spend the day creating an insecticide wall around the foundation of the house and cleaning any trace of food from inside before I head back home for classes tomorrow...as well as washing everything in the kitchen that was doomed in the killing process last night.
TIA
love and miss you all,
eric
Friday Kel and I hung around Mbarara waiting for two fellow volunteers to arrive, but per usual Ugandan fashion they were held up leaving Kampala on public transport and didn't get in till late. After they got in we headed out to Kel's house and tried a campfire but didn't have any firewood and African tree roots don't tend to burn very well, then resorted to a small charcoal stove to cook our burgers, which took about an hour. Writing this now it seems like a boring night but we all had a great time trying our best to authenticate the holiday.
Saturday we indulged and headed to a local mzungu resort in Mbarara. Spent the day hanging out at the pool with beers and good bar food. After lunch we picked up a few things in town and headed back out to Kel's. Had bean taco's and played catch phrase before heading to bed. This lasted for just over 4 hours. And now...the true reason for this post.
African red ants....
Around 3am I awoke to the frightened shrills of three girls. Two of our fellow volunteers were sleeping on a makeshift bed in the living room made with kel's couch cushions. One was awakened by the sounds of critters above the papyrus ceiling (bats, lizards, rats, etc - a normal thing at night in this house). When she woke up she kept feeling strange pinches all over herr body and couldn't quite figure out the cause. Once we got the flashlights out we realized what we were dealing with. The house had been invaded by hundreds of fire ants. They were covering the cushions in the living room, couches, floor, walls and generally everywhere else in the house. It would be one thing if they were just plain old american black ants, but these suckers came with a bite. Anywhere you stood they came crawling up your legs and began biting. I think we were all wishing to be able to just jump into a bathtub of water to escape them. We tried going into the backyard to get away but the yard was even more populated with them. Armed with cans of insecticide and anything else that could kill we combed the rooms killing a many as we could. Kel's room seemed to be the only safe place so we all hunkered down in there and stuffed the cracks around the door and tried to forget about what was outside the room. Alas a few hours of sleep came with the (rare) dry season rain. This morning we began the cleanup sweeping dead ants up like dirt from 3 of the rooms in the house. We haven't figured out exactly why they chose last night to strike us. I've seen these ants before in her backyard but they've never invaded the house like that. This morning we acquired some more ammunition and will spend the day creating an insecticide wall around the foundation of the house and cleaning any trace of food from inside before I head back home for classes tomorrow...as well as washing everything in the kitchen that was doomed in the killing process last night.
TIA
love and miss you all,
eric
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