Holla From Kampala: The Beauty of a Rolex

I’m not talking about the high quality, luxury watches because I am going to assume everyone knows those are beautiful. I am, of course, talking about food. Street vendors sell something called a Rolex, which is a fried up egg with onions, tomatoes and peppers rolled up in a chapati. As my sister would say, “It is life changing.” I heard about the Rolex, so I am not sure why it took me over a month to finally try one. I’m probably going to eat one a day for the next two years because it is fried, greasy and delicious – I don’t need anything more.

On Friday we had a celebration for the 50^th Anniversary of Peace Corps, which was a great break from our training sessions. It was also great to meet all of the current Peace Corps volunteers in Uganda. During the day, we went to St. Javira Primary School for a service day. We had several stations: sports, life skills, planting a garden, mural painting, painting the dorms, building a rocket stove and repairing the water system. I was assigned to help with Life Skills, so I got to work with kids of all different age groups. Our first group was P6 and P7 students, so they were about 11-13 years old. First we played the “Best Response Game,” which was aimed at trying to teach kids skills to deal with peer pressure and sex. I worked with the P6 students, and at first I felt extremely awkward playing this game with them because they seemed really young. I was also a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to play the game with a straight face (yup, I’m really mature!). Thankfully, I was able to act my age and the kids had a lot of fun with the game. We divided them up into four teams of ten and we gave them phrases like “Everybody’s doing it”, “If you don’t sleep with me, then I’m going to leave you” and “Girls need to have sex because boys give them vitamins that help their boobs grow.” The object of the game was for them to come up with the best response, and then we chose the winner. It was interesting to see that most of the responses followed along the lines of “No, you might have HIV/AIDS”. I would be curious to see what the responses would be like if the game was played with American students. The students also learned a little more sex education with the game. One of the phrases we gave was, “If girls don’t have sex, then they will get a rash.” 3 of the 4 groups actually thought this was true, so we had to explain that it most certainly was not. The game was a lot of fun, and they started to get really into it and come up with good responses. My favorite to the phrase “boys give you vitamins” was, “My boobs can grow without sex and without you”. We also taught them the limbo, but played it as the “pressure game”. We said that as the bar got lower, it represented all the pressures in life bringing you down. With the younger group of kids, P2 and P3, we read short stories. We also made homemade paints from flour, water and food coloring, and had them paint afterwards, which they loved. Friday night we had a reception at the Lubowa Gardens. I almost felt like I was back in America with all the white tents set up and good food.

On Saturday we had to cook with our language groups at one of our home stays. We decided to cook at Bethany’s home stay because she just lives with two sisters. We were originally going to make pizza, but the head Peace Corps trainer made us change it because she said we were supposed to cook “local” foods and didn’t approve our budget. It was probably for the best, as making a pizza using a Dutch oven is probably easier said than done. So we opted for making chicken burritos. Beans, rice, and chicken are local foods! We fried the chicken up with bell peppers and onions, made chapati in place of the tortillas and whipped up some guacamole. It was amazing, and Bethany’s sisters along with Kenneth loved them. They thought it was amazing how we used the local foods, but changed it up from the usual meal. We, on the other hand, were so happy to have cheese!! (Ugandans do not typically like cheese, so we rarely ever get it).

We had our mock LPI (Language Proficiency Interview) on Wednesday, and it was beyond nerve wrecking. Even though it was practice, I was so nervous and sweaty! Kenneth could not believe it and kept telling me to calm down. I had to talk with him for about 30 minutes and I completely blanked on everything. I would also sometimes respond in Swahili or Spanish. Thankfully, everyone felt the same way I did, and we all ended up failing. I don’t think they wanted to give anyone a pass for fear they wouldn’t study for the real LPI. I got the “highest F” with novice high. If I get to the next level, then that’s a pass. Kenneth told me, “You need to get over your fear of test taking. Your job depends on it.” Oh thanks Kenneth, that’s really going to help me relax! I do think that since I know what to expect now, I will be better prepared for the real LPI and do just fine.

Tomorrow we all find out our sites and where we will be working. I’m really excited, and then we get to have a site visit from Wednesday to Saturday. Training is almost over, yay!

And some more pictures...

My backyard and the pit latrine I have yet to use. My mom says I need to practice. Ha, ya right!

The garden

I found this in my room when I woke up one morning

My puppy! I'm debating getting a dog after training and hopefully this little guy is still available for me to have.

50th Anniversary Service Day. Kenneth said my camera is racist and doesn't like to show him

Best Response Game - there's Kenneth. My camera DOES like him

Mad rush to do the Limbo

An enormous pot of BEANS! Our lunch at the school for the 50th Anniversary.

Caroline and I made a flag for our language group with the homemade paints - we call ourselves CRAB. And Bethany is "Beefany" - we call her beef for short. (She really likes it too...)