CRAZY NEW LIFE

I’M A TEACHER! In all honesty I was so nervous the first day that I am pretty sure I was close to a breakdown. The kids just giggled the entire time and I had no plan of what I was going to teach them, excellent start if I do say so myself! I was so close to crying in one class I decided the only way to not was to look busy so I flicked through my book (thanks Katie!) that I have my lesson plans in, obviously there were none at this point though! And there was one of my favourite things in Uganda I have so far; a note from my Mama;

“I love you so much!”

Well I felt as if my mum had just walked in and given me a big hug, whispering “YOU CAN DO THIS!” in my ear. I felt like a real teacher suddenly, slammed my book on the desk and told the kids to stand up. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to ask them to do after that but I knew I wanted them up! They all stood up at me looking and most likely thinking, yuup, she’s crazy and then I made them shake. I made them shake and shake and shake until I felt as if I had enough energy to climb mount Everest and then go for a 20 mile run (of course I would never do this, I don’t run!)

So I need to say a thank you to my mama I suppose, I would have broken down and never have been able to show my face in class if she hadn’t left me my lovely little notes all over my luggage. I have stuck them up along the edge of one of my shelves so that when I am sitting at the desk or on my bed I can see the wonderful notes which make me smile and remind me how proud my parents are of me!

School is great now though! Well of course it was only my second day today, but honestly I feel as if I am actually teaching the children something. I had computing today where I taught the kids to change the colour, size and font of things and I think they actually learnt something, and possibly enjoyed it too, is that possible? Then I had an English lesson where I did a basic spelling test before moving on to let the children write a short paragraph about themselves for me to mark. It was interesting teaching a lesson that teaches things that might come up in an exam, sort of scary too, but I like the Senior 1’s. Last thing today was a double art lesson, which was basically me winging it and hoping the kids wouldn’t work out my secret, I can’t do art for toffee! I am probably the least arty person anybody knows. Seriously I can’t draw or even think about art other than stick men! So the children were taken outside and asked to draw some of natures finest…grass! Such a fun lesson though. The children laughed at me, as they do, and then told me about themselves, singing to me and teaching me about Ugandan music. It was pretty damn cool!

The toilets here are still as disgusting, however with some water sloshed around by myself! I am also going to but some candles to try and disguise the scent and some paint to make them look nicer, just now they are, in the nicest way, the worst! I will also try and clean the kitchen but I think that will need to be done when I have many free periods and perhaps when we are all feeling better. I think this place will get better and I know that soon I will be begging to go home but I must remember why I came, not to go home, not to have fun all the time and not to escape the decisions of life, I came here to help people and get to know what another culture is like, and that is what I am going to! I am friends with our neighbour across the road and will be teaching her computing soon, and I am considering teaching the little boy next door English to help him in school. He is so young and bright I feel it might be nice for him to learn more, also his mother looks like she makes a mean meal and damn straight I have food on the mind!

Anyway that has been the past two days! I have also learnt that hearing from mum and dad actually makes me feel great and that Lord of the Rings isn’t as bad as you would imagine, although very similar to Harry Potter…who copied who, I don’t know! I feel I am coping well, I managed to pee in the dark for goodness sake, and the dark is still uber creepy, you cannot, no matter how many carrots you eat, see black people in the dark!!