*Flashback*

First of all I would like to thank my brother Michael for spending the time, money, and energy to come visit me half way around the world. It was great to see family so far from home after 6 months. Plus I think he did a good job at describing his trip in the last post where I had him submit a ‘story’ of his events.

Second… if my cat Elend is reading this… I’m sorry I gave you a flea bath and hope you forgive me if you decide to return. (He has been missing for 24 hours but I won’t consider he’s gone until 72 hours… I think that’s the standard).

The past month has finally been busy with the start of school. I helped implement clubs into the after school curriculum, have organized a free fitness class, am overseeing the construction of our ‘cafeteria/ staff room,’ and am currently working on school sanitation issues. I’m pretty happy right now because I just had my first ‘Science Saturdays’ club! We watched a Planet Earth video and afterwards we talked about environmental issues, definitions, drew diagrams, and finished up with a small experiment involving vinegar and baking soda. After the kids were dismissed a few of them stayed around to ask questions about North America and other places on the globe I had in front of me. (success!) Plus I cut my hair all by myself without looking like an idiot and it rained for the first time in a week!

Now I know my story was never told about Tanzania so here it is. Better late than never!

*Flashback*

 December 18^th 2012….

The year is already flying by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting on the beach in Zanzibar with a coconut in one hand and my Frisbee in the other.

After spending a day in Uganda with my brother, taking him to a craft market, and petting a live rhino at the zoo we were ready to take off.

While on my vacation I brought along a small travel journal and filled quite a few pages before the end of the vacation. This is about my journey… to the Serengeti, Zanzibar, and beyond. My first REAL vacation since the start of my Peace Corps service and I hope to have plenty more. Navigating international airports, cities with names I don’t recognize, and now that I’m used to living in a country where I can’t understand half the things said because I don’t know the language…. I was already used to that aspect of international travel. Step one: Mpora Mpora (slowly slowly). Step Two: Hakuna Matata (Swahili for ‘No Worries’). These two things are essential when traveling in a developing country. I’m going to skip the plane to Dar Es Salaam and talk a little bit about the 11 hour bus ride up to northern Tanzania to a city called Arusha. BORE-ING! Uganda is much more exciting to drive through. Watched the same movie 3 times on the bus and it was called Badass (not a good movie); each time they re-started the movie they turned the volume up a bit more.  We get to Arusha at night and took a private taxi to Base Camp hostel owned by a Canadian company and extremely welcoming/ clean! There we met some… Canadians! 

The next morning my brother Mike and I were picked up by the tour company to go over a few last minute things then we were off on our great adventure! We were headed towards the Serengeti which was a 5 hour drive away. About an hour after passing the Hilary Clinton Gift Shop we came to a screeching halt. After trying to continue on our way a few times with no success, our driver hops on a motorcycle and brings back some help about 2 hours later. While waiting I taught a few kids how to throw a Frisbee with the help of my brother. When our vehicle finally got fixed I left the Frisbee with the children then hopped back in the vehicle (unfortunately it was the only Frisbee I brought and only the first day). The day was getting short and our vehicle still had some problems so we stayed in a campground outside the park. While setting up our “Glamping” site (glamorous camping complete with 2 chairs, a table, and a nice tent with bedrolls and sheets) our cook, Julius, began preparing our meal while our driver, Willard, took the vehicle for the night to get it repaired. Mike and I enjoyed our meal along with the company of our Switzerland neighbors. The leek soup was SOOOOO delicious that I can’t remember what else we ate!

In the morning we headed through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to the Serengeti. Seeing the Masai people was incredible and seemed so unreal at first. Their villages were small with only a few structures surrounded by a wooden fence. The Masai are a cattle herding tribe and the only humans allowed to live in Ngorongoro because their lifestyles require them to live sustainably with the wild animals. We often saw Masai sitting next to the road with their signature checkered ‘robe’ on and sometimes even young men with their faces painted with white clay.  After passing the entrance into the Serengeti the Masai were no more but instead replaced by giant herds of Wildebeest, Zebras, and Buffalo. Luckily it was the season for the Great Migration and it was plain to see by the large number of animals. Our campsite was a few hours into the Serengeti so once we reached we stretched our legs, dropped Julius off to prep for dinner, and went back out into the wild! We stopped by a pond with hippos, saw a huge herd of elephant, watched baboons grazing, spotted a few scattered warthogs, and headed back when it started to rain. When we reached the campsite our Canadian friends from the hostel were set up right next to us. Although we just met them it was nice seeing a familiar face in such a wonderful place. That night even sleeping was exciting when hearing the night come to life with the laughter of a hyena or the grinding of teethe from a water buffalo next to the tent.

Morning arrived and I was roaming around the campsite checking birds off my list (lovebirds, hornbills, and buffalo weavers with the most beautiful call).  By 9am we were back in our truck for a full day of driving! Whenever we saw an animal close enough we would stop and take a few pictures. Sometimes the other tourists would even take a picture of Mike and I in our Santa hats (it was 4 days before Christmas and our last name, Claus, deserves attention around the holidays). You know you’re famous (or feel like you should be) when… people take pictures of you when they are less than 10 feet from a lion and you’re not in a zoo! Lions, Leopards, and Elephants… Oh My! Not long after watching a leopard sitting in a tree, we get ourselves stuck in the mud and have to wait to get pulled out by another vehicle. The rain from the previous night made for some pretty big mud holes to drive through and throughout the day we noticed we were not the only ones getting stuck. Once we reached the exit and visitor center to the Serengeti we ate our packed lunch while being surrounded by Superb Starlings (blue and orange bird) waiting for a scrap handout. Although it was tempting and I wanted to be surrounded by more birds, I did not feed them. After our lunch break we got back in the truck and headed back towards the Ngorongoro crater. A few miles down the road and in the middle of nowhere exciting the vehicle decides it really hates us. This time it’s bad news bears and our axel is bent. There is a reason they call it an ‘African Massage’ while driving on these roads… they are rough! Sometimes the vehicles just have enough of it and can’t handle the abuse. After realizing we were going nowhere, finishing a book on my kindle, and cursing all of the animals for not coming closer… we waited. What we were waiting for I was not quite sure, but after 3 hours we were transferring all of our belongings and equipment to another vehicle with some Swiss tourists who were kind enough to save our safari. When we reached the campsite I ventured to use the latrine when all of a sudden… I find myself standing 10 yards away from an ELEPHANT! Turns out he was enjoying a snack out of the compost pit and the sign said stay back but how could I? I didn’t get much closer  but was in awe of how close I was to an elephant of that size. Before dinner was served, many of the other tourists were waiting in the cafeteria area so I started a conversation with a few of them and even chatted with our Canadian friends again. Most of them asked about the Peace Corps when they saw my shirt and were curious about what I was doing. 3 times during my trip I met other PCVs or family members or Returned PCVs. Once dinner was finished I stayed up chatting till the sun went down and my teeth started chattering. I never thought it would be so cold in the Serengeti and was ill prepared for the cold weather. I nestled down into my sheets and not long after the buffalo came roaming into our campsite and I spent the next 30 minutes standing on my tip-toes trying to spot something through the mesh screen at the top of our tent. After being unsuccessful and snuggling back into my sheets, Mike wakes me because he hears munching right outside our tent! We crawled near the door and unzipped the flap slowly then poked our heads out to see a GIANT water buffalo right in front of our faces! Munch, Munch, Munch. I was so happy I felt like a little kid waking up on Christmas morning!

The next morning I woke with a huge smile on my face because I was still thinking about the buffalo. Breakfast came and our vehicle was still missing so the Swiss tourists we got a ride from the day before offered us to join them. Martin and Phil made the trip even better! We made our way down into the crater which was something straight out of a movie! All of the animals grazing together with a big lake full of flamingos in the center. What a picture! We even glimpsed a few rhinos in the crater! We ate lunch near a beautiful lake filled with hippos while trying not to get eaten by the crazy birds. (Random fact: In Ngorongoro crater a sick/ dying elephants will walk to a swamp to die)The crater ride was breathtaking and by the end of the afternoon our own vehicle was fixed. The rest of the day we drove back to the hostel, said goodbye to Willard and Julius, and who was waiting for us at the hostel? Our Canadian friends! (They will be officially introduced later) That night we all celebrated the end of our safari trip with a good meal at a restaurant where you can choose from almost any ethnicity of food. Of course I picked a fajita! While waiting for our food the Canadians must have thought I was insane because I ran into the grocery store right next door and almost cried when I was holding cashews, fresh raspberries, and a bag of… wait for it… PRETZELS!!! (Tanzania is located next to Uganda… why doesn’t Uganda have pretzels??) The meal was great, my raspberries were delicious, and I had a good time. Once back at the hostel it was nice to take a hot shower complimented with a cup of tea and sleep in a real bed surrounded by solid walls. It was important to get a good night’s rest for our trip to ZANZIBAR in the morning!

                To Be Continued!

Swahili 101:

                Gambo (Ja-M-bo) = Hello

                Caribu = Welcome (Caribu Sana = you’re very welcome)

                Apana = No

                Sawa = Yes

                Rafiki = Friend

                Simba = Lion

                Asante (Sana) = Thank you (very much)

List of animals I’ve seen:

                Antelope, Baboon, Cheetah, Crocodile, Eland, Elephant, Giraffe, Heart Beast, Hippopotamus, Hyena, Impala, Jackal (golden and black backed), Kudu, Leopard, Ostrich, Rhino, Warthog, Water Buffalo, Wildebeest, Zebra, Flamingos and MANY other colorful birds.

(some of these animals you would never see in a zoo and they are much more beautiful in their natural habitats)

Packing musts for the Serengeti:

                A warm fleece jacket

                A camera

                Binoculars

                Matching khaki shirt/ pants

                Bird book (if you’re a nerd like me)

                Headlamp

    Book (for if/ when you break down)

               

Glamping!

Does this need a caption?

Waiting to go somewhere...

This elephant needs a snack

Wildebeest (the thing that killed Mufasa)

A Hyena wallowing in the road (it is not dead)

ZEBRAS! (Ngorongoro Crater)

Mike and I :D

Our not so badass truck.

Making the best out of life in the middle of... Nowhere...

A Letter From Home

 I asked my brother to be a guest blogger and write about his time in Uganda:

For Michelle, and all the things she does.

Dearest sister,

Written below are the accounts of the adventure I shall here after refer to as “The Epic Awesomeness that was the African Adventure of An Era.”

To begin, it was a long flight.  Spent the night in Toronto, but hung out with a small group of amazing people, and stayed awake talking into the wee hours of the morning…. Only to be greeted by the longest leg of my journey the next morning.  I took Ethiopian Airlines, which was actually really nice, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I met an interesting Canadian on the plane who was flying down to meet his Ethiopian wife… now that’s a long distance relationship.

When I finally got to Africa, it was much cooler than I expected, it was night, but only in the mid-60’s.  I still had to catch another flight to actually get to Uganda.  Of course, I was very jet-lagged when I got there, but it was a very small airport, and my sister found me without any issues.  We went to a stone-fire pizza place, which I wouldn’t expect such delicious food in a Continent we think of as so poor and ‘3rd world’.  Anyways, we walked around for a bit, and went to a craft market, where I traded a pad lock for a wooden giraffe and learned that I can’t bargain worth garbage, but I got much better later ;)  We had a day before our flight to Tanzania so we went over to Jinja to hang out at the Nile River, and poke the source of it.  The towns and villages were exciting to finally drive through.  I read a few papers on some of the water management issues they’ve been having, so it was nice to see what you’re actually reading about.  The villages there grow without any civil planning, and you can see how they get out of control.  This place was packed – people, cars, bikes, boda bodas everywhere.  Luckily my sister knew her way around.  We walked through a good portion of Jinja, made friends with a local dog, and bought some amazing crafts.  Took a boat to the source of the Nile, stayed in a hostel with one of the worst thunderstorms I’ve ever been through, and ate delicious rolexes (a fried egg wrapped in chapati bread).  The storm was so bad my sister and I moved the bottom bunks of the room we were staying in because we thought a tree could come crashing through.  Turns out it was just Jack Fruit hitting our roof…(They’re big, and delicious.)

I lost my phone because I kept it in checked in luggage like an idiot, I blame it on jet lag.  Well, we went to Tanzania, Dar Es Salaam, and took an 11 hour bus to Arusha.  They played A Danny Trejo movie 3 times.  I wasn’t surprised by the television on the bus as much as I was surprised that they liked Danny Trejo.

Arusha is fun.  So are Safaris through the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.  I saw lions.  And elephants.  And Rhinos.  (we also touched a rhino in the zoo, and saw monkeys in Uganda).  And Pride Rock – with lions on top.  Broke down for 5 hours, played Frisbee with some children.  Broke down for 3 hours, got picked up by some fun Swedes and a Tanzanian who might have some info for a Mt. Kilimanjaro climb for me when I come back in October.  We met people from all over, it was an unbelievable experience.  Ask me for pictures, I’ll convince you to visit Africa. 

My sis and I wore our Santa hat’s when we weren’t sweating our faces off, which the other tourists got a kick out of.  It definitely made for a memorable Christmas.  Oh, it was also migration time, so we saw more Wildebeests, Zebras, Gazelle, and other migrating things than I knew existed.  It made me happy and gave me a bit of hope for the world.  These areas seemed very well protected and it seemed the right steps are being taken to keep these areas pristine for many years to come.

We met some Canadians just before the Safari that we ended up hanging out with for about a week and a half or so, both through the Safari and on Zanzibar (turned out we booked the same hotel for Christmas Eve and Christmas, which is strange because there are a lot of selections on the island).  They’re also from Toronto, so I hope to see them in the not-too-distant future again.  Plus they could play Euchre.

We went from Arusha to Zanzibar, where I flew co-pilot because they didn’t have room for me to sit in the passenger area.  A bit less strict than the states.  Our Christmas was spent on the beach, with a sea food buffet, a small, secluded private beach, awesome dogs that we re-named, an amazing staff that joined us in volleyball, soccer and cards, a dolphin swim, followed by a reef snorkeling adventure, and a trip to Crab Island.  When I think of Paradise (besides Whitefish Point), this was the place I think of.  It reminded me of a mix between ‘The Beach’ and the Boy Meets World honeymoon episodes.

After this amazing experience, we went to a hostel on the East Side.  I was wrong to think that this trip couldn’t get any better.  The Peace Corps Volunteers are all amazing.  I met so many amazing, friendly people that I only occasionally felt that I was ‘the outsider.’ We made many trecks around the very touristy beach, and attended a full moon party and New Year’s right on the beach – complete with a bon fire, decent music, a bar, and a random cluster of people from all over the planet, with one very, important thing in common:  We were on Zanzibar, for every reason you could be.

I had some amazing experiences that would be very difficult to understand without actually being there.  Michelle and I split up for a bit due to varying interests.  I got up as early as possible to join a small group of PCV in Stone Town, while she stayed behind to hang with her closer friends in the area.  This worked out great for both of us, the PCV I hung with turned out to have a lot of the same interests as I, so it was easy to agree what we wanted to do.  We hired a guide, who I believe is the ‘Sultan of Stone Town’ and knew all the local connections and set the next couple of days up for us…. For cheap.  We went on a spice tour, and visited an old Slave cave, that we bribed our guide to let us crawl through, visited Prison Island and the Giant Tortoises, and did some snorkeling.  We also ate some delicious street seafood – Seafood will never taste the same again.

At one point I bought a chess board to be beaten by one of Michelle’s friends every game.  Well worth the 50,000 TZS.  I listened to amazing music, including Gangnum Style while driving down the road between stone town and Paje.  The ONLY part I didn’t like about the island (which was a very minor inconvenience) is that the showers are salty.  Not as bad as the ocean, but I never really felt clean.  Something that would go away after a few weeks, but I couldn’t get used to it during our way-too-short duration on the Island.  On the plus side, if I ever lose my job, I did get an invitation to work at the hostel I stayed in, which I must say is pretty tempting.

Well, after our lovely week or so on the island, we went back to Uganda, and eventually went back to Michelle’s village.  She’ll complain about the lack of variety of food all day (as will every other PCV), but I didn’t stay long enough for this to affect me (and they reminded me every chance they got!).  Everything was new to me, and I don’t think I tried anything I didn’t like.  From my perspective, everything was also dirt cheap, and very plentiful.  Instead of lack of food and resources, the large issue seems to be a lack of understanding.  From what I’ve been told, the education system is poor (I even talked with a Ugandan college equivalent Professor for a bit, who confirmed this), teachers are paid garbage, school is a second thought to other things.  It’s a shame, the very limited travel time I had there I saw a lot of resources that could be exploited for the good of the Countries.  There is a very deep mindset of ‘This is how we do things because this is how it’s always been done.’ 

Michelle’s house is small, without grid power or running water, but manageable.  It’s OK for 1 person, but was cramped with me there.  Her cat, Elend Venture-Cat, is a cat that gives its species some credibility.  It loves me.  My favorite cat in the world, but I can only think of 3 other cats that I didn’t despise.  But this was by far my favorite.  I hand washed my clothes by hand for the first time ever, which was awesome to do, and I didn’t die from the soap.  She cooked for me, which my sister is a hell of a cook, and it was awesome.  I watched Game of Thrones, in a house without electricity.  My life is amazing.

AfterthatIwentbackhome.

So, I could elaborate on everything above, but you get the gist.  People like to ask what my favorite country or trip has been, but I can’t give a good answer to that.  Every country I’ve been to has an argument to be my favorite, and it’s unfair to the rest.  If I had a chance to change something on this trip, I wouldn’t, it went perfect (yes, even my phone getting stolen will help me in the future, and it could’ve been a lot worse.  OK, maybe I would change Michelle’s friends not getting robbed, but not anything that happened to me).  My sister seems to be having an amazing time, and she’s smart, she knows how to handle herself.  She’s also a great travel partner, and we tend to have a lot of the same style.  I know in the future I can travel with her anywhere I go, although she needs to learn to trust me a bit more sometimes ;)

In conclusion, I Love my sister, I’m glad I got this amazing opportunity to visit her, thanks for letting me invite myself.  I had a blast, I hope you did too, and I’ll probably be back in Arusha come October, and visit my sister in Uganda if it’s in the stars.

Love, Mike


He must have been getting used to tasteless Uganda food because he went a little overboard with the 'hell of a cook' tidbit since it was only tacos with homemade tortillas and fresh lettuce from my garden, but I appreciate the smart comment and how I can handle myself. This coming from my big brother means a lot to me. And I will always remember him saying 'I am proud of you' when he saw how I was living.

I will be posting pictures on the Blog once they are sent to me from my brother along with chopsticks hopefully! (But the chopsticks are only for me)

I had a great time with my brother and hope to spend more time showing him Uganda on his next possible visit :)

Home on the Range...

I know I’ve been a bit slow on getting a post out about my vacation to Tanzania and the island of Zanzibar. I apologize and am skipping to the present for a ‘New York minute’ because I just had a fantastic meal about an hour ago and need to share. I will get around to blogging about my awesome vacation eventually.

I hope you're not hungry because I just went out to dinner with a few other volunteers and had a wild game meal at a restaurant called ‘The Lawns’! I was a bit apprehensive at first to even go because of the price but then again I don’t care about the money and never have or I wouldn’t have joined the Peace Corps in the first place… It’s all about the experience! The atmosphere of the place made it seem like I was dinning in the garden of a semi-classy (but not too formal) restaurant in the States. No reservations, a rabbit running around, dining under the open sky by candlelight, and sitting on Coca Cola brand chairs.  I split a sample platter with another PCV and it came with 8oz of crocodile, blesbok, impala (which is weird since I had a vehicle with that name), and springbok. It was a decent amount of meat and equivalent to eating 1/4lb burger patty. As a table of 6 we also split a starter of kudu poppers which consisted of 6 mini skewers with grilled green pepper, pineapple, and a bite of kudu (small antelope) wrapped in bacon. Now why would you wrap a rare game meat such as Kudu around such a common meat? I ended up taking off the bacon and eating it separate from one another. I would love to tell you what all of these animals actually look like but you could either Google it or use your imagination. The only animal on the menu we did not try was ostrich… but I’m guessing it’s similar to chicken. 

Back to the sampler platter… there were 3 dishes of sauce on the side: garlic, BBQ, and an unidentifiable green sauce. The plate was also garnished with steamed vegetables and a few potatoe wedge fries. Because of the 3 sauces I would slice the meat on my plate into 4 slices; you eat one plain and the others with each sauce. It was very enjoyable to actually taste the meat. I felt a bit like an iron chef judge when we would all take a bite and explain the flavors going on in our mouths. Then we would compare the meats to one another. My vote goes for the Springbok… it was very tender, sweet, juicy, and almost melted in my mouth like a piece of candy. I could have ordered and entire steak of springbok and maybe next time I will!

A meal that deserves to be talked about and shared. 

I feel like my father would be proud of me because in the states I’m ashamed to say that I used to refuse game meat and now I know how healthy it actually is (and tasty!)

Adding that to my list of things I never thought I’d do!

I Made It This Far....

Happy First AFRICA Birthday To Me!

Just a preview of how fun splashing in the sun was...

Lost and Found!

It may seem like I haven't posted for a while... well it is indeed true! I am still alive and would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Boxing Day, and last of all.... a HAPPY NEW YEAR! I may be a bit late on all of that but at least I eventually got around to it. I am currently getting back to my old/ new life in Rukungiri. When I settle in a bit more I will sit down and focus on writing about my trip to the set of The Lion King, Paradise, and wherever else my imagination might take us. Scenes from Planet Earth and maybe even the moon?! This will all make sense later I promise.

I would like to thank those of you who had me in your thoughts this past holiday season :) Upon returning home from my phenomenal vacation I had FOUR packages to open! The presence of family and friends filled my house as I lit a holiday scented candle, sipped chai tea, and stuffed my face with candy in-between bites of beef jerkey! All this while watching a movie with my REAL brother from back home who came and visited. There is something about Ugandans asking 'you're REAL brother?' like I'm lying to them. My real Christmas was spent in Zanzibar at a small, quiet 'resort but not really' right on the Indian Ocean. Complete with a Christmas eve seafood buffet and campfire, swimming, beach volleyball, and fruity drinks. It felt NOTHING like Christmas even though my brother was there. It was too.... warm to be REAL Christmas for me. I wanted snow and couldn't muster up enough imagination to pretend the white sand was snow... although I suppose I didn't try hard enough. It was incredible don't get me wrong but I missed being somewhere that felt like home especially for the holidays.  I'm not a huge fan of vacation on Christmas but I've only got one more holiday season to go before I spend it at home home again with my whole family :)

I hope you all had a nice holiday and I'll share more when I get around to it.

This was just a post to say 'I'm still here'!!!

You better be looking forward to my next post... I know how much you all love to hear me ramble on about things that probably don't really matter but are fun to write about anyway!

Warthogs Warthogs... Oink, Oink, Oink!

Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World)...and everything I tried to remember from it.

         I met the giant South West group of PCVs in Mbarara who were also going to camp. We got on a bus together and when we reached Kampala after 7 hours we just stood on Entebbe road and hailed a matatu to the school where our camp was being held. I saw my first good sign that the week was going to go well on a telephone pole on the way to camp… a Pied King Fisher!  When we arrived the school seemed so large. It’s not like camp in America where you are staying in cabins on a campground that its sole purpose is to be a camp. Here in Uganda and a lot of other Peace Corps countries the venue for camps is usually held at a participating boarding school during a break in the school year. While the students of the school are away for break the dorms are free for the campers to bunk in. We hit the ground running going over what our weeks schedule was going to be like, being introduced to our fellow counselors and staff member, bonding with our Uganda Co-Counselor (each Peace Corps Volunteer is paired with a Ugandan), and planning the lessons we were given to teach (mine was communication skills). After 2 days of training the campers arrived. It was an awkward first day because most of the girls were so nervous you had to practically force them to speak. All the groups were given an animal name and the dorms were labeled as two national parks in Uganda (Kidepo in the North West and Queen Elizabeth in the South West). I don’t think my girls were ecstatic about being the Warthogs at first…. But once I came up with a few cheers they showed some pride. The first night went well… all the girls went straight to bed after the opening introduction to camp. Quiet. I on the other hand stayed up till 11 with a flashlight planning out my ‘lesson’ for tomorrows communication classes. I was thinking too hard on how to make appropriate activities for visually impaired and hearing impaired campers.

          The next morning after the campers bathed (twice a day) I instructed my group go to breakfast and walked in the opposite direction to the classrooms. I had 4 sessions to teach that day and my spider web was no finished yet! I wanted to make a giant web with rope for a communication activity where each member of the group has to make it through the web without touching it and to add to the difficulty none of the girls could go through the same hole in the web. One of the staff members was kind enough to bring me an egg as I briskly finished the vertical spider wed for one of my activities. What’s the point in keeping the kids in a classroom the entire time? IT’S CAMP! Just after finishing the web the kids started filling the classrooms. I had staff work with my co-teacher and sent them to the spider web… my instructions to her: ‘go outside and I’ll send ½ the class out in about 5 minutes. Just get them through the web somehow without having them touch it.’ Me and Gloria had NO time to prepare because her bus got in late the second day of training. I started the lesson off by asking the girls to give me examples of ways to communicate (speaking, touching, signing, sounds, body language, facial expressions, writing, other visuals…. What what). I split up ½ the group outside for 30 minutes and then we played telephone. My favorite game to play with these girls! For those of you who do not know what telephone is I’m about to educate you. The ‘rules’ are simple: One person starts and whispers a sentence in the persons ear next to them, that person then whispers what they THINK they hear in the next persons ear… so on and so forth. When the last person says what they heard out loud!

 First Class: “My name is Michelle and I have 2 brothers and a dog in America.”

                Outcome from the girls after passing the message along: “Your name is Maria”

Class 2-4: “I like to eat a mango in the morning with my dog”

                Answer 1: “If you pick that mango and eat it you will become pregnant”

                Answer 2: "You like passion fruit, mango, papaya, and pineapple”

                Answer 3: “If you eat that mango you will be stupid”

The whole purpose of telephone was to talk about rumors and myths and how quickly they can spread/ change from the original source. I then asked for 3 volunteers from the class, had them stand in front of the classroom side by side, and blindfolded them. I handed each of them a part of rope tied into a  big circle and told them to make a triangle. I took away one of their ways to communicate (vision) and forced them to use other means to communicate. I would have the class observe their behavior and how they were communicating which I always had to remind them speaking was okay. Sometimes one of the girls would say “move that way” while waving her hand in the direction…. While they are both blindfolded and couldn’t see who which direction she was waving or who she even wanted to move. I think most of them were out of their comfort zone but they all did great and gave good examples. With the remaining time before they went to the spider web activity and I got the other half of the group, I would have them get in order of age without talking and then alphabetical order by the district name in Uganda they were from (similar to our states). Most of the time the 10 volunteers I got to the front of the classroom when I said ‘begin’ would just stand there and I had to frequently make an example by non-verbally expressing how old I was or where I was from. At the spider web activity the girls were basically just outside having fun. My spider web looked awesome but it wasn’t big enough for 20 girls to go through 20 separate holes so we just let them try and get through the web without touching it and encouraging one another. Towards the end of the day we had a ‘small’ group of 30 instead of 40 girls so we just put them all together for the entire session. While relaxing and letting Gloria lead the spider web activity one of the girls took off her sandals and said she was going to jump it. This web is suspended in the air by about a foot and the top reaches about 5 ½ feet. The girl was only about 5 feet. Another PCV who was a counselor had me CONVINCED that this girl could do it… and I’m not going to lie… I wanted to see it if it was true! But 2 + 2 did NOT equal 4 in my mind and I let her try. She took a running start and 1 foot off the ground entangles herself in the web and wrecked part of it. Easily fixable but OUCH! Darn. But the girl was okay and it was pretty funny.  The rest of the day was a blur and exhausting… I remember participating in yoga for my free choice activity with some of the girls, eating, struggling to come up with a warthog cheer, and lastly watching puppies be adorable!

         Behind one of the dorms where the ‘guard’ dogs slept I discovered a batch of 3 fat sausage puppies. Every night after the girls bathed and were headed to bed I stayed up for another hour, hung out with the puppies, and then would bucket bathe under the stars. The kids would always giggle out the window when they saw me interacting with the dogs but it took away all of my stress. When I felt like it and was tired enough then I would head back to the bottom of my triple decker bunk bed. The second day I found out why one of my girls NEVER spoke…. She didn’t understand English. *click* That made it more difficult to communicate with her but good thing I'm great at teaching communication! We struggled to understand one another at times but she explained to a counselor who spoke her local language that she was in fact having fun. In the afternoon right before lunch we played a game similar to Duck, Duck, Goose… extreme style. We played Drip, Drip, Drop! You have everyone it in a circle with a bucket of water and a cup at the center. One person starts by picking up the cup with a little bit of water in it and walking on the outside of the circle. Whenever they pass someone they sprinkle water on their head and say “Drip” until they get to their chosen target and say “Drop.” They proceed to DUMP the cup of water on that persons head and run. The person who just got soaked then runs around the circle chasing the person who dumped the cup until they reach their spot again. This game is best on a hot day when the sun is out but I even had a BLAST with the game! 

                That night my girls got to play capture the flag in the dark.  I was representing the middle line and the girls would just taunt one another from opposite sides but never make a move. When they would bore me I would count down from 30 and choose one from each side randomly to go in jail if nobody crossed far enough over the line. At one point girls were going across the line and tagging people in their own boundaries…. Someone also grabbed the flag and before getting tagged threw it over the line. They were very creative when it came to hiding the flag… sitting on it, squatting over it, putting it down their shirts… very interesting. Surprisingly nobody got hurt.

                I learned a lot from this camp. The ABCs: Abstinence, Be Faithful, Condoms even though I thought the B stood for Birth Control for a few days. That there is a benefit to waking up early especially at camp because watching the sunrise over Lake Victoria was one of the most B-E-A-U-tiful things I have seen in country. How to find my missing flip flops…. After the girls arrived on Sunday I misplaced my baby blue old navy flip flops. I got them back after the girls had an activity where they all put their shoes in a pile so they could run. Nobody fessed up but nobody had to… because only one girl was missing her shoes by the time the activity ended. I would have given them back until she at least got to the dorm but she said hers were black with a buckle when questioned… later in the day she ‘found’ her black ones…. under her bed…. where they were the whole time.  The same girl ‘borrowed’ my headlamp without asking when I put it on a shelf so everyone could see when the power went out in the dorm. But what can you do? There were a few mishaps but everything turned out well. 

               I also challenged myself and got out of what I thought was my comfort zone a lot over the week. I taught my first class ever other than teaching a sport. I actually enjoyed eating the Ugandan food that was prepared for meals. I instructed how to throw a Frisbee to a group of over 30 girls with only 3 discs, one of the girls was even visually impaired. When I taught her how to throw I held out the Frisbee with my hand correctly around it and had her feel how my hand was placed on the disc. Then I went through the motions of throwing with here and she actually had a pretty wicked (great) throw! A girl from another group before bathing hit her head on the bottom of a suspended steel ladder attached to a water tank so I took off my shirt (don’t worry I had an undershirt on) and dunked it in water for her to put it on her head. During our talent show while my warthogs were dancing to ‘International love’ I got bored after a minute of watching them do the same sweet dance moves they have so I jumped in front of them and danced like an idiot in front of camp. The last night at the dance was one of my new favorite memories. I was mingling in and out of the dance crowd looking for the girls not dancing. I found a pair in the back and asked why they were not dancing. They both said they couldn’t dance. I explained to them that dancing is one of the easiest things they could do… so I stated by bobbing my head and they did the same… then my hips… my arms… then my feet (I got a compliment later from one of the PC staff that her daughter said I was a lot of fun and taught them how to dance… warm fuzzies!) I then went to the benches where a few girls were just sitting, I noticed one of them was visually impaired and didn’t look like she was enjoying herself. I asked her if she wanted to dance and she explained that where she was sitting the music was too loud and hurting her ears. No good. So I explained we could go behind all the speakers in the back and grabbed her hand and lead her. We sat down and had a good talk about camp, America, and apples (her favorite food). Most Ugandans never eat apples because they are a bit expensive so I was a bit shocked at her answer. I explained Halloween to her, apple orchards, and even the different types of apples we have. I’ve never worked with visually impaired individuals before and really had a good feeling that I was doing a good job at communicating what I was trying to explain. Even describing apples for example… you can’t use colors… or say ‘this big’. I would make a fist to demonstrate the size of some apples back home and have her feel my hand so she could get an idea of how big they could get. Apples in Uganda are pretty small and uniform in size. I even got Janet up a couple of times to dance! I look forward to receiving an e-mail from her in the future. 

By the end of the week most of the girls could not stop talking and I could see how much they were enjoying themselves. I'm proud of my little piglets... almost turning into full grown warthogs! 

for more day to day Camp GLOW activities check out this: http://glowuganda2012.blogspot.com/

And lastly... I'm one of the 3 directors chosen for next years Camp GLOW! August 2013!    

CAMP GLOW love my life!

3 Days After GLOW:

 I had to sleep at another PCVs house in town so I could make it to the 7am bus on time. I was heading back to Kampala (The direction I just came from) on another 8 ½ hour bus ride. That’s right I timed it. Thanks to my Grandmother I was able to enjoy a few Special K granola bars from the States and then I bought 2 street corns at a ‘fast food stop.’ When I say fast food stop I mean people running up to your window really fast and poking food/ drinks at you until you fork out money. It never fails that I get poked with a stick of some sort of meat. It usually smells pretty bad.  Because I was on ‘official PC business’ training the new group (presenting a homestay orientation) I was put up in a hotel in Kampala, with the other two I was training with, where PCVs usually stay for anything PC related. When I say hotel it may be a bed and a room but I share a toilet and a shower with the entire 2^nd floor. After being able to enjoy the perks of having permission to be in Kampala we walked ½ mile down the road and I enjoyed an ice cream sundae with a scoop of chocolate, banana, and coconut ice cream topped with strawberry syrup AND two actual strawberries!!! I also spoiled myself and had and iced latte… I know don’t judge. For the rest of the evening I felt like that kid who’s mom tells them not to eat all of their Halloween candy… but they do anyway. That’s how I felt. I was in a sugar coma till late afternoon the next morning after PC picked us up and took us to the Peace Corps office. This was the first time being in the PC office since I was a PCT! The last time I was there I was still a trainee on the 4^th of July. Weird. While waiting to leave ALL of the language trainers arrived and it felt like Christmas being able to see them all again! We then all split into two groups, even with the other 2 I was presenting with, and went to talk to the new group about homestay. Since the new group of PCTs is Education they were posted at 2 separate schools (Primary and Secondary) so I only got to meet the half at the Secondary school. Two PCVs from Mukono town had dinner with us and to save PC money on another bed in the hotel again I decided to stay with one of them for the night. Both of their ‘apartments’ were gorgeous with tile floors… bathrooms…. One of them even has two balconies and can see Lake Victoria from it. This just goes to show how different the PC experience is for everyone.

My brother comes in THREE days!! Then we stay in Uganda for 2 days and head to Tanzania for a 3 or 4 day safari! My binoculars are ready and packed! On the 24^th we are flying to the island of Zanzibar and living it up in a nice hotel for Christmas Eve and Christmas. My brother is amazing and did all the last minute booking/ detailed work on where we are staying even looking for a safari since the group we were planning on going with bailed. From the 26^th to the 1^st of December we are staying at a hostel with a big group of PCVs right near the beach on Zanzibar. Mikes friends gave us a Christmas gift to go do something (aka swim with the dolphins, snorkel, what what) and gave him money and I don’t want to spoil it again but I will… Mike don’t read this… Ooops. I’m going to torture you all for 3 weeks until I write again :p This is how I continue to get people to read my blog,… I torture them by leaving out information! Anyways I’m going to have a great time being with my brother in paradise! Till next time MERRY CHRISTMAS and I hope your new year brings happiness! I’ll try and keep a journal of my adventures if I’m not too tired from having all that fun!