I have had such a good, good week. My weeks are very crazy and busy. It is hard to describe how the life is here, but nothing is predictable or goes the way you expect it to go.
Television
After much searching and contemplating, I decided that I wanted TV. I know I don't really NEED a TV, but I am seriously dying for one. So, I noticed that there was a sale at one of the local stores and purchased a Samsung flat screen. It is small, but no perfect for me.
Since I live in an apartment on campus, I did not feel comfortable with getting a dish and the receiver for dish is really, really expensive (about $400). There is no such thing as a deposit here, so you buy the receiver. I decided to go with Gotv, which is a decoder which costs about UGX 99,000 ($40). Then, they gave me a antenna and I was a bit confused. I guess I didn't realize I would need to put an antenna on my house.
So, this was the first attempt. Emmanuel (one of our maintenance guys) attached the antenna to a broom and the signal was about 60%. That meant that the picture was in and out, which really, really drove me crazy. Emmanuel said that I needed to get a longer pole, so I asked him to buy one for me. I can't imagine transporting a pole on a motorcycle.
This was the second attempt. A very large branch that gets an awesome signal.
I have CNN!! I have about 32 channels for about $8 a month. So exciting. Another cool feature that my TV has is a USB drive, which allows me to play any downloaded show on my TV - oh, modern technology!
Teaching
I spent Tuesday at Principal High School. We were working on vocabulary and I taught students the Frayer's model, which includes the word, definition, picture, and sentence. After we went through several examples, I checked the students' work. They had all copied my pictures and sentences, even though I asked them to make their own. They are so used to copying the teacher that they write whatever I write on the board in their notebooks. It was unbelievable. Then, I asked them to pick 4 of the 8 words and make their own sentences. Again, they copied sentences from the passage and just substituted a few words. One of my students wrote:
I only grimace when I am being beaten. My jaw dropped. Words can't describe what I felt when I saw that sentence. Yes, I am living in another world.
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| Me with the Senior 3 class |
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| Simon Peter with his class. |
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| Lunch (chicken, gnut paste, posho, matooke) |
Packages
Today I received a letter from my mommy with stickers enclosed. My students LOVE stickers even though they are university level. I also can't wait to share these stickers with my secondary students!
When the PR office text me that I had mail, they didn't tell me I had a package. When you get a package, the post office sends a slip of paper to say come pick up your package. It costs UGX 2500 (about a $1 to get the package). If the package is bigger, it costs more. I don't really know what this money goes to cover, but I know I must pay it to get my package. I have argued with the post master several times about it, but to no avail. So, Roberto (the guys who works in our PR office) went down to the post office in Mukono to retrieve my package. I was not expecting anything for another couple of weeks, but was so pleasantly surprised to see a package from one of my college friends, Vickie. She sent me Hershey kisses in fall colors! It was so exciting! I literally made peanut butter blossoms with fifteen minutes of receiving the candy!
Hope you are all doing well. I have three more weeks of classes and then finals. Tomorrow I am off to the tailor to get two dresses I asked her to make. I will post pictures, of course!
