My First Week in Community

I just finished my first week in community. I got extremely sick the first day (probably from dehydration), but I am much better now and the rest of the week was thoroughly enjoyable. I am staying at a little house right outside of the school grounds with my volunteer partner Noreen. It is a pretty nice setup, however the electricity hasn't been working for 2 weeks now so we had to do everything by lantern light. School doesn't start until Monday so there weren't many kids around. We mainly hung out with one of the teachers named Moses. He kept us entertained pretty much the whole week. We went to visit many of the schools around and I was able to talk with some of the directors of the schools about the Ugandan education system. It was very interesting to hear what they had to say and I learned how hard the students are worked. They start school in the morning at 6:00 and they don't end until 10:30pm! Could you imagine? Other than visiting schools, Moses took us into the forest to search for monkeys. We found a few and I got some really good photos. I also went to a community meeting about the best way to care for cows, especially during the dry season. Everything was conducted in Lugandan, but Moses translated some of it for me. I found out that the Heifer Project International has partnered with some other organizations and does work in the communities around here. I thought that was pretty school since JUC raises money for Heifer International. Next week I should begin teaching classes. I have no idea what subjects I will be teaching. Hopefully it goes well! I also think that we are going to do a safari next weekend, which should be awesome. I am super excited to start this next week. I almost forgot to mention...I have a new Ugandan name. My new name is Zalwango. Well I am off to Kampala to go to the Saturday market. Talk to you later!