Snow Day! 10/5

We called today our Ugandan Snow Day!  We were about to leave for school this morning and our car wouldn’t start.  Samson figured it was just that we were low on fuel so he went to pick up some gas in town.  When we asked if we should call Sam and let him know we were going to be late to school he said we should just wait.  He came back and put it in and it still wouldn’t start.  After he looked at, it his boda-boda driver looked at it, and our neighbor looked at it, they decided it needed more fuel.  So Samson got more gas.  And the car still didn’t start.  Samson laughed a little and told us now we should call Sam.  So we called Sam and told him we weren’t going to make it to school because our car wouldn’t start.  Sam had Samson bring some mechanics over (3 of them) and they worked on the car for a couple hours and had it back up and running.  Supposedly it was the fuel pump. 

So with our unplanned day off we decided it was time to do our laundry.  We had planned to do it on Saturday, but Doreen had stayed at home the night before so we wanted to impress her by having all our laundry done by the time she got back (Doreen helps us quite a bit with our laundry).  Well we did it, with a lot of sweat and finishing three hours later with raw knuckles.  We were very proud of ourselves and so was Doreen.

I spent the rest of the day reading outside, getting a little bit of sun.  I finished a book Nick had given to me before I left, The Jesuit’s Guide to Almost Everything, by James Martin, SJ.  The book was a good read and was especially relevant to much of what I have been going through here.  He even spent a few years in Africa himself and at times had a lot of the same feelings I have had.  I could definitely relate with much of what the book had to say. 

We went to town in the afternoon to pick up my skirt and blouse I had made for the wedding.  The turned out beautifully; however, the skirt was a little big.  I will have it altered after the wedding.  I am looking forward to wearing it tomorrow at the wedding!

Not only did we not have school today, but when we talked to Sam he informed us there would be no school on Monday or Tuesday of next week.  We knew there wouldn’t be school Tuesday as it is Independence Day here, but off on Monday was news to us.  So now we had Friday through Tuesday off of school.  It was kind of nice having off on Friday, but as soon as I started thinking about my kids I was sad. I knew they would be missing me and wondering where I was.  I was also sad that I wouldn’t be teaching them the lessons I had planned for them that day.  And all of these thoughts got me thinking about just how great the kids are.  They are what keep me going every day.  They never fail to brighten my day, or put a smile on my face, and most importantly they keep me positive and remind me what I came here to do.  And they remind me that I am doing it.  I am having the most incredible, once in a lifetime teaching experience.  I am learning about myself as a teacher and as a person through these kids.  They will never know what they have given me, but I am doing everything I can to give back to them, showing them love and support and being the best teacher I can be for these students while I am here.  In just the few short weeks that I have been here I have built relationships with each and every student in classroom, and they are relationships I wish could last a lifetime.  It already saddens me thinking of the day that I will have to say goodbye to them.  But I know each of them will forever hold a place in my heart, and I know just by hearing them talk about each and every teacher that has been here in the past that they will hold me in theirs for awhile too. 

My P1 Class

Yep, gonna miss these goofs!

Take my picture!