Midterms

Tuesday, June 30

So the past few days have been a bit slower than usual. Yet, my definition of slow would would probably still be faster than a regular pace on “African” time. The main reason why is that this week is midterm week. Meaning that there is no class time. Midterms are scheduled all week. For me, the only time I need to be at school this week is when the classes of my partner teacher have midterms scheduled. For most of us at SSB that means 1 or 2 times this week. (or when we have a roundtable or when I’ve scheduled time to mark/grade and plan together.) Monday I showed up expecting to proctor an exam at 3:00 pm. I arrived to learn that because the exam was printed and ready it was given that morning. Though I didn’t have to proctor an exam that afternoon I was sent home with a stack of papers to grade. For all of those who pride yourselves in being organized and scheduled this place would absolutely rock your world.

We had our roundtable meeting this afternoon, which is a meeting between all of the American teachers and their partner teachers at SSB and a facilitator (usually Catherine or Amy, but today it was Sasha). The main purpose was to brainstorm and prepare for our presentation at the conference this weekend. I felt like our teachers had some valuable ideas to share and I really enjoyed getting to learn more about the school. However, we’re still not ready for this weekend.

Tonight, we opted to take a break from Katharines, our provided supper source. We all agreed that a break from Acholi food would be nice. We went to eat at Boma, a more Western and more nice restaurant than most in Gulu. The majority of us ordered steak. It was very good as well as satisfying. I thought the meal would be the highlight for the night. But, the walk home is definitely up there. First note, that we are walking home in a big group and at night. There’s definitely a way home that I knew because it is the same as our boda ride home from school. Yet, there is this dirt road that Matt, a previous participant, insists is a shortcut home. Being a past participant we follow along without much hesitation. We arrive to this village/slum of Gulu and realize that we really need to go straight which involves walking though. Picture a large group of muzungu with headlamps and flashlights, which no one in Gulu use, walking through these narrow paths between shelters in the village. At one point we walk through the dump, which includes a foot path well trodden out, so we’re all giggling at the hilarity of the moment all the while I’m really wondering if we’re totally lost and drawing a ridiculous amount of attention to ourselves and not in a good way. Thanks to Wendy, another previous participant, we were able to make our way through and into town.