Day 4!

Monday May 21^st 10:50 pm

Today was a day that was definitely more up my alley. We went to MUBS for our usual breakfast of toast and biscuit/cookie and then boarded the bus. Today we went to City Secondary School, which is a private boarding/day school. The students greeted us when we got off the bus with a marching band. We marched down to their main campus and began the day’s activities.

The visit began with introductions and some rather lengthy speeches about the schools history and make-up, the education system in Uganda in general, and some background in culture. They exposed us to some of the various 55 cultures that are represented in their school through dance and comedy. The students played some more music and did African dances from different cultures. We also had the opportunity to introduce ourselves and explain some of the activities we have been involved in at home.

After our long introduction assembly we got to visit their art room. The students’ artwork was absolutely amazing and nothing that I could even imagine creating. They then decided we should participate in some of their artwork by making tie-dye cloths. We just bunched up the fabric in the grass and then poured on some dye using a plastic cup. We then rinsed our fabric out and laid it out to dry. It was similar yet very different to the typical way of tie-dying that we are used to.

We then walked around their campus a bit and got to look at the dormitories. Students sleep in bunk beds, some three beds high, and essentially live out of their suitcases. It surprised me how impersonal the rooms were and how formal everything was. We saw a typical classroom and what their computer lab where they house only 10 computers looked like.

It was then time to eat. We had the typical matooke and rice and I’m getting to the point where I am choking it down. I felt bad not eating all of it but we are all starting to get sick of eating the same food day in and day out for every meal. During lunch we had the opportunity to start interacting with some of the students. They were more difficult to understand than the other people we’ve interacted with thus far, but we had conversations about school, hobbies, and weather.

After lunch, we continued interacting with the students. While everyone else played games with them, listened to American music, or danced, the other education majors, the professors, and I, met with their teachers. We asked them a few questions about how their schooling works to obtain a teaching degree and other various questions about education in Uganda. They then had the opportunity to ask us questions about the United States’ education program. They had a lot of questions about Drake, the sequence of our schooling, and what our program looked like.

The other thing that happened during this time is some other students on the trip gave away some of their bracelets, pins, t-shirts, or whatever else they brought to donate. I was really surprised at how rude some of the students were acting literally like animals trying to get their hands on absolutely anything. They also were asking some of us for money or sponsorship to come to the United States, as well as our contact information. I think we are all still adjusting to the fact that we are treated somewhat like celebrities and they assume that because we are from America that we have a lot of money.

To end the day we played soccer and volleyball. I played volleyball for a little bit and then it got competitive so we just became cheerleaders. Drake/MUBS unfortunately lost after a lot of slipping and sliding in the mud. They then of course had to talk some more and thank us for coming. City Secondary school presented us with some African instruments to thank us for coming. We said our goodbyes, signed the guest book, and loaded up again.

We went to dinner at Spurs where for the first time we were able to get somewhat Americanized food. I had a chicken enchilada with a vanilla milkshake. It was nowhere close to being as good as it is at home, but it was definitely a welcomed break from matooke. It was then back to Red Chili for time to work on our journals and actually get to sleep before midnight for once. For the first time ever we actually have a decent internet connection as well so I’m going to spend some time figuring out what’s going on in the world.

~Mary