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Usually, i have something written ahead of posting to save time. today is not the case. maybe I should just begin my thoughts.

two weeks ago the school had a strike from the sophomore-level girls. they had grievances against some of the teachers and decided that until their demands were met, they were not going to partake in classes. as can be imagined, this disrupted the entire school. the girls did a little vandalism and one of their requests was that two of the teachers be handed over to them so they could cane them. i was not one of these, but my name was brought up as one of the teachers they were having qualms against. i don't know how really to tell this in a sensitive manner, because it really shocked and hurt me. the girls are amazing and somehow i...failed i guess. i don't know all the implications nor aspects of what happened, nor do i know what all i am to learn in this. a lot of people encouraged me and i really got a chance to talk seriously with a lot of the teachers and students so that was a positive. maybe im still a little dazed on the whole subject still. understand that i certainly am leaving out a lot of details, like the fact that the police had to come and girls were expelled, but that the general feel has been included. one of my colleagues here put it to me that perhaps this sort of rebellious stage is common in all girls. think about the most vicious girls in high school. her thoughts were that it tends to be the sophomore-junior level girls. maybe its got to do with some adolescence and rebellion, and the fact that the girls don't know how to manage those emotions in an acceptable manner, because in uganda, there is no acceptable manner. such emotions are crushed under physical and emotional pain. the girls really are good though. so amazing.

right now the girls are studying for end-of-term exams. the upper level girls (S6, which is right prior to attending the university if you perform well on the exams) just study day and night. one of them told me that they stopped even eating dinner as it took away from studies. i guess i will have to eat more to make up for it then!

about a month ago we sent students home who had not paid school fees. to my dismay, a lot of my students were included in this lot. one of these students is a girl who is not only really sweet, but really intelligent too. last week though I saw her on saturday and was thankful that her family had come up with the money for school fees so she could return. the next day though, she was gone. it turns out, she had gone through an elaborate scheme of bleaching and transferring data onto a bank slip all so that she could come to school. her family indeed could not pay. i thought about this, and its just amazing. these girls want to come to school so bad, and certainly not just for the social aspect of it. there is a desire here that i wonder if many have in the states. im sad, shocked, amazed, and delighted at this spirit, but frustrated too.

i have running water in my house, but as of late northern and eastern uganda have had a serious drought. im starting to see first hand what it means when the Bible talks about having a drought in the land and the seriousness of the matter. there is famine in the east, and talk of it in the north. because of the drought, the water in my house was gone for about a week. water is still available, but like other ugandans, i had to pump it and transfer it from the borehole (well). sometimes the kids will do this and just absolutely stockpile jerrycans full of water on their bicycles and then push it some good distance home. i suppose, in comparison to them, i am a big wimp. i would fill two jerrycans (20 L each) and then walk them to my house 3 minutes away. i didn't like doing this though and so I came up with the obvious conclusion that the only way to minimize my time at the borehole was to minimize my water consumption. my hygiene during that week...not good.

what i eat-i have no fridge. i laugh at the thought. bread lasts, at max, 5 days, fruit less, and vegetables more. rice and millet are my go-to foods as they keep a while and are not terribly expensive in the market. lately though, ive been on a bit of an egg craze and have been purchasing eggs like gang-busters from the lady down the road. she probably thinks ive got a pet snake. oh, speaking of which, i could have had a pet snake, had i not killed the one that i found in my bathroom one night. now all you animal lovers, don't hate me. i wanted to usher it outside, but i kept thinking that if for some reason i failed to get it outside that it would go directly under my bed and then i would have a hay-day trying to get it out. i smashed it with a wood board. when i get bread, my maz taught me to make some mean cinnamon sugar bread as well as some garlic bread so i've also been testing out my skills in that department lately. i tried to make cookie dough using some sugar, flour, and raw eggs...the turnout was not kind to me in the bowel region.

two of my best friends are getting married in two days. if they were getting married over here, matt would have to pay stac's family a couple cows, possibly some goats and chickens, and maybe some monetary gift also. i think you're getting off easy matty.

the premier league starts soon in the soccer/football world. that means a large percentage of my free time will now hopefully be spent talking under the mango tree about how great wayne rooney is and how real madrid is trying to buy their way to the championship. don't tell anyone, but i don't mind this fact one bit. frankly, i think its genius.

over and out

well, it's been about a month

hi kids, it's been about a month since you've heard from this guy, and we've had a lot of action over here. the following post is actually from a letter i wrote to a family member. i hope that member will forgive me for giving her the same message twice, but i thought it worth posting (i may be wrong about this).

The people...the people are kind and unkind, selfless and selfish, misunderstood and full of misunderstanding, healthy and diseased, each day smiling and each day weeping. perhaps similar to how we are in the states, maybe though with some drastic, and not always desirable, extremes. it is so amazing getting to know families and personalities I could never before have imagined. it is an honor to begin to understand simple pleasures; talking under the mango tree, a bumpy ride through swamp lands, planting crops, or separating peanuts from their shells and skin (i think similar to Biblical references about separating the wheat from the chaff). these are good things that i tend to rush, but that the people here take time with and give importance to. no hurry. my heart has been moved to brokenness many times, both by joy and by pain, by events and happenings I don't claim to understand, nor do i know if i ever will; seeing the girls run, in full contentment, in a track race with no shoes and on an uneven grass track which they cut by hand; hearing the African harp and drums during the church services. but also, seeing 3 children on the street drinking dirt-filled water, hearing the countless stories of families that have lost children in what many would consider avoidable circumstances. i really am trying to get beyond myself, but this isn't always easy. there are days when i get angry. i get angry at the way the girls are treated-doing most the work, kneeling, standing, carrying water, eating last, preparing meals-while many men sit idly by. i get angry at how i think some people are only interested in what i can give them. i get angry at myself; why didn't i seek understanding? why didn't i help? why didn't i put that person before myself? what use am i? am i really even helping?...but there are days of amazement and happiness too. like the day 2 Ugandan men ran with me for 8 kilometers, or the day all the girls gave me high-fives as they finished their run, or the day i saw the little girl with the pink hibiscus flower staring at me-yellow pollen covering her dark face as she had been smelling the flower using the full-face technique! again, let me say that I'm not claiming to understand all, or any of this fully, but perhaps experience is a step towards this understanding.

on a different note, i had a 20 minute conversation with myself about whether, if Gatorade sponsored Uganda, if mango would be the official flavor or not.

we had our all-volunteer-conference last week near kampala. all 130ish volunteers gathered for 5 days of meeting, catching up, idea sharing, and refreshment. it was really an excellent time. prior to the meeting, our country director sent out an email saying this event was supposed to be professional. well, there's only one way i know how to be professional, so my buddy and i decided we had better sport mustaches for the event. let me say, once a shaved into this 'stach, i immediately began to creep myself out. at the meeting, we were paired up in groups for some activity and i was paired with a girl i had never met before. right away i could tell she did not want to be my partner. people, this is the type of racial profiling that will be our downfall.

we had the district track meet the other day. amazing. this would be equivalent to our regional meet at the high school level, where the students were trying to qualify for nationals. the track was grass, uneven, cut by hand, and prompted no complaints from the people. i saw some boys and girls put up incredible times, that college coaches would definitely be interested in. my favorite events were definitely the distance events, where one of the girls just went buck wild on the competition and absolutely dropped the hammer on some girls. besides that though, the high jump was amazing. there are no mats, so they just put down sand and then let the students jump over the bar however they can. as soon as the students hit the ground you could tell it hurt. one dude was bleeding, i think a couple wanted to cry...awesome!

let me end by reiterating the fact that i don't understand a lot, even of what i write. i observe, at times participate, but mostly question. maybe there's a lot for me to figure out. maybe i never will. but i at least want to try. i don't always do a great job at this.