Teaching in Asia

Hello, world!

I have some exciting news for the literary fans out there, that allows me to brag on a friend. But I’ll save that for the next post so it can have a post all to itself. For now, I figure I’d better update those of you who aren’t on Facebook (or who are, but read my blog and wonder where I am now).

Since my last post, I explored a bunch more of Germany (namely Koln and Berlin, as well as a day in Dresden and hiking in Saxon Switzerland), spent way more time in the Czech Republic than I’d planned (which is not a bad thing- I loved it there!), and ended up coming back to the States because it was no longer safe for the school I taught at to be open in its location in Central Asia. It was really sad to not go back there. It was my home for the last couple years, and I miss my students dearly. But life goes on, and so must I.

Soon after I landed in North America, I went to a retreat in Pennsylvania where I got to spend time with my American coworkers, and also got to visit my longtime friend and my aunt and uncle in Gettysburg. My friend took me to Baltimore, and we explored more historical sites there.

This last week I began subbing in one of the school districts I used to work in as an instructional assistant before I got my teaching license. And tomorrow I begin working at a new school for the rest of this school year. I’m very thankful for these opportunities! And very excited.

Well, that’s all for now, but I wanted to update any of you who hadn’t caught up with me already on Facebook or email. I think for now I’ll just post a photo of Saxon Switzerland, because you’ve all probably seen photos of the rest of the places I went, but may not have heard of that scenic little corner of Eastern Germany. Enjoy! And happy travels, whether it’s to somewhere historical, exotic, relaxing, or a nice walk in the evening sunshine.

Saxon Switzerland

Bastei Bridge

Hello friends and family,

I’m obviously not using my blog much anymore, but I thought I’d use it at least to write my Christmas newsletter this year. Especially since I’m not home to mail it out to anyone. So, without further adieu, Merry Christmas from Germany!

2014 has been an amazing year. Very difficult in many ways. But I have learned a lot about teaching, myself, and life itself. I have grown and matured in some ways, and (I hope) my faith is deeper than it was before. And yes, according to Christmas newsletter tradition, I’ll brag for a bit that I’ve been to some of the most amazing places on Earth this year!

Since I last wrote from Bahrain, I spent a fun summer reconnecting with friends and family in the States. There I travelled to California and Utah to visit good friends and got to hike on the Central California coast, camped in Montana, and saw geology at work in the geysers of Yellowstone and the dramatic canyon of Zion National Park. I also spent lovely time with friends and family at the Southern Oregon coastline and other lovely Oregon sights.

This fall, while living again in Central Asia, I visited friends in Qatar and enjoyed exploring ruins and the beach there for the Eid holiday. I also flew with friends to Bamiyan and saw where the giant Buddhas once stood, and hiked to an ancient fort that was attacked by Genghis Khan. (Yeah, pretty amazing! This history nerd was beyond giddy.)

And now I’m in Europe. My friend and I flew into Prague and enjoyed the Christmas market in the Old Town there. We’ve been staying since with a friend in Germany and taking in the culture and scenery here. Today we visited the city where my parents were stationed, and I lived the first three months of my life. It was lovely! And happens to be the birthplace of the Brothers Grimm. Yep, that must be why I love fairy tales so much.

As for teaching, this new year has been challenging but incredibly fun. Geometry is my most challenging class content-wise. Proofs and justifications are just as difficult as they were when I was in high school! And teaching 10th graders just doesn’t come as naturally to me as the middle-school age. But now we’re into the triangles unit, and having more fun with that. This year, my one non-math class is history, which is blessedly within my content areas that I’m licensed for (8th grade science was crazy hard last year!). So I’m teaching 8th grade U.S. History to Central Asian kids. Definitely a challenge, but a fun one! These kids are really intrigued by American history, so it’s been a lot of fun to teach them. They ask excellent discussion questions and are getting really good at seeing the history from different perspectives, which was one of my goals. My 7th and 8th grade math classes have been a lot of fun, too. Behavior is definitely the biggest challenge there, but I adore them.

Those of you who know where I teach specifically can guess that it’s been a difficult year based on the news you may have seen. It has been hard. But I love the people there and the culture and especially the kids, and it has been a blessing to be there with them in hard times.

Well, that’s pretty much 2014 in a nutshell (that’s an American idiom; I find myself explaining idioms a lot to my students this year!). I sincerely hope that you have all had a wonderful year, will have a wonderful Christmas, and a happy New Year.

Santa Barbara

Yellowstone Falls

Ruins on the Persian Gulf

Red Fort

Old Town Prague

Merry Christmas from Heidelberg Castle

Christmas Market in Gengenbach

Kaiserslautern

The Brothers Grimm in my first hometown

I’ve always been a somewhat tightly wound personality, and presumably am even more so when teaching. Even when I was an instructional assistant, it took me about a week into summer to unwind and relax. Now with all the intense experiences I had this last school year plus cultural transition back into Western society and family life, I’ve been trying to be more intentional about the debreifing/unwinding (and I’d have said “decompressing” but looked it up and it’s a fairly technical diving term) process. But I don’t want to slip into a depression from feeling purposeless in the summer, so I’ve also tried to be intentional about volunteering my time and services for the benefit of the local community.

So here’s where I’m at and what I’ve been doing with my time. My last post was written while I was on a somewhat spur-of-the-moment “Transition Vacation” in Bahrain. It’s a nice island kingdom in the Middle East, which has the religious culture I’m used to in Central Asia, but is a little more Westernized and touristy, so I could relax a bit (didn’t have to wear a head covering in the street), see the sights, and wander the city safely. It was great. I don’t think I thought about very much the whole time. Just let my brain rest and enjoy life.

Now I’ve been back in the States for a week. I’ve spent some time with family (and am looking forward to lots more time throughout the summer), helped out with yardwork at my mom’s house, been a cabin leader for a kids’ retreat at the camp I worked at as a teen/college student, helped make props for the local university’s production of Alice in Wonderland, took the dog for a nice quiet day at the coast, nearly caught up on Once Upon a Time episodes, and ridden mom’s bike around the lake and river areas here. And of course worked on some personal things, including getting set up for some official debriefing/counseling.

All that sounds like a lot, but don’t worry, I’ve had plenty of time sitting around the house and reading (or playing on Facebook). Not sure how much it’s all helping, but I don’t feel like I’ve been stuck in the “funk” I felt during Christmas vacation here. I feel a lot more balanced. And I’m sure the counselor will help me debrief some of the experiences of the school year in Central Asia.

I’ve had some time to reflect on some of the ways I’ve changed this year. My focus and purpose in life is changing. I’m working on becoming less self-centered (so I feel a bit strange writing blog posts that are all about me, but I guess it’s part of the processing experience and people keep asking me how I am so I guess it’s okay).  I’ve changed in some funny ways too: Because Wii “Just Dance” is one of our favorite forms of entertainment on the compound, I’ve found myself listening to the pop stations much more than usual in my car and caught myself singing and dancing along with a One Direction song (this rock ‘n’ roller has never liked boy bands!). From where I’ve been living, I feel like I’m more brave but also more paranoid. I really can’t answer the question “Do you feel safe there?” yet. But I know I’m teaching where I’m supposed to be and I take courage in that. I’m appreciating the green scenery in my home state much more after living in the high desert. And I’ve realized I’m more of an introvert than I used to be, but I really enjoyed living with three other gals and living “in community” on the compound (it even feels a bit like a hippie commune sometimes! But I love how we all pitch in and help each other).

So that’s where I’m at. Still processing. Unwinding. Relaxing. But trying to also accomplish some things too to keep me on track (and keep me from becoming a couch potato for the summer). Of course that’ll be easier when I take a grad class later this summer, but for now I’m excited to help friends and family around here, and enjoy summer (I know, it’s only spring here still, but it feels like summer since I’m out of school!).

I’ll post some pics from Bahrain just for fun:

Architecture in Bahrain, by one of the city gardens

World Trade Center in Bahrain

Bahrain skyline by the Persian Gulf

Dipping my feet into a man-made harbor by the Persian Gulf

The “Tree of Life” – a few hundred year old tree in the middle of the desert island

The Bahrain Fort – a few hundred-year-old fortress

Bridge over the moat at the Bahrain Fort

Love the Middle-Eastern archways at the Fort

Pottery “sculpture” at A’Ali, a city famous for centuries of pottery-making

Ancient burial mounds in A’Ali

Greetings from the Middle East! Wait, you ask, why aren’t you still teaching in Central Asia?

Due to circumstances and events in the city, we let out school yet another week early. So April 30 was our last teaching day. A few (mostly the engaged ones with fiancées back home) left for the US as soon as they could earlier this week. The rest of us staggered our flights out of the country and opted to not pay extra to change our transatlantic flights yet again. Instead, we found places nearby to stay and have adventures while we decompress and debrief the year. I decided to visit a grad school friend in the Persian Gulf.

Before I tell you about Bahrain, I’ll let you know that I’ll be mentally/emotionally processing the end of the school year in Central Asia for a while. Probably bits and pieces will come out in my conversations, speaking opportunities, journaling, blogging, and  newsletter writing.  It was a crazy time period for us at our school. Between some crazy events in the city, life went on in our school. We hosted a school of children in poverty for our “Week Without Walls,” (aka WWW) where our secondary students taught the kids fun science, English, and other lessons day-camp style, and everyone who attends/works at the school contributed to a mural (pictured). Our soccer team competed in Turkey and had a great time (and brought us back Krispy Kremes).

My algebra class was struggling with both grades and behavior, but thanks to some helpful lesson plan intervention from the science teacher (who is also our mentor teacher and currently interim principal), the last few weeks of class were fantastic. I was able to finish strong with all my classes, even with the shortened schedule. That was such a huge blessing! Especially since I’ll have the 9^th graders again next year for geometry. I’ll also have regular 7^th & 8^th grade math classes, 7^th/8^th grade math foundations, and 8^th grade American history. I’m really excited for that last one because I haven’t taught history since student teaching in grad school, and I don’t want to forget how. I’m very excited for next year!

So anyway, back to the Persian Gulf…  It is lovely here.  The weather is warm and muggy but not unbearable. Where I’m staying is an interesting mix of Middle Eastern and Western culture, with centuries-old fortresses and a spaceship-shaped Starbucks. I’m excited to explore more!

With that, I’ll leave you all to your summers. What’s that? It’s not summer in the States yet? Well, as difficult as it was to end the school year early, I won’t complain about having some extra weeks since I’ll be returning to Central Asia in early-mid August (which means I’ll miss the Scandinavian Festival and our family reunion again, bummer!). And I’ll enjoy having more time to visit all of you. Take care! And I’ll see you soon, America! (aka “Amrika” in my part of the world- love it!)

Hope is an incredible thing. It inspires, encourages, and can bring new life.

Today was a very important day in the country I’m in right now. The people here needed hope to take action today, especially the women, who have been more than marginalized the last few decades. Because for the past week, a certain group of people has been taking action to discourage the people of this country. But the people still took action, even through a pretty mighty storm. This says a lot about a country that has been through a lot. Certainly there’s fear, and if not fear, at least cynicism. But there is still hope. And where there is hope, there is potential for a bright future.

For me personally, this last week has been teaching me a lot about hope. There has certainly been reason to fear. But so many things have happened to remind me that there is also reason to hope. Hope for protection. Hope for peace. And hope for a bright future. I am so thankful for this, because I’m usually very susceptible to fear, cynicism, and even disillusionment. And then I become a depressing, hurtful person, who is unwilling to take a chance. Certainly my students don’t need a teacher like that. So for them and others, I choose hope.

So please join me in having hope. Personally, and for the world as well. And right now, especially for this beautiful country that I’m in. The people have taken action. Now we’ll wait and see the outcome.

Spring break in the compound: brings new meaning to the term “stay-cation.” This year for spring break, I decided to stay here to save money and relax (and have the house to myself, aside from the maids. Yeah, it’s a rough life…). Most of my friends went to exciting places like Qatar, Sri Lanka, Rome, and Greece. It would have been great fun to join them. But my English teacher friend and I both decided to stay here, along with the Spanish teacher and his wife, our current director, the new director for next year, and the financial director. And even though we had to stay on the compound most of the time (we managed to go to the grocery store and to another teacher’s house off-campus for dinner), we had fun.

Those of us staying here traded off some dinners so no one had to cook for themselves every night. Us gals made build-your-own pizzas one night, the directors each made a pasta dinner, the financial director made chili, and I made enchiladas tonight. Amazing how much more I like cooking when I’m relaxed on vacation! The new director also hosted a “Second breakfast tea party” one morning with doughnuts and tea (yes, there’s a bakery here where we can get doughnuts! And yes, men can host tea parties).

Since I was staying, I volunteered to take care of my coworkers’ pets. I’ll be sure to include some pics of my furry friends for the week. Dusty the dog is fun. I take her out to the basketball court, block up the exits, and let her run free while I jog around the court or read a book in the sunshine. She also likes to cuddle and get tummy rubs. The neighbor boys (there are a couple local families that happen to live within our compound) always begged me to “bring dog” to play, so a couple times I let Dusty loose in the soccer or b-ball court and let the kids play fetch with her. Many people here are afraid of dogs, so it was fun to see the boys gently pet her and enjoy playing with her. The cats Creamy, Alice, are Little Chicken were also fun to cuddle and play with. I love the names my coworkers come up with for cats! I had to rescue a Justin Bieber Christmas tree ornament from Little Chicken a few times, and discovered that Creamy likes getting brushed, while Alice likes to play with the cat brush. I also got a pic of Alice’s wild sibling up in a tree.

I don’t know much of the local language, and the maids don’t know much English, but I got to “talk” some to our main maid this week since I was home all day. We practiced vocabulary in each other’s language using objects in the room, photos from my book about Oregon, and photos of our families. She showed me photos on her phone of her daughters and her daughter’s artwork. Later, I was making lunch, so I made enough for her (the people here are famous for their hospitality, so I’d have felt awkward eating in front of her). Even though we couldn’t hold much of a conversation, it was really neat to eat with her.

The English teacher and I hosted a party for our girl students. Only two girls came, but they’re quiet in my classes at least, so it was really nice to get to know them more. Both of them have mothers who work to help the situation of women in need here. Some of the stories they told about the women they’ve helped were incredible.

So while I don’t have exotic photos this time like I did on my trip to Uganda last fall, I did get to relax, get to know a few of my coworkers more, have fun with the locals, and catch up on personal stuff like taxes and registering for a grad class to keep up my teaching license. I’m so glad I stayed. I might stay again on future vacations, if only I didn’t have a long list of places I dream of seeing and people to visit around the world! We’ll see what happens!

Full moon over k-town

Creamy and Alice

Dusty the dog

“Wildlife” in k-town

Little Chicken

Happy Women’s Day!

My blog originally set out to chronicle the journeys of women, and gets commandeered to chronicle my own journey when I’m abroad. So I want to take this opportunity to celebrate women around the world.

I hadn’t heard of this holiday in the States, but it’s somewhat of a big deal here in Central Asia. I had several of my students wish me a happy day for it, and my employer bought all us women on staff flowers and an umbrella. But that’s not why I’m appreciating International Women’s Day here.

First and most selfishly, I suppose I’m enjoying it because I’m a nearly middle-age divorced woman with no children, who gets depressed every year around Mother’s Day. I always feel sad that day, and only enjoy the day once I remind myself that I have a wonderful mother, step-mother, and former mother-in-law that I am grateful for, and then I celebrate them instead of thinking it’s all about me. But I have to admit, it’s nice to be celebrated just for being a woman. And I consider myself very blessed to have many children in my life: my students, my friends’ children, etc.

However, that’s not really why it’s a big deal here. They don’t celebrate Mother’s Day here, and in this part of the world, most women are mothers. So why is it a big deal here? Last week some people came from a university to speak to the kids about it, but it wasn’t really clear what they were trying to say about it. As I chatted with one of the upperclassmen students today, she reminded me that it’s an important day here because of what the women have been through in the last 30 years in this country. Things are much better for women now, but there is still inequality.

I’m reminded of this every time my middle school boys tell me they went to the water park over the weekend (and I pretend to glare at them and say “Don’t tell me about that- it sounds like fun and I’m not allowed to go because I’m a woman.”) But many people here know that women are worth as much as men, and are trying to make things better. Sometimes only in small ways, but they make a difference. A few weeks ago a local man who works at my school opened a door for me, and said “Ladies first.” Back in the States, that’s not really a big deal for me. Some might even consider it chauvinistic. But here, I felt very honored, knowing how women were treated for many years.

The women here are amazingly strong. They work hard, and have hope for the future. My girl students have big dreams for their careers. Some of my students have mothers who are doctors and other highly educated professions. (One of the high school boys, when that small class was analyzing data that showed that in the USA men still earn more money than women, tried to explain it by saying men are smarter than women, but his own mother is a surgeon! I let the girl in that class have the last word that day.) The women here believe in a future here that will continue to become brighter and brighter.

So to all the women out there, especially those who, like the women of this country, have overcome trials and adversity, Happy Women’s Day. You are special. You have worth. And you have something amazing to offer this world. Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise.

View from Spencer’s Butte hiking trail

In the scarf factory, drinking my tea

Well, hello! I know, I know. This year has flown by, and I’ve done very few blog posts or newsletters. Not even a Christmas newsletter for 2013 or New Years 2014. I meant to do a mid-year (school year) post at the end of the 1^st semester, and that came and went as well. But I definitely want to write before winter is over. And we are on the second day of a three day weekend thanks to a local holiday. So here I am, on Valentine’s Day, wishing my home state a happy birthday, and wishing my loved ones a happy day.

Oregon, my Oregon! (That’s the official state song, by the way; I think I had to learn it in 4^th grade in the UofO children’s choir). I got to visit friends and family in Oregon for the winter break. I attended a backyard campfire one sunny afternoon, went horseback riding at the coast with a close friend, and hiked up Spencer’s Butte with my dad, but that’s about all I experienced of Oregon’s scenery. Over the holiday, I also got to fly to Pennsylvania and visit friends and family there and in Ohio. Both are lovely states. In Pittsburgh, I rode the Duquesne Incline, and toured the gothic Cathedral of Learning. My friends and I also toured a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright homes, and got the grand tour of Gettysburg from my uncle and aunt. In Ohio, I got treated to delicious food and Jungle Jim’s, which is kind of like the Rainforest Café of grocery stores. I love visiting new states. The USA has so much to offer! But Oregon will always be my home state.

What I miss most there is the waterfalls. They don’t have many waterfalls here.  I’m guessing there are some up in the mountains, at least in the spring. Ah, the mountains. Now those, I don’t miss as much. Oregon has fantastic volcano mountains, and my middle schoolers love seeing pictures of those. But here the city is completely ringed in high rugged mountains, made even more epic this time of year with the snow. I go up on top of the high school building sometimes and sit, mesmerized by the mountains and warmed by the sun on my face.

I miss the children of Oregon. My friends’ kids, the youth group kids, and the students at the schools I worked at and student-taught at. But I am grateful to have great students here, too. They drive me crazy sometimes. There’s plenty of attitude, excuses, and whining. But there’s also lots of sweetness. The high school girls tell me I’m pretty, the middle school girls make me holiday cards, the middle school boys stop as they walk by to ask me how my day is going (and write messages on my whiteboard when I’m not looking after class), and the high school boys sing all the time (oh wait, that’s one of the things that drives me crazy, at least when I’m trying to teach). The kids here love music as much as kids in the States do. Two days ago the student council hosted a fundraiser party at lunchtime, and they had dancing. Here, girls can watch boys dance, but not vice-versa, so there was a screen up so the girls could dance. The 8^th grade girls dragged me in there to dance local-style. I actually really like the dance-pop music here. Kind of a blend of traditional music with a dance beat. But what I love about the kids most of all is that even though it takes a while to get to know them, once they know you’re sticking around for a while, they open up more and want to get to know you more. It means a lot to them that you want to be here. So I’m really excited to come back next school year.

There are other things about Oregon that I miss, too. The coast. The coffee. The carefree strolls. There are only a couple shops I’m allowed to walk to, and other than that, my walks are limited to circling the basketball court, the badminton court, or the soccer “field” (made out of dust). But the people here make up for it. They are so hospitable and generous. Recently for our student character awards, the theme was “generosity,” and I couldn’t think of any exceptional students to nominate for that, because they’re all so generous. The kids bring food to share communally, and have even offered me some when they’re in my classroom for lunch detention. I’ve written already about visiting the neighbors across the street for lunch and tea. A couple weeks ago, I got to go to a famous old shopping district and visit a scarf shop with a small factory upstairs. It was so cozy, with only a few looms, and fabric draped everywhere, even the ceiling. The shopkeeper offered us tea, and we refused the three required times, and then accepted. And of course, I bought a scarf. Not one of the $75 silk ones that take six weeks to embroider by hand. Maybe someday. But it was a great experience. Everyone here is so giving. Once I stopped by my house on  my lunchbreak and gave our maid a couple pieces of candy, and she gave me some of the naan she was eating for lunch. Then the next day, she brought me a beautiful little embroidered cloth (about the size of a bookmark). The other night, when one of the drivers was driving us gals home from bowling, he cranked up the music and started singing along. He said it was his favorite song, from a Bollywood movie. We asked about the movie, and he said he’d lend it to us. I don’t know if he’ll ever remember to bring it with him, but there is definitely an attitude of sharing here. Even the guards, who are usually very reserved, especially with us females, shared in an epic snowball fight last week. They hid behind the hescoes and waited till one of us peeked around to throw a snowball, and threw one right back at us. Then they charged us all to gain ground. The neighbor kids and the drivers joined in, too, and it was beautiful chaos, everyone against everyone. One of those moments in life that can transcend language, race, religion, tribe, and gender role expectations.

Winter with our expat culture has been fun, too. The staff has been going around singing songs from the Disney movie “Frozen,” especially so the day it snowed. So of course we built a snowman (okay, I came at the end and added a little to the work my coworkers and the neighbor boys had done) while the science teacher played the “Do You Want to Build A Snowman” song on his phone. Oregon has had record snow this year, just not while I was there. So I was glad to get some here! We’ve kept cozy and warm with movie parties, pizza parties, and fairy-tale themed murder mystery parties this winter. My classroom has been cold this last week with the snow, but my bedroom keeps warm with the baby bukhari that was installed late last fall. Sometimes I set my tea on the one in my classroom to keep it warm. We drink lots of tea and hot chocolate here (both readily available, even at our local corner store). Soon I’ll get tired of the cold, and be ready for spring. I’ve heard spring is lovely here. And of course, I’m looking forward to summer in Oregon. I can’t wait to see my friends and family there! And hike Silver Falls, of course! But for now, I’m weathering the winter quite well. And enjoying the time I have with my students and friends here while it lasts.

Do you want to build a snowman?

Snowy trees in our compound

Battlefield below Little Round Top in Gettysburg

At the top of Little Round Top in Gettysburg

View of sunset from the top of Devil’s Den in Gettysburg

Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh, looking down while riding up

Happy Thanksgiving, world! I know I haven’t posted in a long time, so this one will be rather long,  but I want to share with you the things I’m experiencing here in Central Asia that I’m thankful for.

As always, I have a lot to be thankful for. My wonderful family and friends that support and encourage me from my homeland (I miss you all! Can’t wait till Christmas!). A great job in a fascinating country. Meals (including some local cuisine) prepared for me most days of the week, and a maid to clean the house I share with my awesome roommates (which so helps as a first year teacher!). And sweet students, like the 8^th grade girl that wrote me a handmade card recently that says “You are a light” on the front and honors me on the inside. And the 11^th grade girl that said “Oh, good,” when I told her I’d be subbing for her class for a couple days. The boys are sweet too, like the 12^th grader who says “High five Ms. Johnson, high five!” every time I do just about anything. Sometimes he’s just being silly, but he’s not mocking me. One time I said it to him, and he got so excited. “Yes! You get it, Ms. Johnson!” He’s the same student who didn’t want to be counted tardy, so on his way to the bathroom, he exclaimed “Hold my horses, Ms. Johnson; hold my horses!” So funny. I love my job! Even on the hard days where 7^th graders ask too many questions, 8^th graders call each other names, 9^th graders erupt into giggle fits, and 11^th graders throw tantrums when they have an upcoming test. Because other times they surprise me with how much they do care.

I’m also thankful for the cultural experiences I’ve had here. I get to teach students that are mostly from this part of the world, along with others from around the world. And they teach me a lot about the local culture. Recently one of my professors/advisors from grad school asked me if my pedagogy has changed yet because of where I’m teaching. I’ve been thinking about that. Yes, in some ways I’ve identified so far, and I’m sure there are some that I haven’t, and more to come. For example, honor is very important in this culture, so truth is not always forthcoming because it is very shameful to one’s family to get into trouble. But I have taught them that honesty is important to me, and I have had some students confess things (like cheating). So I have tried to honor them for their courage in that. The students also love to share the popular culture with me, by inviting me to their soccer games or telling me about their favorite local pop musicians or Bollywood stars. When American football came up in a story problem in Algebra class, I confessed that I don’t really enjoy it and prefer soccer and root for the Portland Timbers and Chivas (both in North America so they’re neutral- I’d start a war in my classroom if I supported Manchester United or Barcelona or Real Madrid since those are the kids’ favorite teams here, and they’re as divided as Duck and Beaver fans are in Oregon!). The whole class literally cheered for me! I think by enjoying soccer, I validated an important part of their culture. (It’s huge here! When this country won the regional championships, we had to go inside because of all the celebratory gunfire around us!)

Besides my students, I’ve also enjoyed getting to know the local culture through the national staff and neighbors. One of the ladies that works in the office taught me a local idiom at the beginning of the year. It is a response to a compliment, and means “Your eyes are beautiful.” At a staff celebration of Eid, she told me some of her personal journey of survival. The people here have lived through a lot. The Eid celebration itself was a cultural experience as well. We had a big tent with a divider to separate the men and women, so we could dance. The local women taught us how. One of the drivers didn’t like the music we had playing on our side, so he went and got his laptop so we’d have “better” music. So funny! More recently, the entire staff went out to eat at a delicious ethnic restaurant, and we crowded into several vehicles. One of the local language teachers couldn’t stand the thought of me sitting on the floor of the bus we were in, and convinced me to sit on her lap. With her arms around me (the people here are very affectionate with their own gender- I’ve even gotten the traditional three kisses from the mother of one of my 8^th grade boys), she pointed out places in the city, and painted a picture for me of what the city was like before the war. Two weekends ago, one of my roommates and I went to a neighbor’s house to visit (there are a couple local families that live on our compound). My roommate has been here for several years and knows the language pretty well, so she translated some of the conversation for me. I mostly talked to the 12-year-old (who taught me the local word for “alien” since the movie Battleship was playing on the TV). The father had studied accounting so he commented a little on that in English when I asked about the accounting books. And the 3-year-old was adorable. He kept taking pictures of my roommate and me on his dad’s phone, and took some of himself, and said the local word for “cheese.” Some American traditions have definitely traveled the world!

In one of my previous posts, I discussed the culture of the expat staff here. We have many talents and hobbies and cuisines to share. Now that it’s too cold for slacklining, one of the elementary teachers gives us gals belly dancing lessons on weekends. It’s a great workout! (Mom, don’t read the next two sentences!) And with so many of us being musically inclined, we’re working on a top-secret Christmas project to bring home to our families (if you guess what it is, don’t tell my mom). Hopefully it’ll turn out well. I even got to play the jingle bells! We have a lot of fun making music together here.

On Tuesday, I had my algebra class write three things they’re thankful for. We’d had an assembly on gratitude recently which taught that gratitude isn’t just a feeling of thankfulness, but it has to be expressed to someone. So the kids asked me who the gratitude was supposed to be directed to: parents, friends, God, etc. I’m used to American kids just reflecting on what they’re thankful for. So I was grateful to my students for reminding me that life isn’t about what we have. It’s about who we have.

And with that, I’m thankful to all of you, for your emotional support and encouragement, and most of all, love. Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m back from Uganda! And it was wonderful. A much needed vacation. We saw and did so many things!

I went with five of my coworkers/new friends, and we stayed with a couple that used to work at our school. We didn’t talk shop until the end of the week. It was fantastic! Uganda is beautiful. It is so green! I hadn’t realized how much I missed the color green from my home state of Oregon. The air was warm and moist but not too hot or muggy. The house we stayed at was fantastic- they even have a big pool and a view of Lake Victoria! And most of us got brave (thanks to Luke who started it) and jumped into the pool from the balcony of the guest house. Terrifying but fun! We also ate dinner on the roof of the guest house, with Lake Victoria as the backdrop. Lovely. OUr hosts were wonderful and made great food for us and even goodie bags for our arrival.

In Kampala, we shopped at craft markets, went out for brunch at an outdoor restaurant called Prunes, and went to an outdoor jazz restaurant called Jazzville for a concert by a cover band (they weren’t amazing but did a decent job of a couple Abba songs). So much fun! We also went to the grocery store by bodaboda (motorcycle taxi). It was a little harrowing, especially with no helmets, but most of all when we rode through a herd of cattle with really long horns!

The most adventurous part of the trip was definitely the safari. We went on a three day camping trip into Murchison Falls National Park, the largest national park in Uganda. A-maz-ing. After staying a night at the main lodge of the company in Kampala (with a lovely sunrise in the morning), we rode in a safari van with our driver Sam for several hours to get to the park. When we neared the park, we saw babooons and various birds as we drove through tropical rainforest. And fought with a vengeance to keep the tsetse flies out of the van since they bite hard. After a short hike, we saw fantastic views of Murchison Falls in tandem with Uhuru Falls, both of which were powerful and beautiful. Then the hike led to the top of Murchison Falls. One of the guides told me that Uhuru Falls was named for the independence from Britain, because Uhuru means “freedom.” Then we rode to the base camp, where we camped in canvas tents (which was a little nerve racking with hippos and warthogs roaming the camp; not for the faint of heart!) and ate meals in a giant thatched roof open air hut. The campfire overlooked the Victoria Nile. And that next morning had a breathtaking sunrise, as well.

We set out early in the morning for the first of two morning game drives through the savannah. For this drive, we had a guide employed by the park named Martha. We drove toward Lake Albert, and saw giraffes, antelope, buffalo and all kinds of animals on the way. However, we never made it there, since we got stuck in a giant mud puddle for well over an hour. We blocked the way of some of the other safari vehicles with European tourists. Many of them, along with Sam and Martha, tried to help us get our van out of the mud, but to no avail, even when “Uganda Jones” drove up in his jeep and his apparent awesomeness. His rope was wimpy though and broke, and he finally gave up and ditched us. At last, all the guides decided to split us up and have us ride with the Europeans in their various vehicles. Katie and I were assigned to a van and were about to leave after everyone else had, when the real “Uganda Jones” (or I called him Crocodile Dundee) drove up in his bigger jeep with giant horns on the front, and a strong chain. Katie and I and other tourists and guides got back in the knee deep puddle and pushed while he pulled from behind in his jeep, and we finally got out! And then Katie fell in… so funny. So Katie and I got to ride by ourselves in our van for quite a while until we picked up two others from the van they’d been assigned to, and Sam let us ride on top up front. We got some epic video of the ride. And saw some giraffes “necking” (according to Sam, but we’ve been told they were actually fighting). Sam drove fast to get us back to the ferry over the Nile in time, and when we got there, a baboon stole a jar of nuts out of someone’s van. He then got chased by other baboons and went around and around the trees. Hilarious!

That afternoon, we took a river cruise down the Victoria Nile and saw lots of hippos, crocodiles, and up close views of elephants, as well as skunk-colored monkeys and all kinds of birds on the way to and from a view of Murchison Falls from below. The next morning, we went on one more game drive as we drove out of the park a different way. This one was less commonly used, so we saw lots more animals close up. An elephant freaked us out by walking toward us on the road. Later, another one was right by the road. We drove out to hike to yet another powerful jungle waterfall. This one won’t last much longer though, as there is a dam slated to be built upstream. Lovely views. We passed by many small villages of huts as we drove home. Beautiful, but sometimes I wondered what effect tourism has had on the country as children shouted “Musungu!” (foreigner) and waved as we passed.

We didn’t rest a lot on the trip with all our adventures, but it was all so refreshing. The clear blue and cloud-dotted African skies, the jungle green of the rain and savannah forests, the savannah green of the grasslands, and the fun times with new and old friends all helped to restore our souls. Now back to the craziness of teaching. Bring on school!

Drive through the jungle

Uhuru Falls and Murchison (Kabarega) Falls on the Victoria Nile

The Victoria Nile

Sunrise over the Victoria Nile, seen from our campgrounds

Trees in the Savannah

Introvert Giraffe (became an inside joke for our group)

Baboon steals a snack

Dramatic cliffs along the Victoria Nile

Oliphaunt! We got really close to a few elephants.

Karuma Falls, which won’t be there much longer due to a planned hydroelectric dam