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Allot has happened since we've got here and I've probably forgotten loads of it but ill try and remember what I can. But I'm going to start from the most recent things because they're what I remember best. So far whilst I have been here I've only cried twice, and neither were form homesickness which is good. Today was one of the days though; we went to a funeral and both I and Chloe were welling up. The strange thing is that we hadn't even met the man who had died but his son is a teacher at the sure house and seeing him, Julius, in tears and breaking down was horrible and so upsetting. But his dad was 87 so at least he wasn't dying at a very young age which is good. The funeral was a bit confusing as it was all in Luganda but it seems a lot happier than funerals back home as no-one wears black and you get given a massive meal at the end of it. People don't get buried in cemeteries here though they get buried in their garden and the other weird thing is that at the end of the funeral an heir is elected. This is kind of like a new head of the family but it's done on who is the most responsible, or I think really who is most liked because there is a vote, and Julius won this. I felt a little sorry for his older brother as he was obviously not as popular. Another interesting point is that when they were laying him into the ground Chloe got one of those scary hairy caterpillars on her, which scared me as I'm already paranoid of feet because of my jiggers.
Another strange thing that happened here is that I seem to have become some person to go to to talk about sex education? It is since I did an essay where the children had to say whether they thought the government should ban all clothes that show your thighs or expose underwear and now people keep bringing me petitions about sex education being taught by either teachers or parents. I didn't mean for the essay to be a lesson in sex education? And at first I thought they were asking support them in saying sex education should be taught be teachers not parents but then when I asked them about it today they explained by saying they think it should be done by parents and not teachers because they fear the teachers. This worries me because I think the teachers often cane the children and I hate the thought of that. But it may also be because today one of the boys in secondary two, who is 17, told me that wearing ankle bracelet means you are a prostitute but I'm not sure whether he's joking or not but I'm thinking of cutting off my Corfu anklet, I don't want to get known as the mzungu prostitute.
Tuesday also had its own dramatic things going on as a man turned up asking for Chloe Milligan. He was from Kenya and studying at university in Kampala but I didn't know him and neither does she. So it was pretty scary as he said he'd met us at the airport but we didn't meet anyone there and how the hell did he know where we lived? But Moses and Justine told him we were busy and to go away so luckily he did but we are a bit worried that he is going to come back. That night I definitely had some Larium dreams though there was a lot of death and running away and people following us. I seem to be having nightmares from Larium everyday which is not nice and ill wake up after a really long nightmare and it'll only be 10 and I have to go to sleep for another 9 hours and have about a million more weird nightmares. But maybe I'll get used to them, though I'm not getting used to the bed, first of all we don't have any sheets so it's just a foam mattress with our sleeping bag on it and then the tiny mosquito net over the top. And by tiny, I mean tiny, I can't sit up while I am in it. I had to duct tape the bottom of it onto my mattress of that it doesn't pop off and get me bitten in the middle of the night. But then I was getting terrible back ache as we didn't have a pillow so when we went to Masaka we bought a pillow and they were so firm you were basically sitting up. So after a bit of pillow DIY we took loads of foam out and now he have a half comfy bed. Also home wise some little kids were knocking on our door today and they wouldn't go away so we went outside and they said that we had been adopted as their mzungu mothers. And then I found out that she was an orphan so she literally wanted me to adopt her! She also told me that she thought I was 48! Apparently we look like the kids on our classes mums, and they are 17 so yeh they think we look like old women.
The pigs here are so cute! They are tiny and there are piglets everywhere at the moment. So we were saying this to Justine and she said she would give us a pig. And so we were given this tiny pig which we called henry, after the hoover, but she was a girl so it didn't make much sense but oh well. But yeh we had her for 3 days and then she started being weird. She was shaking and couldn't seem to breathe but we thought maybe she was just a bit lonely and left her but then she was making weird grunting noises so I went outside and she couldn't stand up. So Bronwyn, our neighbour who lives here with her husband Gavin, went and got Justine and they tried to feed her food but she couldn't drink or eat and then 5 minutes later she just died, it was horrible! REALLY HORRIBLE. So I and Chloe were in tears about that and we haven't even been offered another pig so every time we see a pig we just feel really sad.
Our trip to Masaka is pretty funny to talk about actually because everything here is just so different to at home. I need to say a home rather than England because I keep saying England and Chloe is from Scotland she probably gets very offended. To go to Masaka you have to take a taxi which is like a 5 seat saloon car thing and all of them are white but you never have 5 people in them apparently. Which from our experience I definitely believe because on the way there we had 2 people in the passenger seat and then there was me, Chloe and Hester plus two old men in the back with us and then of course the driver; so it was pretty squashed. And the weirdest thing is that when the car is going downhill, or even slightly down hill, the drivers turn the engine off and let the car just roll down the hill. It's pretty scary! But yes, and on the way home the driver seemed to have took a liking to me or something because I was sat in the front on my own and then in the back there were two women, Hester and Chloe and then a like 13 year old girl and a little 5 year old were all crammed in there. Chloe lost all feeling in her legs both time and had to be helped to walk by me for about 5 minutes after getting out the car both times. Totally unrelated to this I also have been donning the socks and sandals look and even the African kids have been making fun of me, it's not fair. But I'm pretty scared of jiggers as they are disgusting. Also in Masaka I bought a watch for 3000 shillings which is 66.666666p and it is ultra-trendy and I actually love it if I'm honest :D
When we first arrived here the only songs we had to listen to were the ones on our laptop so we literally had Adnan's giant shark CD and the club land CDs Chloe had on her computer. So we got to know work very well and a song called lemonade which was a sample song on her laptop, I love it. But now we actually have all the songs on her I pod too but we still listen to lemonade as it's great. We thought maybe it would have another level to it but it literally is about a man drinking lemonade with lyrics such as "we're going to need another straw" and "more sugar please".
We have managed to drink alcohol while we are here though because on our second Saturday we went to a pub and drank two whole beers, we are mental! And then this Saturday we attempted to do the same but only managed one and a bit, and Chloe even had a hangover in the morning. I know, it's embarrassing. But also on the Friday night before we just went out to have a look at the streets and it was pretty scary because some man started talking to us in Luganda and we didn't understand what he was saying but he wouldn't let go of our hands and let us leave so we were pretty scared. But since then nothing has happened so we're settling in quite well. We have gone to church three times so far but I'm not sure if I'll go this week as we are just shouted at in Luganda for three hours it feels like brain washing or something. There is a nice break in the middle of it though where you stand up and dance and sing for about 20 minutes so it kind of feels like you have a party and are then told off for it for an hour. We also witnessed our fellow teachers shouting out in the streets for a few days last week, they preach on the main road and all around the village telling them they must accept Jesus and their saviour. We don't want to be associated with these crazy people. Ha But it is weird because they are all SO nice but then I just don't understand how they believe so strongly in their religion, probably just because I'm not at all religious. It also means they don't do fun stuff we could do together like going to clubs and drinking or stuff like that so it's slightly annoying. And they have funny signs up in the playground like "Abstain, Do you?" and other such odd religious messages which is very bizarre. I also had a look in one of their CRE books, which is RE but the C stands for Christian because you don't learn about other faiths, and it had a section on the disadvantages of using your spare time for exercise. And I had to try not to laugh when its reasons were things such as it breaking up marriages through spending too much time doing sport and people turning to drugs such as marijuana for energy. It was hilarious, who has ever smoked weed to give them energy to cheat at sports!
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