HOUSE!

The morning after swearing in, we got up early, ate breakfast, packed, and headed out. The two other new PCVs in the Fort Portal area also came with us, meaning we sat four in the back seat, but hey, I’ve been more crowded in this country. After dropping one off about an hour outside of Fort Portal, we arrived at site about 2:00-3:00 pm. Friday night we went to town to get some groceries, and then I came back and ignored the gross grime that was my house and went to bed.  Saturday I spent the entire day cleaning my house from top to bottom. It had not been lived in, even part time, since at least December, so it was seriously gross. When I mopped my floor, the mop water looked like coffee after just two (small) rooms…. I also moved some furniture.

On Saturday night, I was talking with my dad on Whatsapp about how to unclog a sink that has water stuck in it because my bathroom sink was clogged during Future Site Visit, and it was not unclogged when I came back (though it tricked me by working for the first day or two). He walked me through the steps to unclog my sink, and boy was it full! The whole pipe down to the… Is it called a catch? I can’t remember, but the thing that you can get rings from if they fall down the drain and haven’t been washed away yet…  Anyways, the whole pipe was full of hair, a cotton swab, and, as my dad called it, grey bacterial goo. It was nasty! I felt quite accomplished, though, having unclogged my own sink, even though my dad walked me through it. Having standing water around your house is bad enough for mosquitos, but having it in your house? Well, I’ve already had malaria, and I sure don’t want it again. Unfortunately, when was putting the sink back together, I broke the seal right underneath the bowl of the sink. I let my supervisor know, and the estates manager is going to get some proper glue (My supervisor wanted him to use wood glue….) next week so that we can fix it. Hopefully he can fix my leaky kitchen sink too!

I’ve been slowly unpacking through the week, keeping an eye on the news about the elections. The things that I had packed in my Kampala bag!! They told us that opening it up would be like Christmas, but I didn’t quite believe them. I had forgotten all of the clothes I brought with me as well as all of the things for my hair! Finding room for all of the stuff was surprisingly easy, though my house is definitely a large one. I keep having to reclean things because bugs randomly die in my house. In addition, I’m waging war on some ants in my kitchen that have decided my floor is a great place to look for scraps even though I sweep it out at least once a day. I warned them that if I saw them in my kitchen I would kill them, and so far I think I’m winning.

On Tuesday, my supervisor took me and my closest new PCV to the market down the road so that we could restock on groceries. I got enough groceries for the week for a fraction of what I spent in town. The produce is much fresher, too. I’m definitely going back on Tuesday. I just wonder if I can get a half a heap of things…. It was so nice to be able to speak some Rutooro at the market! I can’t wait to get a tutor so that I can get back to learning again.

Other than that, I’ve been helping my supervisor with admission of first year students, getting to at least see some of my students before I start teaching. Not many of the tutors are here yet because of elections and the fact that school doesn’t really start until March. The official start date, per the Ministry, is February 22, but here second years report February 24 and first years report March 1. That first week the students are here will likely include mostly moving in, cleaning, getting acclimated to campus, and not much class. Hopefully I will begin teaching during the second week of March, but we’ll just have to see. I will also have to observe some of the second years’ school practice (student teaching), although that also doesn’t start until March. They have a few weeks to put together lesson plans before they go out to teach.