First Impressions of Ihungo

Well, it has been a...tumultuous first few days for me. Aaron and I arrived on Sunday night at our school. I was surprised to find there was already someone in my house, and that my house smelled strongly of fish. Well, the person was my house help (which I am apparently obligated to hire...), and the fish smell was some leftover fish carcass for my cat (which I am apparently obligated to take care of...). The woman helping me has been invaluable, her name is Ester, which seems to be a strangely common name here. The cat's name is Rocky, which I don't care for. I think I will rename Rocky to be Kali, which means "fierce" in Swahili. The cat likes to fight. My arms and legs are proof of this. It won't be malaria that I get here, it will be cat scratch fever... The next day I began unpacking and getting laundry taken care of. Now, I am no longing living out of a suitcase, and I also can wear clean clothes again. What a relief! The last few days have been spent becoming acquianted with the faculty and students of Ihungo, as well as making jaunts down to Bukoba to pick up supplies and so forth. What can I say about everything so far? Well, for one, it would be nice to have an easily accessible water source. As it stands, we have no running water. The nearest place to draw water is a 10-minute walk down a steep hill. Now think about this, just to flush the toilet I need roughly 3-4 gallons of water. I don't know if you have ever carried a full 5-gallon bucket of water, but it is heavy. Up a steep hill, far away, this is a problem. Well, the unfortunate solution that all the other teachers living near me employ is to tell the students to fetch water for them. The weird thing is that the students seem excited when asked to help, like it is an honor to carry a heavy bucket up a hill. We asked the headmaster when we could expect running water to return (because I for one feel terrible about forcing the students to do this labor, even if they are happy about it), and he replied, "when it rains." So I guess it's a good thing that the weather here is similar to Seattle in terms of rain. I seem to have a knack for finding places with high precipitation... Also, about the climate here, I'm not sure I could be happier. We are living one degree from the equator, and yet it rarely gets above 80 degrees here. It is bamly all the time, and cold at night. Not entirely what I expected from Africa. Perhaps I won't be returning with that sweet tan after all (also fake tanning hasn't caught on in Bukoba yet, but I'm spreading the word). Aaron and I have been cooking for ourselves for the past few days, and I am surprised. We have created bachelor feasts, I'll tell you what. Spinach rice with an onion-garlic sauteed sauce. Ginger rice with kachumbali and fresh beans. Eggs, tomatos, bell peppers, and potato scramble. Not too shabby. Let me say that each meal costs us less that fifty cents to buy the ingredients for. I think I'll be able to survive here. If anyone knows any simple recipes that use boiling, frying, or sauteing only, hit me up. What else.... Ah yes, my job. I begin teaching on the 27th of this month. The students are taking midterms now, and then have a short Christmas Break. My first topic will be "Rotation of Rigid Bodies". So I've got a lot of time to prepare and dazzle them with how much I know about the myriad of ways that rigid bodies rotate. I will be teaching 10 periods a week to start, and then in a month or so I will upgrade to 20. Each period is 40 minutes, so I should have my hands full eventually. I also was asked to be the head of their athletic department, probably due to my awe-striking physique. So in a few weeks, I will be running with the students, and coaching basketball, soccer, and volleyball also. Great way to stay in shape and stay sane. I have more to write about the faculty and my feelings (I guess they say it is good to share your feelings. I never knew...) but my headmaster is telling me its time to go. I covered food and weather right? OK good. As they say here, be free.