But on to more important things- like what have we been doing this past month. So August started with a bang. Just before the end of the school term the government felt the need to remind us it was there and in control of everything we do. Attention all schools, you must close your term one week early and open back up after only a two week holiday. YEAY US!!!
The reason is because there is the largest amount of students taking the O level leaving exam this year which means many schools do not have the space to give it. Therefore some schools are going to shut down while exams go on and reopen for the rest of the students to finish their term.
My school pulled off a heroic effort and my teachers buckled down and were able to send kids off to holiday with their report cards in hand completely filled out. Many schools didn't even try so I feel like my guys deserve some props. Stacey and I then had to immediately take off for Pallisa to do our language IST. There are stories abound from that, but we will save for another blog post.
After Pallisa we met up with the other people from our training group and all of our counterparts to have a grand ol' time at Ridar Hotel in Seeta. A couple things to note from our training. Twenty nine boarded the plane in New York and flew to Uganda, 29 made it through home stay, 29 made it through future site visit, 29 made it through swearing in, and now 29 have made it through our in service training. That is right we are still batting a thousand.
Time there was great and both Stacey and I accomplished some good things with our counterparts. The best thing I got out of IST was a positive attitude. I realized many of my friends had the same struggles I had, many of them have the same SOB students, many of them accomplished as little or less than I did. I also set some pretty lofty goals with my counterpart, but they are still obtainable and I came back to a lot of enthusiasm from my science department about computers and ICT resources for science classes.
After a week there and an extra night to hang out in Kampala Stacey and I welcomed the trip home. Two weeks away from home is always long and when you are constantly active and engaged with Peace Corps staff or your counterpart one on one it wears you out. And on top of that we woke up the next morning and went right into school.
One week of classes, one weekend a home and then back for training round 3 for our school "holiday." Next on our plate is All Vol or All Volunteer Conference. This is all us putting on workshops for eachother. This is our time to network and meet everyone else in country for the first time. It happens once a year and I am excited, but also nervous about burn out. I promise, we will keep you posted.
