Down to earth with a bump or two

Back to work today. Despite having arranged an early breakfast and a car to pick me up, the driver arrived some 30 minutes late, meaning that I was late for my language lesson with the O-level class.
How that driver even sees the road is a mystery to me: clouds of red dust envelop everything on the way there – there has been no rain for quite a few days now – and on the way back, visibility was also just about zero, as we are caught in a rainstorm. Windscreen wipers don’t work, and the windows mist up. Despite this, he seems determined to shave minutes off the driving time with every journey.

More practice with essay titles, the style of which are reminiscent of the papers I sat all those years ago. Often they contain proverbs or sayings which are taken literally by students.  ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’ is almost certainly going to invite a story unfolding in the kitchen. Best to steer them away from choosing those kind of questions.

Today I had a proper tour around the school. I have got quite used to a goat walking past my classroom door, and steering a path round

Waiting for the pot

the cows grazing on the rough grass on the lawns. I was more surprised to see the rabbits who would be providing the staff with a meat meal twice a term. The school seems set for expansion, with additional dorms for A- level students.
For the Literature lesson I used a poem called Armanda by the Kenyan poet Jared Angira. There are all sort of cultural barriers to understanding. Despite being written by an African writer, the poem is littered with unfathomable expressions for these students. Tango, whisky on the rocks, Dunhills, Scrabble, turning the apple-cart, to name just a few.

I have talked a lot about what we have seen here in Uganda. What have we not seen, that has surprised us?
We have not seen rubbish littering the place. We have not seen anyone smoking in public. We have hardly seen any flies. We have not seen a single horse or donkey.

But I did see this camel pass by later this afternoon.