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July 11^th 2008 8:21pm

 God, today was so jam packed with different things I don’t know where to start, and I’m sure I’ll forget most of the details. Just to preface this post, I decided to celebrate the fact that it was Friday night with some alcohol, but since I’m in Northern Uganda and pretty limited, I’m sitting in an easy chair with beams going up my butt and not at a swanky bar. I’ve also rigged my cocktail, and have mixed Blue Wave water, Shmirnoff vodka and a Crystal Light packet. Hey, whatever works right? Don’t worry, it was just a little vodka J

 Ok, so yesterday I met up with Kyle at Ma computers and we went on a hunt for Fantas and Chipati on the way home. Fantas we found pretty easily but we didn’t have as much luck with the Chipati. On my way out of one of the stores I tripped over my own crocs and fell into a heap on the dirt, rolling my ankle and collapsing into a pile. Kyle was a sweetheart and took my backpack for me, and I limped the rest of the way to Kope Café for another Chipati rejection. (Chipati is basically like Pita/ Tortilla bread, and delicious) Trying to sleep last night was so hard because my ankle was screaming pain at me and it felt like it was on fire, but the up side was that it felt better this morning.

 I was a little lazy and the last person up this morning, I rolled out of bed around 8 and sat and talked with Kyle, Sarah and Ashleigh until around 10 before I decided to motivate and get ready for the day. I’m on my 2^nd day without a shower, maybe I’ll take one tomorrow, or when I start to smell myself, but I’ve become very comfortable in my own filth, I’ve embraced it. When I get home I think I’ll be so used to bug spray that I’ll spray it on like perfume before dates. I can just imagine the conversation it would spark: “What, you mean you don’t think Deet it sexy? It’s 100% baby!”

 So I went to the front of the compound this morning and waited for a boda, because Alice wasn’t traveling to school today. I got really lucky, and the boda driver that took me out there, Robert, was really nice. He was the third boda driver to thank me for teaching here, and gave me his cellphone number so I could call him for a ride back. It’s really easy to grab a boda on the way to St. Mary’s College, but once out there it’s not that easy. Matt walked about a mile back in the sun yesterday before he was able to find a boda to take him the rest of the way, so I was stoked that Robert provided me with a security net for transportation.

 I got to St. Mary’s around 10:30 and Matt was in the staffroom. I thought I was going to walk over to the Primary school alone to watch another P1 class, but Matt said he knew Eric, one of the professors was holding a music class, so we walked over to that first. All of the students were outside surrounding the teachers who had awesome homemade instruments made out of bent steel, wood, cowhide and other things. There were tons of flutes like the lost boys had in peter pan, too. In about 2 minutes we were surrounded, we kind of stood out being the only munus there, and for a few minutes I felt like I was in the middle of a mosh pit. The kids were pushing over each other trying to get a glimpse of us, or to touch our arms and shake our hands, it was nuts. Matt took a video of the chaos. It got so crazy that the teacher asked us to walk over to a classroom where they were holding a choir session, and was very open about us filming. He got really into it and introduced the group, and then proceeded to lead 60 of the most beautiful voices I had ever heard. In New Jersey, if I’m driving in a car and I hear a song on the radio that moves me to tears it’s usually followed by three days of cramps and a bad mood. Today I was literally moved to tears by the beautiful feeling behind these kids voices. I was choking back tears as they sang and played instruments, and had another one of those “I can’t believe I’m here” moments.

 We left the choir class when they were done going through their songs, and I ran into the headmaster, Omana Angelese. He asked me if I wanted to observe the older primary students or the younger, and if you know me at all you know whom I picked. I chose to see the mini peanuts again of course. This time I’m pretty sure I was observing a P2 class, and it was so interesting I took 4 pages of notes, it was much different than the P1 class in terms of instruction, not curriculum.

 The teacher was male, for starters, and he had a huge smile on his face the whole 3 hours that he taught. Even if he changed every single teaching strategy because I was there, which I don’t think he did, you can’t fake a smile that shows you love teaching, it shone through his eyes. The best way I could describe the class was “functional chaos.” Again, there were about 90 students so he couldn’t keep his eye on all of them, and they defiitley knew when to misbehave and when not to. Every time he turned his back to the board I cringed because I knew someone was going to get their ass beat. There was a little girl chowing down on a huge stick of sugar cane in the back, two little boys kicking the crap out of each other to my right, and 3 students walking around the room with sticks beating kids almost indiscriminately. Matt had described the kids with sticks as “teachers helpers” almost, but today I couldn’t tell who was an authority and who snuck a stick in the room just to beat kids for fun. There definitely isn’t room for the meek at this school. I thought today of the first grader in the states who was expelled for giving a little girl a kiss on the playground, and remembered again how far from home I was. Two little boys were fighting so much it escalated to the point where they weren’t hiding it at all, and when the teacher walked over I expected him to cane them, to be honest with you, but instead he said a few words and walked away. Now, I’m not condoning caning at all, but he didn’t even separate the kids and one of them was badly scratched. It definitely shook me.

 Enough about the negative though, because asie from the violence, there was a lot of good in that room. The students were learning the letter “G” in handwriting, and were also learning the names of family members in Lwo. As far as a special ed perspective was concerned the teacher did a great job. He walked around the room with picture pompts, never stayed in the front, and seemed to know all of the kids names, which is quite an accomplishment. His enthusiasm was pretty infectious and he incorporated a lot of singing into the lesson. The kids would sing and follow along with body movements, and they had a clapping signal worked out to congratulate each other for participating at the chalk board. I was able to take video at the end of class and speak to the kids in the few words of Lwo that I know.

 During those last moments I saw a flash to my left and saw another Munu standing in the doorway and my claws immediately came out. You have to understand, this woman was standing there in total tourist garb, with a camera around her neck and a fanny pack around her waist, and it seemed as if she just wanted some pictures to take home and send to relatives for Christmas or something. I recognized her from Kope Café the other day. I was only mad for a second though, because who vacations in Northern Uganda, and I had an opportunity to speak with her on my way out. She is  professor from the University of Minnesota doing research for their child psychology department, which I think is pretty awesome. Many people I notice here are for mission trips or religious reasons, and it was cool to see her doing something different. I’ve been struggling with some of these religious undertones that I have come across, and how selfless a mission trip can really be. I mean, it’s great that they’re here and making a difference, but I find the self righteous attitude a put off. How selfless can you be if the end result in your mind is a ticket to “heaven?” Isn’t that kind of selfish? I don’t know, I’m in no way putting it down, but it’s definitely something I’m confused about.

 Robert came and picked me up after that, and took me to Kope Café where Kyle, Sarah, Amy and Catherine were having lunch. They were almost done so I thought I would have lunch alone, especially because it takes about an hour for food to come there, but they ended up staying and we had a great conversation. I had a delicious steak sandwich that was almost like a club sandwich, except it was made with steak, vinaigrette, avocado, tomatoes and onions. I love the food there, although tomorrow Phil and I are going to branch out and eat at The Pork Joint.

 Kyle, Sarah and I ran into Ashleigh and Phil on the way out, and decided we would meet them at KSP bar to have a few beers before we had to head to the Invisible Children house to discuss one of our journal articles. On the way there we passed some girls that I think are nurses from Ireland, and watched as the boda boda drivers were laughing at one of the girls. I guess she didn’t get the memo, but showing your thighs here is NOT cool, and she had a short skirt on. Norman, one of the leaders of Heals and star of the movie War Dance, gave us a talk when we first arrived here in Gulu about how women who dressed inappropriately deserve to be raped, so I’m sure the boda drivers had more on their minds than a few laughs. The perspective over here is so foreign at times.

 Sitting on the roof of KSP was amazing. If I could only go to rooftop bars for the rest of my life you would never hear a complaint out of me. We had Nile Specials and ate Naan and had really good conversations. One thing that I love about our conversations here is that it allows us to get to know each other so well. We all went around and said the three most important things in our lives and my first answer was simple, my Adrien, hands down. Age I would do anything for you in a heartbeat, I love you more than I love myself, I really want you to know that. We also talked about a turning point we had in our lives, mine obviously being when reality changed for me when my mom “got sick.”

 I think I’m going to cut this blog here as it’s getting pretty long and I’m sure pretty boring. I’m going to Fort Patiko tomorrow..