New home, new job - first impressions

I am now a resident of Mukono Town, Uganda.  My new home for the next two months. 

Today was my first day at the school I will be working at.  It is a primary school of approximately 200 kids located just around the corner from where I am living.  My class is P4, apparently according to one of the kids they are all 11 but I am dubious (they seem a bit younger).

Mukono Town is a relatively large commercial district about 1 hour from the capital Kampala, it is on the main road through to Nairobi, so lots of big trucks passing through and very bustling.

I am planning to adopt a themed approach to my blog posts rather than a day by day account of my time here.  First up, rather appropriately, is five first impressions (no doubt these will feature in later posts...)

1. Smiling/staring.  People do stare.  I am the only volunteer living full time at the guest house in Mukono at the moment so I tend to be wandering around the town alone and there aren't many other white people in Mukono (I've seen two so far, one in the internet cafe and one in the Orange shop buying a SIM card). Consequently people stare at me.  But if you smile they most often break into the biggest smiles back.

2. There really isn't running water.  The kids have to go and fetch it after school.  But Mukono is developed and relatively large, so compared to the villages it isn't too much of a tax (where 4km walks aren't uncommon).  Bucket showers are surprisingly fine, pit toilets less so.

3.  The food lacks variety and vegetables.  Standard is beans and posho.  The beans are actually really delicious, posho less so.  I haven't had meat yet but am a little frightened of it as I walked around the market where everyone buys it from last night.  (a bit smelly)...

4. The kids do seem pretty well educated all things considered (such as having to stop classes whenever it rains as the sound of rain on a tin roof drowns out the teacher, lack of books etc).  I'm not sure me teaching them Social Studies (which I am scheduled to do tomorrow) is going to add much to their education per se, but meeting a foreigner is good for them, and for that alone I suspect volunteering is worthwhile.

5. People are friendly and it feels safe. Lots of people want to talk to me and are always very friendly and interested in hearing about where I am from.  Interestingly, travelling in South America/Central America felt much more sinister. 

Ok, that is all I have time for, for now.  While Uganda is completely different and a world away from London/NZ the culture shock hasn't been too bad so far (and hopefully it stays that way...)