2nd Half of a Great Day

So let's see, I covered the impressive filming of the flag ceremony and the unexpected kind words of our Head Teacher. The day continued in this fantastic manner as I went into the staff room and was soon joined by my partner teacher, Kumakech Lawrence. Lawrence was smiling and pulled a package out of his small backpack for me. He told me he had been working on this for sometime. It is a plaque he made himself using wood burning techniques (don't ask if your under 30, but I once had a woodburning kit myself). It was a great gift and the time he took to make it, just made it more special.

The teachers were then summoned to the office and we were told that they wanted to take us to Pakwach to see some animals. We soon all piled into the headteachers truck. 5 of us in the front two seats, and 7 in the back. The handyman had put a school bench in the back, but mostly it was just hanging on. Luckily, I was chosen to sit up front. We took off, saw a few Ugandan Kob and settled in for lunch in Pakwach.

We were soon descended on by a group of people at the small restaurant. The men were selling wood crafts: real arrows (for hunting), wooden animals, carved turtles, canes, balancing cheetahs, etc. Lunch was a chapati and rolled egg, think breakfast burrito. I thought it was about time to go, so I decided to buy 2 souvenirs After it was seen that I bought 2 things, there were at least 8 men and boys who insisted I also buy their wares. I told them I was not going to when the one said, "You buy this one, Obama." We never really figured out if he was calling the warrior he wsa selling me, Obama or he was calling me Obama.

After the restaurant, we drove to the place where Kumakech Lawrence had grown up, we met the wife of his brother, who had raised him since his parents died when he was two. Ir was a pleasant meeting with pictures, but then all attention was drawn to Colleen, her partner teacher new it was her dream to hold a baby goat. So he went to a small pen and lifted a young goat into her arms. She was very happy! Soon it was back in the truck, Colleen volunteered to take Kelley's place in the wild, wild back of the truck. We crossed the bridge to return home, and detoured into the game park entrance. It costs money for each person to enter, but somehow the head teacher used his charm and politician's gift of laughter to allow us in for just a kilometer. "You are not talking a strict kilometer, of course." He said to the ranger. After a tough bridge and a puddle of unknown depth, which the Head Teacher drove through without pause, we saw elephants ahead.

The game ranger was yelling furiously from the back that the Head Teacher was going too fast. Finally we stopped just short of the elephants, Colleen was very nervous in the back, as she thought the elephants might charge. It did not help that Kumakech was telling her he already had plans to dive under the truck and spread gasoline on himself. We took a couple of pictures of the elephants. It was the first time Jennifer, Kelley's partner teacher, had ever seen an elephant. It was then decided we would back up out of the park. This did not work well as the head teacher, we found out had only learned to drive in the past 3 months. He continued to drive off the road into tall grass and sticker bushes, as he laughed heartily the whole time. Finally the handyman begged to take over the wheel and we backed up, turned around and got back on the main road.

Last night, we enjoyed a great dinner with a lot of the same people. The Head Teacher's madam (had insisted that we would be given a cock earlier in the day). The students laughed as I carried this chicken home for dinner, but it did taste good. If this sounds a little rambled, it is because I am again up at 4 am typing this. The good news is the shirt I washed by hand, after company left is dry.


Time to check the Cardinals score and go to bed for another hour...

John