Hey howdy hey world!
So there's been quite a hiatus from the last post, for which I apologize. But fear not! We're back in school now and I expect to be rolling out the posts more regularly. There are two coming in shortly, the first is on IST/Rafting/Bungee Jumping, and the second will be about my first week of school and teaching (ah!) for the first time.
So, ruhl quick, pics from IST/Rafting/Bungee Jumping have been broken up into 2 albums. The first album is the action-packed thriller showcasing my "WHY-WOULD-ANYONE-AGREE-TO-THIS?!" face, while the second is a more reasonable collection of random photos taken shortly before or after the term break. Please enjoy.
SOOO. Without further adieu... *drumroll*
IST-RAFTING-BUNGEE JUMPING!
IST
So IST = In-Service Training. This training takes place after volunteers have been at their sites for ~3 months (in country for ~6 months total. Fun fact: June 8th will mark 7 months in Uganda! Crazy.) This means IST takes place after our first term at our school. IST is a week long and is a chance for a volunteer and their counterpart to gear up for actually doing things together the second term of school.
Whoa, what's a "counterpart"?
Peace Corps communicates with 2 Ugandans at each volunteer's school: their supervisor and a counterpart. A volunteer's supervisor is the head teacher (principal) at the school. A counterpart is a teacher at the school with whom the volunteer has developed a close relationship. A counterpart can be any teacher the volunteer picks. A counterpart should help the volunteer with cultural questions, school-wide initiatives, or anything else the volunteer needs help with while at site. Relationships between counterparts and volunteers can vary, but a counterpart is supposed to support the volunteer "on the ground" of the school, while a supervisor should provide administrative support. IST is a training that the volunteer and their counterpart attend together.
IST looks a lot like PST. We have sessions every day from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, with a break tea and lunch breaking up the day. Some of the sessions involve both the volunteer and their counterpart together, and some of the sessions the counterparts and the volunteers attend separately. Sessions held for both the volunteer and the counterpart focus on creating "Safe and Friendly Schools" by focusing on gender-equitable practices and introducing alternative discipline measures to reduce/eliminate corporal punishment. Sessions for counterparts only focus on helping counterparts understand American culture (read: their volunteer's weird behavior), the volunteer's role at the school, and Peace Corps in general. As the counterpart is just a teacher selected by the volunteer, so it's possible this counterpart has never heard of Peace Corps before and doesn't really understand what their volunteer is supposed to be doing at their school.
Sessions for volunteers only involve discussing challenges volunteers have faced and how volunteers have coped with these challenges. Although all volunteers in our cohort have widely different experiences at site (e.g. - some schools have less than 50 pupils, while mine has close to 2,000. Some schools' P2 pupils are proficient in English, while some schools are still struggling with English in P7. Some schools are experiencing incredible turnover, some are rural, some are urban... the list goes on), some challenges are relatively universal such as sexual harassment, culture clashes, motivating our pupils, feeling comfortable creating "alone time", and comparing ourselves to other volunteers among others.
We were able to reconnect with members of our cohort that we hadn't seen in 3 months, and introduce our counterparts to our friends in Peace Corps. I had a wonderful experience with my counterpart; he was engaged and seemed enthusiastic about what we were learning, and we became much closer as a result of this training. I even admitted I didn't like posho and beans.
After IST, I went white water rafting and bungee jumping in Jinja, Uganda with a company called Adrift.
Whoa.
I think I may have bumped up against the limits of my adrenaline-junkie-hood.
Let's start with rafting.
White Water Rafting
Rafting was great. There were roughly 15 of us total, and we did a full day of white water rafting on (the source of) the Nile with a ton of food provided throughout the day and beers/drinks at the end... I think mostly to reduce the shock (jokesssss... mother). No, seriously, in addition to being well-fed, we were also well-supervised. Our group made up 2 rafts, a "wild" and a "mild" boat (you can guess which I was in...). In addition to our two guides, we had three safety kayaks near at hand, and a boat hauling all of our victuals with the boss of the company on board to supervise. We had an extensive safety talk before plunging into the water, and even if I did forget everything I'd been told, you should all rest assured we weren't going out there totally unprepared. All in all, despite what the pictures might lead you to believe, we were in good hands.
That being said.
Wow.
We started out with a grade 5 rapid that was a "16 foot drop" down a waterfall. So that about set the tone right there. I'm not sure it was 16 feet... but it was pretty high.
After that, we usually had the option to choose how we wanted to tackle a rapid. Often the guide gave us the option to go down different routes that would range from grade 1 to grade 4 or 5. Of course, our boat always chose the highest grade, so at some point I think he just stopped asking and spent more time reiterating what we should do when the boat (inevitably) flipped.
I'll detail one rapid in particular, our second (and last) level 5. We had gotten in the habit of asking our guide the probability of flipping at each rapid. At the previous grade 4 he'd said "50/50" nonchalantly. We didn't flip and became instantly convinced we were invincible. Inflippable. So when he answered "80%" at the impending grade 5 rapid (named "The Bad Place"), we laughed it off heartily, fully confident in being the 20%.
"So, when I say 'DOWN', I want you all to throw your paddles," our guide began explaining. Most of the injuries he'd seen while rafting, interestingly, had been caused by a crafty, rogue paddle.
"And then you're going to be under the water for... 7, maybe 9 seconds," he continued.
"Yeah yeah, enough, let's GO!" I remember thinking, tuning out the standard "safety talk". *Scoff*
"... and you'll be pulled under, but when you come up, don't take a big breath of air, because you'll probably be hit with a wave or pulled back under, and then you'll swallow water..."
"I cannot WAIT to do this! This is going to be AWESOME!"
"Are you all ready?"
"YEAH!!!" A chorus of 7 overly-eager voices.
*Guide takes a deep breath in*
"Oook, here we go..."
-5 seconds later-
We had flipped.
It was instant.
I forgot the entire safety talk.
I struggled and kicked as hard as I could to break the surface, only to come inches from fresh air before being pulled back down. I forgot I had a life jacket on. I forgot the 9-seconds-underwater warning. I was convinced I was done. This was it. I was going to die in a stupid grade 5 rapid in Uganda.
I'd probably been underwater for 2 seconds.
I'd break the surface and stammer to catch my breath only to, as I'd been warned, get pulled down again. By the time I was spit out in calm water, I immediately "ottered" (went on my back and floated), hyperventilated, and re-thought all of my life decisions.
The rest of the ride in our "wild" boat was comparatively calm, but marked with a bit more respect for the water and, above all,
safety talks.
Bungee Jumping
Bungee jumping was equally thrilling, but in a different way. Whereas rafting was an all-day experience marked with periods of tranquil beauty between bouts of "I'm-drowning" regret, bungee jumping was all of the adrenaline of rafting crammed into 2 minutes.
For those of you who have never been bungee jumping before, I'll explain what happened (to me). So I walk up 140 feet to this long beam that extends out until we're squarely over the Nile. This beam has railings and, despite the height, I feel pretty secure. I'm watching my friends get to the edge of the jumping off point. I see them have second thoughts ranging from hesitation to hysteria, and I'm laughing and just generally not being helpful at all.
"You should smile, this might be the last picture we have of you!"
That kind of stuff.
So then it's my turn, and I walk confidently to the chair where they'll attach the cord. Suddenly, the whole experience doesn't seem so casual. They're tying this towel and rope around my feet.
My feet.
"I'm going to slip right through this thing," I think.
"Don't be afraid to make it tight," I laugh to cover my growing fear. Then they laugh and tell me not to worry.
NOT TO WORRY?!
THIS IS MY LIFE YOU ******** FOOLS!
As I'm bunny-hopping to the edge, I become acutely aware that there is no railing at the jumping off point.
"Why is there no railing?" I'm suddenly very concerned. "We're 140 feet up. Where is the railing??"
"Ok, so on the count of 3, you're going to jump."
"Like Hell I am," as I smile and wave to the little people below sending me off to my death.
"One..."
"This is literally suicide. No sane person would leave this ledge."
"Two..."
"Oh my gosh the next number coming out of this mouth is 3..."
"THREE! BUNGEE!!"
"OMFGWHATAMIDOINGGGGG!!!!!!"
In a blind rush of fear of chickening out, I jump.
And, as you may have surmised, I did not in fact perish. Instead, I am happy to report that the rope worked just as it should, and I came to to find myself bouncing around over a very large river.
Following that weekend, I spent the rest of term break recuperating my sanity and recovering from my sunburns. I was able to see some different areas of Uganda, and then I returned to my home base to get myself together before school began.
But that story will have to wait.
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."
- Eleanor Roosevelt
