Have you heard? Africa is HOT!

First day of classes..done.

We got up at 7 am and all of my Messiah College mornings made it easy for me to get up and get ready in less than ten minutes. We had breakfast and then took a "first day of school" picture. I put on my new choco sandals and we were on our way.

I am realizing that I definitely fall into the category of lazy Americans... We walked a mile to school, up a HUGE hill. A mile on the highway at home takes 2min, but we walked. It took close to 30minutes but it felt like it took hours because the heat was so oppressive (and it was morning!). I feel like I am going to get heat stroke halfway up the hill. If the heat doesn't get me, one of the crazy drivers is going to run me over. Pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way. haha.

We had our first class in our conference room that has three walls and then a nice view of the outside. We put on some fans to keep the air flowing, but we were all drenched in sweat. Our first professor is a really cool guy. He said that he wanted to treat us like visitors for the first few days of class, and then he would put us to work doing homework. At first it was hard to understand what he was saying, but he had a beautiful accent. We were talking about Africa traditional culture and religion. It was super interesting.
Country: Uganda
The people are called: Buganda
The language: Luganda
There are 52 clans in Uganda. They all have a symbol. Our professor was telling us how his clan is the grasshopper clan, which means that he is not allowed to eat a grasshopper. He said it is the saddest thing to be a child and see all of your friends feasting on delicious grasshoppers and not be allowed to eat one. Tragic I'm sure... He said it was too bad that he belonged to a tribe with the most delicious symbol. All in all an entertaining first class

Then we walked a mile back to the guest house in the even more intense heat. Lunch was great, though it was hot potato soup. I almost had a break down when I had to put my sandals on again to walk another mile in the heat. I really do not do well in extreme temperatures. My sandals have many straps.. and all of them have made blisters, so basically my feet look like two big sores. Walking up the little mountain again was miserable, I fell once into the little drainage ditch, but thankfully I didn't land on any glass.

We had our second class which is Post Colonial African Literature. I felt like I was going to pass out from heat and general exhaustion. It was a 3hr long class. Our teacher is really cool, she is actually considered a great contemporary African poet. She is a saint in my book because she isn't requiring that we write a huge paper for the class. One memorable quote from that class was when she said that "In African literature, truth is stranger than fiction". Halfway through class we heard thunder and watched rain and hail come in a wave towards us, unfortunately it never reached us, but it did cool the air down a bit.

Walking back from class we stopped for another ice cream. Then we went into the attached store and I bought some shampoo and conditioner. I didnt think of this at first but it is really nice that the official language is English.. it means we can find our way very easily.

The dinner we just had was amazing as usual. It was sweet and sour chicken. Yummm . And more pumpkin cake which is my new weakness. We got some major reading assignments for literature class. So I guess I have to do them. I would rather be in bed or soaking my blistered feet.