More Progress

So, I have to admit that the other day when I looked at the calendar and realized that a month had passed already, I couldn’t believe it.

Let’s recap…in one month I have flown over 12,684 Km, eaten about 8 different kinds of bananas, had my accent mocked and made fun of by a senior professor, learned how to calculate percentage in my Master’s program! had a bacterial infection in my stomach, had a bug lay eggs in my toe, undergone minor surgery to remove the nasty disgusting thing, kneeled when greeting a elder, been cheated out of, god only knows, how much money, shaved hours off my life by riding on motorcycle taxis, realized that Africa is much more modern than anticipated, that being called Mommy, Mamma, or Mom is not rude, rather its respectable, that when they say it’s the rainy season that it rains-EVERYDAY!, that Ugandans are very very proud of their football team, that is possible to carry 25 chickens on a boda-boda (motorcycle), that I can say “Hello, I am fine, how are you?” about 1million times per day, when someone says they will meet you at 9am expect them to show up at around noon, that is OK for a teacher to stop mid-sentence to answer their cell phone, and COLD SHOWERS ARE NOT FUN.

I am slowly getting adjusted to Uganda…but I am getting myself more and more busy! (Jenny style!)

This past week I attended, Part one of three, of a training called “Alternatives to Violence”. It was very interesting and actually it was started by Quakers in a New York prison. I will take the part in the other two trainings in the next few months and then I will receive a certificate to train others.

I also spent more time with my advisor and I love this man! He is so soft spoken and gentle. I can spend 30 minutes with him and talk about my ideas and I can make more headway in that 30 minutes than I can in 3 weeks of class. I tell him an idea that I have and he helps me think of ways to make my ideas reality. As I wrote in my blog last week, I have my idea for my thesis, but I didn’t know where exactly I could go with it. I sat with my advisor and I said to him “this is going to sound silly, but I am not sure where to go with my thesis topic. I mean that I don’t know what to do…at the end of my research am I answering a question?” After discussing for a bit I was getting a little more confused, but I don’t feel scared to ask for help with Dr. Deu, so I said “but Dr. what happens after I spend close to two years researching this topic and I don’t find anything?’ and he smiled and sat back in his chair “now then you see, you have a hypothesis!”

My hypothesis is that there must be common denominator that links conflicts in context of ethnicity and racism.

My advisor is off to the U.K. for his sabbatical and has told me that I need to read and read and read in the next three months. Perhaps that is easier said then done…I hope I can find a decent library. I am going to explore the conflicts in Bosnia, Iraq, Rwanda, and Northern Uganda. Then, next year, I am going to move to the North of Uganda near the Congo/Sudan border to do my field research.

I am excited that in the beginning of this program, I already, have a very supportive advisor and a thesis topic/hypothesis. I am scared at the same time because I have no idea how to write this type of paper…like is there a rule?

I am realizing already that this masters program is something that I am going to have to “learn myself!” I am going to have to go and find the materials and do the research…the class work is not something that is going to get me far. It is nice to have some place to go every night, but quite frankly does it really take 3 weeks to learn about “what conflicts are based on” OR even better…if 30 women were interviewed and 12 responded NO to a given question, how would we calculate the percentage? OMG. I would love to go and see my teachers and tell them that I am going to the field to research, but I feel they might think that I am “too good for the class” or something like that… The reason that I chose Uganda was that because there was coursework component. I didn’t want to have to teach myself…

I am thinking of you all at home and wonder how everyone is doing…please e-mail me if you have time…I enjoy the stories…and some of you might have to sit down for this one, but, I guess my age is catching up with me a little…I can’t believe I am going to be 26 years old next week…I am starting to get jealous when I see all the ladies with big round bellies…I think next year I am going to have to stay home for a while…sit still and hang up the gypsy cape…for a while anyway☺