- This is the first country for a while where I've been able to get a proper salad...(you'd be shocked the things that have been called "salads" in other countries.)
- A very international country. 41 different languages spoken just in Dubai alone! And only 6% of the population in this city are citizens of United Arab Emirates, the resta re immigrants here for business, travel, etc.
- To open a business here as a foreigner you need a local sponsor; someone from this country to say that they support the business you are bringing into the country. In turn, the sponsor owns 51% of the company...on paper that is. In theory this has been put in place by the government to protect the interests of the citizens, but what actually ends up happening is big business come in and pay a local anywhere from $10-50K per year, depending on the size of the business to endorse them on paper.
-Interestingly, as international as this city is you see very little conflict culturally on the streets...perhaps that is because almost everyone here is a "foreigner". The population of Indians is the highest, Pakistanis bringing in a close second and Filipinos coming in with a strong third. Here I see Indians EVERYWHERE !! Although Indians owned most of the businesses in Uganda and South Africa has the highest population of Indians outside of India, I saw very little of them aside from their strong influence on the cuisine. This it would seem because they owned the businesses rather than having the face-to-face with the customers. Lincoln said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "...any man can endure adversity, but if you want to know a man's character give him power."
- There have been places that I've traveled that I would love to go back to for a vacation, but this is the first city I've been to where I can realistically see myself living and working in.
- I thought Dubai would be like a larger version of Vegas and was preparing myself for that especially after flying here from Africa, but what I found was quite the contrary.
- Dubai maybe in debt to the tune of $80 billion conjuring up images of decadence and over indulgence, and yes that is here. In fact you don't have to search very far for it, but you do need to search. What I had pictured was hotel after hotel sparkling sending your system into sensory overload. They are here...just more spread out and the sparkles are on the inside:)
-Btw, a good portion of that debt that Dubai has asked for an extension on repaying (sending everyone clutching their purses) is because Dubai's government invested in hotel shares in the U.S....namely MGM, Bellagio and the like. (Ironic don't you think.) Since the crisis Dubai has canceled "The World" project (where man made island would have been constructed to mimic a map of the world). Construction cranes perch atop every other building waiting patiently for people to feel secure enough to indulge once again...and they will:)
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Uganda
-I learned the true meaning of generosity from Ugandans
-They are collectively the most codependent people I've ever met. They know what you need before you do!!
-If "You are welcome" or "karabo" in swahili is the most popular saying in Africa, the most popular saying in Uganda is "Sorry". I would say I have no brothers, they would say "oh, sorry". I would say someone cut in line at the grocery store (apparently I left too much room between myself and the person in front of me) and they would reply "oh, sorry". I found it similar to "How are you?" in that we have said it so much in society that it has lost all its meaning.
-If transportation is the biggest and most self-defeating obstacle to overcome in Europe, then the equivalent in Uganda is accessing your money!!!
-Matatoos, or vans, are stuffed with endless amounts of people everywhere in Africa, but unique to Uganda is the popularity of a motor bike called a "boda-boda". Their drivers have NO fear and have been on the road way too long. They began calling them boda-bodas because they transport people from border to border. Ha!
-In their version the tooth fairy isn't a fairy at all, but a rat!! The child leaves the tooth for the rat to take in the night and, get this, the more money he leaves for your tooth the longer it takes for the tooth to grow in:)
(I found that in South Africa the animal is a mouse and it builds its house out of the teeth of children!! And in their version the more money you get from the mouse the shinier the tooth will be. HA!)
-Music being part of their culture may have influenced the way in which they greet each other. At first I described it by saying they "sing" to each other, but actually with more exposure I refined the description to more of a "cooing" or a kind of musical moan. It's quite soothing to tell you the truth.
-An answer "yes" in response to a question was the most difficult to translate because all they do is briefly raise their eyebrows so you need to be watching them when you ask a question.
-When I went to the falls there was a man who offered to ride the rapids with nothing more than a jerrycan between himself and the lethal tides...for a small fee of course (Jerrycans are the bright yellow containers they use to transport water. They are about a foot and a half tall and a foot wide...not much against the force of the water.) After a brief lecture on his career choices he got the hint that I wasn't going to be any part of his jumping off that cliff. When I shared the story later in the village they said that that guy has "diamonds in his hair". I asked what that meant and they said that it is the spirits around him that protect him from death.
-The villagers nicknamed me the second day I was there: "motis". It means the expander; that which makes others grow:) I like it.
-I heard a great saying from the guide at the Kasubi Tombs: "Swahili was born in Kenya, raised in Tanzania, got sick in Congo and came to die in Uganda."
-It rains a lot here, its one of the many ways Uganda is blessed. There are times in which the rain continues even though the sun has come out fully and they have an expression for it. They call this when "the monkey is getting married" sometimes it is when "the monkey married a fox" (or some other arbitrary animal). So you can guess what my next question was...WHY??? They said because neither happens very often.
-As far as schools:
-The staff quarters are still not completed and aren't expected to be completed until late this year...perhaps next year so I commuted in each day at the first school.
-Students were called out of class to help push the car I was in out of the mud of the driveway in front of the school on my first day!
-Students as young as P1, or first grade, use razor blades to sharpen their pencils!!
-They share erasers, pens and pencils...sometimes between 3 students or more.
-There is only one textbook for each subject of each grade and the teacher uses it to direct instruction. The teacher transcribes all work, text and important excerpts on to the parts of the blackboard that are still black...where it is then copied by the students into their composition books. Practice exercises are also written on the chalkboard by the teacher to be copied by the students and completed independently at their desks.
-Realia is unheard of and these students can sit for 3 hours at a time soaking in information and not one complains or attempts to create disruption. And if you think your day is long, well you have nothing on these kids. They walk from home for miles and arrive at 7am for P-7 (because they are preparing for exit exams) and 8am for the rest of the student body. Classes end at 5pm and then they walk back home to do their homework for the next day.
-Several students are without composition books so during the lesson while everyone else is copying the activity and exercise into their books, they just sit there. (staff said that some student's parents just couldn't afford school fees or the books for the students to write in.)
-Enrollment is down because school fees were raised to cover costs...they aren't sure where the students who no longer attend went
-It is assumed that the students eat breakfast before walking to school in the morning and supper upon returning home. Even with this belief, (which isn't true), they are only given porridge at 1pm for lunch. That isn't enough fuel to think for the 9 hour school day, nor for the whole day which is the reality of the situation.
They kneel when they are asking the teacher for something
They wait at the door way of the classroom for you to grant them permission to enter
They thank you at the end of the day for teaching them
They came into the classroom where I was observing and took me back to their classroom because they wanted me to teach them another lesson:)
-They are collectively the most codependent people I've ever met. They know what you need before you do!!
-If "You are welcome" or "karabo" in swahili is the most popular saying in Africa, the most popular saying in Uganda is "Sorry". I would say I have no brothers, they would say "oh, sorry". I would say someone cut in line at the grocery store (apparently I left too much room between myself and the person in front of me) and they would reply "oh, sorry". I found it similar to "How are you?" in that we have said it so much in society that it has lost all its meaning.
-If transportation is the biggest and most self-defeating obstacle to overcome in Europe, then the equivalent in Uganda is accessing your money!!!
-Matatoos, or vans, are stuffed with endless amounts of people everywhere in Africa, but unique to Uganda is the popularity of a motor bike called a "boda-boda". Their drivers have NO fear and have been on the road way too long. They began calling them boda-bodas because they transport people from border to border. Ha!
-In their version the tooth fairy isn't a fairy at all, but a rat!! The child leaves the tooth for the rat to take in the night and, get this, the more money he leaves for your tooth the longer it takes for the tooth to grow in:)
(I found that in South Africa the animal is a mouse and it builds its house out of the teeth of children!! And in their version the more money you get from the mouse the shinier the tooth will be. HA!)
-Music being part of their culture may have influenced the way in which they greet each other. At first I described it by saying they "sing" to each other, but actually with more exposure I refined the description to more of a "cooing" or a kind of musical moan. It's quite soothing to tell you the truth.
-An answer "yes" in response to a question was the most difficult to translate because all they do is briefly raise their eyebrows so you need to be watching them when you ask a question.
-When I went to the falls there was a man who offered to ride the rapids with nothing more than a jerrycan between himself and the lethal tides...for a small fee of course (Jerrycans are the bright yellow containers they use to transport water. They are about a foot and a half tall and a foot wide...not much against the force of the water.) After a brief lecture on his career choices he got the hint that I wasn't going to be any part of his jumping off that cliff. When I shared the story later in the village they said that that guy has "diamonds in his hair". I asked what that meant and they said that it is the spirits around him that protect him from death.
-The villagers nicknamed me the second day I was there: "motis". It means the expander; that which makes others grow:) I like it.
-I heard a great saying from the guide at the Kasubi Tombs: "Swahili was born in Kenya, raised in Tanzania, got sick in Congo and came to die in Uganda."
-It rains a lot here, its one of the many ways Uganda is blessed. There are times in which the rain continues even though the sun has come out fully and they have an expression for it. They call this when "the monkey is getting married" sometimes it is when "the monkey married a fox" (or some other arbitrary animal). So you can guess what my next question was...WHY??? They said because neither happens very often.
-As far as schools:
-The staff quarters are still not completed and aren't expected to be completed until late this year...perhaps next year so I commuted in each day at the first school.
-Students were called out of class to help push the car I was in out of the mud of the driveway in front of the school on my first day!
-Students as young as P1, or first grade, use razor blades to sharpen their pencils!!
-They share erasers, pens and pencils...sometimes between 3 students or more.
-There is only one textbook for each subject of each grade and the teacher uses it to direct instruction. The teacher transcribes all work, text and important excerpts on to the parts of the blackboard that are still black...where it is then copied by the students into their composition books. Practice exercises are also written on the chalkboard by the teacher to be copied by the students and completed independently at their desks.
-Realia is unheard of and these students can sit for 3 hours at a time soaking in information and not one complains or attempts to create disruption. And if you think your day is long, well you have nothing on these kids. They walk from home for miles and arrive at 7am for P-7 (because they are preparing for exit exams) and 8am for the rest of the student body. Classes end at 5pm and then they walk back home to do their homework for the next day.
-Several students are without composition books so during the lesson while everyone else is copying the activity and exercise into their books, they just sit there. (staff said that some student's parents just couldn't afford school fees or the books for the students to write in.)
-Enrollment is down because school fees were raised to cover costs...they aren't sure where the students who no longer attend went
-It is assumed that the students eat breakfast before walking to school in the morning and supper upon returning home. Even with this belief, (which isn't true), they are only given porridge at 1pm for lunch. That isn't enough fuel to think for the 9 hour school day, nor for the whole day which is the reality of the situation.
They kneel when they are asking the teacher for something
They wait at the door way of the classroom for you to grant them permission to enter
They thank you at the end of the day for teaching them
They came into the classroom where I was observing and took me back to their classroom because they wanted me to teach them another lesson:)
Some stupid facts of the day about the game in Africa:)
-Zebras and wildebeest stick together in the wild because they make a good team...Zebras have good eyesight and wildebeest have a good sense of smell.
-The biggest killers in Africa are the Hippos
-I remember this fact like this: "Cheetahs cry because leopards are bigger". Cheetahs and leopard look very similar, but one way to differentiate them is that cheetahs have the markings on their face that make them look like they are crying. Also, leopards tend to be larger in size than cheetahs...hence the expression above.
-Neither hippos nor elephants can jump.
-Impalas have harems, but elephants are matriarchal, traveling in herds and quite sensitive in general. At the elephant orphanage they rotate the staff members when they are on the overnight shift because the elephants will become too attached to one staff member and will refuse to eat food from another.
-Elephants are susceptible to pneumonia, in part because keepers have no way of detecting the symptoms because elephants can't cough or sneeze. Their lungs are attached to their ribcage so by the time their trunk starts dripping its already too late:(
-Giraffes make no noise. They also frequently get cataracts because they spend so much time craning their necks to the tops of trees to eat while staring into the sun.
-Giraffe diet consist of acacia trees which, if you've ever seen them, have very intimidating spikes all over them. Giraffes are able to eat away without a care in the world because their saliva is filled with antiseptic constantly healing the wounds from their last meal.
-Hyenas and vultures poop white!! What a cool trick huh?!? That happens because they are both scavengers and eat the bones of the animal as well as the meat. The white of the poop is from the calcium in the bones they have digested.
-Hyenas can eat dead meat, meaning they can eat an animal that they haven't killed themselves but just came across...however, if a member of the pack comes across food it must let the other members of the pack know about it. If they don't and the pack finds out they will kill the individual hyena. Who says there isn't justice in the wild???
-The biggest killers in Africa are the Hippos
-I remember this fact like this: "Cheetahs cry because leopards are bigger". Cheetahs and leopard look very similar, but one way to differentiate them is that cheetahs have the markings on their face that make them look like they are crying. Also, leopards tend to be larger in size than cheetahs...hence the expression above.
-Neither hippos nor elephants can jump.
-Impalas have harems, but elephants are matriarchal, traveling in herds and quite sensitive in general. At the elephant orphanage they rotate the staff members when they are on the overnight shift because the elephants will become too attached to one staff member and will refuse to eat food from another.
-Elephants are susceptible to pneumonia, in part because keepers have no way of detecting the symptoms because elephants can't cough or sneeze. Their lungs are attached to their ribcage so by the time their trunk starts dripping its already too late:(
-Giraffes make no noise. They also frequently get cataracts because they spend so much time craning their necks to the tops of trees to eat while staring into the sun.
-Giraffe diet consist of acacia trees which, if you've ever seen them, have very intimidating spikes all over them. Giraffes are able to eat away without a care in the world because their saliva is filled with antiseptic constantly healing the wounds from their last meal.
-Hyenas and vultures poop white!! What a cool trick huh?!? That happens because they are both scavengers and eat the bones of the animal as well as the meat. The white of the poop is from the calcium in the bones they have digested.
-Hyenas can eat dead meat, meaning they can eat an animal that they haven't killed themselves but just came across...however, if a member of the pack comes across food it must let the other members of the pack know about it. If they don't and the pack finds out they will kill the individual hyena. Who says there isn't justice in the wild???
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