Saturday, May 14, 2011

Contact me in Uganda!

Hello, friends! Thanks to those of you who having been taking time to read my blog! Just wanted to let people know how to contact me (as I begin teaching her in about a week).

Mail:
Mark Cotton
PO Box 100
Nebbi, Uganda
(Letters will take a few weeks, small packages, which could easily contain sour gummy worms or cereal, take anywhere from 1 to 3 months. Send me some snail!)

You can also text me directly for FREE at (425) 247-1812. I can't receive calls or pictures this way though, sorry.

I'd love to Skype with you as well! Send me a text and I will get on Skype if I can. My username is mark2d2.

That's all for now from toasty Parombo.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Beans and Scorpions

Refried beans, tortillas and rice. Not bad. Scorpion in my room as I'm going to bed: Not cool.

I thought it was just another one of those overgrown radioactive spiders that move really fast in the night and appear to have 10 legs. Nope. It had 8 legs and two pincers (and...the tale). First wild living scorpion I have seen in my life. Crawling in my pile of clothes. Allrright! Hoo-ra! (At least I have a flock of goats to protect my house. They probably eat scorpions.)

Friday, May 6, 2011

Parombro

I am now, and have been for two weeks, at my site in Parombo.

So much to say, so much time. But I will be brief. What five words would I best use to describe my life right now? Well, since you ask, I'd have to say French solar Scrabble pancakes.

French - I hitched a ride back to town in a pickup. I tried speaking with the driver but he didn't really speak Alur and spoke even less English. Fluent in French, though. Sadly, je ne parle pas francais. I wish I could remember more...

Solar - My town does not have power. A couple shops use generators and such. I got my solar setup the first full day...(not out of extreme anxiety but due to my headteacher's on-the-ball-ness). It's nice to have lights (as I type this and my battery has been depleted for the evening).

Scrabble - My headteacher is not bad at it. We play it every couple nights. He scored 99 points off the word "Donkeys" so...Scott, you down for some scrabbs?

Pancakes - Parombo has one, uh, restaurant. They serve beans sometimes. In Uganda, sometimes when you walk into a restaurant and ask for food, during meantime no less, the waiters will come out and stare at you like you are crazy and then eventually tell you they have no food. ("Food? Why would you want food?" I hear them thinking.) I am starting to cook. Made my first every batch of completely from scratch (banana) pancakes. SO good. I will be getting syrup soon.

Alright, that's all for now. Though I do have some sweet Spiders, if anyone is interested.