Exam schedule

The final exam schedule is as follows:
Monday 9 Aug: Old Testament Prophets 2-5
Tuesday 10 Aug: Homiletics, Preaching, and Christian Communication 9-12
Wednesday 11 Aug:  Systematic Theology 9-12
Friday 13 Aug: Biblical Interpretation 2-5
Monday 16 Aug: Gospels and Acts 2-5
Tuesday 17 Aug: Greek 9-12

My major concern is that there is no break prior to Systematic Theology, and that it's the last in the three-day exam bing.  At least the exam the day before is also at 9; I really dislike going from an exam at 2 to an exam at 9.  Like we have to do twice.

Then all my friends will leave on Wednesday, 18 Aug, and I leave on Friday, 20 Aug.  I should probably secure transport to the airport...

More sad news

I've been delayed posting this because the internet has not been my friend, even with my snazzy 3G modem (bunny trail:  one reviewer of mobile phones with 3G capability wrote "who needs 3G in Uganda?"  Ummm... the Americans do).  Nor has time been my friend, and getting the two together has been challenging.

The bishop of Mukono's wife passed away suddenly Monday night (I'm posted to the Mukono cathedral).  He's preparing to retire in September, and his daughter is marrying in August.  There was a vigil at his house last night.  I attended the funeral service today (in Luganda).  The burial service will be tomorrow, and the Archbishop will be attending.  I attended the service today, so I will not attend tomorrow, and instead will try to finish my systematic theology paper.


Please pray for Bishop Kizito and his family.  As they say here, I am because you are, so what affects you affects me.  We are all hurting.

Pretty new money

About a month ago, the Bank of Uganda introduced new currency; it’s so pretty, and I actually had one of each bill, I had to show it off.  The old currency is still floating around; I’ve noticed that some shopkeepers apologize when they give it to me.  In addition to being pretty, it has new security measures, and the bills are a bit smaller, so they fit in my wallet better.

The color schemes for the denominations are still the same – people are surprised when I tell them that our money is 1. all the same size and 2. all the same color.  There are explanations for the designs, but the reverse of each bill (shown on the 1,000 bill; I know it's probably difficult to see) displays the map of Uganda along with a different agricultural image.

Here, 50,000 shillings is indeed a lot of money.  Talking about things in the thousands skews the perspective a bit – the exchange rate floats around 2,000 shillings to the USD, so the 50K is about the equivalent to $25.  I will say that I love seeing my bank balance in shillings.   : )

Musings on the future

Let me start by saying that I've enjoyed my Systematic Theology class.  I'm seriously dreading the exam though, because Professor Byaruhanga is one of those people who has the gift of conveying complicated ideas clearly and easily, which is a great skill for a lecturer to have.  But I know it's anything but easy.  

So I'm dawdling on the paper; I enjoy the topic, but am just dragging my feet.  And since I'm (only) halfway through with this degree, I start thinking about pursuing a doctorate.  Seriously.  In practical theology.  I've never wanted a doctorate before, but then again, I never wanted to come to Africa before, either.  

I spent a few minutes this afternoon trying to see what schools even offer the degree; it's a rather elite group.  And yes, that includes multiple continents.  We shall see where this goes!

Source of the Nile

On Saturday, the international theologians went to Jinja (about 60 kilometers east of Mukono) to visit the Source of the Nile.  Before coming here, I had no idea that the Nile originated all the way down here in Uganda.  It takes, what, three months for the water to flow from the source to the Mediterranean?  We spent a few minutes down at the banks, and would have taken the boat tour except the tour guide saw the two bzungu (plural of mzungu, which I’ve been misspelling), and hiked the price enormously.  It should have cost about 20,000 shillings ($10), but he was asking 60,000 ($30).  So we walked away in protest, as my friend Amos would say.  But not before my friend, Rev. Haron, asked if I knew how to swim.  As we were standing on the dock.  I do, but I also made it clear that there would be no swimming demonstrations.

We took a group photo with the marker (memorial?) about Gandhi’s ashes being scattered in the Nile, which surprised me; I’d’ve thought they’d be in the Ganges (need to do research on that one - perhaps it was just some of them?).  We took photos of each other on the banks of the Nile, and standing in the middle of the river.  I’m sure there’s a joke about a bunch of clergy standing in the middle of a river just waiting to be written… but we’re Anglicans.  Would be WAY more funny if we were Baptists, yes?

There’s a memorial obelisk on the west bank of the Nile, marking where Speke first viewed the falls (that were submerged when the dam was built) and “made them known to the world.”  Well, clearly, all Africans knew the Nile was here.  And we know exactly where he stood?

Then we went to Rev. Omona’s wife’s house, about 50 kilometers away.  She teaches at a school there, and it’s rather common for couples/families to work apart, and maintain homes in both places.  In the seven or so years they’ve been married, they’ve never been together consecutively for more than three weeks.  Wow.  They have three kids, and some stay with her, some with him.  Their daughter, Ruth (age 2) decided that she wanted to come stay with Daddy, so we brought her back.  It was a long, though fun, day.  And somehow, my assignments were still waiting on my desk.  Hmph.

Primer for Ugandan English

Yes, I'm procrastinating again.  But yesterday was a long day (see below), and I did finish one small assignment.

I'll try to get back into American English, but this may be helpful.  : )

I saw a link to this explanation of Ugandan English, and though it desperately needs an editor, its explanations are helpful.  I don't necessarily agree with all the phonetic stuff at the top (though some of it is certainly true, but I think it's painting with an overly broad brush), but I learned a bit.  For example, I always thought "to slope" was to go downhill.  Now that I know it can mean to go a particular direction, some directions that I thought were poor (and took me away from my destination) now make sense.  And neither of us thought to clarify "to slope" when discussing the merits of said directions.

Most of these I knew, but seeing the origin of "bouncing" and being "fake" is helpful.  One of my friends told me that the copiers at the library are fake.  They are hideous, and the quality is horrible.  So they're fake.  Some of my classmates saw me coming out of the dining hall, and said, "well done!"  I had to ask them what they meant.  They assume that when they see you, you've done something, so they congratulate you.  That is SO not American.

Goin' to another cathedral

Yesterday, the new bishop of Ankole (in the western part of Uganda) was consecrated and enthroned.  Previously, he had been the dean of education at UCU, while the Ankole folks would have attended anyhow, due to Bp. Sheldon's relationship here, oodles of people went.  We filled the big tour bus, the smaller Guild coaster (reminds me of the little hotel shuttle-type buses, but less comfortable), and then there were the other people who traveled in advance.



I went in the smaller, uncomfortable Guild bus because 1. the big bus was mostly filled with faculty, and 2. I didn't know we were going, and 3. really hadn't planned to attend until I was invited.  My initial reaction was that I didn't have time, but realized that this would be a good thing to do.



I reckon it was a good thing.  Truly.  We left UCU at 4:30 am (we were delayed about 30 minutes), and returned about 10:30 pm.  We arrived at St. James Cathedral, Mbarara (where Bp. John Guernsey was consecrated, I believe) about 10 am; we had a flat tire on the way, and had to stop and change it.  The good news is that the road to Mbarara has been paved (in large chunks; much of it is still in dire need of TLC since I traveled it about 18 months ago), so we were able to travel at good speed.



So, with the tire delay, it took 5.5 hours to get there.  We got stuck in a bad jam returning to Kampala that night, and that journey took about six hours.  We were a mite bit late, but we left the service during speeches to have lunch so we could leave.  We had lunch at 4, and it was over at 4:30.  Yes, the service started at 9 (I think), and ended around 4:30.  The speeches would have gone on longer had it not been late and people starving.  And hot.  



We knew that the president was coming, so I didn't bother taking my camera.  We had to pass through metal detectors again to go sit in the open-air tents.  It was a lovely, though incredibly long, service.  Today I asked someone what took so long.  I mean, I was there, but in my American mind, I'm still struggling to reconcile the time.  But I tend to forget about things like the song presentations, so that helps explain it.  The response I got was that "it would be un-African to have a consecration in two or three hours," and that's about right.  The president spoke for about 30 minutes (in Ankole; I have no idea what he said), and at the end, presented Bp. Sheldon with a car, which from what I gather, is his practice.  Not bad!



(Tiny bit after original posting)  I just realized that this could read somewhat negative.  It really was a lovely service, just lengthy.  And the journey was lengthy.  This was my first consecration, so I have nothing to which to compare, but there was such joy, and yet gravity, in what was happening.  The bishop has such a great responsibility in guarding the faith and caring for the flock, and I appreciate the solemnity with which this is approached.  And you should have heard the crowd when the Bishop Sheldon sat on his bishop's chair!  Wow!  Such excitement!