First Observation

Monday 6/7/10
I thought that I would be feeling better today, but I don’t. I’m worried that I might have a sinus infection. I was sure that I was going to be feeling better today. Anyway, we decided that instead of going to the clinic and then the foundation we would go to the foundation and then the clinic, thus giving me another hour of sleep.
At the foundation we had a very long meeting with Rev Obed. We told him about our research registration predicament, and it made him extremely upset. I was actually a little surprise about how adamant he was about finding out why it is taking so long and helping us along in the process. I was glad that I found someone else to deal with the secretaries so that I don’t have to anymore. The meeting went well, and afterwards we went to the SAS clinic.
We happened to meet Dr. Muhumuza’s father, which was actually a little intimidating because he’s lived through so much turmoil and managed to raise so many successful children. He turned out to be really funny and charming. He would start to talk about his different children, at about the fifth one he would get distracted and loose track of what he was talking about and start another conversation. I suppose remembering five out of ten is pretty good. I was able to give him the razor blades that I brought from the U.S. I accidentally broke the dispenser in CVS trying to get them out, but I think it was worth it. He said a blessing over us as he left. It was very sweet of him. I then took a nap, wrote a little and went to sleep. My cold is still bothering me and I seem to be acquiring an intestinal issue on top of it. P.S. it was my mom’s birthday today

Tuesday 6/8/10
Woke up in the night with a killer sinus headache and nausea on top. So I’m not feeling better today. I took some cold medicine and felt better for a while. Meagan got up and we made a heavier than usual breakfast because I knew that we wouldn’t be back to the house till pretty late in the afternoon. We left in time to make it across the city in an hour and a half, and we actually made it on time. We met with the supervisor, Mary, to do our first observation at a school. Mary is really cute in a grandmother sort of way. Today in particular she was reminding me of Mary Poppins because she had on a stiff dress and a large bag, and she used an umbrella like a parasol for shade while we were walking. The only thing she was missing was the hat.
Doing the observation was a lot of fun, and has been the best part of the week so far. We caused a huge commotion when we showed up with our whitness. The children were very smart and asked a lot of good questions. Towards the end though, the cold medicine was starting to wear off, and I was glad that we didn’t go to two schools like we had originally planned. On the way home, Mary helped us bargain for a pineapple. The mentor as well, was exceptionally sweet. We asked her why she decided to be a mentor, she said because she had a “sympathetic heart”. Also because she was HIV positive it was something she wanted to join in.
I knew I was going to get fussed at when we got back by Grace for going out, and she didn’t fail me. She also wouldn’t let me have any juice because she said it wasn’t good to drink cold things when you had the flu. She also fussed at me because we spend so much time walking and breathing in dust and that is why I was sick. I decided to start taking antibiotics. Between the nose and the stomach, I’m really having a difficult time, and I’m pretty sure that I’m grossing Meagan out. Fortunately tomorrow is another public holiday, so we don’t have to go anywhere. I’m not sure I would be able to anyway. However, I’m optimistic that I will start feeling better tomorrow.