Prepping and Planning

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6/15/11
Prepping and planning all day long. We have set some tentative dates for traveling to Hoima and to Gulu with Reverend. And it is all going to be the week before we meet with the mentors (July 1) in Kampala to give them the results from these tests. Mmmmmmk. So we are going to have to really push to get the statistics generated. Yikes! That is also the same week as my birthday.

Today Meagan told me that she is ready for my birthday. That’s funny because I am too. And it is hard to describe what it is about the day that is so exhausting. Everything takes such a long time. For example we took pictures to go with the paper work that we have to resubmit to the UNCST (because they don’t have them on file), and we got the express ones that are supposed to take 15 minutes, but we waited for 30. I always have to budget twice as much time as I think it should take.

However, I’m really looking forward to traveling, and I think it’s going to be a great experience.

6/14/11
Today we entered data into the database like crazy all day long. We are up to student number 745 (approximately 23,000 data points), and it looks like we are only about 1/3 of the way through. We’ve decided to take bets on how many we think there are. I’m at 2500. Meagan is 2300. Nicole is 2800. When we reach the 1000 mark we decided that we are allowed to adjust the bets. We haven’t decided exactly what the winner gets, but I think it is going to be a massage and a half day alone at the house.

6/13/11
Did another observation at a primary school with four first grade classes. I learn a lot of Luganda this way. I feel like I need to be sitting in the first grade classroom all the time. It’s hard to do observations in the younger classrooms because our presence causes such a disturbance, but it is really cute the way they steal glances at us and then turn back to giggle with their friends.

Been in communication with my favorite person at UNCST. They say that they can give us temporary approval to start our research so long as we resubmit the paper work to the president’s office. Honestly, it feels a little like a trap, but we’ll continue to follow along.

6/12/11
We cooked tacos today and hosted Joan for her birthday. Her kids came along too, and it was good to see them again. I hadn’t seen them in two summers. I think they had a good time – Louis the oldest one said that he wanted to come back next Saturday.

Other than that we started catching up and getting ready for the week. Got a lot to do. Got a lot to do. Only five more working weeks.