Already October!
During the past 2 weeks, I haven’t experienced that much. It has mostly been school assignments and just hanging around in Masaka. So I thought I would share some of that with you!
The guard at the office. He is very nice but wouldn't smile for the photo;o)
This fall semester consists of to courses, MIDM50 (Sept-Oct) and MIDM60 (Nov-Dec). During MIDM50 we have had 4 assignments, and 3 of those are completed, so there’s only one left. And this one is an assessment of the Uganda office as an organisation. I have to look at the individual level, meaning interviewing the staff and doing personality tests to figure out if the people working there create an inspiring and productive working environment or not. Exiting I think! And if I do a good job, I might even help improve the effectiveness of the office, which feels very inspiring! Finally, a school assignment that can be useful!
Then, MIDM60 is all data collection for our thesis, however, since I’m going to South Africa 1-12 of November, and rafting on the Nile, safari in Tanzania and relaxing on Zanzibar 16-30 of November we have decided to multitask in October, doing the organisational assessment while collecting thesis data. And hopefully be done with everything on October 30th;o) Almost all the logistics have been figured out: We have hired 3 translators, tested our questionnaires at the Agroforestry Training Centre (ATC) on some of the staff members there, our supervisor Cotilda has been to the villages we are going to visit to inform them of ‘when, what and where’, the car is booked and accommodation looked at. So starting on Monday, the 12th, we will spend 2 weeks in the field interviewing farmers. Exiting!
Other than that, life here is pretty easy... We pay low rent in for a big house in the centre of town. And Grace comes every Thursday to clean the house and do our laundry, so no complaints! We also have a gardener Mon-Fri and guards every night + weekends. I have a very big room with a nice big bed. And we have a variety of free alarm clocks every morning: the neighbours’ cow, a few different birds, our guard dog Fanta and a rooster on the other side of the road. So I am usually awake by the time my clock rings. I’m thinking about recording the cow so I can use it as an alarm tone on my mobile ;o) It’s actually a very cosy sound!
In fact, there are a lot of different animals here, especially birds! There is one in particular which is kind of scary: the marabou stork!
It is huge and somewhat disgusting, but at the same time fascinating! It reminds me of a dinosaur and when it flies over you there is an impressing sound coming from the flapping of the wings. Then there’s a funny one always walking around on out lawn with a long beak, and a variety of small colourful birds being noisy and chasing each other around. There have also been a few monkeys jumping around in the trees.
We do most of our grocery shopping at the local market as they have all fruits and vegetables there, and then buy our powder milk, cornflakes, bread and butter at the supermarket. So we eat breakfast at home, usually toast with mashed avocado and scrambled eggs on top, get tea and chapati (pancake/naan) at the office around 10, eat lunch at home or out at 13, get tea at the office around 16 and then go home to eat dinner. I rarely get hungry in between meals ;o)
Florence, who is the 'mother' at the office, and the supplier of our daily tea dose!
And, we have finally planed our avocado tree that we bought at the ATC a few weeks ago (Ms Njo Njo) in the garden.
I actually took a walk around the garden the other day and realised just how many different flowers and plants we have. It’s quite amazing! Below is a small selection of them.
The guard at the office. He is very nice but wouldn't smile for the photo;o)
This fall semester consists of to courses, MIDM50 (Sept-Oct) and MIDM60 (Nov-Dec). During MIDM50 we have had 4 assignments, and 3 of those are completed, so there’s only one left. And this one is an assessment of the Uganda office as an organisation. I have to look at the individual level, meaning interviewing the staff and doing personality tests to figure out if the people working there create an inspiring and productive working environment or not. Exiting I think! And if I do a good job, I might even help improve the effectiveness of the office, which feels very inspiring! Finally, a school assignment that can be useful!
Then, MIDM60 is all data collection for our thesis, however, since I’m going to South Africa 1-12 of November, and rafting on the Nile, safari in Tanzania and relaxing on Zanzibar 16-30 of November we have decided to multitask in October, doing the organisational assessment while collecting thesis data. And hopefully be done with everything on October 30th;o) Almost all the logistics have been figured out: We have hired 3 translators, tested our questionnaires at the Agroforestry Training Centre (ATC) on some of the staff members there, our supervisor Cotilda has been to the villages we are going to visit to inform them of ‘when, what and where’, the car is booked and accommodation looked at. So starting on Monday, the 12th, we will spend 2 weeks in the field interviewing farmers. Exiting!
Other than that, life here is pretty easy... We pay low rent in for a big house in the centre of town. And Grace comes every Thursday to clean the house and do our laundry, so no complaints! We also have a gardener Mon-Fri and guards every night + weekends. I have a very big room with a nice big bed. And we have a variety of free alarm clocks every morning: the neighbours’ cow, a few different birds, our guard dog Fanta and a rooster on the other side of the road. So I am usually awake by the time my clock rings. I’m thinking about recording the cow so I can use it as an alarm tone on my mobile ;o) It’s actually a very cosy sound!
In fact, there are a lot of different animals here, especially birds! There is one in particular which is kind of scary: the marabou stork!
It is huge and somewhat disgusting, but at the same time fascinating! It reminds me of a dinosaur and when it flies over you there is an impressing sound coming from the flapping of the wings. Then there’s a funny one always walking around on out lawn with a long beak, and a variety of small colourful birds being noisy and chasing each other around. There have also been a few monkeys jumping around in the trees.
And of course we have the goats and cows grazing on the big piece of land next to our house! Oh, and mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, geckoes, tiny jumping spiders and other funny looking flying insects!
We do most of our grocery shopping at the local market as they have all fruits and vegetables there, and then buy our powder milk, cornflakes, bread and butter at the supermarket. So we eat breakfast at home, usually toast with mashed avocado and scrambled eggs on top, get tea and chapati (pancake/naan) at the office around 10, eat lunch at home or out at 13, get tea at the office around 16 and then go home to eat dinner. I rarely get hungry in between meals ;o)
Florence, who is the 'mother' at the office, and the supplier of our daily tea dose!
And, we have finally planed our avocado tree that we bought at the ATC a few weeks ago (Ms Njo Njo) in the garden.
I actually took a walk around the garden the other day and realised just how many different flowers and plants we have. It’s quite amazing! Below is a small selection of them.
Hmm, that’s about all I could think of for now. Take care until next time!!
posted by Maria at 2:26 PM
4 Comments:
Bästa posten hittills - jättebra skrivet!!
Saknar dig sååå! Men snart bär det av till CT (där du kommer kunna fota hur många blommor som helst :) ... ).
Puss
Ser fram emot att snart vara där :-).
det er som sædvanligt godt at nyde dine velformulerede briefinger, om hvad du går og laver. glæder mig til at se billeder og høre mere om din tur, når vi ses til jul.
Store knus
Far
Maria, when i read the phrase: "I have to look at the individual level, meaning interviewing the staff and doing personality tests to figure out if the people working there create an inspiring and productive working environment or not. Exiting I think!", instead of 'have' i read 'hate' :) the rest of the sentence didn't make too much sense to me because of that 'minor' difference :) only after reading the original sentence once again, I managed to understand what you wanted to say. impressed with all the planning you already managed to do for the next months!
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