Farmer's Tan

Pretty much all my non-winter life I’ve had a “farmer’s tan”. I guess I’ve just always loved to be outside and playing sports when the weather is at least decent, and this has always lead to that lovely “farmer’s tan”.
Well, last week this city boy finally earned his first real “farmer’s tan”! All week the seminary didn’t have classes because of a corn emergency (their cornfields were being taken over by weeds). On Thursday my only class would have been at the seminary, so I ate breakfast with the students and then headed out to the fields with them.
The fields are in the vicinity of a church that’s about 8km away “in the bush” called Nakagugu. The students wondered if I’d be okay walking all the way to the fields…little do they know that that is the very path I run most days for my training.
The first thing I got to do was dig between the lines of corn with a hoe. I got to do it for a while, but right around the time that a student inquired as to how much the work would hurt my city hands, I got my first blister of the day. The student didn’t know that, but he didn’t have a hoe, so I let him use mine and I started hand-pulling the weeds near the roots of the corn stalks.
After a couple hours of the weeding, one of the student supervisors asked me to walk with him, and we ended up running going to a mango tree so this student could eat an inordinate amount of mangoes- which was both understandable (their food isn’t too great on a daily basis) and mildly entertaining. We ended up having a pretty long conversation with an “Evangelical Protestant” farmer who didn’t seem to understand why this student had chosen to become a monk. I got to be involved with the conversation through the translation of the student, and it was fun to help the farmer see how many things we agree on, and it was also fun to practice explaining my own beliefs. Definitely not what I expected when I thought of “field work”, but it was a good experience, and the man was very thankful for the conversation.
After lunch (which was brought from school in a truck so we could eat in the fields) it was time for fertilizing. This meant that I got to spend a good amount of time pounding a stick into the ground near each root so these small holes could be filled (by hand) with fertilizer. This work managed to give me two more blisters and some seriously dirty hands. I also got some time to talk to students and showcase how little I know about farming in the U.S. and in general (can anyone name main crops grown in the U.S. other than corn and wheat?).
Then it was time to walk back, and it started POURING! It was one of those rains where the raindrops hurt, and I was loving it, because I had been burning up all day and it was cooling me down wonderfully. The students thought I was pretty crazy. Since we were so far into the bush, the roads were mostly mud, so the hard rain meant we were basically walking through ankle-deep flowing muddy water! Good times.
It should also be noted that I had an itch on my face, and, having dirty hands, it appeared as though I was trying to make my skin…less white. There were a lot of good jokes from students about me trying to be African, and they earned the right to joke, because I can’t imagine a week of that work knowing that a) you’re missing a week of classes and b) your teachers are generally having a much easier week than usual while you toil.

Also, in a more general update, Mike and I are now in charge of the St. B. library. Kristin (a German volunteer) had been in charge, but she left, and apparently they just wouldn’t open the library if it wasn’t for us…so, we open it between our classes. Other teachers come in and say, “I didn’t know you were librarians?”…I didn’t either!
As for my trade school classes, I think they are going alright. Students only get one hour of math each week there, because they are really supposed to focus on their trade. With all that in mind, I have realized that it is really important they have a foundation for what they’ll need- so far we’ve practiced English numbers and basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). To get them more excited about practicing, we have “matches” at the board to see who can solve problems the fastest, and we call these Premier League games (soccer). The winner gets to take on me in the Champion’s League (again, soccer- I’m learning!) They get pretty into it and sometimes ask to keep playing, which is cool. And speaking of soccer, for those that care…How ‘bout that Arsenal?!
*Marathon Update: As I mentioned, I like running toward Nakagugu, mostly because there’s not a lot of traffic. However, being into the “bush” there are plenty of wrong turns to take, and I typically don’t make it to the church, but I finally made it the other day as I went for my longest run since…well…last marathon. It felt great!
Also, yesterday I switched up my route and ran by substantially more houses. The combination of seeing a mzungu and someone running for running-sake was too much to handle for some people, as parents were literally calling their children to come out of the house and see the sight! I even had a lady in sandals try to run with me for much longer than expected. Good times!
Finally, there’s now a “Facebook Event” for the fundraiser, so you can feel free to use that to help spread the word to your friends if you are on Facebook and so desire.