Work Has Begun!

It's been an exciting and busy time since my last post. I'm not quite sure when I last posted, and the computer I'm on doesn't want to let me check, but here's a bit of what's happened:
In September I was visited by Jesse, my old roommate from Budapest. Among other tings, we went to Uganda and rafted the Nile with another PCV, Peter. It was really cool, we did lots of big rapids (4 class V's!), saw monkeys and lots of birds, even a fish eagle making a catch.
Prior to that there was some excitement--trouble, rather--at my school. The O-Level (forms 1-4) kids got in a fight with the A-Level (forms 5 and 6, my kids) over a soccer game. Things got hugely out of hand. The A-level kids, who are all boarders, went to the village where most of the O-Level kids live, and threw rocks at their houses, breaking some windows and scaring everyone. They even burned some clothes and a mattress of some of the O-level kids. This all happened about 2 weeks before the end of the A-level term, and we ended up closing the A-Level early and sending the kids home. We expelled ringleaders and the more flagrant participants, and just last week the kids came back from their September Vacation. So this week they are finally getting the final exams they should have taken at the end of August...
I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't actaully see any of the riot. It took place on a Sunday evening while I was working in my office, and I didn't know anything had happened until it was almost over. I did hear a bit of shouting, but that's pretty normal when there's a soccer game. These days, most everyone seems very comfortable pretending nothing happened.

There is some undoubtedly good news. Thanks to help from you, the funding has been completed on my grant to renovate teacher's houses at a local elementary school! I got the money a couple weeks ago, and on Friday 17 October, the construction was started. We are cutting it a bit close timewise, but the villagers understand the constraints and assure me that everything will be completed even a week early.

What time constraints? Well, it's been more than 2 years I've been here, and my time is nearly up. I was in town this weekend for a goodbye party as the members of my group are beginning to leave. My official Close of Service date is 20 Nov, and the next day I'm flying to Greece to meet Annie, and then on 6 Dec I'll land in Houston. It seems unbelievable. In between now and then I need to give and grade these final exams, monitor and finish the construction work and Itundu Primary School, and finish the last edits on the math book I wrote for the course I'm teaching. Buybusybusy.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the project!