track and field events

Who would have thought that track and field events would be so important that they would cancel school? They are! But to be honest I have loved it. All of the schools in the Gulu District come together at this place called Peche stadium to compete. Even the students who are not competeing come to the stadium to cheer on their fellow students. My friend Ann and I went both days for about three hours and had a great time chatting with the students and teachers and seeing how it is really done. The boys and girls are soooo fast and strong. They run for miles, very often without shoes. I was very impressed.
We would ride our bikes there every morning and along the way we would have to pass through a cluster of trees that had hundreds of bats in them! We at first thought that they were birds, but no...bats! Children were using sling shots to try to hit them up in the trees. It was not plesent. On the way to the stadium one of the bats got so scared it decided to poop on my shoulder....ewww....bat poo! We took a break to clean it off my shoulder, but man! I have never seen so many bats out and about during the day!
Other than that we went to St. Judes, an orphanage, where one of the other teachers is teaching a class. He is incorperating a class with digital cameras. The children are really doing awesome work. I often love to go and participate and also play with the babies. There are at least 10 of them there that are between the ages of 1 and 3. My heart really goes out to them. Well, I am off to ride my bike home and lesson plan for tomorrow! First day of teaching!