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I was talking with my mom the other day and I had a few really fun stories/information for her. As I was telling her, I realized that I have definitely reached the point in my service of really enjoying my time here and the country in general. Of course I still have my issues with the Ugandan culture and people’s actions, but I think I have come to the point where I am used to them and they don’t frustrate me as much. One of the things I told my mom was that I experienced an earthquake here. I think it’s great! I have always wanted to experience one, not one that is life threatening, but just to get the feeling of such a powerful natural phenomenon. Unfortunately it happened in the middle of the night and I was dead asleep so I barely woke up, feeling the vibrations and thinking I was hearing my dishes rattle. When I woke up the next morning I thought it was a dream but when I talked to my neighbor she asked me if I had felt it and I got so excited that I didn’t dream it but actually felt it. I hope I’m not being insensitive to earthquake disaster survivors, but I thought it was really fun.

Another positive experience I shared with my mom the other morning when I was helped by my new friends-a couple of 3 year olds. The teachers at my school helped me find a female rabbit from a student to join my male rabbit. They also asked the students if they could bring in a tree branch so I can extend the house where my rabbits live. The students brought the tree branches to the edge of the school grounds where the teacher housing begins so I had to bring them to the current rabbit house (which happens to be inside my goat house). These poles are small in diameter, most are around 3-5 inches, but they are very long, anywhere from 10-20 feet. Well I carried about 8 or so to the rabbit/goat house and my two new friends came running from their homes to help me transport these poles. The boy and girl toddlers are kids of teachers and live in the next door block of houses. They were completely adorable trying to take one or two of the smaller poles and drag them to the rabbit/goat house. Maybe they are just bored and help me as something to do, but I was really touched by their wanting to do manual labor for me.
There are other good things that happen everyday….finally.

Since Being Back

What have I done since I have been back? Most of the country is ‘on holiday’ with the school kids just this week coming back to school. Since I work in the school system that means that my teachers are either going to visit family member or hanging around the school. Having a bit of down time, I have read 4 books, spent way too long on Suduko puzzles, a bit of gardening, gone to a couple meetings, spent a lot of time on daily cleaning and cooking tasks, and started to plan many things that I want to accomplish this year. But also since the teachers are hanging around or in their gardens, I have spent a good deal of time getting to know my neighbors and especially the kids. Before I left most of the kids, majority of their ages range from 2-6, would see me and either start crying or screaming and run away. When I came back and spent a lot of time hanging around my house and talking with my neighbors, the kids started to realize that I wasn’t there to hurt them and started to come near me. It also helped that I brought back a few toys and cards that I let them play with either in my house or on my stoop. And, unlike most parents in Uganda, I like to play with the kids rather than teach them how to do work or yell at them for not doing work. Just yesterday I got water from my bore hole and the kids wouldn’t let me leave my house until they could carry my empty gericans. Walking back to my house the kids happened to follow me in a single line like the pied piper. We walked by a few teachers who were sitting and talking and I stopped, looked behind me and said in luganda ‘I don’t know why they like me now, but look, now I have an army.’ They just laughed.

Coming Back

I have been back to Uganda for a few weeks now. Some things are better, some are worse. The trip home was definitely wonderful and seeing all my friends and most of my family was beyond great. However, that did make it much more difficult to get on the plane back to Uganda-even more than the first time because I knew what I was going back to. I won’t lie, I cried the whole day I left, even in Brussells and Newark. And no, I didn’t cry in Newark because I had to hang out in one of the armpits of the nation for a few hours, but it meant that I had to leave everyone I love and care for and everything that is so nice and secure about the place I grew up. But once I back to Uganda and faced things I knew would be a problem and went to places I recognized, it wasn’t so bad. I actually didn’t want to spend too much time in Kampala-the closest Uganda has to a first world county, e.g. showers, power, toilets, etc. Maybe because I had so many luggages and was experiencing jet lag, I just wanted to get to my village, my two room house and sleep on my foam mattress. I also had my animals to come back to and my neighbors who I knew would be anxious to hear about my time in America, the far off fairy tale land where jobs and money are easily found and life is lazily simple-a delusion I’m still trying to expose. In some ways they are correct, we have machines and tools to do many of tasks they do by hand here, but at the same time we have to work that much harder and efficiently with a much higher standard for all products and services. The mediocrity that many people accept is astounding, for instance if someone makes something that you don’t want or has been built unacceptably poorly they still expect you to take it or at least pay for it. When people say ‘ignorance is bliss’ or ‘you don’t miss what you never had’ can definitely apply here, and probably most third world countries. It’s fortunate for some people that most of the country doesn’t know any better and will tolerate sub-standard products and services, but at the same time it’s keeping the economy down because it makes the country as a whole seem inferior-or, maybe just to me.

Ha...just kidding

Riiiight, so I am back to my old number here (011-256-782244958) because the new phone carrier turned out to have no nearby tower, hence no network, in my village. Although it seems as though I should have known this beforehand, the people in my community had strongly suggested that since I was not happy with my old carrier that I should switch. So, I went to Jinja and bought a new number (same phone, but different number) and once I got back to my village I had almost no network. Anyways...more info to come.
PS I forgot, my cat, Carrera ran away or was eaten or stolen or something, either way she is gone. I am very upset but her sister, Tina, whom I gave to my counterpart was given to me but she's just not MY cat.