Get on the Night Train

choo, choo... They sell night train here like a fine wine... haha, Night Train. I've been seeing posters and advertisements around in Kampala and on the shelves near me.

To get someone's attention here, it seems as though clapping or hissing are acceptable... for me, I don't really like it that much. Sometimes I will be walking down the street while people are hissing at me for their attention. I don't know... it makes me somehow feel like a dog.. although I think whistling is okay. Waiters and Waitresses are treated the worst. They are clapped at, yelled out, hissed at and about any rude forms of communication I have seen. They can sometimes be treated as though they are lesser of a person... They are sometimes not thanked, rarely tipped and treated like a slave. Seems pretty harsh. Maybe it's just not what I'm used to, but it just doesn't always seem right. I mean, we're all people. ha.

Lunch time can really be anytime here. I have eaten "Lunch" from times between 11am and 7pm... haha... they are calling it "lunch" no matter. At workshops a lunch may be delayed until 4 in the afternoon, but it's still called lunch. Once at my neighbors I ate "lunch" at 7pm and after we finished they told me to hurry home so I could prepare my dinner. hehe... I was thinking, that was dinner... but not in their book.

I just finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It was pretty good, hard to follow at first, but I liked it... love story. I hear they're making a movie of it with Rachel McAdams, I like that girl. I am still reading The Poisonwood Bible too. While being here in Uganda I read more than one book at once... sometimes 2 or 3 at the same time, going back and forth... haha, I would never do that at home. Probably wouldn't have the time. The Poisonwood Bible is good... about a missionary family from the U.S. living in the Congo in the 1960's... as of now, it seems like the worst has yet to come... sometimes when I read it, the descriptions and details of life there reminds me of mine here.

I saw the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, ha... probably beat some of you readers to it. It was the first movie I have ever heard of as coming to Uganda on time. Usually the movies come out later than at home... by a few weeks, maybe a month. Indiana, however, came out Thursday... right on time. I liked the movie, thought it was pretty sweet.

I read a Vanity Fair article called "Continent Adrift" by Paul Theroux (guy who wrote Dark Star Safari) the article is talking about basically the state of Africa and in it, he says this..."Into that gap step the international superstars, Oxfam... the Peace Corps... However well intentioned, there is no real logic or long term plan; it just seems like a good idea, and it's not a bad way to add to your personal myth. But the simple truth is that nothing will change as long as the governments are corrupt, indifferent or merely posturing."
I'm sure the rest of the article can be found online...
So, I guess I am mentioning it in my blog because he mentions the Peace Corps, and that's me. Somehow I agree, somehow I am not sure, but it's there anyway.

Mid-service, been here 15 months, woah dude.

I have just returned from our mid-service conference for the Peace Corps. This means that we have exactly one year left until we end our service and say goodbye. One year may seem long, but in reality I am thinking it will fly and next May will be here before I know it. The workshop was nice, relaxing and a good time to sort of sum up our thoughts and organize plans for the last year. We have been in country for 15 months now and I feel like I have learned so much over the past year but still have so much more to learn and see and understand about life here, my life and a lot more. The group that I came with last March was 50 volunteers. For various reasons we are now 44, but the workshop also gave us a good chance to hear what we are all doing at their sites and all the great work in general throughout Uganda.

Akon was supposed to come to Uganda, but he canceled so far... the papers say he's canceled 5 times in Kenya and now here... let down, woah.

Kampala has 7 main hills, and it's a beautiful city. The afternoons and evenings are especially nice, the wind blows and everything. I have been here now for a few days because I had to go to the dentist again. That wasn't really fun, but I am saving my tooth somehow.

Since I have been away for about 2 weeks, with the workshop and dentist, when I return, all of my neighbors will say, "you have been lost". They will ask me where I was, what I was doing, and the best is when every single one always asks, "what did you bring for me?"

Sarah Budi was here! Sarah is my friend from home, we grew up together and she's a best friend of mine. I love her, I love you Sarah, ha. She came to Uganda, she saw, she somehow conquered and now she is gone. boo, that is the sad part. I can't decide if I'm gonna elaborate on our trip on this blog, but if I do, it won't be now... if you know Sarah, ask!

Well, in true Peace Corps form I've decided to stop shaving my legs and arm pits for the next few months and see how things go... I am now in a bet with another Peace Corps Volunteer, Rivka, so we will be hairy for a while. I know it's lovely.

I don't know if my cousin Katy reads this blog, but if you do... I just wanna give a shout out to you and Ted and the baby! wooo hooo! It's hard being here knowing that there's the first baby coming into our family, so but I am so excited even though far away! I can't wait to see pictures.

AKON is coming to Kampala Uganda! I can't wait for this either... it's April 26, and I really want to go. I love Akon, and I hope I can save up if it's fairly cheap and go!

Ain't no pizza parties in Uganda...we have goat slaughtering parties, woo, yee hawww. (credit to AK, my beautiful sister for this one)

Today is a beautiful day in Uganda and I just thought I would post another blog to follow up on the athletics competitions...
Yesterday there were inter-school competitions where the girls divided into different countries (teams) and raced each other. The team that won got a prize of a goat. The goat was black and lovely and when it came time to announce the winning team, I got to hand over the goat to the winning team. The kids were going crazy! People were yelling, hooting and hollering, smiling and laughing... it was so much fun! The goat I think knew it was on its death bed though... as I tried to pull him over with the rope he didn't seem to want to come so much. Once I finally handed him over to the winning team the kids went nuts! They started singing and they took the goat and started running all over the place with it chanting and singing their victory song. They didn't sing "we are the champions" by Queen, like my Mom likes to do sometimes, but they sang their own song... it was fun!

I am having a great day and I must say thanks to Mom and AK for sending me the Tao Te Ching... I am loving it and feeling the Tao already! woo hoo!

Also, thanks to AK and Erin, I got your packages, holy crap, Thanks sooo much! I love you!

Women's Day is celebrated here in Uganda big time... I think because every other day women are usually so supressed that this is the one day of the year where it is ok for a man to cook for his wife, get his own water, women wear their nice clothes and things like this... but through stories I hear that the day can actually backfire and some men end up beating their wives. At our school we celebrated with an assembly and dancing and good food and speeches all about women and how important we are and everything.... it was a fun day but when it was time to eat all the male teachers sat down and the women served them all... I was like what the heck is going on.... ha, it really defeated the whole point...

We were out of power for about a week there... I heard it was because some people had cut the cables in the middle of the night to sell... I hear they can get a lot of money for them, so when you're poor, that's what you do... at least it's an option that's there... finally power came back a few nights ago and the whole school went crazy, cheering, yelling "umeme" (that's the name of the power company) and it was pretty exciting... it's normal to lose power here, but a week was a long time... basically every single day it does go out at some point for at least a few hours... so I usually think about how thankful I am for the power we have in the US. I told some of my neighbors that the power might go out once a year at home and they thought that was crazy! They couldn't believe it really...

My neighbor transferred schools a couple weeks ago which means he had to move out, pack up his things and travel to a new home some where else.... as he packed up his things in the afternoon I sat on my front porch to watch. For him to move out took no longer than 5 minutes... he packed up his metal frame twin bed, a chair, one bag and a few other small things and that was it... I really thought about the contrast between him moving and any time I have every moved at home... I always have so much stuff! This man had hardly anything, but that was him and that was what he had... he moved out and moved on in less than 5 minutes...

Athletics are running competitions the schools have and the competitions are coming up, so lately I have been going to the practices... girls run around sprinting and running in skirts and dresses and no shoes... I always think they will step on something and hurt their foot, but they seem fine for the most part...

2 days ago I was visiting a school and when asking what their challenges were, one challenge was that every evening someone comes in to one of the classrooms and defecates on the floor, so every morning they come in and have to clean up poo. I asked about locks, but they can't afford them and the windows are broken anyway, and I asked why and the probably reason is that within the entire town there is not one single latrine (no place to use the bathroom except maybe the bush). This was only one problem though... another problem was that there is no boar hole near by.... the closest one about 3km away so they get their water from an untreated spring... this is crazy! Sanitation level is awfully low and it's just insane. I was reviewing some of the lesson plans and most were not up to a high standard, incorrect facts or misspelled words, etc, but I was thinking that no wonder they can't focus on these things when problems of health and sanitation aren't met first...

I've been in Uganda for a year now! I guess it feels like it, but sometimes not... I still learn so much about everything everyday and although I've grasped a little bit of how life works here, I still have a long way to go...

My Mom just sent me the Tao Te Ching book with commentary by Wayne Dyer... if you're in to that kind of stuff, it's really great!
Here's a lovely quote from it: "When you realize you have all you need, the world belongs to you."

Lately, I planted some plants and they finally began to grow, and I even used some of my own fresh basil and cilantro in my food. I planted the top of a pineapple (the top that you cut off before you eat it) and I never knew it, but it grows into a pineapple plant. Pretty cool, huh... my neighbor told me about it, and the other day I tugged at it and it wouldn't budge. That means it's growing roots! It's very thrilling, let me tell you. I've been reading a lot, and as a slow reader that I am, I've been flying through some books. ha. I just finished The Kite Runner, which I think they made a movie out of, huh... coolness. Then the other day I tried baking bread and somehow it worked. ha. I don't have an oven, so I have to make this weird one... you can take 2 large cooking pans, a small tin and bake whatever you want inside of it.
In a town close by I found out that this place has wireless internet... it's about the crazyiest, coolest, most awesome thing in the world. It's definitely the highlight of my life at the moment, and I'm very grateful. It's at a hotel and the dude at the hotel says it's expensive, so that sucks, but hopefully I can work out a deal. I am a volunteer for gosh sakes.
It's a nice day and the weather has been nice. I think the rainy season is trying to come, and it's coming slowly, slowly.

A couple weekends ago I hiked a mountain in town, it's called Mt. Winale. I went with 2 other volunteers, and it took all day to hike up the thing, and it was about the most beautiful site I have ever seen. We were up so high that I felt like a bird in the sky, ha, really even. From the town you can see the mountain we hiked, and I swear I'll never look at that mountain the same again. Every time I see the tower, I think... man, I was up there, what, what.

I listen to the BBC almost every day at least twice a day. I'm addicted actually, and I was kept up to date with George Bush coming to Africa and everything... I followed him to each country and knew where he was at all times... anyway, that's not the point. The point is that he wants to donate a bunch of mosquito nets to Tanzania and he said something like this, "I don't like to think that a little mosquito bite kills children all the time"(or something like that)- mosquitos kill because of malaria... anyway, on the BBC there is a response program, where people are allowed to call or text in what they have to say and there was this woman that said something good... she said, "politicians and the governemnt are more dangerous than a mosquito bite, so fight corruption first" - she is most definitely correct.

A new group of volunteers just came. I think there are 60! We are all really excited to meet them and next week I get to host 2 girls at my house so they can see what it's like i guess or something.

This is my family! We were all in Richmond airport when I came home over Christmas, that's where the picture was taken.

Millet bread:

Wheata, Kalo, Atop, millet bread are all the same thing. I went to my neighbors house last night to watch him prepare it and then we ate it. Basically all it is is you take boiling water and add flour to that, then you mix it up and then you eat it, with either beans, greens, chicken or fish. We ate it with greens last night. You eat it with your hands, which is actually easier because it's so sticky that your hands can grab bites for you just right. We sat down in his house which is actually just one room... it had 4 chairs, a small table, a twin size bed and a bucket for water with plates all around. He poured water over my hands to wash them, then he served me. After serving me, he washed his own hands and served himself. We said a prayer and then began to eat. He told me that most visitors that come, he won't eat with them. He will feed them, then let them eat by themselves. I thought this was really weird, so I asked him why. He said that visitors will eat alone in case they choke or drop food on their shirt or something like that, then they won't be ashamed in front of him. haha, this was cracking me up, and I laughed at this, and he did too. It is just so different then my own culture that I had to laugh. He said he would eat with me though so I didn't have to eat by myself. hehe, funny.
After we ate, we had a long conversation about the state of Uganda, the way he lives his life, and just general conversation about the poverty, disease and lifestyle most Ugandans are living. It was interesting and he was telling me most everything I already think of most of the time, but hadn't heard from most Ugandans. He was saying that he doesn't usually talk about any of this out loud. I asked him what I could do to help with the bigger picture, and he told me to just be sure I make the people at home aware of all the corruption that does go on, and to offer donations wisely... to research the organizations they plan to donate to, and be cautious and follow through to be sure the money is actually used for what it was meant for. There was so much more he talked about and I will share eventually, but for now, I don't have time... internet money is fading away. Goodbye.