Hello. Dry Season? Are You There?

According to Wikipedia, “Uganda's climate is tropical. This means it is generally rainy (particularly during the months of March to May, September to November), while the remaining months (December to February, June to August) comprise Uganda's two dry seasons.”  Now I know that this is not the most reliable source but come on… What college graduate hasn’t at some point snuck a Wikipedia fact into their final essay?!

When researching Uganda’s climate, I knew I’d be in for a treat.  This country sits on the Equator, which equates to an endless summer.  Or so I thought.  I know that weather patterns are changing all around the world and whether or not you want to admit it; global warming is definitely having an impact.

Living in the southwest region is vastly different than the other regions of the country.  We get significantly more cool temperatures, rain and thunderstorms than those living in the east or north.  We can thank the plenty of lakes that are located here along with the rolling hills and mountains that divide the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.  But I have patiently been waiting since December for the sun to come out and dry out the muddy path that leads me to the hospital from the road.  I have been practicing my anti-rain dance and it obviously needs some adjustments.  Now this isn’t saying that the sun doesn’t come out for a couple hours here and there or even for a couple days at a time.  I guess I was simply under the impression that when the dry season comes, you’ll know it.  It will be evident by the bone-dry rainwater collection containers, dust, and sweat.  I am definitely not complaining that this hasn’t happened, as I love me some water to drink, bathe, and do dishes.  I have learned that the sweat never goes away.

Although when the breeze comes whistling through the plantain fields I am reminded of home; of that 4-0’clock wind coming in from the bay.

Oh but do not let the high clouds fool you.  A tan can still be achieved.

No Longer “The Newbs”

I was forewarned that Peace Corps could often times feel like high school in regard to the classes being referenced to as the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors.  It seems that somewhere in between the four class titles, that just the newest group got labeled as “the new kids”, more commonly known as “the newbs”. 

Since arriving, my training class has been referred to by this.  I have come to recognize that this is just a part of Peace Corps as every six months or so a new group of trainees are entering the program.  It is an easy way to identify.  Now I have different ideas about how to identify others without a feeling of superiority, such as identifying each class by its class number, but it is what it is.  I do not hold anything against the PCV’s or the staff who refer to the Trainees as “the newbs”, as everyone here is doing something extraordinary.  But I can say that I was overjoyed when the new group arrived in November and that torch was passed on.

These individuals who are just getting settled into their sites are working in the education sector at Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, and Primary Teacher’s Colleges (PTC’s).  I was fortunate enough to be involved in their Pre-Service Training in different areas.  I help facilitate a session on living with a homestay family back in December, during their month long regional satellite language training I helped answer questions, was a guest at their Homestay Thank You, and most recently in January, I went to Kampala to hold their VAC Elections. 

During my week in Kampala, I, along with about ten other Volunteers, were invited to a “Training Thank You” dinner that our Director of Programming and Training held.  His home is very quaint and gave off the subtle reminder of what awaits back in America.  We were offered cold beer, wine, an assortment of appitizers and a dinner of homemade vegetarian pizza and not one, but two, fresh, green salads. 

The following day we were invited to Swearing-In, which marks the completion of Pre-Service Training and the beginning of ones two-year service.  This event took place at the U.S. Ambassador’s house.  Now this was not so quaint as it was extravagant.  Gorgeous.  But extravagant.  Thank you tax dollars for constructing a miniature White House in the suburbs of Kampala.  The event went off without a hitch and included Jen and I creating a congratulatory tunnel the Trainees had to run under, the singing our National Anthem, a reading of Dr. Seuss’ “Oh The Places You’ll Go!”, a speech by the Ambassador, and a live music performance by one of the Ugandan trainers.

As I congratulated the newly sworn in Volunteers, indulged in American hors d'oeuvres, feverishly ran up to pet the Ambassador’s dogs, walked around his home to find the autographed picture of him and President Obama, and used his Western toilet to long call, I was reminded just how far I have come and how much I have left of this experience.  18 months. 

P.S. Long calling in Uganda is doing the number two in America.  PCV’s are not ashamed to talk about it either.

Ghost of Christmas Past

I have never been more excited to see the holiday’s come and go.  It seems like back home from Halloween all the way to Russian Christmas, which is some day in January, my family and I are always doing something.  If its counting Christmas lights while drinking a Starbuck’s holiday drink to baking eons of cookies, we are together.  Not this year.  Anyway, I thought I’d share what I did as it started off what would be a two-year tradition. 

A fellow PCV named Jim opened up his home to those wishing to spend the holidays together.  Jim’s site is about an hour west of me and happens to overlook Queen Elizabeth National Park.  Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe it.  Due to the 15 of us who were attending, a friend of Jim’s who is finishing her thesis here and happened to be back home in America, let us use her home as well.  It sits on a lodge so it came fully equipped with a hot shower (which was conveniently located outside under the stars), a refrigerator, stove, stovetop oven, spices, utensils, and two queen-sized mattresses that were not made from the typical Ugandan foam. 

After a busy Christmas Eve Eve shopping in Mbarara for all the food necessities, along with White Elephant presents, we headed over to Jim’s.  The journey was one of the best I have had in country simply because the five of us were able to fill a private hire for a reasonable price.  We got seats to ourselves, which meant seatbelts!  Upon arriving at Jim’s, we did the only reasonable thing to do.  Watch Elf.

Christmas Eve came the following day and while some went to explore town and eat, I chose to go with Jim to his organization, House of Love, HOL.  HOL is an orphanage that sells awesome crafts and houses some of the sweetest children.  Some of my campers from Camp GLOW stay at HOL so I got to spend time with them playing games, singing camp songs, and taking funny pictures on my laptop.  See below.

Awesome group of HOL Children.  Maureen, the one in the center, was one of my Rhino's at Camp.  

They loved the thermal camera setting!

Grace was so surprised to see us looking like this because, "That's not how it is in real life."

Instead of getting ready with a warm shower to go to church and head out to dinner when evening came, I showered outside under the stormy sky and prepared an Italian dinner of French bread pizza and pasta with marinara sauce.  Our entertainment for the night included decorating the house, paper snowflake making, and an impromptu 90’s music dance party with some Christmas songs sprinkled in between.  This of course was after watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A Charlie Brown’s Christmas, and Love Actually. 

 MERRY CHRISTMAS morning!  I woke up to no letter from Santa or a tree filled with presents underneath but rather a bright blue sky, and a package from America.  I called my family and opened up the very thoughtful gifts they had sent.  I was once again being spoiled from Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  This somehow compensated for the fact that they were sitting there with me.  After a tearful (at least on my end) conversation, it was time to do what PCV’s do best… Cook.  Food for the day included deviled eggs, my Mamasita’s stuffing (it’s a hit here!), beef skewers, pasta salad, potato salad, fresh vegetables, and pumpkin pie.  The day could not have gone off without the help of the Ugandans who lived around the lodge and helped with the endless amount of dishes and cooking the beef that Jim oh so fabulously marinated.  We ended the evening by watching It’s A Wonderful Life, drinking endless cups of French pressed coffee accompanied with French Vanilla and Hazelnut CoffeeMate, and having a South African chocolate tasting, which a Volunteer had brought back with him from his recent vacation.

The day also included walking around the property, exploring gardens, the gorge that elephants walk upon and monkeys swing in, playing volleyball, and having the first ever Ugandan White Elephant Exchange.  My gift to the lucky winner?  A carved white elephant figurine from HOL (pretty clever), a Twix bar, and mosquito repellant candles, all wrapped in the Christmas paper from home and tied together with American waxed dental floss.  An added bonus.  The gift I received?  A Red Bull, Snickers, and Haribo gummy candy, which I kindly shared with the group. 

Fast forward to New Year’s.  The new group of Education Trainees had finally arrived in country and was doing their language satellite training, which conveniently happened to be a 10-minute taxi ride from me, in the town of another PCV, Brittany.  She kindly opened up her home for New Year’s Eve festivities, which included plenty of food, games, and cocktails made up of coffee spirit sachets.  I prepared faux cheese curds by making fresh pannier then rolling them in breadcrumbs and lightly frying them.  We also prepared a fruit salsa with cinnamon sugar chips, mini meatballs with a spicy dipping sauce, potato salad, and a veggie platter with dip.  The trainees brought over “fireworks”, which were actually your everyday Ugandan birthday candles.  The candles resemble what we know to be sparklers in America.  It is a slight fire hazard for your 4-year olds birthday party.

I should mention the worst part.  A gecko who made its way onto the ceiling lost its footing and fell on my shoulder.  I almost died.  Come on gecko.  Get a grip.

Nonetheless, I anticipated that spending two holiday seasons away from home would bring about a very difficult time.  I’d be lying if I said it was easy but this was an awesome way to spend the season… With new friends and traditions.  Who would have thought that simply reading a book under the African sky, sharing your craziest taxi ride experience, or counting down to 2013 amongst chickens and goats would comprise my holidays.  

Reminiscing

2012 has come and gone and with that brings my full year here in Uganda.  365 days of living and working amongst some of the most hospitable people I have met and 365 days of conversations, cultural exchanges, and crammed taxi rides. 

I thought this would be a good time to reflect on the past year and to set some goals for incoming.  In no particular order…

The Past (2012)

- Moved to the Southern Hemisphere in Uganda

- Stood on The Equator

- Grandpa passed away

- Best friend got engaged, in addition to many other friends

- Lost weight

- Celebrated my sister’s 21^st birthday

- I was forgiven for mistakes that allowed me to reconnect my relationships with people

- Saw my first elephant in the “wild”

- Left my beloved family at SFO to discover newfound friends in Africa

- Ate and enjoyed guacamole

- Can successfully eat tomatoes, chickpeas, and hardboiled eggs without gagging

- Used a pit latrine

- Made cheese, tortillas, and pita from scratch

- Took my first international flight

- Took my first flight over a body of water

- Practically cried every time after I talked to my family

- Got to spend the softball season on the field with my Daddy, umpiring and reminiscing

- My Mama and I got to spend more quality time together and connect over workout exercises and poker games

- I realized how much my relationship with my sisters mean to me and we finally got over our bickering stage

- Rafted The Nile

The Future (2013)

- Make Sunday my day to talk to family and friends

- Communicate on a regular basis with family and friends

- Start a VSLA (Village Savings and Loan Association)

- Save $100 USD every month from my living allowance

- Make National Camp GLOW incredible!

- Don’t be afraid to initiate conversations and program ideas

- Only spend $1 USD a day during the month of April

- Start a life skills youth group

- Run the Kampala half marathon in the fall

- Complete the 3-month Insanity workout

- Eat healthy

- Don’t be jealous of others… Including those living in the first world

- Lose weight

- Take each day as it comes

- Move to my new site in hopes of having a fresh start and a new impact

- Do not burn bridges

- Zero procrastinating

- Write in my journal on a weekly basis

- Do not let the tears, distance, and Facebook photos showing people moving on to new and exciting things get me down

- Make Sunday my Skype, phone calling, letter writing day

- Take the time to wave, greet, and hang out with Ugandans in the community

- Appreciate the small things

- Celebrate any accomplishment… Big or small

Morals of the past year: My family is my foundation, my rock, and my world.  The first world may be all glitter and glitz but the developing world is just as inspiring.  Patience is key.  Oh and using a pit latrine will never be easy.

Note to self: Everything will change and at the same time, nothing will change.  Thanks Soph!