Let’s see, where to begin…HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone at home! I have so much to be thankful for this year: all of the love and support from my family and friends…the value of that is immeasurable and very much appreciated. There are so many people in different parts of the world that are constantly with me and without all of them, I wouldn’t be able to continue this crazy journey that I am on. So to all of you out there that love me unconditionally, in my best and my worst moments, when I am laughing and when I am crying, when I am triumphing and when I am struggling…to all of you, I thank you always from the bottom of my heart and please never forget that.
And now for an update on life back in Uganda…we have extended our stay in the current rooms until the end of the year to give us some more time to find something better. And to be honest, we won’t be that upset if we end up just staying there long term. But we know we can get a house or self contained flat for less money, so that is why we will continue the search in December. However, the escari (security guard) is wonderful, which is always nice and the other folks in the complex are nice as well. I did forget to mention that on top of the flying grasshoppers (it’s the season for them so everyone is frying them up if they don’t die in our rooms first!), the cockroach and mouse…we also had a bat in our bathroom one morning! I think Jami accidentally slammed the door on its wing, or maybe it was already injured, but either way the poor thing couldn’t fly but still freaked us out. And I really had to pee! So, we got Alama, our downstairs neighbor and new friend from the rafting company to get it out for us. When he threw it over the fence, it couldn’t even fly away…it just dropped to the ground. :(
I also keep forgetting to mention that we are located directly across the street from the main club in town. It’s kind of funny because we literally have a one minute walk home at the end of the night…and also funny because if we want we can just go up onto our roof terrace (yep, forgot to mention that too!) and dance to the music up there for free. But of course you don’t get the club atmosphere…although it’s much cooler with the breeze. We also have a lake view which is gorgeous even though we have to look over some slum areas before our eyes go up to the lake. So, all in all, life in Jinja is good.
The school festival was a success in my book. We started only 15 minutes late and ended 15 minutes early. I was shocked! I spent the day running around like a crazy woman trying to keep everything going and make sure that lunch would be on time and quizzes were running according to schedule and taking schools off the football field if they were running late, etc. It was exhausting for sure…but I think the children enjoyed the day and I know the winning school was very excited about the ATV rides they won!
It hasn’t rained in almost two weeks now, which is fine with me, but I know the farmers need the rain. No rain equals LOTS of dust so it’s impossible to go from town to the village and back without being caked in dust. At the end of the day you think you’ve gotten some color on your skin until you shower and it all washes away! I definitely do have a good base tan now…but the other day I took a nice long, warm shower at my friend’s house in Kampala and as I washed my hair the soap and water all turned brown. I just laughed to myself. With brown hair and tan skin, it’s hard to know how dusty you are until you shower and it all comes off! Sometimes I just have to sleep with some socks on because my feet are so dirty from the day and I don’t want to get the bed too dirty. I still take most of my baths in the river and shave my legs there as well. It’s just nice and raw and natural and different. And since my shower only has cold water, why not kill two birds with one stone and get a swim in the river and a bath all at the same time?!?!
I finally got my first kayaking lesson from Koa last Sunday. We spent 2 hours on the water with Jami…she had never even been in a kayak and picked up the rolling technique much faster than I did which made me even more frustrated that I couldn’t seem to get the hip flick. Koa just kept yelling, “Marci…the HIPS, the HIIIPPPSSS!” How is a girl supposed to flick herself back up from under the water when she sees this gentle, normally smiley young man yelling “H-I-P-S” at her?!?!? He didn’t think I was taking it seriously, but I was and I am and I am really determined to learn how to roll before the end of the year. And now what you’ve all been waiting for…I did it. I finally went rafting this past Saturday and had a really nice day! The weather has been gorgeous so it was a perfect day to be on the water. The rapids were just as fantastic as I remember and this time…I did NOT fall out of the boat at the waterfall, although I did have a front row seat as we went over the falls. Half of us fell out on three rapids and we completely flipped on another two…so I did a lot of swimming! And the funny thing is that none of my friends came to my rescue this time. I guess since it was my 8th trip, they figure they should go for the first timers who might be a bit more anxious than me.
After the BBQ and a bit of partying at the campsite, a bunch of us ended up heading to town to go to the Reggae Concert. We ended up dancing beside the stage for a few hours and in the middle of it all, one of the performers looked at me and my Canadian friend and asked us to come on stage. Since Tamara was there with her boyfriend, I ended up agreeing to go up alone. As I climbed the steep stairs to the stage all I could think was “do NOT trip up these stairs!” When I approached the singer he asked where I am from and I said, a bit shyly, “America.” But then, I pulled the microphone back over and said, almost like a robot, “O-BA-MA” and the crowd cheered. And as many of you know, once I’m up there I love being on stage, so I decided to do a little hip flick dance (I knew I could flick them!) on stage in a circle to which the crowd cheered again; and then finally, I danced with the performer and we went as low as we could go…and again the crowd cheered. So all in all, it was a fun moment and I managed not to trip or embarrass myself!
As I finish writing this entry, I am back in my original Ugandan hometown of Lyantonde…and of course it was another adventure trying to get here yesterday. My bus got pulled over 3 times and the third time was the same group of traffic cops who apparently had told the driver at the last stop that he would have to go to court in the next town. So they literally took him away in their traffic cop car and left us (a full bus) sitting on the side of the road with the engine running for an hour! Once he finally got back to the bus we were off again only to blow a tire 20 minutes from my stop. I couldn’t believe it, I was not going to wait another hour. Finally after being bothered by numerous motorcycle taxis asking for way too much money, I ended up on another bus that had 20 people too many on board so I just stood squished in the aisle until I could get out in Lyantonde. It wasn’t the entrance I had hoped for…but as I approached the vocational school where I taught English in the spring, I heard my students practicing their songs about HIV/AIDS and I swear it’s one of the most beautiful sounds you’d ever hear. When I walked up to them they all stopped singing and started to cheer…and immediately my spirits were lifted. I love being back in Lyantonde. It will always feel like home. But the river is constantly calling me back…
And now for an update on life back in Uganda…we have extended our stay in the current rooms until the end of the year to give us some more time to find something better. And to be honest, we won’t be that upset if we end up just staying there long term. But we know we can get a house or self contained flat for less money, so that is why we will continue the search in December. However, the escari (security guard) is wonderful, which is always nice and the other folks in the complex are nice as well. I did forget to mention that on top of the flying grasshoppers (it’s the season for them so everyone is frying them up if they don’t die in our rooms first!), the cockroach and mouse…we also had a bat in our bathroom one morning! I think Jami accidentally slammed the door on its wing, or maybe it was already injured, but either way the poor thing couldn’t fly but still freaked us out. And I really had to pee! So, we got Alama, our downstairs neighbor and new friend from the rafting company to get it out for us. When he threw it over the fence, it couldn’t even fly away…it just dropped to the ground. :(
I also keep forgetting to mention that we are located directly across the street from the main club in town. It’s kind of funny because we literally have a one minute walk home at the end of the night…and also funny because if we want we can just go up onto our roof terrace (yep, forgot to mention that too!) and dance to the music up there for free. But of course you don’t get the club atmosphere…although it’s much cooler with the breeze. We also have a lake view which is gorgeous even though we have to look over some slum areas before our eyes go up to the lake. So, all in all, life in Jinja is good.
The school festival was a success in my book. We started only 15 minutes late and ended 15 minutes early. I was shocked! I spent the day running around like a crazy woman trying to keep everything going and make sure that lunch would be on time and quizzes were running according to schedule and taking schools off the football field if they were running late, etc. It was exhausting for sure…but I think the children enjoyed the day and I know the winning school was very excited about the ATV rides they won!
It hasn’t rained in almost two weeks now, which is fine with me, but I know the farmers need the rain. No rain equals LOTS of dust so it’s impossible to go from town to the village and back without being caked in dust. At the end of the day you think you’ve gotten some color on your skin until you shower and it all washes away! I definitely do have a good base tan now…but the other day I took a nice long, warm shower at my friend’s house in Kampala and as I washed my hair the soap and water all turned brown. I just laughed to myself. With brown hair and tan skin, it’s hard to know how dusty you are until you shower and it all comes off! Sometimes I just have to sleep with some socks on because my feet are so dirty from the day and I don’t want to get the bed too dirty. I still take most of my baths in the river and shave my legs there as well. It’s just nice and raw and natural and different. And since my shower only has cold water, why not kill two birds with one stone and get a swim in the river and a bath all at the same time?!?!
I finally got my first kayaking lesson from Koa last Sunday. We spent 2 hours on the water with Jami…she had never even been in a kayak and picked up the rolling technique much faster than I did which made me even more frustrated that I couldn’t seem to get the hip flick. Koa just kept yelling, “Marci…the HIPS, the HIIIPPPSSS!” How is a girl supposed to flick herself back up from under the water when she sees this gentle, normally smiley young man yelling “H-I-P-S” at her?!?!? He didn’t think I was taking it seriously, but I was and I am and I am really determined to learn how to roll before the end of the year. And now what you’ve all been waiting for…I did it. I finally went rafting this past Saturday and had a really nice day! The weather has been gorgeous so it was a perfect day to be on the water. The rapids were just as fantastic as I remember and this time…I did NOT fall out of the boat at the waterfall, although I did have a front row seat as we went over the falls. Half of us fell out on three rapids and we completely flipped on another two…so I did a lot of swimming! And the funny thing is that none of my friends came to my rescue this time. I guess since it was my 8th trip, they figure they should go for the first timers who might be a bit more anxious than me.
After the BBQ and a bit of partying at the campsite, a bunch of us ended up heading to town to go to the Reggae Concert. We ended up dancing beside the stage for a few hours and in the middle of it all, one of the performers looked at me and my Canadian friend and asked us to come on stage. Since Tamara was there with her boyfriend, I ended up agreeing to go up alone. As I climbed the steep stairs to the stage all I could think was “do NOT trip up these stairs!” When I approached the singer he asked where I am from and I said, a bit shyly, “America.” But then, I pulled the microphone back over and said, almost like a robot, “O-BA-MA” and the crowd cheered. And as many of you know, once I’m up there I love being on stage, so I decided to do a little hip flick dance (I knew I could flick them!) on stage in a circle to which the crowd cheered again; and then finally, I danced with the performer and we went as low as we could go…and again the crowd cheered. So all in all, it was a fun moment and I managed not to trip or embarrass myself!
As I finish writing this entry, I am back in my original Ugandan hometown of Lyantonde…and of course it was another adventure trying to get here yesterday. My bus got pulled over 3 times and the third time was the same group of traffic cops who apparently had told the driver at the last stop that he would have to go to court in the next town. So they literally took him away in their traffic cop car and left us (a full bus) sitting on the side of the road with the engine running for an hour! Once he finally got back to the bus we were off again only to blow a tire 20 minutes from my stop. I couldn’t believe it, I was not going to wait another hour. Finally after being bothered by numerous motorcycle taxis asking for way too much money, I ended up on another bus that had 20 people too many on board so I just stood squished in the aisle until I could get out in Lyantonde. It wasn’t the entrance I had hoped for…but as I approached the vocational school where I taught English in the spring, I heard my students practicing their songs about HIV/AIDS and I swear it’s one of the most beautiful sounds you’d ever hear. When I walked up to them they all stopped singing and started to cheer…and immediately my spirits were lifted. I love being back in Lyantonde. It will always feel like home. But the river is constantly calling me back…
1 comment:
happy belated thanksgiving Marci!
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