Hello
again, I know it has been awhile, but I will try to update you as much as
possible. (Although most of you know
that it usually just turns into rambling about whatever I feel like talking
about)
So, the
holidays have come and gone…they were pretty good. I have posted since then,
but it was about GLOW, so I’m going to tell you about my holidays!
First, the best holiday of them all my birthday/thanksgiving. Sadly, Marburg ruined our big meal planned at
Lake Bunyoni, so we actually ended up doing things more in our regions last
minute style. The southwest (and some
others), went to this pizza place/”resort” near-by Kabwohe for a couple
nights. It’s owned by a Dutch guy (his
name is like boss, bas, something like that…we just call him honey Dutch
master) and for pretty cheap he let us have the run of the place for Wednesday
and Thursday night. We had delicious
food; Robyn killed the turkey and her sister helped butcher it (for a vegan
that girl knows a lot about butchering meat).
We just kind of relaxed, enjoyed our time together and had some drinks
for two days. Then Friday was my 24th
birthday celebrations (my birthday was actually Saturday, but people from afar
headed home and Robyn had to take her family home). It worked out well because I got my birthday
package from my mom and dad that day and got to wear my birthday dress out.
Plus, we got paid, so I got to have wine for my birthday AND Meish found a
birthday hat in the resource room…amazing. We had some drinks, ate some street chicken,
went out dancing…as always a good time.
Then it
was Christmas time. By Christmas, the
new education group was at homestay, which is in my village so I got to see
them a bunch. There are nine of them and
they are all pretty cool! (so far…)
Sadly they were not allowed to come to Jim’s with us for Christmas
celebrations, but we partied with them for the end of the world on the 21st. Again, we went out in Mbarara (seems to be a
pattern…probably because it’s only like 30 minutes from me by terrifying taxi
ride). Street chicken, dancing, hookah,
the usual…intro into the nightlife of Uganda.
Erin, Tara, and I got in a fight with the DJ at club heat, at which
point drunk as I am get the guy to agree that if he doesn’t play Call me, Maybe
in the next 3 songs I get to punch him in the face. He agreed and sure enough like 5 songs later
I’m on the stage telling him I’m going to punch him in the face. Tara and Erin decide it is time for me to be
out of this discussion, so I head back to the rest of the group. The music didn’t really get any better at
all, but it was still a fun night.
Then on the 22nd the rest of us head to Jim’s site (Kichwamba!), which
is near Queen Elizabeth national park.
The new ones stayed in Mbarara and a couple used my house in Kabwohe to
have a Christmas dinner and such. At Jim’s
we are just super chill – I was sick for the first couple days AND it rained
like all day for two days straight. We
watch Christmas movies and cook and such…
It sucked to be sick, but even in the states I tend to get sick around
Christmas; kind of a tradition for me.
Plus within a couple days I was over it.
The people at Jim’s were : Tara, Kendra, Jim, Sarah (Jim’s girlfriend),
Bryan Johnson (BJ is his new name), Erin Sullivan, Laura Meyer, Pat (or the
Scherer as I like to call him), and Andrew showed up early morning Christmas
day. I think that is it. So first two days a lot of Christmas movies
and laying around. OMG AND THERE WERE
DOGS; fluffy ones that let me cuddle with them and use them as a pillow. Anyway, Christmas eve we explored a Cave and
ate some delicious food – I opted for the veggies and had no regrets – broccoli
never tasted so wonderful (as I hadn’t had it since being in country; broccoli
is a novelty here). Then that night we
had some drinks and went to bed somehow early like 11ish. We even had some gifts on Christmas day ---
white elephant style (some of us were last minute and got stuff from Jim’s
orphans, but whatever). Again, food,
hanging out, little more active this day.
All in all it was a good Christmas (perhaps not as exciting as going to
zanizbar as many of my friends did); relaxing and chill is fine by me!
Many of
you may be wondering about the Ugandan Christmas traditions. They seem to celebrate it a little longer,
but without many of the things Americans (definitely me at least) like best
about Christmas—namely no presents (or like decorations and trees and
such). The day after Christmas is also a
holiday. They all travel back to their
home villages (or wherever their family lives now) and celebrate from there. So if you live in a bigger city or at a
school, it’s usually pretty deserted.
Mostly it’s church, food, and spending time with family for them. The food typically includes meat on
Christmas, which in Uganda means you have to have “Karo” – millet flour/cassava
flour “mingled” together and made into a “bread” that is really more of a grey
play-dough like consistency. That
actually makes it sound really terrible, but Karo is one of the Ugandan foods I
don’t mind so much. It actually goes
really good with meat (it soaks up all the delicious meat juices). I do see decorations around, but many are
religious themed and at Nakumatt (a bigger supermarket – so mostly only
wealthier people can shop there – wealthy by Ugandan, not American
standards). Plus the tress are like
super tacky aluminum ones that were popular in the 50’s in the US. So there you have it … Ugandan Christmas.
Ahhh
and lastly, one of my favorite holidays – New year’s eve! I don’t know why I love new year’s eve so
much…maybe it’s the prospect of a new start or the fact that I’ve had super
good ones that past couple years, but I loooove new year’s eve. We celebrated with the new ones in
Kabwohe. Tara, Kendra, and I made some
food and Waap (or jungle juice? Whichever you prefer); to be fair I had to work
some, so Tara and Kendra did much of the actual cooking. Then the new ones came, stocked up on
sachets. **Sachets = super cheap
plastic pouches of liquor. They come in
many varieties, including pineapple, gin, and vodka; but favorite is the coffee
spirit – put it in some coke (which also tastes better here – real sugar) and
it tastes somehow like vanilla coke.
These would totally sell in the states.
It literally comes out to be like 30 cents for around 2-3 shots of liquor. However, unlike the states, bars in Uganda
allow you to bring a sachet in and just order Coke. Saves money. Wonderful, but dangerous. We spent the night eating and playing
drinking games until midnight. Some of
us had a difficult time understanding some of the games ( JA and “cheers
governor” do not go well together) and some of us needed a bit of a nap and
then a very tough wake up to ring in the new years at midnight (John passes out
early and will not wake up – unless you shake him quite violently). By midnight, though everyone was awake and
the new girls had brought some “sparklers” – which were really very elaborate
birthday candles, but they were better than nothing; it’s the sentiment of it
that counts. We stayed up a bit longer
and then passed out. I thought it was a successful
new years.
Soo those are my holiday celebrations in
Uganda; turned out pretty well and since it was warm and sunny/rainy, not snowy
and freezing, it didn’t feel like the holidays.
This is good because I didn’t miss them too much. Since the holidays I have just been working
and such; getting started on things, being satellite liaison to the new
group. Actually, the satellite liaison
thing was sah-weet because I got to go to their swearing in, which was in
Kampala. Normally, I don’t like Kampala,
but it was nice to get away, eat some good food, and hang out. Kampala can be a bit busy and overwhelming,
but if you stick to the area where ex-pats tend to chill, there is much good
food and things that are not really found elsewhere in Uganda. Also, I can’t complain because Peace Corps
paid for me to be there, fed me homemade food one night (thanks to the Sullys),
and provided travel to and from these events…pretty sweet set up. The new ones are at their sites already and
getting settled in. They seem to be a
good group.
OOO yea! The other day Murph and I
were forced by my supervisor, Robert to hold some babies! It was terrible. I was taken to Murph’s village, Ishongororo
without being told why we were going. I
figured it was like seeing if there was any millet/maize we could use, but no
it was to visit our technician as his wife had just had twins. Fine, that’s a nice gesture on the company’s
part, and whatever just chilling behind someone’s house, Murph comes
along. We are outside talking and all of
a sudden, Robert is like “Brittan you come see the babies you must handle
them!” Murph and I exchange horrified,
awkward looks and head into this small room.
First, they pass me one baby and I’m sitting there holding it as far
away from my body as I can while supporting its head and not dropping it. Then they try to get me to hold them both; I
expect that they wanted me to hold them both at once, but holding one makes me
nervous enough (and quite frankly I didn’t sign up to hold any babies – I don’t
do it in the states and I’m not interested in doing it here). I feel holding two babies at once would have
required them to be much closer to me than I care for, so I passed the one baby
on and take the other one. I passed it
to Robert, but ooo no he passes it right on to Murph. So here is me and Murph awkwardly holding
these babies at arm’s length looking horrified while the Ugandans in the room
sit around and laugh at us. Honestly, I
wish we would have gotten a picture…it would have been hilarious and awkward at
the same time. Murph and I are both not really
“baby people” and we both had the same terrified look on our faces and got rid
of these babies as quickly as possible. ***Side
rant for a moment --- I understand that many people do like babies and I
understand that it is quite uncommon in Uganda for people my and Murph’s age
(24) to not have babies/dislike holding them.
Most people, if they do not have their own have taken care of siblings
and other relatives to be quite comfortable holding babies. Plus they want to be able to say their babies
were held by Mzungu; fine whatevs cultural exchange and whatnot…not a huge
deal. I do not understand the forcing of baby holding in the US! It is plenty
common and well known that many people do not like/want babies. Not saying I don’t want babies (in the far
far far off future…but I’m sure I’ll like my own kids more than other
people’s), but that doesn’t mean I want to hold yours. When I get home I’m taking a stand – no
longer will I be forced to hold someone’s baby just because I’m standing near
them. If you didn’t want to hold your
baby, you shouldn’t have had one. If you
want someone else to hold it, go find someone who is obviously interested in
your baby (such as my mother…although you may not get it back then). Babies make me uncomfortable as I’m sure they
do for others, so stop assuming everyone wants to hold your baby. I also don’t know what to say about
babies…they don’t do much and it is obvious they are cute. Do I really have to tell you how cute your
baby is? Everyone else has already said that probably. Duh, baby things in general are cute
otherwise why would we bother taking care of them…they are a pain in the
ass. Also, I find human babies to be
among the least cute of baby things (esp. newborns; they look like aliens) –
I’ll take a puppy any day. If you had a
puppy, you couldn’t pay me not to hold it – I even enjoy holding my kitten more
than a human baby (although I tell her often I wish she was a puppy). Anyway, for future reference…I don’t want to
hold your baby. (Nothing against you or
your baby, just not a baby person and that’s fine!)
Anyway I’ve rambled enough for
now...Soon to come – this weekend in Kabale – spending the night on Lake
Bunyoni, welcome weekend/prom/valentine’s day,
and St. patty’s day in fort portal (I pinky promised Kendra we’d go and
pinky promised myself I’d get Jameson)
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