"Welcome To Africa"

Sorry it's taken me so long to update my blog, but the internet is so incredibly slow here that it's almost like pulling teeth trying to get the website to load. And I only have about a 15 minute window of time in the morning to use the internet at school during which time it's faster because most of the other students have not arrived yet. But some mornings my taxi breaks down, has a flat tire, or incurs some other malady that prevents me from arriving early. But I made it on here finally!

This past week I have encountered many new challenges and cultural experiences that have really opened up my eyes. I've been creating a mental list of them which I can now post on here:
1) Taxis and Transportation
2) Food and late meals
3) Bucket bath
4) Handwashing laundry
5) Lack of a mirror
6) Heat and sweatiness
7) Lack of water

Now, I've always been told never say never so I'll modify what I wanted to say and say this instead: For the near future or at the very least this next year, I will never take for granted my car, paved roads without huge potholes, availability and variety of food, a shower and clean running water, a washing machine and dryer (and mom doing my laundry), a full size mirror, fog, rain, wind, and once again clean water. Oh and a fan!

On Saturday, as I was sitting in a crammed taxi at a dead stop in the seat with a broken window that doesn't open, sitting next to a little boy who wouldn't stop staring at me, for 20 minutes drenched in sweat (where I could literally feel every bead of sweat running down my arms and legs) with the biggest pit stains of my life, all I could do was dream about the bucket shower awaiting me at home. As our language teacher said to us on our first day "Welcome to Africa".

I came to the conclusion this week that vanity, at least among muzungus, really cannot exist n Africa because there are so many forces working against us: Heat, dirt, lack or mirrors, and laundry facilities. But believe it or not, Ugandan's maintain a level of cleanliness and hygiene that I would argue is unparalled. Every day I struggle with staying sweat-free (which is an impossible task), wrinkle-free, dirt-free, and frizz-free. But I always manage to come home looking a mess while my Ugandan family always looks perfect. It's a very strange phenomenon.

My bathing routine at first was difficult to adjust to, but now I feel like I have the bucket bath down to a science. Fortunately, unlike some of the other members of my program, I have an indoor bathroom with a toilet and bathtub. Unfortunately, there is no light so I normally bathe by flashlight or candlelight. Now I learned after the first time that the key to the bucket bath is to wash your hair first or else you end up washing your hair in dirty water. And it's much easier than I thought to bathe with cold water. Maybe because I'm in Uganda where the temperature has been in the high 70's to mid 80's but I actually think it's refreshing.

Now onto the laundry. Yesterday was my first day of handwashing my clothes and my host sister thought it was funny that I'd never handwashed clothes before. It took me a while to get the technique down and I think it'll take me a few times to really master it. She was a super speed washer, she would wash almost 3 shirts in the time I had finished 1! But it was nice she helped me and now I know hot to set up the buckets and where to hang everything. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, it had rained in the morning, and then after I washed my clothes, it rained again when they were out on the line! I guess I picked the one cold/cloudy day in Uganda to do my laundry.

I was finally able to give my family my gifts saturday night. Everyone wasn't there but it doesn't seem like there will ever be a time that they're all around. They enjoyed the gummi sharks and taffy, the photo album, and really liked the Obama Rolling Stones magazine. Everyone here loves Obama and everyone I meet says one of two things to me: "How is Mr. Obama?" or "Isn't Schwarenegger your Governor?" It's pretty funny.

Of all the places I could gave gone, I got pretty lucky with the Ugandan food. It's mostly rice, beans, potatoes, matooke, fruit, and lots of carbs. But my biggest complaint is the lack of variety. Pretty much this past week I've had the same dinner, it started with rice, beans, and potatoes. Then switched to rice, potatoes, and g-nut sauce which is a purplish sauce that kinda tastes like peanuts. Then it went back to rice, beans, but this time mashed potatoes. Then the last few nights and lunch on sunday I had rice, matooke, and a pea sauce, not sure what it's called but it was pretty good. It's a lot of repetitive textures and flavors and it's only the beginning of week 3 and I'm already day-dreaming about bagels, donuts, pie, smoothies, tacos, corn dogs, and so many other delicious foods at home.

Well I'm running out of time, hopefully I will have a chance to post more near the end of this week before we depart for the western Uganda/Rwanda excursion next week. If not I'll be sure to post after we return to fill you in on my adventures. I hope everyone at home is doing well. I miss you guys so much!

Love, Mia