So I just shoo’d four boys under ten out of my room so I
could write this, so enjoy. There's probably tears because they have to wait 10 min to watch Sleeping Beauty.
I’m currently with my homestay family but I guess I haven’t
written in awhile…ooops. The days are really long and by the time I get in a
place where I could write something, I’m either sleeping or my mind is too full
to really write a good entry. And I’d rather not just scribble something down
just to scribble, that’s not how I want to remember these 27 months! Overall
I’m just super excited to have my house and my space to really get a chance to
digest it all.
So when we left off we were still in Kulika, our little
American bubble. It was far enough away from the city that really just felt
like we were in some college dorm somewhere in California or something. It’s
weird, I keep calling it “home”, but I lived there less than I will live with
my home stay family.
On June 13th (?) we all got “sorted” into our
sites Harry Potter style. It was hilarious and fun. I actually was given my top
choice which I was very very surprised about. I mean, I wanted to work in the
Health Sector and in Africa and I thought it’d be too much to ask the universe
to be allowed to work with my top choice site, but there you go. My site is St.
Kizito Babies Home, but I’ll do a whole page of overview on that when it gets
closer. I’m working with Nuns and there is a church right next to my house. I’m
super pumped!
One of the other girls in my group met another PCV who is
heading up a lacrosse league as her secondary project and she gave her my
number! I’d love to be involved in that. I want to settle down first but once I
get in the groove of things it would be great!
So we moved to our
homestay families on June 18th. I’m stationed in Mbale with a
wonderful (huge) family! There are 7 boys and 1 girl, the parents, and various
nieces and nephews who stay with them. They’re taking the “train the American”
assignment very seriously which is great! I’m watching them cook, they speak
Lugisu to me and expect me to answer back, so I’m really listening and trying
to learn the language. It’s hard, I’m studying lumasaaba and they speak lugisu.
Lugisu is similar to Lumasaaba but not the same, so some of the words get lost
in the mix. I’m working at it though.
*REMEMBER THIS WHEN YOU HIT A LOW WEIRD POINT*
So I know things aren’t always going to rock, I get it, so
when I’m sick of being called Mzungu, harassed, and sweaty, I need to remember
last Saturday.
We had class in the morning and then spent the whole day
roaming Mbale. We tried all different foods, had dresses made for swearing in,
and really just socialized with the people. Every time someone screamed
“Mzungu!” at us, we laughed and shouted back “Sndi muzungu ta!” Which means,
“I’m not a mzungu!” Like, mzungu is not my name. Sometimes we’d introduce
ourselves and chat with them, other times they just laughed and shoo’d us on
our way. It was great exploring the city for the first time and learning what
is expected of us at each stop along the way.
I’m convinced that Ugandan women were born at a 90 degree
angle. They are constantly bent over, washing pots and pans, cooking, dressing
children, washing laundry. It’s nuts. Nobody works harder than these women or
these young girls. The girls are insane. They go to school all day, come home
and clean, cook dinner, wash the babies, sleep, get up, wash dishes, dress the
babies, go to school. So busy! So far Africa does not believe in sleep,
mirrors, or hair conditioner. I have no idea about my hair situation ever, or
my eyebrows, or weird chin hair. But neither does anybody else so that’s fine.
I’ve been letting the boys watch cartoons on my laptop and
now they’re checking on me every twelve seconds to see if I’ve finished. I
started doing it because the little boys kept sneaking in to watch action
movies with their older brothers. They love the princesses which is awesome. I
started handing out princess stickers to the girls and soon everyone had to
have one. I’ve converted them to Disney Princess Mania and it’s hilarious.
The littlest child is about a year old. And I’ve never seen
anyone so loved by so many people. The family adopted him, as if they didn’t
already have enough to do! The younger boys call me “Sis-stah!” and the
littlest one has adopted that, which is nice J.
For the
4th of July we spent all day cooking with our Ugandan families. They
cooked a Ugandan style meal while we cooked an American style meal. We called
the kitchen “little America” and made roasted chicken, fruit salad, veggie
salad, and potato salad. The Ugandans were just as skeptical of the American
food as we were of the Ugandan food at first. It was really funny to see people
afraid of potato salad. Which reminds me of our walks home from school. Every
day we walk with armies of children and try speaking lugisu/lumasaaba with
them. They tease us about our accidents and word choice. It’s very funny/
different to be in the minority here. Every child in America has teased an
immigrant or a foreigner about their voice or pronunciation. It’s very new and
weird to be on the other side of this. Very interesting.
The
following day we went on a hike to a nearby mountain. Elevation and dehydration really kicked my
butt. Sea dwelling beach bums do not do well in the mountains, but I’ll get
used to it. We went with some of our homestay family members. I took my
brother, Chris. I don’t think anyone really knew what they were getting
ourselves into. It was quite the day. At one point there was this huge ladder made
of bundles of sticks that we all had to use both hands and feet to climb.
However, right behind us came two Ugandan women who scaled the thing barefoot,
one handed, while balancing humongous bundles of firewood and rice on their
heads. We couldn’t believe it. We took pictures at the top then jumped over a
river and headed down the mountain. More like fell all the way down the
mountain. We were so muddy by the end of it I was convinced my host mother
wouldn’t let me in the house. It was a blast.
Grey’s quote to sum up our climb and probably most of Peace
Corps:
"They take pictures of the mountain climbers at the top
of the mountain. They are smiling, ecstatic, triumphant. They don’t take
pictures along the way, cause who wants to remember the rest of it? We push
ourselves because we have to, not because we like it. The relentless climb, the
pain and anguish of taking it to the next level – nobody takes pictures of
that, nobody wants to remember, we just want to remember the view from the top,
the breathtaking moment at the edge of the world. That’s what keeps us
climbing, and it’s worth the pain, that’s the crazy part. It’s worth anything”
So now
we’re nearing the end of homestay. I really love my family, and I’ll be sad to
leave them. On Monday morning I’ll be traveling to St. Kizito Babies Home on my
“Future Site Visit” to make sure everything is in order. My house should be
finished by then so I’ll take a look at that, make sure it has all the Peace
Corps requirements. You can google St. Kizito Babies Home Mbale, Uganda if
you’re interested. Then I make my way to Entebbe for a week of technical
training, then I live with a current PCV for a week, then I swear in! PST
sometimes feels like it’s dragging, but I still didn’t think swearing in was
this close! I’ll try to post some pictures when I have down time during my
future site visit. I’m really excited to have some time to myself to breath and
get organized. Haha, whenever my host brothers are all over the place my host
mother yells “ Organize yourselves!” which is exactly how I feel. I’m in 20
different places, my belongings are strewn all around Uganda, I’m nervous about
my LPI (language proficiency interview) which we took today, and I hope my site
likes me. It’s nuts! But I’m happy. I love it here and couldn’t imagine being
anywhere else!