Work and stuff

Part of my responsibilities at the office include holding a public health lecture every other Tuesday. It's a short (supposed to be half an hour but always lasts an hour with questions) presentation on a health topic. Yesterday's was on sickle cell anemia. Interesting things I learned from my lecture:

• Approximately 25% of Nigeria's adult population is a carrier of the sickle cell gene
• Approximately 150,000 children are born every year with sickle cell anemia
• There is a belief that if you live with sickle cell anemia beyond 39 years, you will lead a normal life and not have sickle cell anemia anymore (obviously this is untrue).

Lectures and meetings are interesting in Nigeria. I don't think I've ever gone to a meeting where when the presenter/speaker asks if there are any questions, no questions are asked. The Nigerian staff here will always ask questions. Even if they know the answer to their question, they will still ask. I know this because staff have come up to me after meetings and told me. They want to provide "open discussion". Also sometimes the questions take 3 minutes to ask. People have a very round-about... beating around the bush way of asking questions where they talk for a long time before actually asking the question. In other words, meetings in Nigeria never end on time and can last for... well forever. Sometimes it's a bit painful to sit through. 

My other work recently has centered around a lot of administrative work- creating a comprehensive new employee packet for new hires and standard operating procedures for the office. Nothing too thrilling there.

In other news, Teresa is officially gone and I am all by my lonesome. I have this giant apartment and can't really do anything with the space. I'm debating turning my hallway into a slip-and-slide. Could be extremely messy, but also very fun. I don't think I'll become as crazy here as I did in Sembabule because there are still tons of people to interact and socialize with. I have been a bit of a hermit the last few days and have been watching GCB, the new ABC show. Trashy but hilarious.

It's pretty unbelievable that it's coming to the end of April... It just seems like yesterday I was coming back to Abuja from Christmas with my family. Some days the time seems to pass unbelievably slowly, but I am starting to think ahead to what's next. Move back to the States? Find another job somewhere else? Try to pursue my dream of working for a while in Southeast Asia? Find a job in a place where electricity is consistent and internet doesn't depend on some magical being? Who knows where life will take me next...

Thanksgiving 2011

This year was my second year away from home for Thanksgiving. Last year, I have fond memories of eating chicken by headlamp after a regional meeting at the office in Sembabule. This year, my Thanksgiving was a little closer to an American Thanksgiving. Teresa and I started off the day by trying to bake a coffee cake in the oven at home. We finally figured out that our stove IS gas and needs to be lit. By rolling up a piece of paper and lighting it, we were able to avoid scorching any phalanges, eyebrows, hair, and limbs. After our little bake-off (which consisted of Teresa doing all the work and me watching like a small child), we went to an American colleague’s house. She works for CDC and is an official hire, so she lives on an official American compound. It’s a NICE place. She has a 3 bedroom (at least 2 bath) house. We got there to help set up for Thanksgiving and cook a little. Teresa went up to our colleague’s neighbor’s place; she baked a coffee cake and made mashed potatoes. I helped to set up the room for the Thanksgiving party and helped with the rolls. Around 4, people started arriving. We had an awesome dinner with turkey, gravy, ham, salads, dinner rolls, stuffing, and so much more. The desserts were equally as impressive: red velvet cake!!! Pumpkin pie, chocolate pecan pie, lemon torte, coffee cake, and a few more things that I can’t remember.

After we finished eating, Teresa and I went to ANOTHER Thanksgiving party at our mentor’s house. He lives in a different American compound has a big place too. I was so stuffed by the time we reached his place. I barely ate anything else. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out with our mentor, the CDC country director, his brother, the Nigeria CDC director, and a few other Americans. It was a great day!

Home Sweet Home

I'm back in the US, and I have to admit that the last 5 months feel like a dream. It's bizarre to know that earlier this week, I was sitting in Sembabule, sunny and even hot, when I'm now in snow and cold. My trip back home was a bit of an adventure. I left Thursday night for the airport, only to be told upon arrival that my 1:45AM flight to Amsterdam was delayed until after 4AM. Then my nicely packed bag was checked by security, so in the end, it wasn't so nicely packed anymore. Then a KLM person looked at where I was going and told me she had never heard of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, even though she has worked at the airport for a few years. So I stood around for 15 minutes while they checked to make sure I wasn't a terrorist. Then once I finally got up to the check-out counter, I was told my carry-on was too heavy. I've never been told this before, but I guess I've never tried to carry a lot of soap stone objects home. Thus I had to unpack and redistribute stuff within my bags at the airport. Let's just say it wasn't the best time I've ever had at an airport.

After getting into Amsterdam, it turned out that my connecting flight to Detroit was also delayed. It made me a little worried about connecting to my final flight to Milwaukee, but there wasn't much I could do about it. So I enjoyed a delicious slice of pizza with real cheese and dewormed myself. I finally arrived home Friday night. It was great getting home and seeing my family. None of my luggage got lost, and everything arrived in one piece. So although my trip home wasn't the smoothest of all traveling experiences, I still got home!

I miss Uganda already. These last 5 months have been extremely special to me, and I will never forget the people I met throughout my trip.

This Isn't Good-Bye, Just See You Later

Last night, the staff made me an epic "last supper." It was complete with fried chicken. Everything was delicious. It was awesome having everyone together. It has been an amazing 5 months. I cannot reiterate that enough. I'm so grateful to everyone who made my stay here so wonderful. Sembabule has become a home away from home.

And in true Sembabule style, we had no power for the last day, so I got to pack the last of my stuff by lantern light. Then as I was packing, we were visited by a grasshopper in our room. Thus my last encounter with nature involved me trying to catch a grasshopper. I'm going to miss Sembabule a lot!

Favorite memories from my trip:

• My first trip using public transportation from Sembabule to Kampala. I still feel incredibly sorry for the chicken in the trunk of the car. And I definitely lost some brain cells when I hit my head on the ceiling of the van.
• Talking to my parents while trying to get Bob out of my room
• Lake Bunyonyi… almost like paradise
• Watching a chicken get slaughtered
• 10 mzungus getting onto bodas in Kigali
• The bus trip back from Rwanda: nothing beats a blow out and then thinking the bus will tip over and kill us
• Jamming out to Top 40 tunes at work in Mubende with Claire
• Game nights in Sembabule
• Running to Haandi’s for a meal immediately after arriving in Kampala
• Learning to fry matoke
• Making awesome friends in Sembabule and Kampala
• Not getting malaria
• Being attached at the hip to Claire

No words can describe how much I cherish all the memories I’ve made on this trip. There aren't enough Thank Yous to pass around, but I'll say it again. I'm so thankful for this trip, for everyone I've met and gotten to know, for everyone who has helped remind me why I fell in love with Uganda. I hate good-byes. So I'm serious when I say this isn't good-bye. Two years ago, I told myself I'd find a way to come back, and I did. This time, I'm saying it again. I love Uganda. I will be back.

Last Days...

I only have a few days left in Sembabule... in Uganda in general, and I am incredibly sad. The things I will miss:

• Chapati and Rolexes
• My foam mattress and my pink, hole-ridden bed net
• Finding random amphibians hanging out in my room
• Getting away with not showering for a day (or two) because we don't have any water
• The music blasting from across the street (whether it's Ugandan music or a remix of Shania)
• Frying everything and anything we can get our hands on
• Wearing my head lamp
• Tea breaks at work
• My cell phone with its torch (aka flashlight)
• Pit latrines
• All the staff
• Claire
• And much, much more

Things I probably won't miss as much:

• Public transportation
• Getting woken up at 5am by a random cow, goat, or person yelling outside
• Red dust covering everything
• My hair never being actually clean
• Electricity problems
• Internet problems
• Bats hanging out around the pit latrine doors
• Finding ants in my food
• Getting called mzungu every 2 seconds
• The possibility of getting malaria with every mosquito bite I get
• The roads
• There are probably a few other things I am forgetting right now...

I am finishing up handing over my notes, documents, and just about everything related to the last 5 months to Claire and my supervisor. My supervisor is an amazing seamstress and is making the fabric the staff gave me into a dress for me in these last few days I'm in Uganda. I'm incredibly excited to wear it! I'll be heading into Kampala on Thursday and flying out of Entebbe in the middle of the night. Then over a full day later, I'll be landing in Milwaukee!

This experience has been amazing and I have loved every minute of it (even the unlovable minutes).

I love Uganda!

Turkey-less Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! Unfortunately, we don't have Thanksgiving here in Uganda so we didn't have Thursday and Friday off. Instead, we have been in meetings for the last 2 days. We had our monthly regional staff meeting yesterday and everyone came to Sembabule, even the guards from Mubende. Only a couple of people were missing; unfortunately one had typhoid! I spent my Thanksgiving day sitting in different meetings until 11:30pm. As fulfilling as it was to be with all the WellShare staff, I couldn't help but miss turkey and pie. We had chicken and matoke instead. I did receive a beautiful gift from the WellShare staff, some gorgeous African fabric. Now I have something to remember everyone by, other than by all the pictures I took.

Then today we had another meeting, and I said good-bye to some of the Mubende staff. I can't believe I'm leaving in one week! Time has really flown. I am so thankful for the time I was able to spend here in Uganda. I came back to Uganda because I love the people here. I haven't changed my mind at all, actually my stay here has solidified my love for this country even more!

I am currently a bit depressed because I'm missing one of my favorite days of the year, Black Friday. For those of you in the US, do some shopping for me!

You're Twins?!?!?! Nope, Just Married

One of the TOTs told Claire and I that we were twins this week during the TOT training. As funny as that is, we look nothing alike. She's blonde, I'm Asian, she's a Gopher, I'm a Badger... Pretty sure it's as far from twin status as you can get. But honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better roommate here in Uganda. (Though I'll admit when I first heard I was getting a roommate, I was a bit worried that we'd hate each other and one person would smother the other in her sleep.)

Essentially we've become partners in crime, Siamese twins (attached at the hip, though not identical), and an old married couple. We live, work, cook, breathe, and function together, essentially 24/7 for 2.5 months by the time I leave. There are only the rare occasions when she or I go to do an activity for work without the other person. We have fallen into regular, predictable routines:

• We always sit in the same spots
• I shower first in the morning, then she showers
• When we cook, I usually cook and she usually washes the dishes
• We floss together before going to bed
• We pick up after each other
• We have our home theater and have the hardest time picking one movie to watch
• We hang out by reading together on weekends spent in Sembabule

We're even compatible interests:

• She likes pink and red Starburst, I like yellow and orange.
• She likes red and purple Skittles, I like yellow and green. There's no fighting over colors!
• We both share an insane addiction to Haribo, VitaSnacks, Sea Salt and Vinegar chips, and chapati
• Gilmore Girls, amongst other TV shows and movies we like

As for communication, often it only takes a few hand gestures or looks gets the message across. We have our inside jokes and late night chats about random stuff. What it comes down to is I got really lucky having Claire as my roommate and we are just like an old married couple. I can't imagine life without her!

I ate a Grasshopper

This weekend was my last trip into Kampala before I leave the country! It’s rather depressing to think about but don’t worry, the trip was very memorable. We got a matatu Friday morning to do the first leg of the trip to Masaka. I was sitting in the last row of the matatu. We’re speeding along; this matatu driver was a bit of a crazy driver. Eventually I notice the lady sitting to my left is holding the hood of a jacket. I then saw that she had vomit all down the front of her shirt. Oh boy… It looked like she was trying to vomit into the hood and somehow I didn’t think the hood would be that effective for holding her vomit. I always carry spare plastic bags with me (you never know when they’ll come in handy) and pulled one out for her. She then proceeded to vomit the rest of the trip to Masaka (she started really early on in our matatu ride). The entire time I was praying that 1) we wouldn’t get into an accident or else the bag of vomit would probably spill everywhere; 2) she wouldn’t accidentally let go of the bag and get vomit on me which I would have to live with for another several hours until we got to Kampala; 3) she would focus on getting the vomit in the bag and not on me; 4) we’d get to Masaka ASAP. TIA. We arrived in Masaka without any of the above mentioned issues. Woohoo!! Then Claire and I had to wait for 2 hours on a bus for it to fill before we started off toward Kampala. So I sat and waited forever. TIA.

After getting to Kampala, we (being very, very naughty) took one last boda boda ride to get to Haandi’s for lunch before it closed. It was worth it, but I admit, the entire time I was hoping this wasn’t the one occasion we would get into an accident. Don’t worry, we made it in one piece and no more boda boda rides for me. Lunch at Haandi’s was phenomenal as always. Afterwards, we headed to the country office for Claire to do some paperwork for her visa and to drop off something for the country director. Then we stopped at Game (a big grocery store) to pick up some snacks, including Oreos and Salt & Vinegar Pringles. We also got some red and silver tinsel for the room! We’re trying to make it very festive for Christmas. Later, we made it to our hotel and dropped all of our stuff off. Then we were off to Garden City. We went looking for a salon that our program manager told us about, Sparkles. We found it, and Claire got a haircut. While she was getting all her hair cut off, I went on a little shopping spree at Banana Boat. It was rather fun! After we met up again, we went to a small restaurant called New York Pizza Kitchen. It sells pasta, pizza, etc, but it ALSO has cupcakes, bagels, and legit malted milkshakes. Claire had a birthday cupcake, while I tried a milkshake. Yum! Since our trip into Kampala took almost 6 hours, we were both exhausted and headed back to our room. My friend came over later and we watched part of Sex and the City, the movie, and eventually went to bed.

Saturday was another long day. While Claire went to the post office, I headed to the African Craft Market to continue to do some shopping. We met up in Aristoc, the bookstore, and I restrained myself from buying any more books. It was really painful, but there’s no way I can carry any more books back to the US with me. Then we ran some errands and ended up at Café Java. Claire had lunch and headed to Sparkles for a pedicure. I stayed and waited to have lunch with a few friends. It was so nice seeing people in Kampala and enjoying a nice lunch. Later, Claire and I went to see Unstoppable at Garden City. What an intense and stressful movie! But I liked it. After the movie, we met up with some friends, had pizza for dinner, and then headed to the Sheraton Hotel to enjoy some of the lower key night life. We enjoyed the band outside again. Their songs included Toto’s Africa and Bob Marley’s One Love. Very fun. It was a long day but I got everything done that I needed to get done and was able to see some friends!

The trip back to Sembabule was a little less eventful than the trip into Kampala. BUT I did buy a grasshopper to eat while sitting on the bus, waiting for it to leave for Masaka. (I will post a picture when I can.) I tried a grasshopper the last time I was in Kampala so I thought it would be fitting to eat one this time too. The longer I stared at it in my hand, the less appetizing it got, so I tried not to think about it and popped it in my mouth. It was salty... and crunchy...

It was my last time sitting in the New Taxi Park, my last taste of the organized chaos. I'm going to miss walking through the insane maze of matatus to hunt down a mini bus to Masaka. Then the Masaka to Sembabule leg of the trip made me smile since they stuffed 5 adults into the backseat of the car per usual and the fuel gadge sat at empty the entire time. TIA!

It was a great weekend, and I’m really going to miss everything, from the ridiculous trips into the city, the crowdedness and pollution of Kampala, and so much more. Less than two weeks left in Uganda!!!

Sticky Keyboard

Our program manager brought oranges from Kampala to Sembabule and was kind enough to share with Claire and me yesterday. Claire, being the smarter of the 2 of us, didn't do anything else while peeling her orange and eating it. I was typing on my laptop and peeling the orange at the same time. Needless to say, my keyboard is now extremely sticky and no amount of wet wipes seems to be helping the situation. The orange was great though! We definitely don't get enough produce out here in Sembabule, so any kind of fruit is amazing.

Since Eid was on Tuesday, it was technically a national holiday. Because Claire and I worked the holidy, we get a compensation day which we are going to take tomorrow. So we'll be heading into Kampala for the weekend tomorrow morning. Sadly, it will be my last trip into Kampala before I leave for home!!

Board Games are Fun

On Monday and Tuesday, the International Director for our organization visited our Sembabule office and the program manager (and her husband) is here all week We spent some time discussing the M&E tools with the ID, explaining to her the changes, M&E data flow process, etc. The organization is so small that the ID is the only one working on the international programs at the Minnesota headquarters office (the org has domestic programs in the Twin Cities too) and when she visits Uganda, she has to have a lot of meetings to catch up with what’s happening on the ground. The ID had visited when I first got here at the beginning of my trip and now she comes at the end of my trip. So I’ve come full circle with her.

Having important visitors at the office means breakfast and dinner are made for all of us, along with the usual lunch. So Claire and I are living a life of luxury this week. Also, the PM also brought us brownies and bagels from Kampala on Sunday and they were finished by Monday night. Wow, I never knew how much I’d miss bagels! And I don’t even like chocolate, but the brownie was still delicious. In the evenings, we’ve been playing board games with the PM and her husband. They brought them from the States and it’s been really fun! I’ve learned how to play Ticket to Ride- Europe and Farkle. Last night, I dominated at both games. WOOT! (Noooo I don’t have a competitive streak at all.) Now I wish we had Bananagrams…

As for work, I am trying to work on getting the M&E tools translated into Luganda. Hopefully we can get those printed ASAP and ready to be used! I had arrived in country when the first cycle of M&E tools were printed. Now it’d be awesome for the edited tools to get printed as I leave. It’s also rather important to get these printed so we can train the new TOTs (that are being trained this week and next) on the newly edited tools during the M&E component of the training next week. We’ll also need to retrain our old TOTs on how to use the edited tools. Only a little over two weeks left for me to get everything finished before I head home!

Birthday shout-outs to JS, turning 24 today, and Claire, who turns 23 tomorrow! And yes, I do plan on providing Claire with birthday chapati and lighting a match to serve as a candle to stick in the middle of it.

PIZZA DELIVERY and some hail

Earlier yesterday we had the closest thing to snow I’m ever going to get in Sembabule: hail. There was an intense hailstorm for about an hour. It was intense! Lots of wind, pouring rain, and small, pebble-sized hail! While my reaction went something like “Oh cool!”, it is actually very unfortunate because the hail kills many of the crops. My reactions are often the opposite of what people feel here. When it rains, I go: ughhh rain; everyone else says: hallelujah the crops will grow. When it’s cool, I love the weather here. It feels like fall weather in Midwest or New England, but everyone else mentions how cold it is and gets bundled up. Looks like I'm still a snow bunny from Wisconsin!
The most exciting news: PIZZA!!! My supervisor and the operations officer went to Masaka in the afternoon to do some banking and a few errands. They got back to the office after dark, and we got an incredible surprise delivered to our door: a small veggie pizza!!! My dream came true! Literally. I had dreamed about Pizza Hut delivering to our room door here in Uganda the other night. They were so sweet and bought us a pizza while they were in Masaka. It was amazing. Thank you Beatrice and Rose; you made our night!!! It disappeared in approximately 3 minutes.

Daddy's Girl

Recently nothing I eat is appealing or satisfying. So when we were trying to think of what to make for dinner last night, nothing sounded good. We looked around at what we had in the room to cook with and I decided I would give my dad's specialty dish a shot. My dad makes a version of chapati that includes green onions and doesn’t require a rolling pin because it’s a more liquidy batter. Think of it as salty, thin pancake-crepe thing. For as long as I can remember, my dad has made this for us. He’s the pro at making them thin; he may not be Iron Chef or anything but when it comes to this dish, he is master. Well I managed to make it last night without too many problems, so I’m claiming “master’s apprentice-daughter status”. Yes, the first one broke in half when I tried to flip it. And perhaps they weren’t a perfect circular shape. But I did it! I think they turned out rather well (a picture will be forthcoming) and we had a satisfying meal by pairing it with fresh tomatoes and green peppers. It was a cultural fusion of a dish of Chinese origin (I'm not sure it's of Chinese origin but since my dad's Chinese and all, I figure the Chinese part applies) that was made by an American in the middle of Central Uganda.

Speaking of parents, I have to say that being a parent is probably one of the most underappreciated jobs imaginable. At least it is if you are anything like my parents. Claire and I were discussing budgets, bank accounts, money in general, applying for grad school, etc when we marveled at how much tuition for college is and how many parents manage to pay their child’s/children’s way through school. (Just some background if you’re wondering why we were discussing this: I am looking to finish up a semester at BU and the cost of tuition made me want to have a heart attack, while Claire just submitted her grad school application.)

So if your child (say someone like me) goes to a state school and pays in-state tuition, let’s estimate a year of tuition to be at $10,000 (give or take a few thousand). The typical four years of undergrad would equal $40,000. That’s tuition alone. Then tack on rent and living expenses, if the parents are generous and willing to provide for their child… so we estimate $800 a month total. Then with 9 months of school, you’re looking at $7,200 a year (not including insurance, etc). After 4 years, you’ve spent $28,800 by needing a roof and food. In the end, parents are spending around $68,800 for 4 years of college and this wonderful piece of paper called a diploma. Can you imagine what the parents COULD be spending around $70,000 on? That’s about 35 round trip tickets to Uganda or 787,500 chapati or 196,875 Rolexes or over 7,500 dinners at Haandi’s or a brand new car or a luxury cruise vacation to all 7 continents… the list goes on. And I’m only talking about college!

At the same time, you have to consider the gas for the car carting us to tennis practice, piano lessons, friends’ houses… buying birthday presents, whether it was for you or for the friend’s birthday you attended… the braces that straightened your teeth… the multiple retainers you accidentally threw away with your hot lunch trash… and not to mention all the pain and suffering we children put our parents through when we hit puberty (and oftentimes beyond)… it’s a wonder my parents didn’t drown me at birth or accidentally forget me in the middle of a corn field when I hit puberty, and spared themselves a lot of pain.

In conclusion, I dedicate this post to my parents. I am extremely grateful for everything they do for me. And especially for their support, in every way, on this trip. I’m sorry for all the pain and suffering I have caused you over the years. And I profusely apologize for being such an expensive kid! I love you!

Everything tastes better when it's Fried

To add to my last post, after the band marched through town, we had an entourage of cars and trucks pull through Sembabule also. People were standing in the trucks, waving tree branches and yelling out things that I couldn’t understand. I was told this was the way people were expressing their support. I took a few pictures but internet’s been terrible so I’ll have to wait to upload those. The guy who is running for chairperson in Sembabule District was responsible for the vehicle parade and I managed to get a peek at him, standing up in a car, waving at people in town. Later on in the day, we saw a political rally in the middle of town for one of the men who are running against Museveni for president. He hung a huge banner in town and talked to a big crowd that had gathered. Since I can’t understand Luganda, I cannot tell you what he was saying. I have to wonder at how good someone’s chances are who is running for the presidency. I’d think not very good. Museveni is pretty much in control, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change any time soon… Presidential elections are February 18th. Let's hope they go smoothly!

This past weekend, we didn’t have power during the day so I managed to read a lot AND we cooked. Again, I reiterate that frying anything makes that food taste better. Claire and I fried some matoke on Saturday. It was quite a process. We were taught a technique by our program manager’s husband, who is Columbian. I think it's called patacones? Don't quote me on the name. And we decided to try it out. Peeling matoke is way harder than all the Ugandans make it look. Well it’s either that or I am just inept in the kitchen. I’m pretty sure I wasted a significant amount of banana flesh. We fried medium sized pieces of matoke until they were soft enough to squash flat with a bowl, then refried them, and finally seasoned with Claire's seasoning salt. They were sooooooo good. If matoke was served this way to me all the time, I’d never get sick of it. I'd also have serious health issues from so much fried food... but it'd be worth it. A picture will be forthcoming, I promise.

I just finished reading The Shattered Continent and really enjoyed it. It’s another book on economic development and aid in Africa but it was pretty easy to read and straight forward. Another interesting book I've finished is The Caged Virgin, written by the same woman who wrote Infidel. I think she has a very interesting opinion on Islam and women's rights. She questions why the West is so afraid to criticize Islam, calls for Muslims to look critically at their own religious beliefs, and advocates for better women's rights for Muslim women. Definitely a must read if you're interested in the Middle East, Islam, fundamental Islam, and want to see it from the perspective of a woman who was raised Muslim.

I have about a month left here and I desperately need to find a way to bring a chapati/rolex stand back to the US with me…

PS Did you know that the FAO reported that Uganda was the top producer of plantains in 2005?

And the band played on...?

Although it's a title of a book on HIV/AIDS especially in the US and I am in Uganda, a country that is known for doing relatively well on the fight against HIV, I am actually referencing the live band that walked through Sembabule this morning. It's a rare sight to see a live marching band at any time but at 9am in the morning in town, it was an even bigger surprise. After asking around, I was told that the band was hired by a woman who is running for a political office in Sembabule. Other politicians hire groups of bodas or cars to drive through town, honking, yelling, publicizing their name, and attracting attention. This woman was a bit more creative because it is rare for a marching band to walk through town. This definitely will attract a crowd and get people talking.

I crave deep dish pizza... with veggies piled on... I also want an apple. Do you understand how rare it is to go almost 5 months and only eating an apple once?! Apples aren't common to Africa and the only one I've eaten was the one I bought in Rwanda. I miss it. And pecan pie... I just want pie... Thanksgiving is coming up and Uganda doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving (since it's an American holiday). So we don't get that Thursday as a holiday AND I'm missing one of my favorite days of the year: Black Friday. I'm starting to get rather depressed. I'm so sad that I won't be able to wake up at 5am and head to the mall with my friends. No turkey, no Chinese-style stuffing my mom makes... On Thanksgiving, you guys better eat copious amounts of food on my behalf.

I want a goat

The past week flew by! On Tuesday, we had our monthly Regional Meeting. There was a lot of planning going on for all of our trainings this month. After our meeting was over, the staff in Mubende threw a potluck for us. During our staff meeting on Monday, we were told about the potluck and the look on one of our staff member's face was amazing. He had never heard of a potluck before and kept saying "pot luck?" Luckily for me, I didn't have to bring a dish to the potluck, which meant that I avoided killing all of our staff. The potluck was so much fun and I consumed copious amounts of food. I tried goat for the first time (rather tough and a bit difficult to chew) and learned that matoke is 100 times better when fried and salted. On Wednesday, we had our Annual Partners meeting for the program I spend most of my time on. All of the faith/community based organizations presented on what they did this past year and their plans for this coming financial year. I would love to tell you that it was an incredibly stimulating day, but hour after hour of PowerPoint presentations led me to draw a few smiley faces on my toes and doodle all over my agenda. I do think it is very important for all of our F/CBOs to come together and share their successes and challenges with each other. Then Thursday, we had our M&E/QA/QI meeting (which stands for monitoring and evaluation/ quality assuarance/ quality improvement). This was the most important meeting of the week for me since I'm the M&E intern. We reviewed our M&E tools, made necessary changes, and I got a laundry list of things to do in the next few weeks. Then in the evening, Claire and I headed to Kampala for a long weekend! We arrived late on Thursday night but we managed to dash to Haandi's and ate some excellent Indian food for dinner. My fish dish was to die for and garlic naan... yum!

Friday morning, I was able to take a hot, standing shower. It was fantastic! We walked to Nakumatt and were sad to find they had run out of Haribo. I have an intense Haribo addiction that borders along the level of unnatural and unhealthy. So without Haribo, I have no idea what my life will be like. We had brunch at Cafe Java. Then we wandered to the National Theater and checked out the craft market behind the theater. My supervisor was kind enough to meet us in the afternoon and showed us areas where to buy African fabrics. Afterward we stopped by 1000 Cups Cafe. I bought some crafts at the market by the cafe and then we headed to the country office. I had to pick up a few things. We finished off the night by going to see Eat, Pray, Love at Garden City and eating dinner at Nawab on the roof of the mall. I tried a goat dish and it was great. We were exhausted from all the walking we did all day and slept incredibly well that night.

I would love to say that all this walking is a product of my deep desire to exercise but in the humid heat of Kampala, that is not the case. The reality is that boda riding is off limits now. There have been a series of accidents involving bodas and mzungus, so I prefer to stay out of Mulago and the International Hospital. Special hires and matatus are the way to go now if I don't want to walk. It's a bit slower but being alive is kind of nice. But as a product of all that walking, my body hurts. I feel like an old lady...

On Saturday, Claire and I swung by the post office and stocked up on books at Aristoc. Pride and Prejudice for less than $3, yes please! We had breakfast at Cafe Pap and then I went to meet my professor's mom who is working in Kampala. We had a great lunch at Masala Chaat, another Indian restaurant. And yes, I do realize that all I did this weekend was eat. Not only just eat, but eating Indian food. Let me tell you... it was awesome! After my lunch, I met up with Claire again and did some more souvernir shopping. We ended the afternoon by making our way to the Old Taxi Park, finding the area that sells African fabrics, and hopping into a matatu that took us to Wandegeya. This is a neighborhood right by Makerere University where you find the Obama Chapati Stand, many 2nd hand clothing shops, and my awesome DVD guy. We popped by to stock up on DVDs. Then for dinner, we met up with one of my friends in Kampala and went to Mamba Point Pizzeria. Mmmmm pizza!! We ended the night at the Sheraton Hotel, just hanging out and watching a live band sing covers to songs from the 90s.

On Sunday, we mentally prepared ourselves for the thrilling journey via public transportation back to Sembabule. I showered in the morning, knowing full well it was a futile attempt to be clean: that by the time I reached Sembabule, I would be filthy no matter what. We stopped by Nakumatt and had lunch at Cafe Java before leaving. Tuna salad sandwich and an ice cream sundae? Delicious. And yes, I have officially gained back any weight I lost during my trip here.

In the car during the Masaka to Sembabule stretch of our return journey, I marveled. First at the fact that the gas gadge was pointing to empty the entire trip, yet our driver managed to get us safely back to the office. The second was the potential example of corruption we encountered. Our vehicle was stopped by police during the drive. Our driver got out, talked to the policeman (I don't actually know what was said), but as I watched, money was carefully folded by the driver and casually placed into the hand of the policeman. Then we were on our way again. I'm not saying for sure that our driver gave the policeman a bribe since maybe he was getting fined for something. But it just made me think back to a conversation I had over lunch on Saturday. Development aid is pouring into Africa, moreso than 10, 20 years ago. The problem is that less money is actually getting to the people who need it the most. Why is this? Corruption. Bribes are so common place, it's like exchanging war stories when my friends get together and chat. If we encounter bribes and corruption on a small scale throughout our work here, I have to consider the level of corruption that occurs higher up. I don't think development and foreign aid is wrong or not making a difference but I do believe there needs to be a way to crack down on corruption when so much aid is being given to developing countries. Want to know more? Read Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo.

Well, I start another week here in Sembabule... and we have power, for now.

Oh and the reason for the title, it was not because I tried goat for the first time and then had it again in Kampala. It is because we want a goat. For less than $15, we can buy a baby goat from the market. YES, A PET FOR THE OFFICE! I hope we actually get one. We could take it on a walk around town and feed it all our scrap paper and the boxes from all the crackers we eat...

I can make chips!

Movies and Chips

After getting back from Mubende last week, the rest of the week went by pretty quickly. We had a relaxing weekend with power most of the time. Claire and I had a Dance Movie marathon. It had started with watching Save the Last Dance about a week ago. We completed the marathon with Center Stage, Center Stage 2, Step Up, and Step Up 2. Yes, I know, we are so cool. But hey, they're fun, trashy, feel-good movies. We also were also pretty ambitious and made our own chips. I’m happy to report that I: 1) did not scald myself with boiling oil, 2) was successful in not burning the potatoes completely, and 3) did not set the office on fire. All in all, I think I’m well on my way to becoming a domesticated housewife… maybe… A picture as evidence of my newfound cooking abilities will be forthcoming. Claire brought Lawry’s Season Salt with her from the States, probably one of the best things ever to bring to Uganda. We put it on everything, including our chips. They turned out delicious. On Sunday night, we feasted on a rolex with 2 chapati. It was like the Big Mac of rolexes: a layer of egg with tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and cabbage, a chapati, a layer of egg with veggies, another chapati, and a final layer of egg and veggies. AMAZING!!!

Tomorrow we’re going back to Mubende and will stay for a few days. This week is packed with meetings. It should keep us busy! Then we plan on going to Kampala for the weekend. I haven’t been there since the beginning of the month so we’re going to be stocking up on food and enjoying some of the excellent restaurants in the city.

Pit Latrine, Oh How I Missed You

I am back in Sembabule and I have to admit, after being away for a week and a half, I missed it! There is something incredibly homey about my room, squatting to bathe myself, using a pit latrine, enjoying the random power outages and battling with the internet. After using a flushing toilet, it seems a bit easier to just squat, do my business, and just toss the toilet paper down the hole. It skips the pushing lever to flush part! And plus, isn’t it just more fun to be going to the bathroom and see a gecko running across the wall right by your face? Or marveling at the massive number of malaria-filled mosquitoes swarming around your head at night? Or being surprised by the random toad hanging out in the back corner of the latrine? I’d say so. I love Uganda!!! It's pretty hard to believe but I only have about a month and a half left in Uganda. I'm going to miss it after I leave.

C-pop in Sembabule

My favorite piece of electronic equipment here in Uganda would have to be my iPod. Nothing drowns out the cows mooing, roosters crowing, random radios blaring, and incessant whining of mosquitos better than a little C-pop in the early morning.

I can't really think of anything profound to say, but here's a little update on life here. You know how they say you can never "catch up" on sleep? They are right. I've been a bit of a walking zombie all week from the lack of sleep last weekend. As for work, we had visitors from the project that funds us this week. There were meetings and discussions for them for a few days. We're also coming down to the end of this fiscal year, which means lots of reports are due. I've been working on data collection for our projects all week. Every time I think I'm done with the data and I submit it to my supervisor, the next day or even that night, she tells me that we've filled out the wrong form or we didn't get all the data they needed or we've done something else wrong... It gets a little frustrating after a while. Especially when you're hand counting several hundred forms and tallying up totals. But I'm happy to report that the data is now completed... but that might just be wishful thinking.

The tap wasn't running for part of this week so Claire and I were running out of water to bathe, do laundry, etc with. This is slightly inconvenient but I think I've reached a point in Claire and my relationship where she doesn't mind when I wake up, looking horrible after not showering for 2 days... maybe... unless she's not telling me something.

I do all my laundry by hand in the basin I wash myself with. The water always turns a beautiful reddish brown color. And no matter how many times I rinse my clothes, I can never seem to get the water to run clear. I cannot wait to get home to Wisconsin and throw all my clothes into the washing machine.

I miss food. I miss hot meals that don't involve matoke or beans. I miss my mom's cooking. Nothing can relate how much I'd kill for some quality Chinese food right now. OR when I'm paging through the few magazines I've accumulated and I come across an ad for DiGiorno's pizza. Sigh. What's worse is flipping through these magazines and stumbling across images of food. Delicious sandwiches, meals, salads, cakes... I know you might find me slightly pathetic at this point, but I'm beyond caring. I miss food.

I stayed in Sembabule this weekend so it's some quality time to lay around and recover from last weekend and my zombie-state. I've finished The Wizard of the Nile (a fascinating book about Kony and northern Uganda) and am now tackling Atlas Shrugged.

The countdown begins: 2 months until my feet touch American soil again.

Rwanda

I took the night bus to Kigali Thursday night. It was a pretty pleasant trip since we took a Kampala Coach bus, which has comfy reclining seats and only 2 seats in each row. I sat next to this Ugandan businessman who lives in Kigali and he told me that he had left Kigali at 9am Thursday morning, got to Kampala at 7, did his business, and was now returning to Kigali on the 10pm bus. That is SO much traveling! I was able to only sleep a few hours on the bus, but I remembered to bring a hoody this time so I didn’t freeze to death like I did when we rode the bus to Lake Bunyonyi. I highly recommend Kampala Coach Buses rather than Horizon Buses.

I walked across the Rwanda-Uganda border at around 6am, while it was still dark. It was extremely cold and rather eerie. After getting stamped in on the Rwanda side, I was able to watch the sun rise. As we drove the last leg of the trip to Kigali, I watched the Rwandan countryside pass by and it is breathtakingly beautiful. The sun was shining through the morning fog over the rolling hills of Eastern Rwanda. Absolutely amazing! I couldn’t help but smile.

We arrived in Kigali around 9am. This trip includes 4 Brits, 3 Swedes, and 2 Americans. Only the 2 Americans weren’t med students, but I felt rather confident that if anything happened to me, I’d have plenty of medical expertise to help me out. There are quite a lot of mzungus traveling together and we manage to attract a lot of attention. We were meeting 2 other British guys who I’d met one time in Kampala. They are working in a hospital in Kigali and we were able to all stay at their house for the weekend. We first exchanged money at the UTC and hung out in a very Western coffeehouse called Bourbon Café. It was very nice. Then we spent the afternoon at a pool by the house we were staying at. It was incredibly relaxing after being on the move for almost 12 hours. I was able to try Chinese takeout for dinner (this was the first time I had Chinese in Arica). The evening was spent hanging out with friends, exploring Kigali a little, and enjoying Kigali nightlife.

We all woke up and just hung out in the morning. The Swedes made breakfast for us Saturday morning. It was great. Then afterwards we headed for the Kigali Memorial Centre, aka the Genocide Museum. It was a somber afternoon. There were headsets that guided us around the museum, which included a section on the Rwandan Genocide, a section about different genocides that have occurred all over the world, and a particularly difficult section dedicated to the children who died in the Rwandan Genocide. Then outside there were gardens and mass graves. I think the museum is very tastefully done and is a must-see for anyone visiting Rwanda. Then to continue this experience, we had a late dinner at Hotel des Mille Collines aka Hotel Rwanda. It was almost surreal to look up to the roof as we were eating and to know that that’s where Paul Rusesabagina would have jumped from to commit suicide. I had such mixed feelings from enjoying the company of friends and amazingly delicious Western food and then knowing the reality of what happened there in the hotel and in Rwanda in general. I highly recommend the steak sandwich at the hotel though; it was incredible. The rest of the night was spent hanging out and continuing to enjoy Kigali.

I had to leave very early in the morning to make it back to Kampala to pick up Claire and then head back to Sembabule. Claire spent the weekend in Kampala and was kind enough to do a bit of grocery shopping for me so I didn’t need to do it when I arrived in Kampala. Let’s just say the trip back was… a bit difficult. I was on the road for about 17 hours. We had a blow out, well actually 2, about 45 minutes away from Mbarara (which is about 2 hours west of Masaka). The driver was going to continue driving with our blown tires if it were not for one incredibly outspoken Ugandan woman who demanded that we stop. Initially I didn’t know what had happened; I figured we had hit a big rock and since the driver was still going, there was no problem. Not so much. The driver finally pulled over and they worked on changing the tires. That took a while. Then there was about a solid hour on the drive between Masaka and Kampala when I thought we were going to get into an accident and I might die. Our driver drove like a madman. Considering that we had blown 2 tires already, I would have thought he would have driven a bit more carefully. Not the case. Since there’s a ton of road construction between Masaka and Kampala, the roads are really bad: lots of potholes, giant holes, speed humps, gravel, etc. He was flying over all the bumps and the bus honestly felt rather unstable. I finally reached Kampala around 4:30pm. I ran for the new taxi park to meet Claire. We sought out a bus and departed for Masaka. At this point, my behind was a bit flat and sore. We got to Masaka after dark and then had to undergo the process of finding a taxi to take us to Sembabule. A bit of wandering was involved, but we finally found a mini sedan (seats 7 comfortably). The driver ended up stuffing 14 people into this vehicle and off we flew toward Sembabule. Claire and I were sitting in the back row… my body hurts. Then when we tried to pay the driver, we were told the money was fake… so that was a bit of a debacle and we aren’t sure if this bank note is real or not. But finally around 10pm, we arrived in our room in Sembabule, utterly exhausted and grossly dirty.

Overall, I’m really glad I was able to go to Rwanda this weekend. Aside from the horrible trip back, I had a lot of fun! Kigali is amazing. It is so different from Kampala. The streets are clean, organized, and they drive on the right side of the road. The boda drivers all wear marked vests and marked helmets. They are required to carry an additional helmet for their passenger and only 1 passenger is allowed per boda. It is so much safer to ride bodas in Kigali than Kampala. Only flip side is the potential of getting head lice but given the alternative (my brains smashed all over the road), I’d rather get head lice. The other issue with Rwanda is the fact that I cannot speak French at all. That makes communication with people nearly impossible. I’ve heard that they are trying to move toward having everyone learn English. I hope to go back to Rwanda someday and to be able to have time to explore it more (after learning some French).