running on sunshine

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 13^th (?) 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 18^th. 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 4^th 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!