The Highs: Tanzania safari, Wendy visiting!; The Lows: Christmas away from home

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year! Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays, the big snowstorm in the northeast that just happened and all the cold weather! I miss it!

To start with the good...

Everyone is probably wondering first how my sister's visit here went. Well, it went really good. It was so great to see her, and we had a great time. We went on a safari in Tanzania the first week she was here - through the Serengeti, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire Natl. Park. It was amazing! We saw all the Big 5 (rhinos, elephants, lions, leopards and buffalo) and lots of giraffes, zebras, warthogs, cheetahs, flamingos and probably some other animals I'm forgetting at the moment. I highly recommend this safari - the Serengeti and the Norongoro Crater (often called the world's "largest wildlife zoo") are great places to see all the major animals. Everything on the safari was perfect - we were in a Land Rover with our own driver and two other people (an Italian couple on their honeymoon who turned out to be great - we were a bit worried who we may be placed with for the entire week). The lodges/hotels we stayed at were amazing! Great buffets at almost every meal, awesome rooms, beautiful views from the rooms over the national parks, top-notch service, the works. This was no camping-in-tents safari. Thank you to my sister for paying for my safari - obviously could not afford it on a PCV salary!

When we got back from Tanzania, we spent some time in Kampala (the capital) and Kumi (my town). In Kampala, we stayed at the Sheraton and then switched to the Serena Hotel, which is ten times nicer than the Sheraton...and let me just tell you how much harder this made it for me to come back to my life in Kumi after Wendy left. The swimming pool, amazing food, nice beds, bathtub, everything - it was great living this life for a few days! Thanks again to my sister for paying for it. While in Kampala, we went to Lake Victoria for fish and chips, went to a couple craft fairs and met up with a lot of my PC friends. In Kumi, we went to Soroti for a day (the larger town an hour north of me) to visit some other PCVs there and climb the rock (not exactly "rock climbing", more just an easy 15 min walk up a rock with man-made steps and hand-railing). We also went out to dinner w/ my Dutch friend and four of my Ugandan friends (all males). It was quite an interesting dinner - but glad my sister got to meet my friends here. And she actually really did like all of them.

Now, how did my sister do here in Africa, especially living at my house for a few days? Well, not too bad to be honest. She was pretty good. There wasn't much of a problem for her during the safari or staying at the Sheraton or Serena Hotels. I think she liked my house, despite the lizards. The first night at my house, she freaked out in the middle of the night when she saw a lizard crawling on the wall near her bed. Here in my area, lizards are so common (they're harmless), and I've come to completely ignore them...they don't come anywhere near you, just climb the walls. One night, my sister yells to me and asks me if she can come sleep in my bed with me...haha. I was not a very happy person, being woken up, and so I yelled back at her, "NO! go to bed!". Totally a role reversal here (as many PCVs have told me before) - when your family comes to visit, you are now the parent and they are the "child." So true! Other than that, she was pretty good. Granted she didn't have to use a latrine or do a bucket bath.

So my sister's vacation here was great! I think she enjoyed it for the most part, despite the lizards...oh, and the insane taxi parks and driving in Kampala. That she hated as well, especially when we went out to visit my homestay family one morning. When my Dad comes, I'm pretty sure we'll have to take a private taxi everywhere. But other than that, she really liked Kampala/Entebbe (only the nice parts our hotel was located in).

After my sister left, I came back to Kumi with an awful cold/flu. I was pretty much stuck in bed for most of the week. Two of my friends, Lizzie and Rachelle, did come to visit for a night, which was fun, but unfortunately I was feeling so sick so I couldn't do much. It was also a bad week, and much more difficult than I ever expected, after my sister left and having to go back to my life in Kumi - washing clothes by hand, cold showers, etc. I know my life here isn't that bad at all, trust me, I realize that, but going from enjoying the finer things in life and having your family here and then them leaving, it's hard. When I came back to Kumi, my European friends were also gone (the Dutch girl had just left a couple days before my sister did) so I came home to new Ugandan neighbors and wasn't feeling too social. Fortunately, I still have a German girl, Daniela, who is volunteering with the Catholic Church in Kumi for at least another 7 months or so. Also, realizing it's now Christmas time, seeing all the decorations (and very, very tacky decorations, might I add) everywhere, it was tough. I definitely wanted to go home that week. But I got through it...eventually.

After recovering from my cold, I had to get to work on planning a 2-day VSLA training for our CBT volunteers for work. I spent that whole next weekend planning it, and then my friend and fellow PCV, Laura, came on Monday to help me plan and lead the training. We made binders, handouts, example scenarios, quizzes, etc for the participants. Took a lot of work! The training was for 2 days - Wed and Thurs - that week. I think it went pretty well. We were training my organization's 3 field volunteers and 2 employee coordinators for the project. They still need work on it, as we did an example scenario case on the last day, and realized they still need much practice. But overall, I think Laura and I did a good job teaching it. I definitely could not have done it without her!

Now, it is the week of Christmas, and it is a bit slow. The office is closed so I haven't had too much to do. I've done some work on the VSLA project and the next steps to hopefully launching the project in January. I'm working on uploading all the safari pictures to my Webshots site, but that will take a long time. Doing wash, cleaning the house, etc all take some time too. Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, my friend, Jade, will come to my house (w/ her puppy!) to spend a few days here for Christmas. Jade lives in Soroti, and she was volunteering here w/ her husband, but unfortunately he had to go back home to work out some things w/ his business so he will not be returning to Uganda. I didn't want Jade to spend Christmas alone, and I was tired of traveling anyways from the last few weeks so I offered for her to come to my house for Christmas. Most of our other friends in our PC group are going back to the US for the holiday; a few are traveling (Egypt, for example, or Kenya for a mediation retreat), but I've been there and just traveled for a few weeks so I'm happy to stay in my town for the holiday. Jade and I are going to cook coconut curry, potato salad, carrot soup, chocolate truffles and "Christmas punch" for our Christmas-day dinner. Probably sounds quite strange, but hey, its our dinner and that's what we wanted! (and there was no way either of us would be cooking any meat here!). As for New Years, I think for that week, I will go to Sipi Falls on Mt. Elgon (just an hour south of me) with some friends for camping, bonfires. Should be a good time!

I'll briefly explain Christmas in Uganda: First of all, I thought it was a huge deal here, but it really isn't. In the village, it is. Many people do go back to their home village to spend the week with their family. But in town (where I live), life really goes on as it was any other day of the week. People go to church in the morning, but everything is still open - even the internet/office supplies shop, the fruit/veg market, supermarkets, etc. Nothing really closes. Most of my Ugandan friends have gone back to their towns/villages for Christmas, but a few of them, who own businesses here, are staying and working, and maybe just going to their village for Christmas night dinner. I found this to be a bit surprising. I was trying to explain to them that back home in the U.S., everything is closed on Christmas day, except for a few gas stations. They didn't understand this.

Oh, one more thing about this week...I finally found the gym that is in my town! For the past month or so, this one guy in town, who sees me running every morning, would tell me about this gym that supposedly existed in Kumi. I didn't totally believe him that it was an actual gym, and I was a bit scared to see what it looked like. But surprisingly, it is great! I found out that my friend, Daniela, has been going to this gym regularly for the past month. So I went with her the other night for the first time. It's seriously like having a personal trainer for $1/visit. A doctor here in Kumi got a weight machine (one of those machines that has multiple arm/leg, ab workouts) and a weight bench and decided to let the public use it. He has two guys who run it, and when you come, they give you a good 2-hour workout. We did all sorts of floor exercises and then the machines. Although my arms and back did hurt quite badly for the next day after our workout, it was well worth it! I will definitely be going there 3x/week from now on. And it's something else for me to do - we go in the evening so at least a few nights a week, I will be out and about now, not going to bed at 7:30 pm per usual, hah. Daniela and I also went to the pool in Mbale (large town/city an hour south of me) last weekend for the first time, and that was so relaxing! I think we're going to try to go there every other week (only $2.50 to use the pool). And there's great food!

A few friends from back home have asked me what my daily life is here in Kumi. So I will give a brief summary of a typical day for me: I wake up between 6 and 6:30, go for a 40-60 minute run (I do this religiously everyday; some days when I know I don't really have any work to do, it's the only thing that gets me out of bed that day), come home and do a small workout, shower, get ready for day (by the way, I finally bought a good straightener here, and it's great!!! Best decision ever to buy it. I use it everyday, and I just feel so much better with straight, longer hair!). Between 8 or 9:30, I'll either go to the office, go to town do some errands, or just stay at home and do some work. I don't have to go to the office everyday; I can do most work at my house, and I usually prefer that. Our office, while very nice, only has 2 computers (and really just 1 working one usually), and they are quite slow. I prefer to work from the comfort of my home, unless I have to work with my fellow colleagues on something. Sometimes, I also go to this guesthouse/hotel near my house. It's brand new and very nice and quiet (not too many customers yet). Some days I'll go there and set up my computer, do work, have lunch, etc. Quite nice. Some days (and much more in the near future as this VSLA project progresses), I have to go to Kachumbala, a village about 45 mins away, to work on the project and visit our groups there. Some days, we have meetings in our office, especially for our education projects, and especially recently, a new project that we are in charge of and is quite exciting. Almost everyday, I will go to the supermarket in my town for yogurt or something else I may need. I'll usually end my day around 5 or so, sometimes spend some more time in town using internet (if I don't have my office's internet modem), having a drink with some friends. On Tuesday evenings, I have a Swahili lesson for an hour with my friend, Sam. As for the weekends, now it's quite different. For the last few months and even before, I was going to Kumi Hotel most Friday nights for their weekly dance party. I always had other white friends to go with (the Build Africa volunteers or the Red Cross girls). While I could still go now with my Ugandan friends (they don't always go though), it's still a bit strange to me. I like having the company of other white friends at this party. I've only had 2 weekends since getting back from the safari and my European friends leaving so I'm not sure what my weekends will be like anymore. Probably more weekends away visiting other PCVs (we're allowed to leave site 2 weekends/month). Other than that, I'm not sure what will happen. I know my life in Uganda sounds quite boring...and it is at times, but that is the life of a PCV. Most PCVs are in villages, not towns, and even have less to do (and less other white short-term volunteers to hang out with) than me. So I really can't complain. If I were living in the village, I would not have a weekly dance party to go to, or Ugandan friends to hang out with who are university-educated, most likely. I look forward to next summer when hopefully more white volunteers will be coming to Build Africa in my town.

So what do I eat on a daily basis? Well, that has really been changing a lot lately. I used to cook once a day - a mixture of fresh peas, carrots, eggplant, tomato, green pepper, Thai sauce, Parmesan cheese. Doesn't sound too exciting, eh? But it was my favorite. For breakfast, I'd have juice and yogurt. And then I'd just have a late lunch and since I go to bed so early, I wouldn't really eat dinner. It's too much work here to cook and then clean dishes for more than 1 meal/day (at least for me). But for the past few months when the Dutch and Italian girls were here, we would have lunch in town at the restaurant (usually rice and beans or chicken) and I wouldn't cook at all. It was at this time that I realized I really, really despise cooking. I'm not sure why. I have a gas stove (much quicker than even cooking back home). Some days I just have no energy to cook. So the past couple weeks since coming back from the safari, besides not having much of an appetite at all due to being sick, and then totally stressed out about the VSLA training, I've been making oatmeal or cheese and crackers or pumpkin (which, by the way, is amazing, if you've never cooked it!) or having lunch out. Quite boring, I know. Even making pasta, which I could very easily make here, doesn't ever sound appetizing to me. I've made it about 2 times in the 8 months I've lived in Kumi.

So that's my life here in Kumi for anyone who was wondering how exactly I spend my time here. I hope everyone has a great holiday! I will try to post safari pics soon. Thanks for the packages!