Clearly I understand how much I have been slacking
on my blog until this week. I’ve got a page full of reasonably acceptable
excuses but will save those for a rainy day. Since my last, more informative,
post I have hit a few milestones: a year since I swore in as a long awaited
Peace Corps Volunteer, the one year anniversary of me living in my own little
self-contained ‘house,’ my second attendance of an All Volunteer Conference.
I’ve witnessed the full cycles of the wet and dry season here in the Southwest
of Uganda which includes surviving the spikes and lowes of the prices of
tomatoes, onions, and every other fruit and vegetable available to me here. The
last time I’ve lived in a single place for over a year was my senior year in
high school. For nearly 6 years I have bounced back and forth between my
parent’s house, college living quarters, and work in Oregon. Less than a year
left here in Uganda and who knows where I will end up next and for how long.
Wherever it is… it will never compare to my lifestyle here in Uganda. It’s a
unique experience and I am trying to embrace it while it lasts. That being said
just because I’ve been living in the same small shack for the past year doesn’t
mean I have always BEEN there. One of my favorite perks of Peace Corps other
than living in a new environment is exploring that environment. I left home
with little international travel experience so now I’m just trying to
experience things I’ve been missing the past 24 years of my life through this
experience and that includes… traveling!
Although public transport in Uganda is far from
ideal it is quite convenient (most of the time) to get from Point A to Point B,
C, D, E... or wherever your body may desire to travel. It may be frustrating at
times waiting for hours on end to get from one destination to another but from
being in this country for so long you just learn to bring a book, enjoy the
scenery, and just go with the flow. I generally don’t pay attention to anything
in order to prevent frustration and anxiety and I call this state of
unconscious consciousness ‘Zombie-ing Out.’
I believe I left off with the month of March before
gushing about Sipi and complaining about mice (with good reason). That’s almost
a year ago. Oops. Things happen, people get busy, and others like me just
simply lose track of the time, days, and months. I’ve been living one day at a
time… which generally means I either don’t plan what happens next or I forget
what just happened. Either way I’m about to catch you up so give me another
moment to collect my thoughts… go grab some Jiffy Pop and settle down. (For
those of you who are unaware what Jiffy Pop is… it’s delicious so you should
Google it and educate yourselves.)
One. Two. Three. March. The third month of the year
and one of my most eventful and meaningful adventures so far. On a whim I
decided to venture out East for a few reasons: explore, visit other volunteers,
and gather Re-Usable Menstrual Pads (RUMPS) materials. I live approximately 9
hours from Kampala where I transfer to another mode of transportation of sorts
to continue East. First stop: Jinja. On the 1.5 hour – 2 hour coaster ride to
Jinja the front windshield of the coaster I am in shatters with about 30
minutes left in the journey. Due to this unfortunate event we stop… get out of
the coaster… glass cuts are bandaged…and 10 minutes later all pile back into
the coaster and begin our journey again… at about 20mph slower than we were
once moving. Luckily It wasn’t raining and I enjoyed the strong breeze unlike I
know most of the passengers. Jinja. Finally. After the long journey I went out
to get a delicious PB and Chocolate milkshake. Wish I had one now. Walked
around a bit and went out for a few drinks with the nearly departed education
volunteers. Later in the night I remember the temperature dropping and the rain
pouring down. When we got back I wasn’t quite ready to go to bed so I stayed up
on the awning on the roof talking with another volunteer for a while. In the
morning the weather was beautiful so I went back up to the roof for a quiet
yoga session then headed down the street to browse around a few craft stores
for things that I don’t need but got because they were cute anyways. I packed
my bag and headed off to my next destination: Tororo. (Aprox 2.5 hours from
Jinja)….
In the dusty town of Tororo, located a few
kilometers from the Kenyan boarder, I stayed with a married couple who were
newly sworn in Peace Corps Volunteers. I’ve traveled plenty of places around
Uganda but I must say… The first stretch of road after Tororo is the worst I
have been on so far in Uganda. I haven’t had the opportunity to meet them until
I arrived and their hospitality was most appreciated. They made potato soup and
had a spare bedroom ready for me. It was refreshing to meet new people and hear
new stories.
To Be Continued….
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| Jinja |
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| The menstruation cycle |
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| Mt. Elgon resort |
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| cow eating a spud |
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| Top floor |
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