TIA: This Is Africa

First things first:

GO RANGERS

moving on...

The past weeks Play-by-Play
I said goodbye to my host family and left my homestay. I went to Kampala where I hung out with friends, ate a chicken sandwich (mistake), drank an iced coffee, and saw the new Will Farrell and Marky Mark movie The Other Guys. It was pretty funny in a random “I can’t believe that just happened” sort of way. The night ended with everyone meeting at Casino Simba for some free drinks, free food, and some blackjack. I was mid double down when I thought to myself, “I’m going to vomit on the dealer”. I took this as a sign that I should probably cash out and run to the bathroom. Turns out, I had food poisoning. Again. For the 3rd time. Welcome to Africa. So after I rinsed my mouth out and splashed water on my face, I looked in the mirror at myself. I pondered:

“I can either stay here and puke in a flush toilet at the casino, or go to the hostel/hotel and puke in a communal toilet shared by an entire floor.”

A decision was made. I went back to the blackjack table to play until I had to run to the bathroom again, which, inevitably, I did. Two mad dashes and 50,000 UGX ($25) later, I decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel.

The next day we all congregated at the Peace Corps office in Kampala for a tour and to sign some papers. I went immediately to the Medical Office and described my sleepless, bathroom dashing night. I was immediately ushered to a bed and instructed to sleep and to drink orange Gatorade…two of my favorite things…which I did without question. When I awoke, I was given more orange Gatorade and a package from home. It was like Christmas morning, only my drink didn’t have champagne in it.

The following day we visited the US Embassy and met some Embassy employees who could help us if we ever get in a jam. We had a few hours to kill in the city, so it was back to Casino Simba for some early afternoon gambling…the best kind. I won back the 50,000 UGX I was down from 2 days before. Victory!

The next couple of days were spent in a workshop with my Site Supervisor and Counterpart. It was mostly boring.

Swearing in was magical. Our training class had two representatives who gave speeches during the ceremony. The first speech, given by Christy Proudy, emphasized the friendships we will make with our fellow volunteers and how important these relationships will be to us both here in Uganda and back home in the States. The second speech, given by Nick Duncan (who currently owes me 10,000 Shillings because the Rangers beat the Yankees), was the very same speech given in the movie Independence Day before they all fly off in jets to fight the aliens. Yes, the very same, only with a few key words being changed.

For example:

“Today is the day that we celebrate our Graduation Day”

All of the Muzungus were laughing hysterically, where the Ugandans just looked confused. The speeches were followed by all of the trainees standing, raising our right hands, and reciting our Peace Corps oath. Afterwards, meat was served. Meat! Good meat. On sticks. With special dipping sauces. Magical.

I departed the next day (the 22nd) for my site. When I arrived in Kaberebere with my counterpart, I discovered that my house wasn’t quite ready for me to move into. When taken to the house to see, I had to step over tools and men sleeping on the floor inside. The workers were tired, apparently, and taking naps. They are (when awake) redoing a door, re-cementing the floors, building a pit latrine, and painting the walls. I should be able to hopefully move in by the end of this week, but who knows. TIA. Until I can move into my house, I’m just kind of playing everything by ear.
So, here I am finally at my site. It’s going to be an exciting, interesting, scary, frustrating, fun, different, and life changing 2 years.

Fun things to ponder:
Why do children wear shirts with no pants, and not vice versa?
Why do people sell shoes, but none that match?
Why isn’t there a Runyankore word for Please?

GO RANGERS