Weekend Update: July 24, 2011

Highs:

I think the worst of the Uganda experience is behind me. I actually have a fair amount on the agenda the next couple weeks. Overall I just feel a lot more comfortable than I have been. There are still struggles, but my mind is much more at ease than it has been.

The new Kindle arrived!!! Also jersey pillow cases and bed sheets!!!

Plans are in the works for the holiday season.

Lows:

Am hitting a reading slump. I've probably averaged about 100 pages a week for the past 2 weeks. Hopefully the new Kindle will set me straight.

Insomnia has been a regular struggle the past month and a half. Many nights I get 2-3 hours sleep and then lie in bed awake for 5 hours.

What I Did:

Held an extensive meeting with the faculty of my school and we prepared the monthly report we intend to turn into our organization this upcoming Tuesday.

Met with local leaders of the Village Health Teams and Local Government Council to try to coordinate upcoming programs and projects.

Obtained rope and large basin and rigged it up with my scale. We are ready to start measuring poop.

What Is On The Agenda:

Monday: go to office and deliver monthly report prior to Tuesday's monthly meeting. It has been 3 months since the monthly meeting has happened so if my organization is anything less than on it's best behavior I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind.

Tuesday: monthly meeting, also a volunteer from Lesotho is going to crash at my place.

Wednesday: Measuring poop, hopefully a lifeskills workshop at my site.

Thursday: Measuring poop.

Friday: Measuring poop. Baseball vs the Japanese equivalent of Peace Corps.

Uganglish Annoyance of the Week:

First you come.

When Ugandans give a command or suggestion in English they often preface it with 'First.' If I tell them I am going to Mbarara they will point to a car and tell me, "First you sit" as if there was some scheme in my mind that did not involve me taking a seat in the car before they brought me to Mbarara. This is an especially odd expression because it isn't a literal translation from Luganda as best I can tell.

What I'm Reading:

'Last of the Mohicans' is officially on the shelf for a while.

Am enjoying the 'Devil in the White City' about the Chicago World's Fair killings and have started "The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman after an astute observation from Jenny.

Sanity Meter:

Best it has been in about 2 months. My annoyance with Ugandans continues but that is something I'll just have to deal with. When I was walking through a city the other day and a grown man started shouting "Muzungu, Muzungu, Muzungu" at me I got in his face and said "Wanji, Wanji, Wanji" (What, What, What), then started shouting Muzungu at him about 2 inches from his face. There is nothing about Peace Corps tougher than being the object of the entire cultures obsession. When I filled out a volunteer survey and was asked how many times in the last year have I been harassed because of my race I filled in 365 since I get harassed every single day. The survey registered an error and told me I had to pick between 0 and 100. BS!

My comfort with my life apart from Ugandans is much better now, which equalizes things out. For a while not only was I on edge because of Ugandans, but wasn't really that comfortable in my own skin. Now that I've fixed things with me it's much easier to deal with the rest.