1.Sharing a cab from the airport with Kendall and Rebecca.
2. Saved By The Bell freeze frames and rewinds in our staging group skits.
3. Staying up all night in Philly with members of the training group so we would be able to sleep on the plane.
4. My first taste of Matoke.
5. Playing soccer against village kids in Lweza.
6. Christy Prouty, refusing to go near the long horned cow on one side of the soccer field.
7. Falling in love with tea time.
8. My rocking language group, Drew Rountree, Rebecca Workman, “Uncle” Gary Goodman, and Ven Kitone.
9. Jenny guessing my birthday.
10. Bryce introducing me to Rolex.
11. Trivia nights in training.
12. Skyping with my Mom’s class for World Wise Schools.
13. My first slice of pizza from the I Love NY Kitchen.
14. Finishing my first of 26 books, Catch-22.
15. Introducing people to How I Met Your Mother
16. Matt Boddie telling me I should run for VAC.
17. Cooking day in training.
18. Romi Pineapple Wine
19. Being the first member of our group to drink the Wargi from a bag.
20. Discovering the Simba Casino and the complimentary Jack Daniels.
21. Moving onto Iguana Dance Club afterwards.
22. The story Matt Boddie told us the next morning.
23. The silent dance party.
24. The QA session with Christy and Michaela.
25. Nick Duncan going double or nothing in roulette.
26. Singing Glee songs with Nick Duncan in the streets of Kampala.
27. Nick Duncan making Bloody Marys the next morning.
28. The Tien Game.
29. Blatantly breaking the dress code the last 3 weeks of training.
30. The Jenny / Amanda Dynamic.
31. Having to shout over the rain as I delivered my VAC campaign speech.
32. Nick Duncan riding my coat tails.
33. The end of training talent show, especially “2 Malayas in a Bar.”
34. Jason Gauthier’s chicken impression at the Homestay Thank You Celebration.
35. Passing my Language Proficiency Examination.
36. Chilling on the couch with Naz at Ted Mooney’s house.
37. Waffles at Ridar Hotel.
38. Christy Prouty saying, “and by that I mean, forged.”
39. Nick Duncan delivering the speech from Independence Day at swear in.
40. Our group swearing in 45 of 45 volunteers.
41. Being awarded the “most likely to be the next person in a relationship” superlative.
42. 2 hours later it kind of being accurate.
43. Reading by candlelight.
44. The Frickadellen Café.
45. Building a fort so I could watch the Clemson vs FSU game all night in the hotel room without disturbing others.
46. Jenny’s reaction to the fort.
47. Waking up to strange goat sounds at 6 AM.
48. The unexpected deposit in my US bank account.
49. Spending Thanksgiving with people I loved, even if it was thousands of miles from home.
50. Rum & Passion Fruit Juice on the beach while trying to get Jenny to come back to Entebbe.
51. Singing Billionaire on the dance floor at Night Ridaz.
52. The midnight sausage rolls in Entebbe.
53. Lotus Mexican Restaurant before heading back to site.
54. Rebecca in the alley at Centenary Park.
55. Amanda and Michaela’s kitten story.
56. Friends coming to my village for Christmas.
57. Christmas music, decorations, and movies.
58. The Chaco Incident
59. Yatzee.
60. The Christmas Meatloaf
61. Beer Pong on my 7 foot kitchen counter.
62. The scrabble weekend.
63. Receiving my Kindle in the mail.
64. The Gambler @ the comedy club.
65. Nick Duncan’s set at the comedy club.
66. After the comedy club.
67. Trying to throw Jenny in the pool at IST.
68. Hanging out in the sauna, drunk, with Cormac.
69. Drew & Nick’s misguided attempts to help me at IST.
70. The Booze Cruise.
71. Matt Boddie barely making the bus at Nile River Explorers.
72. Team Sh*tshow on the Nile River.
73. Titanic 2.
74. City Top Restaurant.
75. FoPo Fo Sho.
76. The Toothbrush Incident.
77. Sneaking away to the beach with Drew & Nick during the GAD meeting.
78. Receiving a care package from friends at my old company.
79. Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Party in Lweza.
80. Building a basketball court with Rebecca.
81. Chicken Mole at Anna’s Easter Weekend.
82. Helping Nick Duncan kill a pig.
83. Eating the pig.
84. Sneaking away to Jinja.
85. The espresso milkshake.
86. Meeting Jenny’s sisters.
87. 14 People in a Toyota Corolla.
88. AWOL Safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
89. Josh Mask Day.
90. The ridiculous clothing market in Kasese.
91. Launching the Bridge Committee.
92. My 8 mile morning run at Malaria training.
93. Sesse Island.
94. Seeing Harry Potter 7 part 2 in the theater.
95. Throwing out Matt Boddie at first base during the JICA Baseball weekend.
96. Tien giving me a 4000 shilling chocolate bar for no reason at all.
97. Telling my Mom on Skype that Jenny and I would be stopping by Carolina for a few days around Christmas time.
98. Measuring the cow dung and beginning design of my Biogas Digester.
99. Finally accepting that Peace Corps is what it is, even if it isn’t what I wanted it to be.
100. One year later… still 45 volunteers.
Love this post! You rock - number 80 couldn't have happend without you :)
ReplyDeleteMy visit won't be complete if I don't get to meet you! Thanks Ryan!!
ReplyDeleteRyan- I am Jenny's Dad and we are looking forward to meeting you in Sept. when we travel to Uganda. I have browsed through your blogs and was taken by your assessment of the PC. It sounds like you are figuring out how a govt. organization works- inefficiently!! See you next month.
ReplyDeleteCarl Everett
just printed this out for my wall. Thanks for the call-outs (you will never throw me out at first, ever again) and more importantly, the memories. See you soon.
ReplyDelete