The first lesson that Uganda has taught me: PATIENCE!  This has always been a virtue that I somewhat lack.  I've never been a patient person.  In the American culture that is "Go, Go, Go" all the time, I feel right at home.  I hate waiting, I always have to be busy, and I don't like being late.  Here, things are the exact opposite.  Everything is done so SLOWLY!  I feel almost like I have been in slow motion since I arrived here about a month ago (that is hard to believe!)  They walk slowly.  They talk slowly.   The restaurants are slow.  The University is even slower.   

      At first, I found this to be extremely frustrating.  Ugandans seem to be just perfectly happy doing absolutely nothing.  Meanwhile, I wanted to go places, see things, do things....anything really.  My classes were supposed to start about a week and a half ago.  However, the professors were on strike, pushing back the start date until the beginning of this week.  On Monday afternoon, I was so excited to be heading to my first class.  Well, I get there, sit and wait for 2 hours....and nothing happens!  We go home and decide to come back and try again the next day.  We get there on Tuesday, sit and wait for an hour....finally someone shows up!  He talks to us for about an hour, we do introductions....and then go home.  I go back again last night.  The first professor again didn't show up so there was 2 more hours of waiting.  However, our second professor actually showed up right on time.  We, again, spent about an hour doing introductions, went over the course outline and then went home.  All this waiting might seem a bit tedious for some, but I was just so excited to actually be doing something! Even if it was just waiting for two hours for a professor who didn't show up.

     After 3 and a half weeks of being here, I can honestly say that Uganda has already taught me to mellow out a bit.  Maybe that's a good thing.  I've had to take my fair share of "deep breaths" since arriving, but I think I'm finally starting to catch on.  I've learned to just sit and take it all in.  I don't necessarily have to be doing something all the time to accomplish things.  I can learn and grow by just being here and existing within such a different and foreign culture.  That's not to say that I won't be doing anything while I'm here.  I plan on starting my volunteer work at a local babies home next week.  I'm also working on finding a part-time internship, hopefully at either UNHCR or USAID.  All these things just come about a little more slowly here.  I have to keep reminding myself that it's ok.  I'm going to be here for a year....no rush.  Nevertheless, sometimes I just have to power walk to where I'm going...just to get somewhere quickly, despite the looks I get from all the Ugandans that I speed past