The Not so Mundane

So...I know I have been really bad about blogging lately.  I told myself when I started my second semester here that I would be better about writing for everyone back home.  I haven't exactly followed through but that is mostly because my life has become so routine here.  It's amazing how quickly the human body can adapt to almost anything.  Cultural differences, differences in the weather, in how I move, how I spend my free time, what I eat, who I hang out with, how I talk, my mannerisms, what I study, what I believe, what I feel, what I think and what I dream...they are all different but have all become almost normal to me now.  However, I forget that they aren't normal to everybody back home...that some people might find what I feel to be mundane as very interesting.  So I figured I would share a little bit about what my everyday life is like here.

To start, there are classes.  I was really discouraged about my experiences at the University last semester.  I didn't feel that I was being challenged intellectually at all.  Instead, I felt that it was my patience that was being tried the majority of the time.  I could write a whole blog post on my trials in the classroom alone.  Instead of going through the same process this semester, I took a little bit of initiative and changed my schedule a bit.  I am still taking three Peace and Conflict Studies classes...however, I made sure that they were the classes being taught by reliable professors who actually believe in class interaction and engagement.  I've also taken advantage of the rest of my free time by signing up for private Kiswahili classes.  I meet three times a week for a total of six hours with a jolly and enthusiastic Ugandan professor named Innocent.  I really can't believe how much information you can absorb during two hours of personalized lesson plans...its great!

Rainy season has finally arrived again.  It seems like it has either been rainy or cloudy for a week straight now.  It also means a welcome drop in the temperature.  From when I got back in January until last week, it rained maybe once or twice.  The rest of the days were filled with brutal sunshine and annoying red dust.  With temperatures in the upper 80's everyday, no AC and open windows...my entire room was covered in a thin layer of red dust, no matter how often I mopped, wiped and washed.  In South Carolina, you have pollen.  In Kampala, you have dust.  Now, there is a red muddy river flowing down what used to be the street outside my window.  Uganda's 'winter' temperatures are in the lower 70's everyday.  Another way I've adapted after spending 7 months here....I actually think lower 70's are pretty cold.  I was wandering around today in a jacket and slippers with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders.  I'm still not as bad as my neighbor downstairs who walks around with a snowcap and a scarf around his neck.

The ironic thing about this past week is that even though it has rained incessantly every day, my hall ran out of water for almost three days.  I don't exactly understand how this happened but it did.  I actually stuck my toothbrush out in the rain yesterday to rinse it off...since the sinks were all running dry.  When it rains this much, Kampala stops.  The boda drivers all park their motorcycles and take cover.  People walking the streets quickly find shelter huddled under the awning of a nearby shop.  The construction workers outside my window stop their sawing and hacking.  Except I don't stop...and people look at me like I'm crazy.  I ventured a thunderstorm today to walk next door and buy my lunch.  There is a little canteen attached to my residence hall that serves local food everyday at one.  And everyday, I show up to have my plate filled with heaps of rice, beans, peas, gnut sauce, a huge slices of pumpkin...all for $1.50.  I used to hate this food.  I would only eat it when I was too lazy, hungry and/or desperate to come up with another option.  Now, I rarely miss a meal.  It's become a routine part of my day.

Other than classes and eating rice and beans, I've become super involved with my host Rotary club lately.  I don't have classes on Wednesday nights anymore, so Wednesday has now become my Rotary day.  It starts around 3 when my host counselor and I go to the gym to work out together.  Then, there is fellowship at 6:30.  Immediately followed by dance practice....yep, that's right.  My host club has a dance team, which I am now a member of.  We have been rehearsing every week after fellowship in preparation for our debut performance at the Rotary District Conference at the end of April.  It promises to be a blast!  After dance rehearsal is several hours of drinks with all the Rotarians wild enough to stay out until midnight drinking glass after glass of wine and beer....which is pretty much the whole club.  Rotary Club of Muyenga is a wild bunch...a whole group of them a planning on attending the RI Convention in May so New Orleans better get ready!

Anyway...that about sums up my everyday life here.  There are boring days and exciting days.  For every day that I get frustrated, homesick or annoyed, there is also a day where I can't help but realize how much I love it here.  The crazy traffic, the nerve-wrenching boda-boda rides, the dust, the rain, the beans, the wooden desks chained to my classroom floor, the police roaming the streets in bright blue camo, the tattered bright yellow NRM campaign posters, nights without electricity,ATM's without cash, the rolex men and women selling sausages, the local pork joint, Reggae nights, my little concrete room....they have all become home to me over these last seven months.