End of Feb

As February drew to a close, so does my first month in Uganda.  So far, I've gone through a range of emotions, from loving it here, to feeling inadequate and inexperienced compared to all of the other expats, to absolutely hating it, to fearing walking anywhere on my own.  But, I think I've finally started to settle into my new life here.  I feel like I have a ton of work to get done in the next few weeks, but after that I'm not really sure what I'll be doing for the rest of my time here.  I'm supposed to be going to Moroto, in the Karamoja region (bordering Kenya), but due to an ambush a few weeks ago, IRC movement to that region is currently suspended.  Don’t worry, the ambush was in Nakapiripirit, which is much further south than Moroto.  I hope that the region settles down, because I'm quite intrigued by all I've heard and seen about the Karamojong thus far.  One of my Ugandan colleagues keeps talking about how she has friends working in the region and she wants to go visit them because they have beautiful beads, which I’ve seen photos of and would definitely like to see in real life (including beaded noserings, something I think I could definitely embrace). 

   

On Friday, as it was the last Friday of the month, we had a half-day workday, and Thursday night the GBV team had a "feedback session" at a local place called the 4 Seasons.  It was, in fact, not a feedback session, but just a time for us to all hang out and each eat 10,000UGX worth of food and 5,000UGX worth of whatever drinks we desired.  Some of the staff brought their babies (which I found to be surprising since it was rainy and late in the evening), and I felt like I got to spend some time relaxing with staff members instead of feeling like the random mzungu that just moved into their office.  My colleagues were shocked when I said I wasn’t going to drink all 5,000UGX worth of beer that I was allotted, and said they wanted me to get drunk so they could hear me speak in my local language.  They all seemed quite surprised and a bit disappointed when I admitted that in fact, I do not have a local language.  That did lead to an interesting experience, however, when one of my colleagues that I don’t know well at all (he was on leave when I first arrived and travels most of the week) offered to show me some stuff about Joseph Kony.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with the history of Uganda, Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that wreaked havoc on Northern Uganda especially for about 20 years.  I won’t get into a big history lesson here; I’ll save that for another day, or you can google it on your own.

I've started running, but have no idea how far I've been going.  I'm not sure that training for my first half-marathon while living in Africa was a good idea.  I've rarely seen other runners, but when I have, they've all been male and been running in packs.  I've found that I'm constantly fighting with my stupid new ipod every time I run (I broke my nice, old ipod in January and bought an ipod touch, which is nice because of the apps, but is far too big to run with).  I had been going down the hill (I live just at the top of it) and towards town, but thanks to a suggestion from one of the guards, a few days ago I started by doing a loop around the top of the hill before heading down.  This proved to be wonderful, because not only did it provide a very pretty view, but I also learned that I live quite close to the WFP and a local radio station.  I also felt like I got a little bit more acquainted with the town Thursday evening as I was driven home with two colleagues who also needed to get dropped off, and live in different “neighborhoods.”  I’ve yet to identify the airfield, which seems a bit ludicrous to me, since it should be recognizable (it’s not in use, and I’m sure its quite small, but really, I should be able to know what the hell it looks like).  There’s a decent-sized dirt field that I run by sometimes, but it seems like it’s too square to be an airfield and has an extreme lack of lights, so I’m not fully convinced that’s it, but you never know. 

As far as the weather goes here, I’m not quite sure what to make of it.  My first week or so here it was lovely, about 95 degrees and sunny.  Since then, it has been rather rainy, so much so that I’ve actually been cold.  I’ve been wearing long-sleeves and jeans all too often lately.  I was NOT prepared for this! 

About the town of Kitgum…I’m still trying to learn my way around.  I haven’t had a ton of time to wander on my own, as IRC insists on sending a driver for me every morning, and by the end of the day I actually want to be driven home so that I can get there in time to have a run before it gets dark.  I’ve been walking home from work a lot lately, mainly because I need to go to the market and don’t want to wait around for a ride, so I’m finally starting to feel a little more comfortable going places on my own.  I think people in town are getting used to seeing me around because I haven’t been getting harassed or shouted at as much, so that’s good, too. 

This weekend I spent some time with some expats, and actually felt like I almost fit in with them, too, so it looks like I’ve made some progress on the friends front too.  On Friday morning, I ran into a Dutch PhD student that I’d met the weekend before and the third (and final) Peace Corps volunteer that lives in town at the office because they were traveling to Kampala on the IRC shuttle.  On Saturday evening I met up with the other two Peace Corps guys and went to the Oxfam guest house to eat homemade pizza and drink some beer.  We watched some movies/tv and relaxed, and went to breakfast Sunday morning at one of the nicer local restaurants/hotels, owned by South Africans who I keep hearing about but haven’t met. 

I’ve also gotten sunburned once each weekend I’ve been here.  Now I understand that it’s hot out and the sun is strong, whatever, but for those of you who know me, you know that thanks to my mom’s Italian heritage I rarely get sunburned.  Well, so much for that.  And of course, since I can’t sit around in a bathing suit, I’ve got ridiculous tan lines…Farmer’s tan here I come. 

Other than that, I am planning to head to Kampala at the end of the month for Easter and to get my visa extended.  I haven't left Kitgum since I've been here, as it's at least an hour probably more by dirt road to get to either Gulu or Lira, though I'm sure I'll visit both at some point.   I’m looking forward to hopefully meeting up with at least one fellow global practice student, getting into the city, and hopefully buying a yoga mat (possibly my biggest packing mistake was, at the last minute, abandoning my nice, new one).  My supervisor came back from Kampala a few days ago, and one of the things he brought back was a pumpkin, so I’m thrilled to pick up at least one while I’m there, as pumpkin is undoubtedly one of my all-time favorite foods.  I've also figured out how to get internet on my phone, which has been nice on the weekends and has proven that I can at least still be connected to the world.