Muli mutya! I hope this message finds you all happy and well!

More often than not, time in Africa seems to be almost nonexistent. If someone tells you you are leaving at three, it is more likely you will leave two to three hours after that time. One day I was told that someone would come take care of my bat situation on Tuesday morning, but actually did not show up until Wednesday afternoon. Ugandans even have a different way of measuring time which I still have a hard time of grasping. According to Ugandans the day starts at seven a.m. and they call this the first hour, or 1 o’clock. Seven p.m. would be 12 o’clock. I guess it makes some sense considering the sun rises around seven a.m. and sets at seven p.m Upon first arriving at the college we had a meeting with our colleagues in which we were told would start at ten. After three hours of waiting around, the meeting finally began at one. What I found the most odd was the fact that despite the fact that everything from actual work to the format of the meeting’s schedule was discussed, never once was it mentioned that the meeting started three hours late and that all but Amber and I were excessively late. While I was sitting waiting for the meeting to begin I was being my typical American self thinking about all of the things I could have done with those three lost hours. While living with my home stay family I used to find myself annoyed when I woke up to a rainy day because I knew I was going to have to once again convince my family that despite the rain, I still had to go to school. It is a rare occasion to see Ugandans traveling in the rain. When I would have to once again justify my moving in the rain, I would think to myself that if more Ugandans would just go to work during the rain the country may be a bit more developed. I know that it was rather judgmental, but when in America could you tell your boss “Sorry I didn’t come to work and I missed a major meeting, but it was raining?” They would tell you, “Don’t you know time is money?” Last weekend on the way to Celeste’s Amber and I learned a major lesson on why Ugandans do not travel in the rain. Amber and I had plans to leave at 9:30 and even though it was raining, we had plans that we were not about to let a little rain delay. We started walking down the road looking for a taxi, but we were the only people on the road. Of course the road is made of dirt and is composed of incredibly steep hills. Twenty minutes into our walk I am drenched and our shoes are so covered in mud we cannot move our feet. Anytime we were able to move, we would take one step forwards and slide at least to steps back down the hill. We took off our shoes which made the going a bit easier, but still no taxi in site. Of course, there are plenty of Ugandans standing on their porches stating the obvious, that it is raining. A hour, maybe even two, later the rain stops and out come the taxis immediately. If we would have just waited like the Ugandans, we probably would have reached our destination at the same time, but a lot drier and cleaner. For the rest of the day Ugandans continued to state the obvious by saying, “Muzungu, you are dirty.” When roads are made of dirt, it is wise to remain in doors; lesson learned. While that only helps me understand the lack of punctuality while it is raining and not the lack of punctuality in general, it is a start.

Our trip to Entebbe to visit Celeste was fabulous. Celeste lives in a convent with seven or so other nuns on Lake Victoria. The nuns are probably the funniest nuns I have ever met. Okay, so they are probably the only nuns I have ever known, but none the less they are hysterical. Sister Valentine loved her Smirnoff Ices and upon our arrival gifted the five of us with thirty beers and a 2L of Fanta. She told me that Fanta was an acronym for “foolish Africans never take alcohol.” I found that a) hysterical and b) odd considering that many Africans love to drink, maybe even a bit too much. Celeste’s home has tiled floors, a shower, refrigerator, and wireless internet. While it is not was she had envisioned as being her Peace Corps experience, we convinced her that she still has many hardships such as: sometimes the internet doesn’t work very well, there are ants in her bathroom, and sometimes it is too misty to see the lake from her bedroom window in the morning. But in all honesty, she lives in Uganda and there will be extreme difficulties she will deal with despite how posh her living arrangements are. On Saturday Celeste took us to get real lattes and cappuccino at a coffee shop. While this may not sound like a big deal to you at home, imagine only drinking instant coffee for the past two months. After the coffee house we went to beautiful hotel to swim, have a drink, and eat pizza. Luckily, I learned my lesson the last time we went to the pool in Wakiso and did not end up with blistering skin. Ashley, I know what you’re thinking, but I did wear tons of sun screen; it was faulty and I have new that actually works.

In other news, I caught another bat today. I saw him hanging from my suitcase and was appalled considering I had been digging through the suitcase all morning and could not believe neither one of us seemed to notice the other. I got my bat catching box out (the box my charcoal iron came in. That’s right, I iron my clothes with an iron I fill with charcoal) and got up enough nerve to catch him, it was only after I set him free outside that I realized he was not going anywhere to fast. I gave him a little nudge and that is when I realized that the poison must have gotten to him. For a second I started to feel bad, but then I just made breakfast and enjoyed my bat free house. Okay, so it is not free of bats, but at least I am one down.

Anyway, as always I hope everything is happy, warm, and sunny on your side of the world! : ) I miss you and love you!

Peace and love,

Autumn




p.s. Thank you for taking the time out of your days to read about my little life here in Uganda!