The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

In the spirit of the Wheaton record which for every edition publishes a "the good, the bad and the ugly" I figured I would do the same and share some of my experiences from being in Uganda...Enjoy!

THE GOOD

1) Spending Sunday afternoon with my host family - got there and had tea with three, count 'em three, pieces of white bread...then a huge lunch a couple hours later...good thing I'm not there the whole semester or I would be massive!

2) Going to an international craft fair in Kampala last Friday. There were way way too many people there and I had to clutch my bag tightly to my chest to prevent it from being snatched, but hey it's a good African experience :)

3) Playing dancing games with street children in Kampala - they didn't quite get the point of the game but boy can African children dance! Way more rhythm than me, but hey they also almost all sing off tune, so I guess we're even...

4) Planning to make breakfast for my Ugandan politics class tomorrow...french toast and scrambled eggs yum :) Then going to drop off the materials to make breakfast at my prof's house for tomorrow morning and being invited to have dinner with them - quiche and tomato cucumber salad - double yum!

5) Mom and Dad coming to see me this Sunday!

6) Going rolling (translation: walking outside the university gates to get a rolex around 9 or 10 with UCU students - rolex = chapatti with fried egg + cabbage + tomato) - however I usually opt for the fake, but still delicious ice cream which is sold right next to the stands :)

7) Playing with the children at Off-tu, the home for street kids which I am working with on Tuesday...normally I don't get to go to their place in Mukono (I usually go Kampala) - now I am "Auntie Meghan" and they invite me to come back any time

THE BAD

1) My eyes getting a slight infection from all the pollution/dust in the air - got eye drops though so now "I'm ok" (this is what Ugandans say every time you ask them how they are)

2) The UNBEARABLE heat the past couple days...I have resorted to a shower in the morning after my run and another half shower (without washing my hair) in the evenings before bed...and I am soaked all day with sweat

3) Fearing for my life when I am in a car on the roads in Kampala...especially with Uncle Julius from Off-tu - after riding with him I will never complain about a driver in the US ever again...add in being in a car with nonexistent seat belts and you have a recipe for disaster

4) Internet which is either really really slow or goes out randomly - unless you get up at 5:30 in the morning...

THE UGLY

1) My Ugandan "friend" Bob walking me back from the dining hall with his arm around my shoulder...even though he knows I'm engaged, but told me to "not get married and wait for him instead" - afterward my shoulder smelled like BO (gonna call him BO Bob from now on...and no, most Africans do not wear deodorant)

2) Begging children on the streets of Kampala...

3) Not paying attention to where I was going and stepping right into a gutter on campus...luckily Ugandans ALWAYS say "sorry" in response to every mishap and rarely if ever laugh, so it wasn't as embarrassing as it could have been...

4) 64 days till I get to see Josh again...ugh that seems like an eternity...

Thanks for reading my blog! I am almost to the halfway point of my time here which is crazy! At the end of next week I leave for my rural home stay and then it will be November...pray for continued guidance and perseverance as I continue to learn and gain understanding of this culture.