Hard to go back

As you may or may not know, I went to Taiwan for two weeks. We got back last week, but I've been very busy. I had the best time there and loved it so, so much! It was definitely very hard getting on the plane to come back to Uganda. At the same time, it was a little hard to be back in a first world country. There is so much waste from excess packaging. It was hard to go into very rich areas and see a pen selling for more than a Ugandan makes the entire year. It was a bit overwhelming to see how many more options and opportunities are available to people. I definitely saw the developed world differently than I did before I came to live here, but I'm grateful for it. I feel that I won't take as many things for granted or complain as much when my service ends. (I hope so anyway)

Anyway, Taiwan had many exciting adventures waiting for us! I went with a fellow volunteer whose family lives there. I met a lot of them which was so much fun because I got to really experience the real Taiwanese life. They had me at their home, drove us around, told us about Taiwan, and of course, we ate a ton of stuff!

I would say most of my time there consisted of eating... and I loved it! All the noodles, rice, veggies, meat, seafood, desserts, soup, sushi, and seafood were so amazing! Taiwan is a very snack friendly place and you would get a lot for very little money. It wasn't crazy to eat lunch then pick up a snack on your way to dinner and then go to the night market after ;)

The night market was one of my favorite things! Food, clothes, jewelry, arcades, even massages! I got my first massage and we even went to a hot spring. Some of these old people could really take the heat for a long time! I wasn't as good.... We hiked some hills which were beautiful. Taiwan is very mountainous. We went to the capital, saw the 101, attended a random anime convention, and walked the very extensive subway. We also went to Sun Moon Lake and took a ferry around. We visited temples, took back roads through the mountains to the "ancient" railroad (everything is so new in Taiwan that they consider 40 years to be old), went to a place to taste tea, and even ground up our own "tea" drink with nuts. We went to the village on the Tropic of Cancer where his dad grew up. It was a nice sleepy town that had a random guy from Missouri living there! So many rice fields. We also enjoyed 1st world luxuries like Cold Stone, McDonalds, Costco, Imax, rock climbing, air conditioning, washing machines, dryers (hair and clothes), and stairs that were actually equally spaced! We brought back so much food, we had to buy another bag XD

It was great to get away from Uganda for a bit. I wish it could have been for a bit longer, but I feel very refreshed now! I'll definitely be going back.

It's a girl!

A girl mosquito that is… which gave me malaria… cuz only females transmit it… 

Bleed on a stick, know your
results 15 minutes later!
Super simple stuff

Please join us as we dive into this heartwarming story of an unsuspecting PCV and a bite she just couldn’t find. “Captivating!”-New York Times

Twas the night of Sunday and while sitting in my chair,

my muscles felt achy like I’d just fought a bear.

Monday came round and I felt so much better,

I enjoyed the day and its beautiful weather.  

On Tuesday evening I fell in my bed,

shivering cold, teeth chattering in my head.

I piled up blankets to make a heat trap,

and closed my eyes for a very long nap.

Ok enough rhyming for now. It’s getting difficult :P

After the chills, the sisters I live with came to check up on me and brought me dinner and tea. Then the fever came. I put a wet wash cloth on my head and spent the night trying to sleep through the heat. When I woke up Wednesday, I felt much better so I went to school. I felt fine the whole of that day.

Thursday I was fine until lunch. After lunch I was teaching and I started to feel really bad so as soon as class ended I went home and rested for a couple of hours. I was going to meet friends for dinner, but on my walk to their place, I started to get chills. “Oh no” I thought, but I kept going. I knew I couldn’t stay by the time I reached there though so I had her drive me back home. I got in bed again and the sisters once more came to check on me. Since I hadn’t eaten all day, they brought me juice boxes, biscuit cookies, pineapple, watermelon, and bread with peanut butter. After seeing my temperature was 102.5, I took my malaria test.

I don’t like pricking myself, so the sisters got a nurse from the hospital next door to come do it for me. She had never done one of these tests before though, so I had to read the instructions and walk her through it :P But finally, the results were conclusive… I was positive!

I spent the next couple of hours on the phone. Talking to Peace Corps medical about what meds to start taking and how I was going to get to the capital for treatment. Finally agreed they would send a driver to pick me up the next morning.

One of the sisters sat in my room with me to make sure I ate something because I wasn’t. While I ate she updated me on what I’d missed in the episode of the Mexican soap opera we watch every night. After making sure I was ok, she left and I fell asleep. This night’s sleep wasn’t so bad.

On Friday I was so thankful for the private driver instead of taking a public bus. That would have been so terrible! We arrived at the PC office and the doctor did some tests. Before I left to go to the nurse’s house, I used the bathroom. What crazy timing that this should happen, but there was blood in my urine. So I they also did a test on that. Results came back that I had a UTI so I got meds for that too. I knew my “haven’t been sick yet” streak would end with a bang ;)

I spent the weekend at a really nice house of a very sweet, elderly Ugandan nurse who was essentially the role of a grandma. I honestly think the love and care she showed me (also the really good food) is what really helped me get better. It was also in a very quiet neighborhood so I spent all weekend outside reading. I definitely felt like I was on vacation with how relaxed I was. I even took a hot bath while I was there! Wow.

Monday I went back to the doctor to get more tests to see if I was ok and ready to go home. Good news everyone: I was!

I came back last night and the sisters were having a big party. There were lots of guests, food, drink, music, and dancing. A good welcome home! Then today at school, my pupils brought me passion fruits, eggs, and four pineapples since my counterpart had told them I was sick. Some of them helped me carry the things home. It was so sweet <3

Some of my great pupils.
I treated them with dum dums and showed them
pictures from home

A funny point to mention: The reaction you get from an American when you tell them you have malaria is soooo different than the Ugandan one.

           

            American: WHAT!! MALARIA?? OMG, ARE YOU OK? YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!!
            Ugandan: ok

Not even joking, that is how it went. Sometimes, a Ugandan would also say “sorry”. But it happens to everyone all the time here. It’s really not a big deal so they’re just like whatever.

**ATTENTION**FAVORITE MOMENT IN COUNTRY MENTIONED BELOW**

While I was walking with my pupils today, some other kids from a different school shouted “mzungu!” at me and my favorite pupil shouted back at them “She’s not a mzungu! She is Teacher Hannah!” I love these kids so much :)

Best Day(s) Ever!

I have so many things to mention that you don’t even know! But you will after reading this ;)

Let’s start with how one of my good friends returned from her visit back to the states. Not only did she bring me a new camera (to replace my stolen one) but she also brought me Crest toothpaste and 6 packs of my all time favorite gum: Extra Spearmint! :D *Happy Days*

Let’s continue with ‘Murica’s birthday. Spoiler alert: I RAFTED THE NILE! :D

Most of us PCVs went to this town in the eastern part of the country where the source of the Nile starts. I traveled there with some friends and along the way we got to stop in the big capital and eat some tasty lunch (I got Korean) and then we got brownie sundaes. MMM. Anyway, we get to the place and it’s set up dorm style with 8 beds to a room and a common bar area right next to the Nile. So cool. Since it’s such a tourist place, the rolex stands are super legit. (rolex= egg wrapped in a chapti) (chapti=oily, thick flat bread). But you could order these with tomato, onions, cabbage, avocados, potatoes, and even nutella! Let’s just say I *might* have only eaten those all weekend cuz they’re super good and very cheap.

On the 4^th, a bunch of us woke up and got on a bus type thing that took us to a place with rafts to choose. I had some good friends on mine and we had a great day going over the rapids, getting stuck in one and eventually flipping over, making way too many chants for our boat, paddling past an island full of thousands of fruit bats, eating pineapple, doing back flips off the raft into the river, and having a freak out moment when we turned around after a rapid and noticed our guide had fallen off ;) It was seriously tons of fun! That evening everyone dressed up in the good ‘ol red, white, and blue and had a huge party in the bar area. But it wouldn’t be Independence day without grandma, so I had to give her a call of course :)

On the left you'll see my friend who will shortly fall out.
On the right you'll see the foot of our guide who fell out.
One of my favorite snaps from the day <3

The next day, some of us went to town and I got a chocolate peanut butter milkshake… which might have only lasted 2 minutes :P When we got back to the place, we tried out a slack line a friend had brought and then a couple of us went down to the dock and swam quite a distance to the rope swing, which was super fun! But my foot slipped off and hit a root which has since caused my toe to turn a little red and I think my nail is going to fall off soon ;P  Worth it.

This week I got to see what it was like to teach at a Primary Teachers College with older kids, I was on a radio show with some friends talking about gender roles, and I ate way too many baked goods (cookies and cake). I also became a giant ball of dirt on the journey back home. I don’t even want to tell you what color the water was when I finished my bucket bath…

Today it rained. Scratch that, it stormed! A LOT. I forgot my umbrella so I walked home in it after school. No sun and lots of wind made me soooo cold! I had forgotten what it felt like to be so cold. It was amazing! This evening while watching our Mexican soap opera with the sisters I live with, I drank 5 cups of tea to try and warm up! Also, four other sisters (three of which I already knew) have moved in so it’s much more lively here now.

Term 2 of school is quickly coming to an end. Then I’m going for holiday to Taiwan! When I return, there’s an event where I’ll get to see all the volunteers and then my friend is coming here (to Uganda) to visit me for two weeks! I’m very excited for all of these things! Watch out for the blogs to come ;)

Of course everyday life is not always so exciting as this and sometimes I even wonder if I’m supposed to be here, but it’s the little things that make even these average days great. Like getting a letter from a friend back home, having a pupil say “Teacher Hannah, you are good” after a lesson I thought was a flop, or being sincerely welcomed back by some good friends in my community. Lucky me, all of these happened today. It might be hard sometimes, but all you can do is try to make every day better than the last :)

Thanks for reading! <3

PS I left my home 8 months ago. About a third of my time here is over. That’s so weird.

Legit/dedicated rolex stand
"You can't sleep with no money in the pocket"
is what he said to me when I asked him why he had
only slept 1 hour the night before.

America day with some of the besties :)

Did I mention I was at the Nile?

Random Update

I’m not sure where to begin with this blog. It’s been awhile since my last post and I have random things I’d like to share with you.

So Term 2 of school is still going on. Not much to say there really. I’m still teaching English to the P4 class. I have begun doing reading intervention groups with 10 of my 50 pupils to hopefully increase their literacy skills a little. I am also planning for renovating the library at my school, but that won’t be until Term 3 or even Term 1 of next year.

A few weeks ago there was a craft fair that I went to with some friends. They had a lot of African crafts for sale. I bought three paintings and some little ceramic animals that I sent some people back home. It was really cool to look at all the things in the different booths. Bowls, candle holders, jewelry, what. They even had that swing ride that goes in a circle! But def not gonna ride that kind of thing here :P I did want to do the bouncy house but they refused and said children only :/ How unfair

Grasshoppers are considered a delicacy here. Which might sound a little strange, but you wouldn’t say that if you tried them. They’re super good! My shop keeper friend bought a bag of them and invited me to help him prepare them. They were still alive (so they’re fresh with no diseases he said) and you pull off their legs and wings then you fry them in a pot with a little bit of salt til they’re crispy. Some of my pupils were walking by when we were doing it and stopped to help us. We had a lot of fun doing it :)

There’s two Americans in my village! They met a priest who lives here when he visited the States and they came to stay with him and check out the place. One is leaving soon but the other will stay for a couple more months. It’s nice to have them around to talk and hang out with. Makes me feel weird being the one who “knows everything” about the place because it feels like I haven’t been here that long and still don’t know what’s going on half the time. But I guess I do compared to someone who just arrived.

Some sad news. The baby of one of my favorite teachers died a couple of weeks ago. Death is handled so differently here. It happens all the time so it doesn’t seem to have as much of an impact on their lives as it does ours. Of course they are sad, but he was back school teaching the next week. He said there’s nothing that can be done and we have to move on. Which is true, but still… I baked his family some banana bread and you could tell his wife wasn’t handling it very well. It’s just very interesting to see the cultural differences in these situations.

My best friend teacher told me he hasn't been paid in 4 months. Sadly, this is a very common thing to happen to primary school teachers here. He was offered another job in a different district, but he turned it down and is going to stay here. I'm sad because he's not getting paid for all the hard work he does, but I'm happy because I don't know what I would do if he left. He really helps me out a lot.

My days at site are still pretty much the same. School during the day and the majority of my evenings are spent watching tv shows on my computer, messing with my guitar, dancing, or reading. Of course the essentials too: cooking, washing clothes, cleaning, etc. So daily life isn’t all too exciting, but I go see friends sometimes and that makes it pretty interesting. I’ll be doing a fun trip with all the other PCVs for the 4^th of July so I’m pretty excited for that! More info to come later ;)

I’ve been debating if I should cut my hair. It’s the longest it’s been since high school! I’m worried that if I cut it shoulder length again, it’ll look weird since I don’t blow dry or straighten it here. And then would I get bangs again? Those would definitely do some funky curl out thing.

Other than that, I don’t think there’s much to report on. Things are going fine here. The days go slow, but the weeks go fast. Nothing really to complain about but I still miss home and all the people there quite a lot. Don’t worry though, it’s nothing too serious. I’m pretty sleepy now so I think I’m going to watch something and go to bed early tonight. Until next time <3

PS. I got my first package this weekend from a co-worker! It was a box of candy and it made me so happy :) Mail from home is always the best so don’t ever be afraid to drop me a line ;)

Eating our freshly prepared grasshoppers :D

Random baboons on the road

One of the many booths from the craft fair

6 Months in Country

Today is the half year mark since I arrived in Uganda. Wow! Where has the time gone?

On the one hand it doesn’t feel like I’ve already been gone from home for that long. On the other, it feels like I’ve been here much longer than only 6 months. So much has happened in such a short amount of time!

I’ve met so many amazing people and made some great friends. I’ve traveled and seen some cultural differences around the country. I’ve seen life through a different perspective and gained a great appreciation for how lucky mine has been.

After being shoved 12 people into a 5 passenger car and weaving in and out of an almost nonexistent road that takes 3x as long to travel on as that same distance in America, never again will I complain about long car trips.

I don’t consider going four days to a week without washing my hair, finding bugs in my food but still eating it, and wearing the same outfit 5 days in a row gross.

It’s not weird to see police men with AK47s on the street nor do I give a second thought to10 year olds slashing grass with a machete.

These people can make anything fit anywhere no problem. They’re also like McGyver when it comes to fixing things. And carrying things on your head? Forget about it.

Don’t know if I’ll ever understand why no one bats an eye at exposed breasts, but if a woman’s knee is showing everyone loses it. Also how the traffic cops keep their uniforms so white when they’re standing on a dusty road all day when I can’t even keep mud off my ankles for more than a few hours.

A typical day of a villager might be: cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a fire in the outside kitchen, sitting in their very small duka (shop) waiting for someone to buy some small item from them, or waking up at dawn to go dig on their plantation and returning home to sleep at dusk.

The highlight of that villager’s day might be: cooking something slightly different than the usual matooke, earning more than a few thousand shillings at the duka, or it being slightly cloudy so they suffer less from the sun.

If there’s a reason to party, a Ugandan knows how to throw a big one.

I’ve learned that privacy is a privilege that you don’t really have when you’re a celebrity or a mzungu. I now know for sure that I do not want to ever be famous.

Whoever said that milk, butter, cheese, eggs, yogurt, or anything for that matter, needed to be refrigerated?

Important rule: Be sure to keep your electronics charged in case of random power outages.

Weird to think about how I’ll be able to drink from the tap without having to boil the water first when I go back. Nice to think about how I won’t have to worry about bargaining on prices when I go back.

Will I buy a washing machine/dryer back home? What about a hair dryer?

Just realized I won’t be able to use “It was raining” as an excuse for being late to work because I’ll have a car and roads are paved instead of walking in the mud.

I feel super behind with what’s happening in the pop/trendy part of the world thanks to lack of Youtube, radio, and fast internet to look up memes.

Living here really can change a person. I definitely think it’s changed me in my short time here and not only by making me look more and more like a tomato from sunburns. There are a lot of things I miss from the states. Certain foods, convinces, cultural norms, etc., but I really have enjoyed these last 6 months and I’m very glad I’ve been placed in this country. I’ve been very lucky to have had such a great first ¼ of my service. I know it won’t always be so easy and challenges will come, but I have a great support system from family and friends, both here and back home. With that I know that every day can be better than the last and I’m looking forward to see how this experience plays out :)

Can’t appreciate the good without a little bad

I arrived home late last night after spending the week at In Service Training. All the volunteers in my group meet and we had a follow up on how the 1^st three months at our sites went. Our counterpart Ugandan teachers were also invited and we had training sessions with them so we could talk about future plans. There were some pretty good sessions and it was so nice for all of us to be together again.

We spent the evenings hanging out in each other’s rooms talking, going out to the nearby club/bar establishment, playing volleyball, or other misc. The last night was so much fun because one of my favorite volunteers arranged a cooking competition set up like Iron Chef. I was on a team with another best friend PCV and we got 2^nd of 4 teams. Lost by only 1 point! I had such a great time using matooke, mangos, and Doritos to make a dish. Then later, two other PCVs arranged a trivia night. My team got last place for this, but it was still a great time :D

Yesterday was a very annoying travel day. I waited in a bus for 3 ½ hours before it left! I took the bus to one town but I still had to get another taxi car to get to my district. Half way home in this taxi, the driver pulls over and we have to get in another car because it turns out the 2 year old next to him was given to him by a man who told him to drop the boy with his mom in this other village, but the phone number for the mom wasn’t real. So the driver went to the Police. I hope he figured it out! Poor kid…

I was so tired when I got home I passed out almost instantly after unpacking and doing some small laundry.

This morning I was still super tired, but I had to hurry to the salon in town because today was the wedding day of the teacher who I agreed to be a bridesmaid for. She was an hour late…but it was fine because it gave me some reading time. They took a long time to style my hair. They weren’t sure how to fix mzungu hair so they tried a few things. Finally settled on putting mine in a bun and then pinning a braid of red and blonde fake hair around it. They put a lot of product in it though that made it feel greasy, but no matter. It was so relaxing having someone mess with my hair that long so I enjoyed it.

We all got dressed. The bride was SO beautiful! I had a bright, lime green, strapless, slightly above the knee dress. I thought I got a lot of stares before… everyone was so fascinated by the fact that a mzungu was a maid :P We then went to the parish and had mass/the wedding ceremony. So different than an American ceremony. There were two wedding parties there. We walked in, sat, listened to mass, the bride and groom stood up and repeated what the priest said (it was all in local language so I was lost), and then they signed the contract and we left.

The reception was at their home. They had tents set up and lots of people waiting, but we had to eat 1^st. They made an announcement over the loud speaker that “the mzungu doesn’t like to eat beans” and everyone laughed. The wedding party danced in and we took our seats. So began the process of speeches. Again, all in local language, but I picked some (mostly mzungu comments). We watched dancers, served cake, and received gifts.

One of my all time favorite quotes!

It was dark when it was time to dance. That’s when I got my bag and found that my camera had been stolen from it… Of course I’m frustrated by this, but honestly it’s not the fact that my camera is gone. It’s that I hadn’t uploaded pix to my comp since nearly a month ago so now all of those are gone :( And what’s worse, I even thought to do it last night when I got home, but I was sooo tired I didn’t. Gah, so mad at myself. But oh well. It could’ve been much worse! Nothing else was taken so that’s good.

Anyway, wish I could show you some pictures, but as mentioned, I can’t. Sorry! I need to do a lot of things, but I think I’m going to eat suckers and watch a movie instead. I got some new ones this past week so that’ll help take my mind off it :P

Home is where the heart is, so your real home’s in your chest

Term 1 has ended! The last day of school practice for the student teachers was soooo much fun. We had a two hour dance party in the classroom before lunch. They brought in a drum and busted out some sweet beats while the room filled up with pupils who could really shake it. I, of course, joined them and we had SUCH an amazing time!

Me with my P4 class, my counterpart,
and our two student teachers

Me with my other teachers
and the student teachers

At lunch, my school wanted to say well done for the student teachers so they made a lot of matooke and meat and we had a really good lunch. Then they played a football game out on the pitch.

Last week was end of term exams so since I finished marking (grading) the English ones, I am on break for the next month until term 2 starts :D

Next week my Peace Corps group has a training that we all must go to. I’m soooo excited to see everyone in the same place again! The last time was when we were sworn in at the end of January. Can’t wait!

Random updates:

*I now officially have chaco tan lines on my feet! I didn’t think it would ever happen :P
*Also, got some new music and been having none stop dance parties in my room since yesterday. Probably the best way anyone could ever spend their time.
*Yesterday I went over to my VSO friend's house and she opened the bag of rice and was pouring it into a bowl and a spoon came out XD I thought I was going to die laughing.

Ok, time to go! I’m sure there’s lots of other things I was meaning to tell ya’ll, but it’s escaping me at the moment soooo…. BYYYEEEEEE! <3

P.S. The title of this post is from a Dr. Horrible song if you didn’t catch that ;) I’m starting to have small episodes of homesickness, but I’m happy to have this place as my new home so it’s somehow working out :)