Friday, May 28, 2010

Starting to get the ball rolling

Wednesday 5/26/10

Today has been a busy day. I had to make myself get out of bed because I’m still not adjusted to the time difference. I’ve been waking up in the night about the time of dinner in America, and can’t go back to sleep. Grace came today to cook for us, and she made some traditional Ugandan food: Matoke, which is the green bananas boiled and mashed, peanut sauce, cabbage and greens, pineapple, tomatoes and avocados. It was all delicious and it was fun to watch Meagan experience it for the first time. We also had fresh tangerine juice, which was amazing. The food is so good here. Lastly we stopped by my favorite pizza place today and got a pizza with pineapple and ham. Delicious. Enough about the food, we also worked today.
Most of the time was spent trying to print and send emails, and get all of the correct forms to the appropriate office to get our approval to do research. Of course we had all of the wrong items, and didn’t make enough copies, and I’m supposed to have four copies of my passport photo instead of two. We also got lost trying to find the office. I think deep down I knew that this was going to be a first attempt, but I’m still adjusting to the pace of things, and am anxious to get moving forward.
Our meeting at the Foundation balanced out our filing experience. The people we met last summer welcomed us warmly, and it was enjoyable to talk with them again. Rev wasn’t there but we met with some of the new employees that they have hired. It seems that the program has made a lot of improvements, many of which are based on the recommendations from last summer. That makes me feel very good, and is a compliment to our work.
I was happy to get home after the long day. We took a boda home this time, which is a motorcycle that you can hire to take you around instead of riding a taxi. Meagan was definitely afraid but game for the experience. She has been really good about trying new things. When we got to the house Grace had cooked a big meal for us to last several days. It is nice that we won’t have to cook tomorrow. She cooked some fresh beans for us, which is one of my favorites, for tomorrow. We finally got a really good pineapple.
After dinner Dr. Muhumuza’s brother, Andrew came by for a while. It was nice to catch up with him. Tomorrow we will see another one of the friends that I made last summer. =) Starting to have fun and relax.

Thursday 5/27/10
I thought that I would wake up earlier today, but I had no such luck. It was almost noon when I got out of bed. I think Meagan was also frustrated that she wasn’t able to get out of bed. She is an early bird like me. I finished up my writing from the day before. We ate a quick breakfast/lunch and then headed out.
Today we went to get some more passport photos made. When they took the pictures I felt like they were glamour shots. They had me pose and everything. We went to the post office and the bookstore. The book store had a lot of books about Obama since his father is Kenya. Actually a lot of shops and restaurants are named after him.
I forgot that you really have to demand attention from people if you want any kind of service. People don’t assume that you want something from them even though you are standing there. When we went to the post office the lady was chatting with a friend and only paused briefly to answer our questions. Same thing with the other woman who was selling the maps. People are just very social and are continuously in conversation. It is something that I’m not used to, but maybe it would be nice to have a job where your friend could stop by and chat with you while you weren’t doing your work.
While we were waiting for our friend to get off work, we sat down in the park. A group of young were trying to take pictures of us without us noticing. I think they were embarrassed when we did see, and then took pictures of them. Our friend also spotted us in the park from a distance like a bad Where’s Waldo. There were probably a hundred other people (but no white people). I am constantly reminded of how different I am, but things are slowly becoming more and more comfortable again.
It was dark by the time that we got home. It is difficult to walk on the dirt road at night. There are only a few lights. You sort of have to walk like you might be stepping into a dip so that you are ready when you actually do.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Ginger it's mom. I am eating sushi and thinking about you. It is Friday night and I am getting ready to head to Jackson with Christopher in the morning. He has a game at noon and one at 6. Katie is meeting us there. I swam the morning which was nice and then I worked for a while. I played tennis at 10 and needless to say I was wiped out afterwards. The good thing about working at home is that you can take a nap. I worked afterwards on my business valuation. I am really enjoying it. How is Megan liking it? It sounds as if you'll are getting adjusted. It is thundering outside so I think we will be getting some rain. Let me go track Christopher down

    love Mom

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  2. Hi Gin,
    Pops and I are leaving in an hour for our big trip so we will have lots of blogs to read when we get back. Hope all continues to go well.
    Lots of love, Granny and Pops

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