Uganda: What I know for sure.

Well, I am here.



Actually, I have been here--Kampala, Uganda--for exactly two weeks now. It has sort of taken until now for it all to sink in and, even at this moment, I am not sure it all has.



I have been getting emails from friends and family asking, "So how is it? What are your first impressions? Do you love it or hate it? How do you like your new job? Who do you miss the most? What are the people like? What is the food/weather/shopping like? Etc., etc."



Because I am still in a state of suspended animation about 25% of the time (down, thankfully, from 85% of the time for the first week I was here and couldn't kick the jet lag), it is hard for my brain to parse those kind of details yet. I have some ideas, however.



I am going to attempt to be slightly creative (or slightly lame, who knows?) and use a very simple technique at ferreting out how you feel about something/someplace/someone that, oddly enough, comes from Oprah. No, I am not a woman who watches Oprah daily and I gave up on her magazine once the "Everyday Finds" section started regularly displaying items that cost over $1500, but I have always liked her "What I know for Sure" guidance. Basically, instead of over-intellectualizing a topic and letting your mind crowd out your heart/soul...just ask yourself, "What do I know for sure?" and see what pops up. Simple request: hopefully, simple response.



So I have been asking myself, over the past three weeks since I left my job in DC and moved to Uganda, what do I know for sure? Here is the initial list.



1. I am no longer terrorized by stress. I read back over my blog posts and almost didn't recognize the person who wrote some of them. Sure, I am still experiencing stress...moving to a new country will do that...but I am not longer paralyzed by it.



2. Uganda has the most beautiful light I have ever seen and it so very green. On the Equator, it has the most picturesque blue skies and the light is so clear and so gentle, and there are trees, plants and flowers everywhere. All thriving. It is like living in a watercolor painting.



3. I own nothing. Everything I own (besides my car, which I really don't own to begin with, the bank does) fits in three suitcases. I have given away everything else. I own nothing. Sometimes it is terrifying, sometimes it feels liberating, depends on my mood.



4. I miss my mother, S., and my friends like crazy. Not getting to talk to them (8 hours ahead of US EDT here in Kampala) is difficult. However, it also has caused me to turn to myself a few times for answers instead of seeking advice from outside. Still, I miss them and talking to them.



5. I do not miss my old job but I miss the people I worked with a lot. I miss the daily camaraderie of a team that has worked together for years. Oddly, however, I look back on the day-to-day routine of my former job and it seems like something lost in a dream...fading. I don't feel negatively about any of it, it is just beginning to fade, probably because...



6. My new job is challenging as all hell. I am learning something new every single day. I love this but it can exhaust a mind used to traveling its familiar hallways in search of answers filed away in drawers it knows how to find. Here, I am forced to create a whole new filing system. Sometimes I fear I look stupid, but at least I am not deadened.



7. I am grateful that the Universe has previously allowed me to travel as extensively as I have. If not, I would be flipping my shit right now. I am firmly re-acquainted with "Africa time" and, amazingly, I have not gotten annoyed. Everything takes 2-3xs the amount of time that it would in the US (three weeks to install internet, two weeks to find someone to turn on the cable, ten calls to confirm an appointment that turns out to be a no-show, lines, lines, lines....) but, oddly, I am being patient. I don't know, it might still be the jet-lag...but I am oddly temperate these days.



8. I smell like curry. Uganda has fantastic Indian and South Asian cuisine, produced by its sizable South Asian population. I love Indian food and I am still getting used to Ugandan food (read: mashed roots, mashed roots with peanut sauce, mashed roots with hot sauce, oh...and tons of bananas...I HATE bananas) so I have been eating Indian daily. Last night I woke up and thought: "Damn, someone is cooking curry!" Then I realized it was me. I was the curry. May need to lay off for awhile but better than smelling like a banana.



9. Ugandans might be some of the friendliest people on the planet. I know...I hate writing that sort of stuff because it sounds so colonial, so...white...but it is true. Uganda and Ugandans are friendly, upbeat, fiercely intellectual and proud, and just down-right nice. They also, once you crack the formal exterior, have marvelous, bawdy, senses of humor.

10. I think I like it here. I am in small parts terrified, exhilarated, intimidated, and relieved. I am not having mood swings, per se, but just passing moments of waves that wash over me to the tune of, "Psst...you own nothing and you have nothing--material---to return home to!" or "Psst...you now live in a place that every great adventurer, writer and politician who has made it this far has referred to as 'one of the single most stunningly beautiful places on the planet' and you can go explore any weekend of your choice. You are FREE,"

11. I live here. I live in Uganda. For better or worse, this is my home...at least for the next 11 months. I kinda like the way that sounds...

Oh, did I mention the Ugandan pigeon? A tale for another email...





10.