Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Two Thanksgivings

            Thanksgiving is my all time favorite holiday – it’s a day dedicated to eating!  I am happy to report that I was still able to uphold the tradition of eating myself sick, even in Uganda.  I actually had two Thanksgivings, which definitely made up for not being home.  Caroline, Ryan and I spent Thanksgiving Day with Laurie, an American missionary who lives in Budaka and runs an orphanage in town.  She has a really nice house with a refrigerator and oven, so she invited us over for food and games.  She cooked up quite a feast for us: Chicken, gravy, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, carrot cake, and pumpkin pie.  We contributed green beans with garlic.  I could not stop talking about how delicious her homemade rolls were; I ate about five of them!  We ate ourselves sick, and played Scrabble (my favorite) and cards.  We all kept saying, “Wow, it feels like we are back in America.”  It was a great, relaxing Thanksgiving. 
            We headed to Elizabeth’s site on Friday for Thanksgiving Part II.  There were over 20 of us at Elizabeth’s, and there was quite a bit of food.  We slaughtered our own Turkey, which was 20 kilos.  (By we, I mean Max).   Thankfully, Elizabeth knows someone with an oven in her town, so we were able to easily cook the turkey.  We had more or less the same menu as the night before.  Maggie and I contributed green beans with caramelized onions.   Maggie bought 4 kilos of green beans two days before, but did not take them out of the plastic bag.  Hence, we had to sift through 4 kilos of green beans and take out all of the moldy ones.  They smelled so bad, and it was a huge pain to cut off the ends of the ones that were not rotten.  In the end, however, they turned out delicious!  I felt so sick after eating dinner, I literally thought I was going to puke from eating so much. 
            A group of us headed to Kampala for the weekend to run the marathon on Sunday.  Chelsea, Lisa, Bethany, Joe, and I ran the half and Erik ran the full marathon (what a champ!).  I did not train at all for the half, but since other people were running, I figured I would give it a shot.  The marathon cost 10,000 shillings, about $4.50, and the money went to clean water in Uganda.  We also got an awesome swag bag of MTN paraphernalia, including this yellow jersey we had to wear when we ran.  The marathon was a lot of fun, and I am glad that we all participated.  I was surprised that they actually had a decent amount of water stations (yes, it was bottled water) and they passed out sponges to cool off as well.  At around 18 km, I was passed by all of the elite runners that were running the full marathon.  I seriously could not get over how fast these men were running; it was amazing!  There was someone filming the race, so for about 2 seconds I felt super cool running behind the leader.  Needless to say, a lot of the elite runners finished the full 42KM before I finished my 21KM.  Now, this is Uganda, so of course this marathon wouldn’t be complete without some mishaps: 

  1. The latrines at the start of the race were FULL.  I thought I was going to vomit, but when you got to go, you got to go.  When I say full, I mean about to spill over.
  2. The roads were somehow closed off for the runners, but only at the beginning.  For the most part we were battling taxis and boda drivers for the road. 
  3. There were no bathrooms along the way and I really had to go.  I didn’t feel like earning my brown badge, so I just went into a random restaurant along the way.  Lisa, however, peed her pants and a Ugandan behind her laughed. 
  4. There were markers every 5KM, but they were completely wrong.  There was also a marker for 40KM (the finish for the half and full were the same), so I thought I was coming close to the end.  WRONG! 3KM later I reached another sign that said, “1KM to go!”  We all seriously wanted to punch someone in the face.  At least that one was right…
  5. There were people directing the runners, but after the elite runners finish, they close up shop.  Since I was running the half marathon, I didn’t have a problem.  Erik, however, got lost near the end of the marathon and ran an extra few kilometers.  Also, some of the water stations were closed.  

Overall, I had a great time and I am thinking about running the half marathon in Jinja.  I plan on actually training for that one though.  Needless to say, I was super tired when I returned home yesterday.  Sauya's daughters, Eva and Janet, met me in town when my taxi arrived.  They were really excited to have me back and wanted to congratulate me on finishing the race.  They carried my things home and filled all of my jerry cans for me.  Afterward, they brought over some food for me and we hung out and read magazines.  They are the best!  

Dennis and Bryan - they love getting their photo taken. 

Dennis playing with my camera


The rolls cooking in the oven

Caroline, Ryan, Laurie and me

I was walking back from the latrine and this turkey fell over in my backyard.  I started laughing, and then realized it was dead.  My neighbor spent the next hour trying to figure out who the turkey belonged too.  No, we did not use this for Thanksgiving dinner.  

Bethany and me in our MTN swag

Me, Lisa, Erik, Chelsea, and Bethany in our awesome gear
Erik, Chelsea, Bethany, Lisa, Me and Joe at 6am before the race

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Fresh Fried Chicken


            I have always had a strong urge to slaughter my own chicken, pluck out the feathers, and then prepare it fresh.  I felt like in order to get the true “African” experience, I needed to prepare a chicken the real way, and not buy it from the supermarket.  I finally accomplished that goal…sort of.  Max, Ryan, and Caroline came over this weekend because we wanted to slaughter a chicken and make fried chicken.  My neighbors could not believe that we wanted to attempt this by ourselves with no help:

Francis: “Are you sure you can manage?  Let me get someone to assist you.”

Dennis (the 9 year old): “Eh, you are deceiving me.  You cannot manage.”

            Students were circling my compound, staring at the four crazy mzungu, and laughing.  I do not think anyone believed that we could actually do this.  Max, however, pulled through like an expert.  He slaughtered the chicken, and then I poured boiling water over it so he could easily pull out the feathers.  Max also cut out the insides like a champ!  I say I sort of accomplished my goal because I did not really do any of the manual labor – I just watched and took pictures.  We made delicious fried chicken and onion rings (super healthy!).  We also had a huge jackfruit, which we shared with all of my neighbors.  They were ecstatic and kept saying, “Thank you for keeping the visitors!”  (Ugandans use the verb “to keep” for hosting). 
            In the last blog post, I was so focused on grossing you all out, that I forgot the best part of visiting Willysha.  Willysha also lives on a convent, and the sisters had a party for all the teachers because it was the end of the school year.  Sister insisted that Willysha bring all of her guests - so Maggie, Elizabeth, and I all showed up way underdressed for the occasion.  We had to sit at the front, facing every one, and they had us serve ourselves first for dinner…even though this was a party for the teachers.  Gifts were handed out to all of the teachers, and then Sister handed a gift to each of us as well.  We each got our own gift bags with handkerchiefs!  Willysha headed back home because her back was hurting her, but Sister insisted that the rest of us stay to have a dance party.  One of the Ugandan male teachers took the microphone and said, “Let’s start dancing.  I want to dance with these guests over here!”  We couldn’t really say “no,” so out to the dance floor we went.  I wish there was a video of this night because I don’t think my words will do it justice.  Ugandans can actually dance, unlike us three mzungu who have no rhythm whatsoever.  Nevertheless, we made fools of ourselves and dominated the dance floor.  We were drinking wine, and whenever we finished our glasses, Sister would grab our cup and say, “No empty glasses!!”  By my sixth cup of wine, I could not drink anymore, so I left it half full.  That did not work either.  Sister took my cup and said, “Eh, you keep drinking.  I fill it all the way!”  I took to just dumping the wine out on the grass when no one was looking.  At the end of the night, Sister insisted that the DJ play a “western” song and I did the worm for everyone (I told you…my new signature dance move; it’s all I got).  If living in this country has taught me anything, then it’s that nuns can party. 
            The school year has come to an end, and we now are entering our two-month vacation.  I spent the past two weeks helping students prepare for their exams and I proctored a few.  My family is coming to visit in 33 days, and I could not be more excited!  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving; we are all going to be celebrating on this end and preparing a special feast (slaughtering our own Turkey!).  I am sad that I will be missing my favorite holiday, but I know that the Knaptons (especially you, Steve) will eat extra just for me. 
            Thanks to all of those who have donated to Libraries For Life!  We have already raised over $11,000.  If you haven't already, please check out our webpage:  


https://www.booksforafrica.org/donate/to-project.html?projectId=79
           
Lastly, here is a little saying that Maggie shared with me – I found it funny:

“A man falls down a well, and a missionary walks by and throws down a bible.  An NGO worker walks by, and throws down some money.  A Peace Corps Volunteer walks by and throws down a bag and jumps in the well.  The man asks, ‘What are you doing?’  The Peace Corps volunteer says, ‘I have come to live with you.’” 

This is how Ryan showed up to my house.  Jack fruit strapped to the bike and guess what is in the plastic bag...

...a chicken!



Students watching the crazy mzungu


Well, I guess we should make this a Kodak moment!




Lunch!!




Max getting ready to slaughter the chicken


Plucking out the feathers

Inside of a chicken - gross!

Mmm...lunch



Onion rings...low fat for sure


Fried chicken



Dennis rockin' my sunglasses

           
             

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Maggot Mac and Cheese


            Peace Corps Volunteers have two main topics of conversation: poop and food.  Whenever I meet up with a fellow volunteer, it is inevitable that we will touch on both of these topics.  We always talk about the food we wish could eat: cheeseburger from In and Out, bagel and cream cheese, homemade mac and cheese, a fresh salad with feta or goat cheese, nachos, etc.  Are you noticing the theme here?  Cheese!  We can find a lot of American type food in Uganda, but good cheese is hard to come by.  Kampala, the “Forbidden City” for Peace Corps Volunteers, is the only place where you can buy decent cheese.  We are able to find cheese in the bigger towns, but it always tastes like a sweaty gym sock and has a disconcerting texture.  Nevertheless, we continue to buy this awful cheese because we always think, “Maybe if we cook it this way, then it will actually taste good.”  Two weeks ago, Maggie and I had this exact thought – we decided we could make good mac and cheese.  We were really excited and got our hopes up that the mac and cheese was going to be delicious.  When we tried to grate the “cheddar” cheese, it just kept crumbling…this should have been our first clue that the cheese was no good.  The cheese also had the funky gym sock smell, but we kept saying, “Oh it will be fine once we melt it.”  We melted the cheese with some milk, and then decided to add some flour to thicken up the sauce.  We opened Maggie’s flour and there were a bunch of brown things moving about. 

Me: “Hey Maggie, what’s in your flour?” 
Maggie: “Maggots.”
Me: “Ok, I’ll just sift them out.”
Maggie: “Ya, it’s okay. Protein, right?” 

            We did not think twice, and used the flour anyway.  I’m fairly sure no maggots made into the sauce.  The mac and cheese turned out to be awful.  Once again, our expectations were too high.  The cheese had a funky aftertaste, so we just had to eat it really quickly so we wouldn’t notice.  The cheese was also kind of a weird, crumbly texture.  Then again, those could have been maggots. 
            Maggie has not had the best of luck with maggots.  She soaked her underwear and bras overnight, and when she woke up the next morning, they were covered in maggots.  She tried to wash them out, and even boiled her underwear and bras.  They, however, were then covered in dead maggots – so she dumped everything down her latrine.  I now know never to soak my laundry overnight!
            This past weekend, I visited my friend Willysha at her site near Entebbe.  She has a nice house with running water and tiled floors – it’s like staying at a hotel!  After I got out of the shower, I noticed some dry looking skin on my big toe.  I started picking at it, and asked Willysha what she thought was up with my toe.  She took one look and said, “Oh my god!  You have a jigger!”  Now, this is not be confused with chigger.  A jigger, also known as a chigoe flea, burrows into your skin and you have to dig them out.  They are really common where I live because they like dry climates and live in the dirt.  You can get them from walking barefoot or even wearing open toed shoes.  Naturally, I started to freak out, and ran to Willysha’s bookshelf in search of our medical handbook.  As I was looking through all of her medical information sheets, I saw something crawling on my leg from the corner of my eye.  I could not tell what it was at first because it was blending in with my pants.  I then realized it was a giant cockroach; it was probably 3-4 inches long!  Willysha was skyping with her friend, and I didn’t want to make a scene.  So, I calmly flicked it off my leg and continued to read the medical handbook – a true testament to the fact that I have been in this country far too long. 
            We could not find anything about jiggers, so I decided to call our medical office.  The PCMO told me that I could either dig it out or come in the next day and get it removed.  I opted for the latter option because I wasn’t sure if I could trust Willysha with a needle in my foot.  We spent the next fifteen minutes googling images of “jigger feet” and were horrified by some of the pictures.  We then decided that if we didn’t try and dig out the jigger ourselves, then we weren’t true Peace Corps Volunteers.  Thus, I let Willysha perform surgery on my foot, while I filmed and my dad watched via Skype.  I was expecting something big to squeeze out, sort of like the mango fly, but there was only a lot of pus and blood.  A little anticlimactic, but we decided I should go to medical just to make sure my toe was okay.  Medical told me that I definitely had a jigger, but we got it all out.  Oh, and that pus, was not actually pus.  It was an egg sack and the white stuff was all of the eggs.  Cool. 
            I do have the video of us getting out the jigger, but I am not sure when I will have fast enough Internet to upload.  Don’t get too excited because it is not nearly as good as the mango fly video.  You cannot see anything because I’m far away – it’s basically Willysha and I joking the whole time.  I know, however, some of you are still curious, so I will upload next time I go to Mbale. 
            Willysha, Maggie, Elizabeth, and I went to the pool on Saturday and met some guys in the US Military.  After we told them we were Peace Corps Volunteers, they informed us they call us “dirty feet.”  I have to say…they were pretty spot on with that one.  Naturally, I showed them my toe. 
            Well, I think I have sufficiently grossed most of you out, now.  My family is getting really excited to visit – my sister says she is wrapping herself in saran wrap :) 

Jigger!

People are always asking how I bucket bathe - so I thought I would take a picture.  I stand in the kiddie pool and the red basin has my bathing water (I fill it about 3/4 of the way).  I use the cup to pour water on myself.  And that purple shelf has my shampoo, conditioner, and all that. 

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Halloween Weekend


            I have mentioned before that being an mzungu in Uganda means being a bit of a celebrity.  A Ugandan will inevitably strike up a conversation with me whether I am enjoying a meal at a restaurant, walking on the road, or sitting on a taxi.  Ugandans will usually ask to be my friend, and then ask if they can have my “contact” (phone number).  The main difference between a celebrity like George Clooney and me is that I actually give out my phone number.  Unfortunately, this means I get constant calls from strangers at all hours of the day.  If I don’t pick up, then they will continue to call five or six more times.   I don’t blame them - when my friends and I got a hold of Aaron Carter’s phone number, we called him so much he changed his number.  I know the consequences of freely handing out my digits, but I am too nice to say no.  Plus, I sometimes receive amazing texts like these:

“flower’s die, songs fade, memoriz 4get, bt precious friends l’ke u wil neves be 4goten and da worst part ov mi l’fe iz missing a friend. Great morning.”

            This past weekend a few us who live out east made the trek north to Gulu for Halloween weekend.  Chelsea, Audrey, Ryan, Erica and I took the eight-hour bus ride together and I think all we did was eat.  Every stop one of us would decide to buy chapatti, maize, popcorn, bananas, chicken on a stick, samosas, chips, or ground nuts.  I am sure I am missing a few snack items in that list, but you all get the gist.  We would complain that we were so full, and then someone would buy a snack from another vendor. 
            Halloween weekend in Gulu was a lot of fun.  I have never seen so many mzungus at one time (excluding Peace Corps).  Gulu has a ton of NGOs, which explains all the foreigners.  Friday night we went out and it was great to have everyone around to celebrate my birthday.  At one point I had a dance off with a Ugandan and then did the worm.  (My cousins Heather and Jane taught me how to do the worm in the 7th grade, and all of a sudden it has become my signature dance move here!)  Caroline got me the best birthday gift ever…a chocolate croissant!! I have been craving one for two months, and she found one in Kampala. Invisible Children, one of the NGOs, threw a Halloween Party Saturday night and it felt like I was back in college.  The party was at one of their houses, which was huge, and I felt like I was in a frat house.  All the party needed was a beer bong and some flip cup.  Everyone was dressed up in costumes and it felt like we were back in America.  Halloween isn’t celebrated in Uganda, so I felt a tad ridiculous walking to this party in my blonde wig and outrageous get up. 
            The bus ride home, unfortunately, was not as great as the ride there.  That seems to always be the case when traveling.  The bus was packed – there were people standing in the aisle because all of the seats were full.  Ugandans do not like to have the windows open, so it felt like a sauna the whole way.  I could not get off of that bus fast enough when we reached Mbale.  As soon as I walked into my school compound, my neighbors’ kids ran to give me hugs and welcome me home.  However, then they asked me for paper and crayons, so I’m not really sure if they actually missed me – I just think they missed my treats!  Oh well, I guess I am okay with buying children’s love. 
            

The kids coloring outside my house

John's site - I mean...come on!  

We are really photogenic - Me, Caroline, Ryan

Caroline and Ryan

Hike near John's house

The river where we later went swimming (I probably have shisto now)


Bus ride to Gulu - Chelsea and Audrey

Caroline bought me this awesome birthday hat

Max and me

Mzungu dance party


Joey and me on Halloween.