Friday 29 November 2013

An Eventful Week


An Eventful Week
Well this week has been quite interesting with its fair share of ups and downs so I’ll start with the positive!
My Mom and I decided to go on a walk in the beautiful back roads that link to our house, and five minutes into the walk we see a big dead bat! But then another twenty minutes down the road we see this HUGE dead snake! Thank goodness it was dead or I think I might’ve been J (I don’t know why I put this in the positive category!)
Oh and this week I also discovered that no one has hair here! Even though there are ladies with super long braided hair, but it’s all fake! They asked if we put Vaseline in our hair so it won’t snap because apparently their hair isn’t strong enough to continue growing so some ladies put Vaseline in to strengthen it but even then they can get it about shoulder length! So if the hair is longer than a pixie it’s a wig!
We got to go to a big tourist market and look around the shops…but after you’ve been in one you’ve seen all them J I have a feeling if we went there a couple days before departure it would’ve been a lot cooler, but because I have access to all that stuff everyday it’s not as exciting J
This week was the last of school so the roads and all have just been hectic because each school (and there’s a LOT of schools) are having their end of the year performance. Well we were invited to attend Simbwas Primary school performance. So I figured we’d just go there, watch the show and leave…nope. We get there and they’re getting Mom dressed up in their traditional outfits…and as we go to take our seats they announce “Here comes Miss Tanya!” and everybody starts clapping and she takes her seat in a freaking throne in the front and center! Then they had several other chairs set up beside her for us to sit on. Felt like a flipping celebrity! Then they bring us drinks and then (the best part), they ask Mom to give a speech! So Mom goes up there and gives a speech, and then hands out the certificates to the graduating kids – they’re bout 4 years old? And through all my attempts to stay hidden they called me up to hand out some presents to the kids. I’m just so thankful I wasn’t asked to say something!
So on the negative side of things…
After we went to the market we went to paint the Bomgi sign on Simbwas house – yes they’re so generous they let you paint a big blue Bomgi sign right on their house (it actually looks really good!) Well it’s about maybe 2pm and Corey grabs the car keys to open the paint cans, and as he’s popping it open the key snaps in half! Like literally in half. So we’re all like “Oh crap.” (and the can was still closed.) So we decided to call Simbwa and see if he knows anyone who can help but of course the phone lines are down! 20 minutes it starts working again, but Simbwas at a funeral so he won’t answer his phone! So we called Kyle and he came and picked Corey and Liam up on his Boda Boda, and then both boys came up to rescue Mom, Emma and myself. So I broke my vow that I wouldn’t ride a Boda Boda, and most certainly wasn’t planning on being squished between Kyle and Emma. It was a pretty nerve racking experience especially because there was TONS of traffic and I didn’t have a helmet J
This didn’t have this week, just a couple days after it ended and considering I never Internet I’ll just add it in.
Corey has been feeling under the weather quite a couple times, at least once a week. But when I say under the weather I mean unable to move, headaches and throwing up, pretty brutal if you get sick here. Well we’re all expecting it to be malaria or dangy fever because he has all the symptoms – including a rash. Anyways last night while I’m having a fantastic sleep Corey gets sent to the hospital, gets his blood tested…finds out his allergic to the malaria pills!
So you’ll never guess what season it is…Grasshopper! EVERYWHERE you look there’s grasshoppers! When you shake the branch of a tree it looks like it’s snowing…but it’s grasshoppers! It’s pretty nasty. And they’re pretty dumb to because they’ll fly right into you…and they bite, and they make a really annoying sound, like a fuzzy radio. Oh Uganda you are glorious!
Now to end this exciting week I had probably one of the worst experiences I’ve had since being here. We had a big problem with fruit flies when we got here, so we put up those really sticky/sappy things that the flies get stuck on. And holy cow are they sticky! Even if your hands just press against it you struggle to get it off. Well I was leaning against the wall beside one of the sticky things, and I was just watching the T.V when I see this brown thing dangling beside my hair and just flip out!! I start screaming and fall to the ground and yell at Emma “What the heck is in my hair!” and I’m flinging my hair trying to get it…not realizing it’s that delicious sticky sappy stuff! So she grabs the knob at the end and starts to pull it and I can just hear the hair snapping…and soon the knob snaps off to! So after a very painful two minutes of tearing my hair out I attempt to wash out the sap. I held my hair in vinegar until my face stung, then just scrubbed and scrubbed with conditioner and had the shower on jet attempting to get this off. It was just a mess. But after a very long and painful brushing session it was almost back to normal. Though I think I tore a good chunk of hair out! Very painful experience, and of course it had to happen to the person with the most hair!
Well that’s it for now, all these are kind of outdated and none are in order anymore because I just upload them whenever I have Internet. Oh boy do I miss that golden thing J
Cheers,
Savannah 

10 Things I Regret Taking For Granted!


10 things I REGRET taking for granted:

Today marks a month of being in Uganda and this last week I’ve really been missing some things that seemed pretty minor here, but would mean the world to me here! So without further ado here are the 10 things I regret taking for granted!

1.    Drinkable tap water! I’d give anything to turn my tap and be able to drink the water that pours out! You don’t even notice how hard it is to brush your teeth with no running water! The process requires you to take a water bottle into the kitchen to pump the drinking water from the container, then steadily pour it with one hand – and in my I brush with my right and pour with my left, which makes it even more trickier because I’m right handed! Tricky tricky!
2.    Internet! It comes as no surprise that I’d miss the Internet, I knew that before I even left because I’ve to third world countries and experienced the frustration of not being able to access the Internet! So to all my friends who are currently draining hours of their time on the Internet…ENJOY IT! Because I’m telling you right now I’d give a million bucks just to have unlimited Internet for ONE DAY.
3.    Plugs! Oh my jolly goodness all I want to do right now is just plug in my flipping computer without searching for one of the four converters we have and then plugging it in to find my outlet is on strike for the day and won’t give me power. Dear goodness I’d just love to have everything charged up and never have to look at the battery life again!
4.    Water pressure! We’re supposed to have quick showers here because hot water is scarce and there’s six of us living in this house, so you have to be considerate about the next in line…HOWEVER, when the water pressure is at 1% and you have hair almost down to your hips it takes a good minute just to soak my hair, then shampooing, then rinsing, then conditioner, then rinse…I sometimes just want to fill 4 buckets up throughout the day and just pour them on after each “cycle” so the process will be quickened.
5.    Friends! I miss talking with people so much it’s driving me nuts! Although there are PLENTY of people here your conversation is so limited not only by the language but the topics which you can talk about. There is very little common ground here so when you find some you really got to keep it going as long as possible J Some conversations can get pretty awkward with the silence.
6.    Solitude. I have always been called an extravert, but I don’t care how much I like people I like my personal space…I like my solitude. I could spend hours by myself in my room and I wouldn’t complain, which is why Emma got mad at me when we were little because I’d go off and play my own little games while she ALWAYS wanted me to play with her. But here I can’t even leave the gate without having someone with me! Which is hard because back home I used to go on walks whenever I got overwhelmed or just needed some space…but here I always gotta have my buddy J It isn’t bad but there are those occasion days when I’d like to have the house to myself for an hour or two. But at the same time I’m to scared to be home by myself especially because our neighbors have now told us to lock the door even when we’re home because people get quite anxious at Christmas time and do some crazy things.
7.    Cold hot chocolate nights! Oh man I’d die to be in the middle of a snowstorm listening to some Christmas music with a warm cup of coco in my hand and a pair of sweat pants with a big hoodie and fuzzy socks on! I just want winter! And especially because Christmas is nigh the craving for a snowfall and some mint hot chocolate! Ah man the very thought gets me anxious!
8.    A piano! I didn’t realize how much I loved the piano until I didn’t have one! The first few weeks I was going through “withdrawals,” and now I’m just panicking I may never afford one here.
9.    Fitting in. You have no idea how I long to walk down the streets without eyes following me like a hawk and without people turning around and starring! I see big parties happening each weekend, friends and family enjoying each other’s company while I strum my lonely ukulele in my room. I’m not complaining…just observing!
10. Freedom. I hate being locked inside a gate and having to wait for someone willing to go outside with me before leaving. However today I did get to go out with Margret – our maid and help her sell her crisps – chips at the market. So I guess it’s not terrible but at the same time I’d like to teleport back to Tatlow Road and walk down to the Ocean, or walk to my friends house without being alert J