Random Thoughts

Only in Africa would you...
1. Be on a plane where 90% of the passengers on your flights are Muslims returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca. Celebration, dancing and clapping were all part of the flight.

2. Have a flight delayed an hour then board a completely white painted plane with no markings on it all. We had to only hope the flight was going to Uganda considering we saw no signs posted for our flight. If not well what's another stop along the way?

3. Have a squad of United Nations workers arrive next to you at the airport.

Random Thought #2
After a night stay in Kampala, and a five hour car ride home (thankfully this time in the Sister's car with Daisy driving) we have made it back to Kyarusozi. After a week full of early mornings and late nights (due to our time spent taking advantage of the fast internet connection) I am worn out. It is so good to be back home, but I have spent the past two days sleeping all day. I'm hoping I just have an upper respiratory infection and nothing more!

Random Thought #3
 Our living conditions: Anne and I are living in a very rural village in Kyarusozi, Uganda. Our living conditions are very simple.

Washing Day

-We have no dishwasher or laundry machine. Both dishes and laundry are done by hand- laundry can be an all day event. I am slowly improving washing my clothes by hand, but somehow they always feel crunchy when I'm finished. I'm hoping it's just the soap. I don't think I will feel like I'm in totally clean clothes until I return to the States.
-We dry our clothes outside, that is if it does not rain.
-We collect rain water, and all our drinking water is boiled. It has become second nature to no longer drink water from the sink or shower, and to brush my toothbrush with boiled water.
- We do have internet, hence the blog updates, however, it is dial up and extremely slow- think 30 minutes to upload one picture if you are lucky.
-We do have electricity, but outages are common so in that case we run on solar power, candles, and cold showers since the water heater is off. (keep your fingers crossed that the power is on when we try and cook Thanksgiving dinner next month!)

Although life here is very different from the U.S., is has become normal to me. It is only after coming back from Ethiopia and being exposed to some of these other amenities again (treadmills, flush toilets, swimming pools, hair dryers, asphalt roads, wifi, elevators, etc) that you realize what you are lacking. Compared to the way the villagers live here using pit latrines, and making long daily treks for firewood and to the well/watering hole for drinking water it seems like life in the compound is easy. All it takes is persepective.