the longer im here, the more i realize that nothing is simple, not even the most mudande or ordinary of things. take for example, the loading of kayaks onto a matatu (public taxi van for hire). going to kayak this past weekend became such an ordeal, loading the kayaks wasnt even the half of it. even so, it took a solid 30 minutes to the load the boats while the taxi drivers constantly fight you for the straps and the boats, trying to help and to protect their vehicles. though the more i think about it, loading boats is never easy, because everyone has their own system-and when you add in the language barrier its no suprise that there is mass confusion. on sunday, paul, our new volunteer (med student from alaska) tried to load the boats his way, ignoring the ugandan way, confusing everybody. even so, it all worked out until we tried to meet up with jessie and jurg, resulting in us driving to several locations to find them. finally we put on the rivah and managed to meet the taxi driver with no problems. loading boats went much smoother as we did it uganda style. when in rome i guess. that carriers over here to most things. there is a very ugandan way of doing things- for good reason. one of the biggest challenges here at the clinic is treating withing our limitations, and being able to think like a ugandan. paul had a funny story about his first about his first encounter with dr. judith- suffice to say looking in someones ear to determine if they had an infection was deemed "not possible".. seeing as there was no eartool, or the one we had she didnt feel like using.
"it is not possible" is one of my favorite ugandan phrases, along of course with "disorganize your bones" for get a move on, or "very smart" for you look nice. "it is not possible" sums up much of the daily experiance here- from ordering food not explicitily described on a menu, to dr's visits, to car and taxi rides. it makes for an interesting cultural experiance, being forced to do things the ugandan way, on ugandan time, or in ugandan portion size. there are equally as many equally as many "only in uganda" moments, for example, bargaining down the price of something in a supermarket.
its a funny time of year here. ive never done christmas in a awarm climate which is weird in itself. so many peoples families are comng to visit now, and so mny other people are heading home. annie left fr new york, jessie and jurg flew to switzerland for the holidays *jurg will saty, jessie is coming back in a week* Jim and Sheri flew home yesterday to suprise their parents, kristen and shannon both left. the other shannon leaves in a week, as does Steve. our makeshift family is falling apart a bit, so that combined with some stuff in my personal life has mad e the last week a hard one. the good part is tht things are always in flux here, and our family has extended to include Karl, Tara, and Steve, and of course Dr paul, our new SPH volunteer. We aree having our own family christmas tomorrow, which i am super excited for. We dont know what we are doing yet, but no matter. morgans family is here now, and i got to guide a raft down the day 2 stretch here for them, which was fun. ive also been trying out a bunch of new boats, so kayaking is going well, when i can find the time because last week was overwhelmed with net sales and work. a little time off for the holdiays will be much appreciated, as have been all the holiday wishes.
love, and happy new years.
a
"it is not possible" is one of my favorite ugandan phrases, along of course with "disorganize your bones" for get a move on, or "very smart" for you look nice. "it is not possible" sums up much of the daily experiance here- from ordering food not explicitily described on a menu, to dr's visits, to car and taxi rides. it makes for an interesting cultural experiance, being forced to do things the ugandan way, on ugandan time, or in ugandan portion size. there are equally as many equally as many "only in uganda" moments, for example, bargaining down the price of something in a supermarket.
its a funny time of year here. ive never done christmas in a awarm climate which is weird in itself. so many peoples families are comng to visit now, and so mny other people are heading home. annie left fr new york, jessie and jurg flew to switzerland for the holidays *jurg will saty, jessie is coming back in a week* Jim and Sheri flew home yesterday to suprise their parents, kristen and shannon both left. the other shannon leaves in a week, as does Steve. our makeshift family is falling apart a bit, so that combined with some stuff in my personal life has mad e the last week a hard one. the good part is tht things are always in flux here, and our family has extended to include Karl, Tara, and Steve, and of course Dr paul, our new SPH volunteer. We aree having our own family christmas tomorrow, which i am super excited for. We dont know what we are doing yet, but no matter. morgans family is here now, and i got to guide a raft down the day 2 stretch here for them, which was fun. ive also been trying out a bunch of new boats, so kayaking is going well, when i can find the time because last week was overwhelmed with net sales and work. a little time off for the holdiays will be much appreciated, as have been all the holiday wishes.
love, and happy new years.
a
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