Holidays in Arua

 

 (This is NOT my house!)

Christmas is quickly approaching and it’s hitting me pretty hard just how much I miss my family.  I’ve have always spent the holidays with family, whether it was Thanksgiving in Denver or Christmas in Chicago.  I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself in Uganda last week for Thanksgiving.  Yeah sure, some of the PCVs were organizing events in different cities.  But I guess I prefer a more traditional holiday celebration – not a Thanksgiving Day booze cruise on the Nile River . . . that sounds more like the 4^th of July to me.  

(*I’m reminded of the 4^th of July boat parade at Pigeon Lake . . . especially since it’s 80+ degrees here right now.  Ha ha.)  Anyway-

It turns out there is a good number of Americans living in the Arua area doing missionary work.  Marcy and Tom Macaulay (PCVs from my training group) met them through their church and bible study group.  Since Ugandans don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, the Americans in the area get together every year for a traditional holiday dinner – Marcy sent me the invite, after our original Peace Corps group dinner plans fell through.

Sherry Meyer, one of the missionaries, hosts the dinner every year because she has one of the nicest houses in Uganda.  It’s huge.  And she has all of the wonderful modern appliances that you have back in the states (i.e. dishwasher, oven, washer/dryer, etc.).  And she also has all of the fun little appliances, like a drip coffee maker and an ice cream maker!  So I was able to eat ice cream in Africa last week!  Amazing.

I had such a great time meeting new people and talking about the cultural adjustment, difficulties with Lugbara, cooking local foods, etc.  There were a couple of people who just arrived a few weeks ago but most of the group has been living in Uganda for 10+ years.  (Sherry has been here since 1991.)  I feel much more comfortable about the area now and have some great resources for answering my questions about transportation, traveling, food, or whatever.  :)

Towards the end of dinner, we were all invited back to Sherry’s for her annual Christmas party/dinner (which includes a tree-lighting ceremony, Christmas carols, and more ice cream!!).  I’m not sure what the other PCVs are planning but I know where to go for my holidays in Arua.