Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a planner – I’m extremely organized and like to follow a schedule. So of course, I try to have a routine in Uganda. I like to plan out my work week, since I have a variety of tasks to do at school (lesson plans, community outreach, inventory database, student records database, etc.) And I pick a day during the week to ride to town to check the post office and do a few other errands (plus I like the exercise). On Saturdays, I wash my clothes, go to the market to buy my fruits & vegetables for the week (and store them in my fridge), and sometimes meet up with other PCVs for lunch. It’s a pretty flexible routine – there’s no real commitment to anything.
Yet somehow, everything still gets screwed up. The culture here is the complete opposite of a routine – things happen at a moment’s notice; meetings/events have a tendency to start several hours late; and when it rains, nothing gets done (i.e. no one goes to work). My greatest challenge of living in Uganda is adapting to the total randomness of daily life.
For example, this is how my day started today:
The power has been out for the past 4 days (another random factor that greatly affects my life). My computer battery is dead (because I used it over the weekend); the food in my fridge (that I bought on Saturday) is spoiling; and I can’t iron the clothes I just washed. The school has a generator that they use when the power is out (so I can at least charge my computer at school) – but today there is no generator. I can’t charge my computer and I can’t work on any databases in the computer room. Well, at least I’m scheduled to teach Social Psychology in the morning, so I have something to do. That is . . . until I find out that all of my students left for the day to go to a funeral (someone from Arua Hospital passed away). This was supposed to be my last class with them. I guess we’re just going to skip the review session before the exam.
And now I have absolutely nothing to do – maybe I’ll go home and read a book.
[*I wrote this during my 5 hours of boredom this morning using the school's laptop that had a fully-charged battery. The generator came on around 1:45pm, but by then my day was shot.]
[**This is not just one crazy morning – this kind of stuff happens all the time. You can't plan for anything.]
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteI know this kind of stuff drives you crazy! Does it get any easier after 9 months of it? I imagine you feel like there is so much wasted time. It sounds like today was a "lost" day -- I hope you have some good books to help pass the time.
Love, Mom
I wouldn't last there! I love to plan just like you....so days like that would definitely make me crazy too! Hope you have a better day tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura
ReplyDeleteAnother planner here~that lifestyle demands patience and more patience.I am wondering now if you did go home and read? I think that is probably what I would do~read until dark if there is no power.I am sure you are learning and changing in many ways that may not become apparent to you until you come home. The pace there~slow~and here so much faster.Your goals and expectations when you come home might really be different from before you had this experience.I was thinking about you~killed 4 spiders this week~that's a new high for this year. How is your spider tally going? I too hope your day today (Tuesday) is much better~Back home we have days like that too~things just don't go according to plan. However, it is not every day like the culture you are living in.No wonder it takes so long for change to happen there.Our big news~a huge tree fell down in our yard~winds! it was leaning from a previous storm. Just glad it didn't hit the house. Hang in there~counting the months until we see your beautiful face again!!!!(((Hugs)))Love, Aunt Linda