I'm bored.

Things are a bit slow around the nursing school right now – it’s exam time.  This month each set of students takes their written and practical exams.  Last week was Set 9, this week is Set 8, and next week is Set 7.  Unfortunately, there is not enough classroom space for all the students.  So they set up desks in the computer room, which means I can’t work there.  For the entire month of October and half of November, I have nothing to do.  Some days I’ll ride my bike to town and have lunch with the other PCVs, other days I’ll watch movies for 8 hours straight. 

I sit around and think about my life way too much (hence the last post) – it’s not good to be this isolated and bored.  I think about what I was doing exactly one year ago. 

Around October 25^th last year, I was going to town on a semi-daily basis with Paul, the school driver at the time, to buy things for my house (pots & pans, curtains, broom & dustpan, etc.).  I was still getting settled, and I didn’t have my bike (or my fridge) yet.  I was eating scrambled eggs and tomatoes for lunch almost every day.  And since I had agreed to teach 'Social Psychology in Nursing,' all of my school time was spent researching and making lesson plans for the incoming set of students.

I also think about the one year I have remaining in Uganda and try to plan out my projects and vacations.  "If I go to Tanzania in November, then I’ll have to wait until February to go to Rwanda.  But the Gender and Development Committee elections are in February.  Hmm . . ."  Now I’m in a monthly countdown to the end and I look around my house to see what needs to be rationed over the course of a year.  "I have just enough moisturizer to last a year, but I’m going to need more toothpaste (fortunately Colgate is available in Uganda).  I bought some deodorant while I was home, but should have picked up one more bag of coffee."  Etc.

Seriously, this is how I spend my days.

I’m trying very hard not use my computer so much – my Macbook is on its third power cable (because the electricity here is so unstable, it gets fried easily), and now the battery is wearing down (a full charge lasts about 4 hours).  I decided to only use my computer 2 or 3 days a week.  After all, the school has a computer lab and a laptop in the library with an internet hook-up (that only works when it’s sunny outside), so I'll use those as much as possible.  To pass the time on the other 4-5 days of the week, I loaded up my new Kindle.  (Thanks Mom & Dad!)  So far I’ve read 3 books in one week.  Thank goodness for the PCV hard drive exchange – I’ve got over 2,000 books that I can put in my Kindle.  :)  Although I’m still sorting through the massive list of titles . . . I’m not really interested in “The Physics of Star Trek.”

The good news is I have some travel plans and project meetings coming up.  I’ll be going to Jinja to meet with the directors of Girl Tech and hopefully start planning the next camp!  (Expect a Jinja blog post about it.)  There’s also going to be a Gender and Development Committee meeting and my Mid-Service Conference.  The Mid-Service Conference is for my training group to come together and figure out what to do during our last year in Uganda.  (So I guess it’s a good thing that I have so much down-time to think about it.  Ha ha.)  And I always enjoy seeing my group again.  Sadly, we have lost a few more volunteers due to personal reasons and rule-breaking (i.e. riding a boda-boda), so the reunions are getting smaller and smaller.  We’ve lost a total of 10 people now.  It kind of feels like ‘Survivor’ – we’ll see how many are still remaining at the end.  I hope I win.  :)

Contagion

I watched the movie ‘Contagion’ the other night.  It was pretty good – and what I really enjoyed was the global health issue.  It got me really pumped up about public health work (I’m a total nerd, I know).  It all started with my job at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment – I didn’t have any real direction in my career at that point, I just knew that I wanted to work in public service.  I was only in the Immunization Program for a year, but it was such a great experience and I learned so much that I decided to take the next step (or leap, depending how you look at it) – I joined Peace Corps to gain some field experience (which is usually required for these jobs).

Unfortunately, my work in Uganda is more related to education than health.  I teach computing (i.e. Microsoft Word and Excel); I work on school databases; and I do clerical work for the office administration.  I know that I am not qualified to go out into the villages and give immunizations or deliver babies, but I was hoping for a hands-on experience with Uganda’s health systems and management.

After watching ‘Contagion,’ I realized that no matter what kind of work I do in the Peace Corps, I am still going to need to further my education.  I know very little about disease control, surveillance and response, epidemiology, etc.  (I did, however, gain a great deal of knowledge about immunizations and vaccines during my time at CDPHE.)  My bachelor’s degree is in Communication (interpersonal/group communication, not broadcasting) but that won’t get me very far in this career – I’ll have to get a Master’s in Public Health. 

Thankfully, one of the many benefits of being in the Peace Corps is receiving grad school credit and/or tuition reimbursement.  Yay!  I’ve only just started looking at programs, but there is a concrete timeline that may delay my admissions: I need to take the GRE (and need time to study for it!), I need to submit my grad school applications by a specific deadline depending on the semester, I need to finish my Peace Corps service (October 2013), etc.  So grad school may not happen right away, but I might as well start planning for it.

After thinking about work, grad school and my future, I’ve decided that I will do the (education) work that Sister Anne asks of me at Kuluva School of Nursing.  It's still international field work with the Peace Corps.  There is potential for me to work (for a day or two) on health projects at other PCVs’ sites (nutrition classes, food distribution, life skills classes, etc.) and my camp experiences also covered a few health topics (reproductive health, nutrition, HIV, etc.).  So here’s what I see for the next 12 months:

• Teach computing at the nursing school
• Create student records database for Kuluva
• Gender and Development Committee
• More camps?
• Health projects with other PCVs?
• Study for GRE
• Apply to grad schools

I also want to go around Kuluva Hospital with the nursing students and talk to them about healthcare in Uganda.  Even if I can’t work in the hospital, at least I can learn about it.

Looks like a pretty good year. 

(Yes, this all started from watching a movie.  Thank you Hollywood for giving me an epiphany regarding my Peace Corps experience.)

Back in Uganda

As I was riding in the taxi (private car, that is) from the airport, I watched the landscapes and towns go by and realized that there is an element of ‘home’ here.  Dukas, chapatti stands, boda-boda drivers, fabric shops, goats & cows along the roadside, women carrying basins of fruit on their heads, street meat, etc. – I didn’t miss it, but the familiarity of it comforted me.  I’m now starting my second year in Peace Corps Uganda and instead of being a stranger in a strange land, I feel more adjusted to the culture and more confident about living here.

I arrived at my house to find it dirty, but secure.  Everything was just as I’d left it.  There were definitely more Daddy Long Legs hanging around, but not as many as I had expected.  What was surprising was the amount of lizard poop all over the house – it was everywhere.  (I hope that means they were busy eating spiders.)  Thankfully, Amviko came over to clean the next day – so the house looks great now (and I can unpack!).  I had filled my suitcase with as much American food as I could – final weigh-in at the airport was 48.5 pounds (but there were also some clothes and toiletries in there too).  My kitchen is completely stocked and it’s time to get back into the routine of riding my bike to town twice a week for fresh fruits and vegetables.  It seems the rainy season is almost finished and the sun is hot again.

On Monday, I went to school to check-in and see everyone.  Sister Anne was so excited to see me – she gave me a great big hug . . . and a pile of work to get started on immediately.  The school is extremely short-staffed right now: the librarian just gave birth to little baby boy and will be out for 3 months; one of the secretaries is on annual leave for a few weeks; and Dr. Anne is on annual leave for 6 weeks.  So now I’m stuck doing clerical work because there is no one else to do it.  Yeah, I’m going to need to talk to my Peace Corps Program Manager . . . soon soon.

FYI – I have posted more pictures to my Shutterfly website - just click on the link.  While I was visiting the family, I learned that some people did not have a clear picture of where I lived or what the ‘hospital compound’ is - so I added some new photos.  Hopefully this will clear up any misconceptions.

Also, I inquired about the PO Box and if the hospital has paid for it yet.  The answer is NO.  It’s been 6 months since I gave them the bill and I’m not going to wait around any longer.  I talked with the other PCVs and will share their box.  So the new address is:

Sister Laura Meyer

P.O. Box 933

Arua, Uganda

(I think it’s helpful to keep the ‘Sister’ part to deter thieves.)

P.S.  Today is Uganda's 50th Independence Day!  BIG celebration in Kampala - Arua will be celebrating on Thursday.  Apparently Uganda can only throw parties one city at a time.

London Layover

Yep, I actually made out of Heathrow this time!  I took the tube into central London (it took about an hour).  Then I hopped on the Thames Clippers for a round-trip boat tour on the river.  It was one of the cheaper sight-seeing options and was very relaxing.  :)  The weather was partly cloudy, but windy and cold!  I was grateful that the seating on the boat was 'indoor' - although the reflection from the windows messed up some pics.  Oh well.  It was still a nice ride.

Big Ben and Parliament

London Bridge (The big flag was on the front of the boat.)

Me

 

Tower of London

Trafalgar Tavern

After the boat tour, I still had some time to kill before going back to the airport.  But I have a tendency to get lost when wandering around a city for the first time, so I stayed close to the train station.  And right there was a Starbuck's - one final Pumpkin Spice Latte before going back to Uganda.  Delicious.

America the Beautiful

As most of you know, I just had a wonderful vacation in the US.  :)  To sum it up:

• Slept on a bench in Heathrow
• Bachelorette weekend in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin
• Wine, cheese, & chocolate
• Purchased a Kindle
• Massage & pedicure
• Scott & Kailey’s wedding!
• Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Lattes
• Family visits with EVERYONE  :)
• Haircut
• Shopping spree at Trader Joe’s
• Caramel apples
• Lunch with friends (homemade pesto pasta and leafy green salad!)
• A weekend in Denver with Brian, Ashley, Ainsley, and Roen
• Lots of eating out!

The culture shock was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated – I was so ready to come back and indulge in the luxuries of modern living (i.e. washing machines, high-speed internet, refrigerated food, etc.).  ;)  It was the fast pace of American life that was the hardest to adjust to.  (I’m used to sitting around and watching movies for the majority of the day.)

Going back and forth between countries made me realize how my lifestyle is changing and how I’m merging Ugandan and American habits.  When I move back (to the US), of course I’ll have running water, but I'm much more aware of water conservation now and can really limit the usage.  And I will always be grateful for clean water that comes right out of the tap.  I tend to eat healthier in Uganda - everything is freshly grown!  Sure it’s a pain to wash and bleach everything, but it’s healthy and organic.  When I went grocery shopping (in Chicago), I noticed how many aisles were full of processed food, and how easy it is just to throw a frozen dinner in the microwave, instead of cooking fresh meals.  But I was inspired by my friends who have started cooking their meals from scratch and juicing fresh fruits.  ;)  (I can’t wait to come back and cook with modern appliances!)  And with the abundance of fruits and vegetables in an American supermarket, the vegetarian recipes are endless.  :)  The biggest challenge is my addiction to the white stuff - refined white sugar is the devil.  My sweet tooth had diminished while I was in Uganda, but came back with vengeance in the states.  How could I not indulge in cookies and cakes while visiting??  Upon my return to Uganda, my body will certainly start to detox again.

Some of you may remember that six months before I joined the Peace Corps, my car died.  So I commuted around Denver on my bike and on the buses/trains.  And of course, living in Uganda, I'm on my bike and ride the buses/taxis.  So it is possible to live without a car in both cultures (as long as you're near public transportation).  While I was home, Mom let me drive her car a few times (yes, I remembered how to drive), and I felt the sweet freedom the car ownership can provide.  Sure you have to deal with traffic, gas prices, and general maintenance issues, but sometimes walking 1/2 a mile and waiting for the bus is just too much of pain . . . especially if it's raining.  Plus, I miss cranking up the music and singing in the car.  :)  (This realization came while I was belting out Bob Seger's “Turn the Page.”)  Which leads me to another point: entertainment.  Between online movies/TV shows and internet news updates, there is no need for TV or cable . . . even in the US.  (Ok, sports fans may disagree here.)  In Uganda, it helps that the PCVs are constantly trading hard drives and getting new movies and TV shows, so there's always something to watch.  And now I just got a Kindle and a huge library of digital books from the PCVs' hard drives.  Seriously, who needs TV?

A few other traits that I’ve picked up from my Peace Corps experience: 

I’m very cheap now.  A bag of purple grapes cost $7.21!!!  Grapes are no longer in my budget.

I’m dirty.  It’s not socially acceptable in the US to wear the same outfit 4 days in a row.

I may be slightly lactose intolerant now.  Or maybe I just overdosed cheese while in America.

Now it's time to return to Uganda.  I will write again soon with updates about my house, work, and PO Box.  ;)