It has only been one week. One week. Like you said last night, it seems as if I have been here for months. It's not that a lot has happened, but I think it is more because of the process of adjusting, meeting new people, getting to know a new place, etc. And I know from experience that before I know it I will be back home, wondering how everything happened in a blink . . . but right now it feels like I will be here forever. One of these days I'll do a study on the perception of time and understand why this happens.
So, let me give you a synopsis of this first week. The majority of my time is spent doing a few choice activities: reading/working on research, exercising, eating fruit on the balcony, talking, sweating, walking around to run errands, swallowing pills, and sleeping. Very little time is spent on food or getting ready--it's actually really nice. I never get really hungry, so I will eat toast (or a digestive cracker) and fruit throughout the day, and then have a little bit of dinner with everyone at night. That's just been this first week though. The next three weeks will be very different because I will be in rural areas/traveling, so we'll see what that brings.
Besides this fluid state of daily tasks, we had a few eventful things this weekend. We rode in a mutatu (a bus/van that is super crammed and sweaty) to the mosque (where my scarf kept falling of my head and I got in trouble for it) and then went to a fancy open-air Indian restaurant for dinner.
Saturday afternoon we went to the palace and torture chambers (so, so sad) and then spent the evening just talking outside.
And today, I was not feeling too well so after church (Baz came! And it was the primary program, sot hat was wonderful.) I came back and slept, and now I've just been writing e-mails and resting so that I will be okay to go to Gulu tomorrow.
A few fun facts:
- Remember that disgusting medicine when I had my hematoma that smelled like paint? Well, there's a fruit here called jack fruit that smells just like it....and it's in our fridge....so that's a benefit to leaving for Gulu tomorrow.
- They have a really interesting concept of pick-up lines here, including, but not excluded to: "Hello nice eyes", "I love you. I love you so much.", and "HELLOIAMSINGLE!"
- One of the girls here is really good friends with Laura Bennion. And turns out she's taking a class with Bethany and me in the fall, so we're really excited about that.
- Driving here is absolutely crazy. There are no lanes, no rules, and the one key to surviving is to be aggressive. Mom, I don't know if you would be able to handle it.
- The children love getting their picture taken. Pull out a camera and they will come running . . .
And it's seeing those sweet, bright, wonderful smiles that make me feel all sorts of cliché, cheesy things. So I will just stop myself there and say goodnight. Love you. Hope everything with Miguel's talk/party went well. Wish I could have been there.
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