Happy Valentine's Day

Alright people. It's Valentine's Day. I just spent the night celebrating/bonding with my roommate and the dog. I have a few things to share with you. (Please be warned: I've shared 1.5 bottles of red vino. I may be a little... whatever.)

• Pageants seem kinda fun! At least watching them is. Training for them is probably a whole other story...
• Roommates are awesome. End of story.
• The Midwest is still the frickin' best.
• Lady Gaga is a tad crazy but we still love her. Her in the egg = Kinder Surprise. Though you cannot eat the egg (it was not made of choco) and you cannot play with Gaga... at least I don't think so...
• My boyfriend is sweet and wonderful and way too good to me. He needs to find a new girlfriend. Or another one. Maybe I'll try the polygamous relationship thing... HELLO MORMONISM
• School is overrated. FML. I do school all the time. I have no friends. This is freakishly depressing.
• Valentine's Day is a tad overrated but please do remember to tell those you love that you love them.

Happy Hallmark Day of Love! 

A New Year

Hellooooooo out there. I know I've been MIA for a while. Blame the adjustment back to the US. Currently it's blizzarding in the good ol' New England area and all I want is to fly back to Uganda. Immediately. Snow is not cool. I'm rocking the hot pink winter boots, but I'm still freezing. What I really want is one of those huge black full body sleeping bag jackets, but something tells me if I got one, I'd be disowned by several people.

This new year brings a new place to live, new roommate with her dog, and new boyfriend. Will write more soon. :)

Why isn't there passionfruit soda in the US?

Passionfruit soda is awesome. Enough said.

I'm moving in with a beauty pageant girl for the spring semester... yup you read that right, beauty. pageant. Well she's gorgeous, and I hear she's incredibly nice which I don't doubt... but all I have to say is: there goes my self-esteem. Glad all I ate for the last 5 months in Uganda was starch, starch, and more starch, and we tried to fry just about anything we could get our hands on.

I have no idea how to exist without the other intern anymore. We've been joined at the hip ever since she got here and now this connection will be severed... What will I do?! Wahhhhh!

I am really, really, REALLY going to miss Uganda. I'm going to miss chapati and rolexes like a missing limb. I wish I could get on a plane, go home for 2 or 3 weeks, and then come back here. I love this place. I really do. I even love the unpleasant, not so fun stuff, because it's an adventure. I can always look back on something and laugh or find something fun to make out of it.

I am looking forward to a few things back in the States:

• Constant and dependable electricity and internet
• Nicely paved roads
• Driving my own car once in a while
• Being able to drink water out of the tap
• Flushable toilets
• Running water and showers with great water pressure
• Seletively bred, steroid-fed, antibiotic-injected chicken that have more meat on their bones (free range Ugandan chickens just doesn't taste the same)
• Chinese food
• Pizza
• Beer (more specifically Spotted Cow, Sam Adams, Miller Lite, Leinenkugel)
• Getting a tad tipsy and having fun with friends
• Snow
• Talking to my family on the phone without racking up a giant phone bill
• The male species...

I cannot believe by Friday night, I'll be back in Wisconsin!!! I'll either be unable to sleep due to jet lag or I'll collapse in exhaustion. If it's the former, those friends who read this and live in Milwaukee, call me and let's hang out! xoxo

MASH

What do you do when you are bored at work? We play MASH. I barely remember how to play this silly game and didn’t remember all the categories you have to give, but I can now tell you: I am going to move into a pink mansion in Boston and marry JS when I’m 33. JS will be a professional racecar driver, while I will be an author. We will have 4 dogs and 18 kids. Yes, 18. Then I will die at age 54, probably from the exhaustion of birthing and raising 18 kids. So… that was my Tuesday morning. Fascinating and stimulating, I know. AND the folded fortune thingy I made told me that I’m going to get malaria. Awesome. Good thing these fortunes are total BS because having 18 kids boggles my mind.


Well I feel like this blog has not been as entertaining as it had in the past but I have really nothing entertaining to report. It’s not like: oh so I met this guy last night… cuz there’s no guy to meet. But all I can say is I’m super excited for this weekend because we’re going to Kampala. And I have like two weeks left in Uganda. TWO. THAT’S IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sigh… I’m going to miss this place and my significant other who I live and breathe with.

Give me a P for Pizza!

I dreamed about pizza. I got pizza! Last night was awesome. When my supervisor and the operations officer brought us that pizza, I was ecstatic. Ok, it was no Pizza Hut or Digiorno's. It was actually more foccacia bread-like. And the tomato sauce wasn't exactly tomato sauce, it was more of a pink color. Which is a bit strange, but I don't care. It's pizza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've officially hit the 3 weeks left mark. I'm so sad!!! What will I do without my pit latrine, my Claire, or my chapati stand?! But watch out, Midwest... here I come!!! Please have some snow for me to play in.

The Magical Fate Fairy

Fate. Some sort of magical power or being managed to send me a roommate that manages to keep me sane and isn’t annoying as all h*ll. We actually make a pretty solid pair and have essentially become an old married couple. We have our routines and roles. Here are some examples of why and how we fit together perfectly:

• Every morning of a work day, I shower first, then she showers. Without fail. No matter who wakes up first.
• When we were staying in the house in Mubende, we always sat on the same side of the table. Every day. Without fail. Then we were there for the 3 meetings, we were in the house for a while with our program manager’s husband. When we sat down at the table, you guessed it. We sat in our designated spots.
• Her favorite Starburst colors are red and pink while mine are yellow and orange, which means we swap the fun-sized candy packages of Starburst for our favorite colors and never have to fight over colors.
• Her favorite Skittles colors are purple and red while mine are green and yellow. WE ARE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER.
• When we cook, I mostly man the stove and she usually washes the dishes at the end. 
• We both like to read and have similar tastes in books.
• We enjoy movie watching and have pretty similar taste in movies (Step Up, Pearl Harbor, Romeo + Juliet, Love Actually, Stepmom- to name a few) and TV shows (Glee, Gilmore Girls, The Office). And we don’t judge each other for the girly, silly movies.
• We both think Channing Tatum and Josh Hartnett- HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT

 

We exist together 24/7. I have no idea how I’m going to survive without her once I move back to the US. It’ll be like I lost a limb… a piece of my soul… and yes she’s going to read this one day and think I’m even crazier than she thought I was.

 

There has been this random wooden penis sitting on the bookshelf in the office for as long as I can remember. I used to look at it and never really thought about what it was or think anything of it. Then I was looking at the family planning books sitting by this thing and finally realized what it was. Family planning- condoms- fake penis to use in demonstrations… ohhhhh I see now. Yes it’s taken me like 5 months to realize what was sitting on the shelf.

 

I feel old. Back when I was growing up, ALL those years ago, us girls went ga-ga over boy bands. We had 98 degrees, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, O-Town, LFO, BBMAK, Westlife, right? Now girls are psycho over Justin Bieber (who I think looks like a girl), the Jonas Brothers… there are probably more but I’m totally out of the loop. Why am I thinking about this? Oh they’re just blaring a Westlife remix in town.

This weekend was pretty slow. We didn't have power during the day but then it'd come on at night. So at least we could watch some TV shows and movies in the evening. I've been reading like a crazy person, usually finishing off a book a day. But at the rate I'm going, I'm going to run out of books to read in a week.

Less than a month before I get back!

Indian food makes me want to roll around on the floor like a happy puppy dog

This past weekend was great. I spent way too much money and ate way too much Indian food, but living the occasional life of excess is actually rather fun. Good thing I spend like 20 cents a day, if that, in Sembabule. Thursday night, Indian food at Haandi's. Friday night, Indian food at Nawab. Saturday afternoon, Indian food at Masala Chaat. I may have a serious addiction problem and will need to find good Indian restaurants in the Midwest and New England when I get back to the USA. Garlic naan paired with a delicious Indian dish make me want to run around squealing with happiness. Yes, I mean squealing like a little child on Christmas day.

Shopping in Uganda is not the same as shopping in the States. Obviously. But I have come to enjoy it just as much except for the negotiating prices part. Sometimes it's just nice to have everything at a fixed price and you know exactly how much you need to pay. Arguing with shop owners is not my forte (it's my dad's) and it just gets old after a while. BUT I have managed to finagle some cool stuff to bring back. Including one really sweet silver ring. I probably paid way too much for it, but I love it so that's my justification. Oh and also cuz I'm probably not going to make it to Kenya or on another trip before I leave, SO rather than spending money on hotels, bus tickets, etc... why not just shop?

30 days left in Uganda! Wicked crazy, I know! I'm going to really miss this place. Miss being around the other intern 24/7, attached at the hip. Miss my supervisor who I love and wish I could bring her back to the US with me. And miss everything about Uganda. At the same time, I'm pumped to drive a car by myself on the RIGHT side of the road. Take a hot shower. Not have to worry about frogs jumping out randomly at me, the cow mooing at the crack of dawn, dodging pigs/chickens as I cross the street. I am also rather excited for the male species. I miss the smell of boy, the boy sense of humor, boy everything. Being here has been like being on a man fast again and I have to say it's not exactly the most fun. Though it has helped me find myself and learn more about myself. Blah blah blah cliche I know, but rather true.

I have nothing of real importance to report. So for all you readers in the Midwest who I know personally, see you in a month!!!!!!!!!!!! I want beer, cranberry/vodkas, pizza, Sour Patch Kids, Wheat Thins, and a bread bowl with soup. Thank you very much.