A Day in the Life

Now that I've been here a week I'm finally starting to get into the groove of things.  And I truly needed the full week to adjust.  Uganda is the 9th country in the world I've traveled to and by far the hardest to adjust to. When I was in Assisi, Italy it took me 10 minutes to adjust, Japan would always take a day or two, Uganda took a full 7 days.  I'm finally starting to feel comfortable and enjoy myself.

Here is a list of some of the everyday facets of my life in Mengo that someone from the Western world (like myself a week ago) probably doesn't take into full consideration, but first more pictures of where I'm staying:

the guesthouse from the front outside

the white patio furniture is where we eat most out meals

a really cool ladder laying directly outside my room

- The truly constant stream of honking horns and traffic that you hear all day long and all night long

- The weird exhaust/garbage smell that used to make me feel sick all the time- now it only does on long car rides (cars here typically don't have AC so they just drive with all the windows down- and for someone like me who gets motion sickness very easily, the number of potholes combined with the smell still does me in)

- Brushing my teeth in bottled water every day, and in general avoiding consuming the tap water

- How much red dust gets everywhere.  Seeing piles of red dust wash down the drain every single time I wash my hands or shower, watching wipes turn red after wiping my face. 

very red dirt + sun = red dust everywhere!

- Washing my clothes in a bucket... And watching all my laundry water turn red  from the dust on my clothes after a few seconds and rinsing them 4 or 5 times until I give trying to get it all out and deal with it.  (I'll post a picture here next time I do laundry)
* The hung laundry here looks so bright whimsical

Of course the one time I hung my laundry to dry it rained all night, and all my shirts are gray and white so it just looks sad and ugly

my very sad, wet laundry

*Thats another thing I love here- how bright everyone's clothes are.  I never wear bright colors at home and I love that I see it everywhere in Uganda

- The policemen here (and they're only men) wear blue camo uniforms and carry rifles infront of the mall, next to the market, the clinic, etc.  I'm not used to seeing that many police officers out and about, and definitely not with rifles slung on their shoulders. 
* Also the amount of barbed wire coiled on top of fences and buildings 

- Stray dogs and cats in the streets

- Public announcements on the radio and billboard signs that propagate the coming generation to 1) have smaller families and 2) get tested for HIV. (Uganda currently has the highest birthrate in the world)

- Sleeping under mosquito nets 

my bed

- The human touches.  For example seeing hung laundry everywhere reminds you that someone there took the time to hang out each individual article from their wash.  A more exciting example that I found unnecessarily thrilling: 

Coming back from the supermarket and realizing my loaf of bread was hand-sliced!