Last week kind of sucked. Lots of little things contributed, but a few of the main ones were waiting around for various carpenters and repairmen to work on things like my door frame, a leak in my roof, and some bees that were too close for comfort. All the waiting for people to come by meant limited time walking around my village greeting and getting to know people. School is on break right now until the 23rd, so a lot of people who are here normally are gone, which adds to the uncertainty of who is who and what do they do. I generally felt like I sucked as a volunteer because I wasn't out being proactive and making dinner for my neighbors and inviting them over and all that jazz.
On Wednesday I broke down and wandered to the market, hoping not to miss anyone coming by to work on my house, because God knows when they'd come by again. The market in Boroboro leaves much to be desired and it looks like I'll be traveling into Lira for most of my food that isn't tomatoes or onions. Wednesday and Thursday all I ate were eggs, tomatoes, and onions. And then I got sick. The fun kind of sick that leaves me trotting to the latrine every so often. The kind of sick that makes me miiissssss a real bathroom. I went through the handbook the PCMOs gave us and started treating myself with the rehydration salts, and no food for a few days. This just added to the fun of sitting around and waiting for things to be done, as well as not getting out into the village to chat with people, as I wanted to be no more than a short walk to my latrine.
Friday after my doorway was finally done being framed with cement, I went over and borrowed a mop from my neighbor to clean up the mess. Several people asked me if I needed help cleaning during the week, because apparently it looked like I wasn't able to clean floors, when in reality I just hadn't made an effort to do so since the work hadn't been finished yet. The brooms here look like those cinnamon brooms one can buy during the Christmas holidays, except a little more full. Driving up from Kampala last week, I saw a woman, in the pouring rain, sweeping a gutter along a busy road with one of those brooms and a dust pan. She had on a vest that said something to the effect of "I work for the Ugandan National Roads such and such." It's amazing to me the effort people in this country put into cleaning things that will so easily get dirty so quickly again... especially since two minutes down the road there was flooding up to people's roofs. Anyway, back to my floor. Knowing that I'd just have to do it all over again, I put off mopping till the job was finished. I also moved my kitchen things into the second room because I've been finding way too many bugs in and among my things to make me happy. And plus there won't be a door between the sitting room and kitchen for a while (if ever) and I'd rather just have it all together.
Saturday I went into Lira and meandered through the market, bought mangoes at a discount because I talked to the woman for a while in Lango and made friends with her, I spent 50,000/= at the Indian Supermarket, and I purchased ingredients for fun foods such as tortillas, spaghetti sauce, and risotto. I can't wait till the package from my mom arrives with all my spices :D I scrubbed the latrine when I got home and half-ass built a cover for it to cut down on the number of flies, I washed some laundry, ate four tiny bananas (BRAT diet), and generally meandered around. I made rice for dinner last night but prepared it like risotto, so it was extra creamy and delicious. Today I'm off to buy some paint to finally paint my walls... I have no idea what colors but hopefully something will tickle my fancy. I feel like painting will make it seem more "mine" because then I can put up my pictures and maps and stuff that I've been avoiding doing since the construction was going on and I knew in the back of my mind that I was going to paint anyway.
I know all this is normal, the getting sick, feeling like things are taking forever, feeling like "why am I even doing this?"... It just sucks to actually be in the middle of it. This week will be better.
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