Happy 2011!

Happy New Year to everyone back home and here in Uganda (sorry it is belated)!!

So it has almost been five months since I have been in country and I have learned a lot about the people of Uganda, the culture that dominates everything Ugandans do and/or say and most importantly myself. I am sure that over the next year and a half there will be more trying moments, learning moments and moments of pure elation. I think one of the hardest and most important things I have learned over the past couple of months is to enjoy the alone time that comes with Peace Corps Service. I definitely am a person who goes through people withdrawal due to being an extreme extravert, but there is something very peaceful to be found in the solitude of being alone in your house at site. Over the next year I hope to embrace this seclusion while at site after work, but to cherish even more the time I have to spend with friends and family here in Uganda.

This New Year’s I spent at home fighting off an infection that went away shortly after starting the New Year. New Year’s Day I was invited to my counterpart Josh’s home with his beautiful fiancée Susan. They have become my family here in Kayunga and I miss them terribly when I am away from site for a prolonged period of time. They are supportive and unconditional with me which is a wonderful friendship to have here in country and when I come home. We had a wonderful lunch together and then proceeded to enjoy some ‘tasteful’ Ugandan soap operas for the afternoon (note: Ugandans love soap operas. They stayed glued to the TV. During every episode and do not pause to talk. The soap operas available here in country are all spoken in Portuguese and then dubbed over in English. Most of the soaps here come from Brazil – go figure!)