Oh Uganda, the things that I have had to put up with in the
Year + that I have been here:
Everyone said that it would be hard moving here, a third
world country, away from friends and family and first world amenities, and they
weren’t wrong, completely. Don’t get me wrong, it has been an amazing time, and
most of the time I love it here, but there comes a time with everything just
begins to wear on you. I believe now is one of those times. Sitting in a DSR (district security
representative) training session, Mr. Bill told us the people we have to watch
out most for are the volunteers a year in, and I now can see why.
Being a volunteer has its positives but it also has many
challenges. The first challenge and probably most important is the food. I
don’t mind the posho, matoke, g-nut sauce and beans, I really don’t, but I do
mind it every day of the week. Grant it, you can put it in any combination that
your heart desires that day; so it does feel like a different meal (posho and
beans, matoke and beans, posho, g-nut sauce and beans, so on and so forth). But
then again, it really is just the same ol’ meal, no matter how much you spice
it up. And let me tell you, it isn’t all that filling. I believe I am one of
those people who lives to eat and not eats to live. And I never realized that
more than coming to Uganda. I have been so grateful for all the food that has
been sent to me, it has been fantastic. But sometimes I want to just order an
egregious amount of take out Chinese/Thai food or a big greasy pan meat lover’s
pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut and not have to spend a good 2-3 hours in the
kitchen before I can eat things from scratch. Oh I do like cooking, now,
surprisingly, I know, but it gets a little disheartening when you open a new
bag of amazing spinach and cheese filled tortellini that was sent by the one and only grandma (Mee-Ma) and find it
covered with weevils. But unlike in America where you would totally get grossed
out, I just pick out the ones that I can and precede to cook the rest and just
think of these pesky little bugs as extra protein. There is no way I am letting
the great food sent over to me go to waste, don’t you worry about that! I have also eaten many o’ peanut ant butter (yes ant not and) and jelly sandwiches and drank my share of bug filled gatorade, but it just gets old after awhile!
It has been a fun experience to get together with my fellow
volunteers (American TLC group, Nick, Andrew and I and zee Germans) and cook
every weekend to change it up, but it is a lot of work but sometimes I feel
like being lazy, I know, crazy! (We have cooked some amazing things all from scratch, Mexican
night, Thai night, Italian night, pizza night, and burger night) The only other
time you can get “delicious” Americanized food is if you travel 6 hours to
Kampala and spend an arm and a leg at the restaurant. Until then I get to eat
cow hoof at our local joint over some nice warm Castel Stout. Oh well, I guess
you win some and you loose some.
No comments:
Post a Comment