Home Away from Home

So the greatest thing happened today! I finally got that feeling of not jut being a tourist or tooootally and completely overwhelmed all the time with Kampala! (yaayyy) I feel like I've gotten the hang of many of the "ugandan" ways, such as taking taxis everyday, i know a lot more Luganda now and had my final exam on it this past saturday. I'm getting to know my way around more, getting to remember landmarks and roads (although most roads aren't marked...whoops!) and getting to know go to places for coffee or restaurants or whatever. Yesterday my homestay brother, Peace, took me on a walk around ntinda and the neighboring town. It was really nice because even though I love my homestay family, we don't really hang out very much outside of the house. But he showed me a good running route and we walked through this beautiful wetland. Then he took me to the following town that's really high up and you can see alot of the city which is nice. its even nicer because you can actually breathe! We went to this really nice athletic complex that has a bunch of different fields and a club house where they watch football most of the time. there was a big game of cricket going on at the time but there was also some soccer games and people running around the track. I think i will go running there sometime or run to the field since its not very far along the main road. it was so beautiful there too, there were trees everywehre and you could even see monkeys playin around in the trees. then on the walk back Peace said he didn't know where our house was and I had to show him the way home so i passed the test and found the way home which was good.m

There's another muzungu staying with us for a few days. Her name is Barbara and shes originally from Montreal, but has been living in eastern uganda since 2007 apparently cuz her church or some organization set up a vocational school there. she's really nice but shes a little high maintenance and a little much sometimes but o well. the point is it was funny when she first arrived because even though i dont actually live here i was showing her the ropes and how to make evening toast and tea and suchthings so that was cool, but this morning on the way to school she made us late and she blamed it on my homestay sister which was not cool but whaaaaatever. my little sister Paula and I just listened to my ipod to tune her out and all was good. she's definitely a source of entertainment at times.

When i had the feeling of not being jut a guest in kampala anymore it was on my short walk from the taxi stage to my house in ntinda. sometimes after school some SIT friends and I go to Jeliza hotel on Bombo road which is more centrally located in Kampala so we got htere after school to use internet or just hang out since we know the staff there really well cause we stayed there for our first week in Kampala for orientation. anyways, my friend Tim and I went there to finish watching Shawshank redemption which ive never seen before and because of the movie i left for home later than usual. Usually i leave for home between 3-5 and usually much closer to ntinda in kamokya (which is two towns over from ntinda). so when i left from downtown later it took me sooooo long to catch a taxi to ntinda cause everyone was coming home from work at that time. I was waiting across the street from Jeliza where you should be able to catch a taxi normally, but i was waiting there for 20-30 minutes and noooo taxi were stopping cause they were all full. then i started talking to a ugandan named Richard who is apparently a Preacher for a Born again church. He didn't try to convert me like most other born agains in Uganda, btu i think that's because when i told him I was presbyterian he said "oh your born again" and i was like "i am?" but o well! he was a very nice hospitable Ugandan which is what they're known for and offered to walk me to Wandegeya which is the big taxi stage close to where I was. I wanted to go there originally but it was dark and I thought i might get lost so that was really great to show me how to get there. After being here for almost 6 weeks now (so crazy!) i've gotten better at reading people. because even though Ugandans are really nice sometimes they expect you to take them back to America with you or give be your best friend or something like that. And i've realized that those people are the ones who call you muzungu or ask alot about you first instead of them introducing themselves alot first. So that's another reason why I feel like more of a Ugandan now because I definitely have a better sense of people who have genuinely good intentions versus just wanna talk to a muzungu. Anyways, it was so nice to get taken to Wandegeya cause otherwisei would have been waiting forever and he talked about alot of stuff and eat africa and speawking different languages so it was really cool. then once on my taxi i started talking to the girl sitting next to me who i think was about my age and we talked and talked and talked the whole taxi ride back and apparently she lives right near me in ntinda! so hopefully we'll get to hang out again at some point. but it's just so nice to finally meet people and make Ugandan friends because even though I'm in Uganda and suposed to be on my own SIT really shelters us. sometimes too much so most of the day im just hanging out with americans and then only my homestay family at night so it's nice to finally get to know the city and my town and how everything and everyone works (sidenote: i still have ALOT to learn). but as i was walking home i felt good for making soem new friends and not being afriad to walk to my house when i was dark and i think some of the boda boda people or other people at the market on the way to my house remember me since i walk by them everyday and there aren't many muzungus around haha. when i first started walking home the taxi conductors would always always ask me if i needed a taxi or "ogenda?" (are you going?) but now they don't ask me as often because i think they know i just walk home or just don't need a taxi so that's nice.

yay Uganda!