Saturday, March 24, 2007

First post from Africa!

Okay, now we get to the more useful part of the blog, when I actually post about uganda and the things going on here.

I've been here for three weeks now, and i'm starting to get settled in. my fellow PCTs (peace corps trainees) are awesome, and it's been easy getting to know everyone. other things have taken some getting used to.

firstly, there are no toilets here. i thought that i was fine with this, since there weren't toilets in india either. unfortunately, the ugandan pit latrine is a bit of a step down from that. it's just a cement floor with a small hole in the middle, about the size of a brick. this makes aiming an issue, but still not too big of a deal. the problem is that at night, it becomes party central for monsterous cockroaches. the first night i thought about using it, i opened the door and there were probably 30-40 waiting for me, moving their antennae back and forth for no other reason than to make the scene creepier. i held it.

the food here is also getting a bit tired. it isn't bad, but it's just a bit on the bland side. we eat almost nothing but starches. matooke is the staple, it's mashed up plantains. other than that, there's sweet potatoes, irish potatoes, posho (think cream of wheat without so much cream), millet (don't think about it), and usually some beans (my personal favorite).

training is tedious, but it's fun to hang out with everyone all day. the language is coming along all right. i'm learning ateso, which has no rhyme or reason to it, and happens to be tonal, which means that the pitch and vocal inflection used to say a word can sometimes determine its meaning. it's interesting though.

by virtue of the fact that i'm learning this language, i now have a reasonable idea as to where i'll be headed in a couple of months. the teso region is out east (all of us new volunteers are heading out east) and a bit north. it's near the karamahjong (sp?) tribe, which is a tribe of cattle herders (look it up on wikipedia, it's pretty interesting stuff). it's also a bit warm, so i guess i won't get the endless san diego weather i was hoping for.

okay, that's the basics, i'll throw down an anecdote or two.

on my first day with my host family, i was sitting in the living room doing nothing. this of course was quite the event in the neighborhood, so a small crowd grew outside our window looking inside. when i would wave, they would giggle and some would run away. it was a lot of fun. at the same time, my little brother jacob, who is 5 and always looks like he's done some mischief, decided that i looked like sadaam hussein, and began to call me musadaamhussein. here in uganda, they call foreigners muzungu, which is harmless. they also call asians muchina, and indians muhindi, or muindia, or something of the sort. apparently this has a negative connotation. it's no skin off my teeth, seeing as there's nothing i can do about it.

speaking of which, there's a wall calendar that's posted in a few places called the rise and fall of sadam hussein. there are a bunch of candid shots of him with fun captions beneath. i guess you had to be there.

on sunday, my host dad has decided that we are going to watch indiana jones and the temple of doom. he wants me to explain all of the religious symbolism in it. i tried to explain that most of it isn't very true, but i don't think it quite worked.

i feel bad that i haven't posted anything about the other volunteers here, but i'm not sure if i'm allowed to mention names, so i'll leave it mysterious.

i've been riding around a hero bicycle. it's a single gear, made in india, and it takes a lot of strength to get going. it's nice though, being able to get around town quickly.

my nalgene got stolen on the flight over here, but luckily a friend of mine here is letting me use one of hers. not a big deal, but i felt like a big dork drinking out of my camel bak during training sessions.

i made quite a few enemies a couple of weeks ago at a bar. everyone here supports manchester united, aresenal, chelsea, or liverpool. on st. patrick's day, i happened to be at a local establishment that was playing a man u game. of course, eevryone in the bar was rooting for manchester united. i decided that it was time to teach them about the evils of the top 5 clubs, and how they just try to buy championships, and the usual "how can you root for the yankees" speech. this didn't go so well. they told me that fulham wasn't as good, and i agreed but said that wasn't the point, and they didn't understand and stopped finding me funny. well, i tried.

i received a letter (thanks zach) and it made my week. any and all mail is extremely welcome.

so, my host family is great, they're all really nice, and my host dad knows a lot about international politics, so there's plenty to talk about. they're also really accomodating to my muzungu needs, and i appreciate it greatly.

we've started a PCT writing group, and hopefully i'll have something to post sooner or later. also, i'm trying to drub up interest for a nanowrimo attempt, since genius loves company, and so do i.

okay, i just decided to torture myself by looking at metacritic, and here is my official wish list of cds that people could send me:

LCD soundsystem
Arcade Fire
Andrew Bird
The Besnard Lakes

this may grow, so perhaps a cd full of mp3s is what i want for christmas. please. i'll love you forever.

also, if there are any strangers reading this blog, feel free to contact me as well. i'd like to know if anyone is reading this besides my friends and family. and leave some comments.

okay, i don't really have much to say, and it's really hot, and i'm running out of time. hopefully i'll have access to e-mail every few weeks or so, so feel free to shoot one over my way.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Rishi. You should pump up the anecdotes, since seeing you sitting around the living room doing nothing is inherently funny, and not all that surprising that other people would think so.

I guess I didn't realize that you would be living with a host family, but it's pretty sweet that you get to act as a parasite. f*cking cockroaches, man. That's nuts. I just read an article in the new yorker about spiders and in it, the author took the time to digress to report that black widows are notorious for living in outhouses and feasting on the "pendulous parts." so, it could be worse...

I'm also glad to read that your peace corps pals are good, since as i learned at blockbuster in all the jobs i've had, it's probably the most important factor in how good a time you have there. though, having never liked soccer, i never ran into that problem with any of my co-workers (or have ever given anyone a "how can you root for the Yankees" speech).

--also it seems 3rd world awesome that there are televisions but no toilets. i guess if i had to choose...I mean its possible to go in the woods, but you can't see grey's anatomy without at least the bunny ears (happy Easter!)

zach

George Steinhardt said...

yeah television but no toilettes. Hmm... Don't know about that...

Hang in there. Im sure your cleverness will catch on eventually.

Unknown said...

Rishi,

Good to hear from you, man! I've got one hell of an idea for "Bonanza" - toilets, and lots of them on the way to Uganda. And you said something about being genius?

Seeing that beans are your personal favorite... that probably doesn't bode well when it comes time to let loose in the outhouse.

If you shoot me an email, I'll be happy to send a few CDs and other 1st world must haves.

Jon

Unknown said...

Rishi,

Sorry... meant to say shoot me an email with your address and I'll give the package to Patick, so he can FedEx it to you. Oops, I mean UPS it to you.

Jon

Anonymous said...

they didnt think you were funny because chelsea is the best team in the world, and im sure they all knew that...forget man u. dude, that cocroach stuff is nasty, i immediately imagined thousands of the little guys swarming over a piece of old shit having a shit buffet. sick. next time those little kiddies come looking through the window at the rishi show, give them something to actually look at. take your pants off or something?

actually, you should prolly go find a bunch of them that have a soccer ball, bet it would be a good time.

well glad to see all is well buddy. keep up the good work, look forward to reading more interesting stories in the future.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the shitting situation isn't what it's cracked up to be...

I myself am not looking forward to shitting while sitting on the floor but I think I'll get use to it because from what I hear Depends are hard to come by in Africa. But since reading your post I have started designing my toilet seat... which consists of the following ingredients:

1 strainer
1 jig saw
1 chair (preferabley old or not being used, wouldn't want to piss off the host family)
1 can of insecticide
3 sea shells (Demolition Man ref)

I'm sure you can figure out the rest but the 3 sea shells are a must!

Glad you got there safetly.
PS I got dental clearance still awaiting medical

Talk to you soon
Brian Kremer

Odessa said...

I wish you would have left out the image of the c'roacches moving their antennae around, way to send the chills directly up the ol' spine.

As for the name of the cattle-driving tribe up north...I'm not sure that I exactly believe you or if you've just caught sight of some old Chinese ladies on their evening off.

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