okay, okay, i promised myself that i wouldn't look at metacritic as long as i was in uganda.
but....
how could this possibly have happened?! how could all of these albums become available so quickly after i have left the country (except elvis perkins which i just didn't know about)
Modest Mouse - We were dead before the ship even sank
rufus wainwright - release the stars
the national - boxer
Frog eyes - tears of the validictorian
arctic monkeys - favorite worst nightmare
wilco - sky blue sky
elvis perkins - ash wednesday
the field - from here we go sublime
battles - mirrored
panda bear - person pitch
also, the following books:
The floating opera, and the end of the road - john barth
the steep approach to garbadale - ian banks
v - thomas pynchon
inheritance of loss - kiran desai
the ground beneath her feet - salman rushdie
you are the greatest people ever to have lived. i am eternally grateful for any and all things sent my way. i know it isn't easy for you to send any of these things, since you mostly have student loans and what not, but this would be so amazing. anyways, if you plan on sending any of them, email me and let me know what's on the way so that i can take the stuff off the list that i've already gotten.
thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Thursday, May 24, 2007
all kinds of time...
okay, so i've finally got a bit of time on a computer, so i can talk about whatever i wish to share.
this does not mean that i have anything important, or of substance to share, so please, keep your expectations low.
i've added a bunch of new links to the right hand side of the page, so please check them out.
also, i've noticed that despite the fact that i'm getting a lot of hits on my page, i'm hardly getting any comments. come on now folks. i'm lonely.
there's a strange phenomenon that occurs with people here from the states. it's called uganglish. we take on this wierd ugandish sounding english accent for no real reason whatsoever, probably because we think it sounds like what everyone else is saying. i think i tend to talk like whoever i am talking to regardless, so i think that may carry over to other people as well. so, when you come to visit me, don't be surprised when i talk all funny around ugandans.
my ateso is getting better, but i'm not really learning much new stuff. i'm just getting better at using what i already know. i'm looking for a tutor right now, so hopefully that'll take care of itself soon enough.
my bats have been eradicated. i haven't been back to my house since the carnage, so we'll see what kind of hideous smell their dead bodies may have brought upon my residence since then. it's possible that i won't be sleeping at home for a few days. the unofficial final count was somewhere around sixty.
i'm at a conference in soroti right now, and it'll be over shortly. luckily, after many days of trying, the internet is finally up here, and i can puruse useless information on imdb and wikipedia at a liesurely pace. ah, the joy of knowing derek lee's batting average...
the bike ride took a lot more out of me than i expected. i'm going to have to start training a bit more heavily before i start doing these long trips. i'm only now feeling 100% again. i don't think the diet here is all too condusive to major physical activity. still, i think i'll be able to make longer trips once i start putting some effort into preparing for them.
i've lost some weight. i'll wait until the number gets a bit more impressive before saying how much, but it isn't too hard to lose weight when some evenings you're just not in the mood to spend two hours cooking by headlamp in order to eat an omelette.
champions league final last night went pretty well, but watching soccer really just makes me want to play. i'm finally going to inflate my ball when i get back to site, and begin training for the 2014 world cup.
i really need to spend some money on cooking materials. my camping mess kit is pretty limited. at the same time, i'd rather spend my money on daytrips to mbale, so it's going to be a tough call. i can always just buy rolexes...
the people in my village are still far too interested in me. it's a wierd task to try and make myself as mundane as possible, but i think i can do it.
i hope i'm doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone updated with what's going on over here, but my resources are kind of limited, so sorry if i'm not sending out enough e-mails. i send out what i can whenever i get a chance.
okay, i'm starving. time to go forage for food. thanks to everyone who has e-mailed me, sent me letters, and most of all, sent me packages.
godspeed
this does not mean that i have anything important, or of substance to share, so please, keep your expectations low.
i've added a bunch of new links to the right hand side of the page, so please check them out.
also, i've noticed that despite the fact that i'm getting a lot of hits on my page, i'm hardly getting any comments. come on now folks. i'm lonely.
there's a strange phenomenon that occurs with people here from the states. it's called uganglish. we take on this wierd ugandish sounding english accent for no real reason whatsoever, probably because we think it sounds like what everyone else is saying. i think i tend to talk like whoever i am talking to regardless, so i think that may carry over to other people as well. so, when you come to visit me, don't be surprised when i talk all funny around ugandans.
my ateso is getting better, but i'm not really learning much new stuff. i'm just getting better at using what i already know. i'm looking for a tutor right now, so hopefully that'll take care of itself soon enough.
my bats have been eradicated. i haven't been back to my house since the carnage, so we'll see what kind of hideous smell their dead bodies may have brought upon my residence since then. it's possible that i won't be sleeping at home for a few days. the unofficial final count was somewhere around sixty.
i'm at a conference in soroti right now, and it'll be over shortly. luckily, after many days of trying, the internet is finally up here, and i can puruse useless information on imdb and wikipedia at a liesurely pace. ah, the joy of knowing derek lee's batting average...
the bike ride took a lot more out of me than i expected. i'm going to have to start training a bit more heavily before i start doing these long trips. i'm only now feeling 100% again. i don't think the diet here is all too condusive to major physical activity. still, i think i'll be able to make longer trips once i start putting some effort into preparing for them.
i've lost some weight. i'll wait until the number gets a bit more impressive before saying how much, but it isn't too hard to lose weight when some evenings you're just not in the mood to spend two hours cooking by headlamp in order to eat an omelette.
champions league final last night went pretty well, but watching soccer really just makes me want to play. i'm finally going to inflate my ball when i get back to site, and begin training for the 2014 world cup.
i really need to spend some money on cooking materials. my camping mess kit is pretty limited. at the same time, i'd rather spend my money on daytrips to mbale, so it's going to be a tough call. i can always just buy rolexes...
the people in my village are still far too interested in me. it's a wierd task to try and make myself as mundane as possible, but i think i can do it.
i hope i'm doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone updated with what's going on over here, but my resources are kind of limited, so sorry if i'm not sending out enough e-mails. i send out what i can whenever i get a chance.
okay, i'm starving. time to go forage for food. thanks to everyone who has e-mailed me, sent me letters, and most of all, sent me packages.
godspeed
Saturday, May 19, 2007
hot shower!
so, as most, if not all of you know, i'm not a girl. still, the pleasure of a hot shower is far from lost on me, and this morning was luscious. i'm in mbale again, and a whole lot has happened since my last post.
firstly, i'm a PCV now. i'm no longer a trainee, but a real volunteer. i think it's a silly distinction, and i think that trainee is a bit of a belittling name. regardless, it's nice to be at site, and living la dolce vita.
someone mentioned to me that they only just figured out what my blog's title meant. for those who haven't, my last name is desai, the title is not a horrific error in spelling.
the last couple of weeks of training were tedious, tumultous, sad, and anxious. we all wanted to get to site, but i'm pretty sure we didn't want to leave one another. yeah, i know, sappy as hell. anyways, it hasn't been so lonely yet, but i've only spent a few nights at site.
but rishi, you ask, didn't you guys swear in over a week ago? shouldn't you have been at site for nine days now?
well, i'm glad you asked. swearing in went great, brett and i gave speeches, both of which seemed to go over well. unfortunately, our college had car trouble, and couldn't pick us up that night. they picked us up the next day (free night in kampala = nothing to complain about), and started dropping the six of us associated with the college off at our respective sites. unfortunatley, we ran late, so i ended up sleeping at the college that night. the following night, i slept at my site finally! pictures to come later. then, i needed to buy a mattress, so i went to mbale with my college's truck (don't worry peace corps, i wasn't driving) and picked up a bunch of stuff. as fate once again came between my lovely new home and my lovely old self, we got caught in a massive thunderstorm, and i just crashed at the college again. the following night, i finally got to sleep at my place again, this time with a mattress!!!
[mom and dad, stop reading here]
sadly, i wasn't the only one with such a plan. yes, that's right, i have somewhere between 20 and 40 roommates. they live in the rafters. i call them 'the boys', but you would probably know them better as bats. now, i don't mind bats. they're loud as hell, but i can sleep through the noise. they stay up in the roof, i stay down below, everything's kosher. except that they shit all over the place. i can't keep anything against my walls, because every morning there's a pound of bat guano lining the corners. i mean seriously fellas, if you want to live with me, have the courtesy to shit outside. so all of my things in my bedroom and kitchen are being stored in island formation in the middle of the rooms. hopefully i can get my place fumigated, but that would mean not staying at my place for another few weeks. and i like my place. oh uganda.
[you can come back now]
i got a sweet bike. it's a y-frame full sus mountain bike with shimano parts. pretty slick if i say so myself. i rode it to soroti the other day, which is about 35k from my house. it wouldn't have been so hard if the last 10 weren't through a thunderstorm. man, i bitch way too much. okay, enough complaining.
so, just as my friends and family seem to be reading all of the other uganda pcv blogs, it seems that some of the other pcv friends and family are reading mine. firstly, i would like to tell you that your friends/spouses/children/sibblings/tap-dancing instructors are some of the best people i've ever met. hats off to you for making them that way, then conveniently sending them to me. feel free to drop me a line sometime, human contact is a wonderful thing.
i made contact with the mysterious dutch cheese maker. it's gonna be game time soon enough.
i'm in the process of writing letters to the people who have sent me mail recently. thanks to annie and zach for the latest batch. and thanks to everyone who said that there is mail on the way, i assure you that the mail system here is far less efficient than they told you when you sent it out.
peace out folks, i just realized that i forgot to check out of my hotel.
awanyunos bobo!
firstly, i'm a PCV now. i'm no longer a trainee, but a real volunteer. i think it's a silly distinction, and i think that trainee is a bit of a belittling name. regardless, it's nice to be at site, and living la dolce vita.
someone mentioned to me that they only just figured out what my blog's title meant. for those who haven't, my last name is desai, the title is not a horrific error in spelling.
the last couple of weeks of training were tedious, tumultous, sad, and anxious. we all wanted to get to site, but i'm pretty sure we didn't want to leave one another. yeah, i know, sappy as hell. anyways, it hasn't been so lonely yet, but i've only spent a few nights at site.
but rishi, you ask, didn't you guys swear in over a week ago? shouldn't you have been at site for nine days now?
well, i'm glad you asked. swearing in went great, brett and i gave speeches, both of which seemed to go over well. unfortunately, our college had car trouble, and couldn't pick us up that night. they picked us up the next day (free night in kampala = nothing to complain about), and started dropping the six of us associated with the college off at our respective sites. unfortunatley, we ran late, so i ended up sleeping at the college that night. the following night, i slept at my site finally! pictures to come later. then, i needed to buy a mattress, so i went to mbale with my college's truck (don't worry peace corps, i wasn't driving) and picked up a bunch of stuff. as fate once again came between my lovely new home and my lovely old self, we got caught in a massive thunderstorm, and i just crashed at the college again. the following night, i finally got to sleep at my place again, this time with a mattress!!!
[mom and dad, stop reading here]
sadly, i wasn't the only one with such a plan. yes, that's right, i have somewhere between 20 and 40 roommates. they live in the rafters. i call them 'the boys', but you would probably know them better as bats. now, i don't mind bats. they're loud as hell, but i can sleep through the noise. they stay up in the roof, i stay down below, everything's kosher. except that they shit all over the place. i can't keep anything against my walls, because every morning there's a pound of bat guano lining the corners. i mean seriously fellas, if you want to live with me, have the courtesy to shit outside. so all of my things in my bedroom and kitchen are being stored in island formation in the middle of the rooms. hopefully i can get my place fumigated, but that would mean not staying at my place for another few weeks. and i like my place. oh uganda.
[you can come back now]
i got a sweet bike. it's a y-frame full sus mountain bike with shimano parts. pretty slick if i say so myself. i rode it to soroti the other day, which is about 35k from my house. it wouldn't have been so hard if the last 10 weren't through a thunderstorm. man, i bitch way too much. okay, enough complaining.
so, just as my friends and family seem to be reading all of the other uganda pcv blogs, it seems that some of the other pcv friends and family are reading mine. firstly, i would like to tell you that your friends/spouses/children/sibblings/tap-dancing instructors are some of the best people i've ever met. hats off to you for making them that way, then conveniently sending them to me. feel free to drop me a line sometime, human contact is a wonderful thing.
i made contact with the mysterious dutch cheese maker. it's gonna be game time soon enough.
i'm in the process of writing letters to the people who have sent me mail recently. thanks to annie and zach for the latest batch. and thanks to everyone who said that there is mail on the way, i assure you that the mail system here is far less efficient than they told you when you sent it out.
peace out folks, i just realized that i forgot to check out of my hotel.
awanyunos bobo!
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