Such a delicious smell!
So much better week. Started off a
little anxiety ridden for unknown reasons. A simple culprit that I see is the
time that I go to sleep. It isn’t even a matter of how much sleep I get, but if
I’m in bed by 2230, I have a much better day the next day. Very interesting! In
talking with my mom, we talked about the underlying subtle exhaustion that
comes from even listening to a different language all day. I don’t even really
notice until it’s nighttime and I fall asleep like a cat every night. I’m ok
with that!
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| coffee plant! |
My other thoughts are that there will be good weeks and bad
weeks and just to take them in stride. Here are some observations and
activities that I think made this week better:
Things that helped:
- · So this is kind of sort of completely a white privilege website, but I really love their articles and find they promote a great sense of wellbeing. I stumbled on this article this week, exactly what I needed!
So repeating the saying: “It’s none of my business what people think of me.” I’ve needed this mantra since I was about 4. It still feels weird to say to my self in terms of the Ugandans because I really want to help and want to build a good relationship with them but this mantra has been helping a little to manage my worry.
I want to explore resiliency more. I could grit my teeth through things in the states but here, I fear that if I grit my teeth I will grind them down and become bitter, jaded, hardened. I think resiliency is the antidote but it is something I know little about.
- · I rearranged my schedule to give myself time in the mornings to type up emails and documents and then I stay in school later, avoiding the dreaded afternoon angsty time.
- · Reminding myself the importance of taking a break from site. My site is gorgeous but it gets claustrophobic. I live and work on the same campus. Going to town, eating a veggie burger and spending time as not the outsider alien is very crucial to my mental wellbeing. It reminds me that this experience is short and to not take anything too seriously. I also loved spending a few hours on my NHL app, Go Caps!
Things I’m proud of
myself for:
- · Washing dishes, bed sheets, mopping my floors, and cleaning my latrine all with 5L of water (basically 5 nalgine bottles)
- · Cooking a phenomenal breakfast burrito
- Starting to take pictures
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| Pictures just do not do the beauty of this place justice! But here is the sunset over the papayrus swamp at my site |
Things I’m excited
for:
- · Setting up the library at my school. It is dusty and gross and will take a while but I think it will be very beneficial. This week, we threw away some history- exam papers dating back to the ’70s but they were moldy and eaten and we made room for the new!
- · My site mate started a Girls In Action club at the college last year. I went to their meeting on Monday and got very excited to join the club and to possibly start one at the Primary School.
- · My friend Aran compiled a great list of books about social justice and diversity issues in Uganda. I am hoping my afternoons become reading time as I wait for things to cool off before I go running.
Things that still
make me uncomfortable because I feel like I know nothing so I need to take a
deep breathe and just do them:
·
Gardening and starting a compost pile
So it’s a roller coaster every day but things are moving
forward! On Thursday this week it is National Drop Everything And
Read, DEAR day! Alaina and I have created a program where the college kids are
going to come to the primary school and read to the pupils so across the next
two days I’m going to talk to each class and read a small story to them so I am
very excited to be getting into the classes and helping to spread enthusiasm
for reading.
And possibly the most exciting- The first time my clothes have been unpacked since November 9, 2014!!! Yea!!!
Also! I am traveling this weekend to a friend’s site for a
big birthday party! It is in the southwest of Uganda which is supposed to be gorgeous
so I promise to take more pictures!
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| My new book shelf and ugandan closet! |
You're a rock star!
ReplyDeleteHaving lived much of my adult life in other cultures, and minus the language, I know somewhat of your feelings as 'the other.' But take another angle; you are more free to be yourself than you could ever imagine back home. Nobody where you are now expects you to be like them, or like anything they know. And they will receive and respect whatever you you chose to give them.
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