My House

Finally, I have moved into the house I will call home for the next 23 months. I absolutely love it. I've lucked into much better accommodations than most of the volunteers. I have electricity and running water, though both have gone out numerous times during my first three days. I don't have hot water so I have been boiling water for bathing; I much prefer hot bucket baths to cold showers. I am blessed beyond belief to have a gas stove and oven, I can bake bread and cookies and casseroles! And, wait for it... I have a frig with freezer!!!! It's a tiny college dormroom type frig with freezer, but I'm thrilled I can buy dairy products and make ice cubes. Hahaha, it's the little things in life, can you image giving up your frig in the States!?

Here is the before picture. I was a bit miffed when I first saw it, but that's how the locals live. Can you see the little girl on the left? She lives on the other side of the duplex with her mom and two brothers. Cute kids. The mom is the worker at the executive guest house that is next door. She is very nice and I think will be a big help in getting me adjusted to my new surroundings. 

Here is my house now. Nice, huh? I'll take beautiful glass windows over wooden shutters any day, even though I ended up spending most of my moving in allowance on curtains. The workers even put up a bamboo fence to keep the kids out. The fence is still only half finished... may take another month for that to be done at the rate these guys work. Before and after pictures of the yard  will come later. Right now it is all dirt but I plan to grow my own vegetables and maybe put some flowers around the porch. It will be awesome. 

Here is the view from the front door. As you can see, I still need furniture, but I have enough to be comfortable. I don't have a before picture of the interior. Essentially it was empty, they completely built the kitchen from scratch, and of course the windows weren't there, the floor was torn up, and the ceiling had water damage; it was vacant for years and just left to rot. Anyway, all better now. The bathroom is the door on the left (yes, western style toilet, no pit latrine for me) and the bedroom is on the right. There are actually two bedrooms on the right, so guests are welcome. I was able to get beds, now I just need a table and maybe some better chairs for the living room. Oh yeah, and a rug, cement floors are cold... I still cannot believe how cold it gets here. We've entered rainy season so it's damp and chilly. I'm told it will stay that way until January so I must invest in blankets and socks. 

This awesome tree behind my house is home to a family of owls. How lucky am I, lizards and owls and tons and tons of birds. 

Now I guess I need to get to work, start earning my keep around here. I still have not started any projects. I can't figure out how to get the ball rolling and the culture seems to be very non-confrontational. Nobody has asked me to do anything yet (none of the Ugandans that is, Peace Corps staff is a different story) and I get the impression that I could easily let two years slip by without making any significant impact. I need to get aggressive about doing something that qualifies as supporting Peace Corps goals. 

Save that for another day though, right now I think I'll take a stroll through the tea fields, look at the birds, and greet some locals in Rotooro... because greetings are all I know, my language skills are bad! After the "hi, how are ya", I keep walking.