The Introvert

So one of the biggest things that I have been reminded as I am here in Uganda is that I am very much an introvert at heart. Take for example tonight. It's Valentine's Day (or as I like to call it...everyone's favorite Hallmark holiday or See's candies favorite holiday...anyway I digress). I am content at being here at home by myself much like every other night spent in Uganda.  Well technically, I live with about 160 students here at the school, but I can choose to be with them or just hang out in my guest house. Most of the time I choose to be in the guest house. So for my special night, I prepared matooke and g-nut sauce for my supper. Of course I had to have a Mirinda Pineapple (thanks Michael for introducing me to my new favorite drink here) with it. After supper, I played Wii (by myself) for about an hour. Then I took a shower, and now I'm writing this just before I will watch the newest episodes of Lost and The Office. Looks like the perfect night for me. I'm content with that.

On the other hand, my counterpart, Ashleigh who is here working at the school as well, went home and got ready to go to a wedding reception with one of the Ugandans from church. She was pretty excited. All I could think of was how I could be stuck there for hours with tons of people that I didn't know and many of which I could not communicate with. I mean I don't really much care for parties when I'm at home in the US unless I know a significant number of people there that will make it less awkward for me.

Don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with friends and family. And many of you would disagree that I am an introvert becuase I am so comfortable around you that I'm not really introverted at those times. However, I've seen it in me more and more during my stay here in Uganda. There are numerous opportunities to do things with other ex-patriots here, but often I choose to stay home and just hang out...me and my best friend, my computer. Some of you might be thinking how sad that is, but until God provides the right woman for me, I'd rather hang out with my computer...

Ugandan Food

This week was an eventful week as far as food was concerned. I've been yearning to learn how to make some Ugandan food since I've been here, but there were unfulfilled promises made by one of pastors' daughters for many months. Now I have a few new friends who were able to teach me to make some different foods. I was blessed by the mom of one of the boarding students with bananas for making matooke. The problem...I didn't know how to peel or prepare the matooke. My friends Brian and Thanx helped me to learn to prepare the matooke with meat. Although I'm not proficient in peeling the bananas, I was able to do it. Cooking it was super easy. The problem...after that meal, I still had over half of the bananas left (even after feeding 4 of us for lunch). Next step...g-nut sauce. I was just waiting and waiting for a few days hoping someone would come to help me prepare g-nut sauce. Finally, Teacher Deborah who stays at the school decided she would come and show me to make the g-nut sauce. So tonight another feast of g-nut sauce and matooke. Did I mention that matooke is my favorite thing to eat here in Uganda? So I'm left with learning how to make chapati and then my life as a Ugandan cook will be fulfilled.

On a different note, I may have mentioned what I normally eat when I eat with the kids: posho and beans. So I was talking with Pastor Richard and Brian and they explained to me that years ago no one ate posho. I didn't really understand how it went from no one eating it to now everyone eating it. However, they told me that posho was so cheap that it wasn't considered food for people, but instead it was what they would feed the dogs. So basically every day I eat the equivalent to Purina puppy chow! Pretty exciting stuff. The scary part, I guess, is that I actaully enjoy it many days during the week. I think what really gets me is having the same meal over and over again. So if the Westmont team is reading this...get ready for dog food lunch!