Yesterday, I wrote a letter to the First Lady of Uganda, Janet Museveni.  She’s the latest in a long list of meetings I’m trying to set up to build AIESEC partnerships.

More on that later.  Actually, I was out-of-commission for most of last weekend, since I picked up a cold.  I got the cough and fever checked out, but nothing serious.  I think I had weakened my immune system the day I sprayed my room with permethrin (a long-term mosquito repellant).  I managed to disband the throng of mosquitoes that had taken up residence in the dark corners of my closet.  It’s astounding how many of these micro-vampires are constantly around … but they’re no match for my mosquito net and newly permethrin-treated pajamas :)

     

Some shots of my side of the room … decorations coming soon.

I’ve found it hard to blog recently, because I have actually been socially over-stimulated.  It’s the Ugandan way to always have a long chat around “how are you? … how’s everything going?”  As such, I have ample time to reflect and process nearly everything that comes my way during conversations with friends.  So at least today, my blog is turning from being reflective to more anecdotal.

I’ve found a great alternative to the herbal tea I would take in the evenings while in the US.  Here I can buy 10 passion fruits for $0.50.  I simply cut one open, scoop out the juicy flesh & seeds, and pour hot water over.  Simply amazing.

I’ve finally gotten connected with a 3G internet modem for my laptop, so I theoretically have access anytime/anywhere.  My challenge is now to find time to use it, since my days have been packed with moving around town and having meetings from morning until 9pm.  Then to maintain balance between working and personal relationships with AIESECers, we take dinner together and chat.  Evenings are a time to visit each other in the hostels, and visits often come unannounced.  Eventually I will find a way to schedule time for my own work and online socializing.  But for now, I love the opportunity to find community here, rapidly improve my cultural literacy, and embrace the spontaneity of events.

AIESEC Uganda- Member Committee 2009-2010
From left: Eunice, Wakib, Irene, Vicky, Kish, Frank, Drew, Bella

As for AIESEC stuff, I’ll leave it for another post.

My mandatory meeting at the U.S. Embassy was surprisingly enjoyable, completely due to the Ugandan woman who oversees the Fulbrighters. While I don’t foresee myself having close friends among the Americans working there, at least she’s a wonderful contact. She taught me that my favorite food (katunkuma, or bitter peas) is stereotyped as “grandma’s food,” which gave us a good laugh. We covered so much ground on cultural sensitivity and streets-smarts, my head is still spinning. And I plan to volunteer by interviewing Ugandan students who apply for scholarships to study in the U.S. …this would also involve counseling about formatting the CV and application essays – putting those years working at the Admissions Office to good use :)

One frivolous & extravagant activity, though – I went out for the premier of the new Harry Potter movie in Kampala at 11:30pm.  I was shocked to run into Sarah (Yale ’08), who I learned has been working for a year in Kampala!  Then I also bumped into a businessman from Congo to whom my boss had introduced me the week before.  I generally avoid activities as exclusive as a movie theater, but this occasion turned out to be great (not to mention I liked the film).

I was at API for three days last week, catching up with my co-workers from last summer. I’m especially proud that the researchers whom I recruited is still there, and the laboratory is being utilized for experiments. This Friday, I’ll be there to begin teaching them the theory behind Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy.  We’ve got labs at Yale that run the samples, and my goal is for them to be proficient in interpreting the spectra by the end of the summer.