simply having a wonderful christmas time! my precious friend debbie sent me an email with that sentiment. of course it only warms one with christmas cheer if you sing it in an oh-so paul mccartney sort of way. as it is, i did have a simply wonderful christmas. may family was here with me! in africa! you must not have heard me. let me repeat myself.
my family came to uganda... it was fantastic. simply.
anecdote #1: here we go a cantata-ing
can-ta-ta (noun) a medium-length narrative or descriptive piece of music with vocal solos and usually a chorus and orchestra.
the christmas cantata in kampala was a 'must see' as we were told. and so we went to see it. and it really was lovely! beautifully descriptive music and expert vocal soloing and choral accompaniment. it was the most christmasy i'd felt the whole season. until some ridiculous woman got up and gave some shpeel about blessings and i threw up in my mouth a little. but the highlights for me would include the little hip hop dancers who did back flips off the stage and especially all the songs about snow. and white christmases. context people. context.
anecdote #2: candy and cocktails. i think those were their names...
my parents, being the beautifully generous people they are, had a christmas surprise in store for us all when they took the fam to spend christmas day and then some in a many-starred hotel in downtown kampala. hot showers. clean sheets. laundry service. food coming out your ears. i could not have imagined a more perfect christmas gift. and in the spirit of festive moods and foods, we went for christmas dinner in the hotel restaurant where we proceeded to stuff ourselves like a christmas turkey.
and then the entertainment appeared. for the next three nights, at every meal, deuce bigalow and his two lovely chinese entertainers would take the stage singing classic covers such as 'we've only just begun,' 'easy (like sunday morning),' and 'hips don't lie.' each night their shorts got a little shorter and by saturday they were in fishnets. merry christmas to all. and to all a good night...
anecdote #3: mzungu, mukono, matooke, matatu
annie: yeah, i really don't like matooke. it's just mushy banana.
family member 1: i'll take some matooke, waiter.
family member 2: i would too please.
annie: hmm...
one of the best aspects of my family as travelers is that we're all willing to try everything at least once. even if told not to. within the first two days the fam had been exposed to much of what life here is about. being shouted at. mzungu! mzungu! (white person! white person!). riding a matatu (a 15 passenger van used as a taxi that seats 23). eating matooke (mashed up unripe matooke bananas. see above dialogue). and walking the hot dusty hill from campus into mukono town (grocery shopping. pineapple purchasing. occasional obama debates). mother, father, sister, and sister all tried it. even if just for once.
and now they're not here any more. and i think i didn't realize how special it was to have them here until they weren't. bouncing on the hotel bed. sitting in traffic for two hours. making dinner. none of those things are quite as doable when you're doing them alone. especially the bed jumping. you just look crazy.
and now as the new year approaches i think even more often about them. last night my boss and his wife had me and phil up to their house for dinner. after delicious indian food and hot cookie pie we sat in the living room and i spilled all the contents of my head all over their coffee table. do you two feel like you're the people you thought you'd be when you were younger? do you think the values that define your personal economic lifestyle also define your integrity? what should my mind be most preoccupied with? part of me thinks i hit a wall of micah and joellen withdrawals and word vomited all over them for lack of a more familiar place to spew them. but they proved to be patient and wise and just what i needed in that moment.
poor phil sat quiet on the couch while i bogarted the conversation.
but i think what was most significant about the whole ordeal was the realization of where my mind has wandered. i don't know what it is i want. do i want to live in a place that makes me laugh? do i want to have a career i can be blushingly proud of? do i want to be not only family but also neighbors? i don't know! i just don't know much any more.
a sweet friend of mine sent me some fun mail several weeks ago. in it, she included chocolate kisses for the office staff. i hid a handful away in my desk drawer before putting the bag out on the conference table. don't judge me. now every once and while, i get an overwhelming email or i read a bbc report or hear a story or remember a nightmare and, before it has time to get me down or get me scared, i open up my desk drawer, peel back the foil paper and put a kiss in my mouth. sometimes i close my eyes. sometimes i wipe away tears. but i always feel better. the chocolate always melts. and if i ever feel like i know nothing else in the world, i do know this. the chocolate always melts. and there are so many chocolate kisses in my life. family. friends. sunny weather. low cost of living. organic vegetables. and unfortunately, many more. because as mark always says, the greatest burden for the american young person is the stress of choices. and so, even for all of those chocolates in my life, i'll stick with the ones in my desk drawer. the simple ones.
because sometimes you just need a kiss on the mouth.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
1995 called, they want harrison ford back
1. the grasshoppers are leaving
2. immigration around here is like playing 'king's quest.' yes you may have your passport back but first, you must go to the bank in kampala, retrieve a receipt and bring it back to me in 24 hours! tomorrow i will send you for a basket of golden apples!
3. students are leaving in 2 weeks
4. as it turns out, you don't cry water. you actually cry a complex chemical makeup of protein hormones and a natural painkiller (who knew??). in addition, tears come from your eyes.
5. i'm out of coffee grounds
6. i fell in a hole. it left a scar on my foot
7. i miss nachos now. it's happening again!
8. my family will be here on the 17th... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
9. new addition to my life's 'to do' list: see the northern lights
10. remember that time carissa had mono and i made her take 3 benedryll to sleep and then asked her to cut my hair? yeah... i do.
11. manchester united is number 3. behind chelsea and liverpool (??). but who cares. bama is UNDEFEATED!
12. yes nicole i did steal your mint oreo and no, i'm not sorry!
13. there is a spider the size of a 4 year old child in my dorm bathroom. he's been there for four days, not moving, in the same spot. we decided that he was dead. then we poked him and he ran up the wall. only a very specific kind of evil has that sort of patience.
14. it stopped raining
15. i've been eating samosas like my life depends on it
16. sophie doesn't swear
17. yesterday in staff meeting we scheduled our way through june. my weekends are planned. i know when i'm flying out. weird.
18. did anyone notice how it's december?
19. sometimes when i forget what it felt like to drive my car with the windows down, i listen to counting crows
20. people are shouting in the office right now and it's giving me a headache
21. mountain dew just came to east africa. UGANDA HAS NEVER BEEN MORE EXCITED!! do the dew...
22. i ate pizza by lake victoria last week. it was delicious and beautiful
23. there are few things i genuinely take very seriously. strawberry scented softlips chapstick is one of them
2. immigration around here is like playing 'king's quest.' yes you may have your passport back but first, you must go to the bank in kampala, retrieve a receipt and bring it back to me in 24 hours! tomorrow i will send you for a basket of golden apples!
3. students are leaving in 2 weeks
4. as it turns out, you don't cry water. you actually cry a complex chemical makeup of protein hormones and a natural painkiller (who knew??). in addition, tears come from your eyes.
5. i'm out of coffee grounds
6. i fell in a hole. it left a scar on my foot
7. i miss nachos now. it's happening again!
8. my family will be here on the 17th... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
9. new addition to my life's 'to do' list: see the northern lights
10. remember that time carissa had mono and i made her take 3 benedryll to sleep and then asked her to cut my hair? yeah... i do.
11. manchester united is number 3. behind chelsea and liverpool (??). but who cares. bama is UNDEFEATED!
12. yes nicole i did steal your mint oreo and no, i'm not sorry!
13. there is a spider the size of a 4 year old child in my dorm bathroom. he's been there for four days, not moving, in the same spot. we decided that he was dead. then we poked him and he ran up the wall. only a very specific kind of evil has that sort of patience.
14. it stopped raining
15. i've been eating samosas like my life depends on it
16. sophie doesn't swear
17. yesterday in staff meeting we scheduled our way through june. my weekends are planned. i know when i'm flying out. weird.
18. did anyone notice how it's december?
19. sometimes when i forget what it felt like to drive my car with the windows down, i listen to counting crows
20. people are shouting in the office right now and it's giving me a headache
21. mountain dew just came to east africa. UGANDA HAS NEVER BEEN MORE EXCITED!! do the dew...
22. i ate pizza by lake victoria last week. it was delicious and beautiful
23. there are few things i genuinely take very seriously. strawberry scented softlips chapstick is one of them
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