More than just a little overdue...

Well, on this lovely Sunday afternoon I am currently sipping an extra sweet cup of hot black tea, enjoying the breeze as I am sitting in the dining hall, listening to Barlow Girl and looking at the sun gradually setting. As usual I have a pile of papers that I should be doing but I am oddly content and peaceful simply sitting here instead, despite those circumstances. The breeze is especially nice after walking back from my host family’s home in Mukono. I definitely worked up a sweat after walking a good part of the afternoon in the heat. Now I am cooling down but still able to enjoy the warm cup of tea so I don’t get too chilly. It was interesting to able to accompany one of my brother’s to his visitation day for secondary school today while I visited the family. It’s like a parent teacher conference essentially. Except that Denis, my eldest brother, acted as Allan’s, my other brother, father and I acted as his mother. I commented on the family resemblanceJ. As I walked back to campus from the meeting with Allan’s teachers, I was reflecting on my time here in Uganda. I was finding it hard to not take an evaluative mindset as I go about my time. I feel like I could not fit anything else into my semester and at the same time I feel as though I need to see, taste, hear, and experience the things that I have not yet, which feels like everything. I know I need to stop grading my time and just feel free to experience the moments as they come, but I fear how little time I have left. It makes my heart sag so much and so often. I am actually sitting here with a friend named Peterson who has been commenting on how sad he will be when the group of American students leave, but I cannot imagine my life without the Ugandans students I have met either. I do not know what I will do when I go back to America. I am ready to see my loved ones again, so in that respect, as well as my complete lack on energy, indicates how ready I am to go back home. But with how I have been changed by my time here with the people and things that I have experienced, I cannot imagine leaving either. *45 minutes later* I just finished a discussion with Peterson. Although I do not think he understood some of what I was trying to communicate, I still appreciated his attentiveness and genuine desire to engage in what I had to offer as much as I wanted to hear what he had to say. It’s ironic that I just had an insightful talk with a student while typing about my time here and its lack of meaningful experiences. Another quirk of fate would have it that right now sitting four tables away from me is the newly appointed president of the student body and on the TV is a piece about the also newly appointed president of our nation, Barack Obama, whom everyone here in Uganda has been raving about with much enthusiasm. Everywhere I go it’s either, “Did you vote for Obama?” or “Hey Obama’s people!” or “Yes we can!” The timing is unfortunate for coming here to Uganda considering I avoid political discussions or debates generally, when everyone is most passionate about having those discussions…*Monday 30th* Yay! We have internet again J Lots of work to do this week, but wanted to finally submit a post since my first one. A thousand apologies for not updating for the majority of this semester! Hope this at least satisfies some people’s interests!