the fam

So I’m in the s.i.t. center on my lunch break. I went out yesterday and bought a loaf of bread and some jam, which should tide me over for awhile and allow me to use the wireless while the other hordes of people are out to lunch. Last night my family asked me what I ate for lunch yesterday and then laughed really hard when I told them I got bread and jam. Apparently eating bread and jam for anything other than teatime is NOT DONE here. Unfortunately, I’m pretty much subsisting on a diet composed entirely of starches, with a few pineapple bits thrown in for good measure. I guess the plan will be to become totally malnourished while I’m here and then eat nothing but salads when I get home. (don’t freak out mom, it’ll be fine.) also, fyi, the internet here at the s.i.t. center is no better, and often worse, than what I’ve been dealing with at the internet cafes, so if my posting and emailing gets even rarer, that’s why. :-(

So MY FAMILY. They’re great!! I have a mom, 4 brothers, and 1 sister. My brothers are Newton who’s in his late 20s, married, and doesn’t live at home anymore; Kenneth, who’s 18; Andrew, who’s 16; and Jethero, who’s 7 and the cutest thing EVER. My sister is 13 and her name is Zerrida. Like an idiot I forgot to address the “what should I call you” issue with my mother early on, so I had to awkwardly ask her last night, and she told me to call her “mommy,” which will take some getting used to.

So Newton, his wife, my mother (er, mommy), and Jethero picked me up on Sunday. I was a little unsure about my mother at first because she seemed very quiet, serious, and standoffish, but I’m sure she was just nervous. Once we all got into the car, the FIRST thing they asked me was if I voted for obama. (I plan on doing an entire post on uganda’s obsession with obama soon.) I live pretty far from the s.i.t. center; in fact, I think I’m the farthest of everyone. (which means they give me extra money to cover my travel costs for the week, and since i’m doing the cheap bread-and-jam thing, I’ll be making a profit!)

My brothers are SO. INCREDIBLY. SWEET. I was pretty nervous because, as you all know, I’ve never had to deal with brothers before, and I don’t come in contact with teenage boys all that often in my day to day life at home and school. they’ve been SO wonderful, though. I keep comparing them to how I imagine most teenage boys in the u.s. would act towards a random new person in the household, i.e., rude/standoffish/too-cool-for-school, and it makes me even more appreciative. They’re so kind and interested and open to all of my stupid questions, and my oldest brother rode the taxi with me to school yesterday and picked me up afterwards to make sure I knew how to do it. Jethero, the youngest, is so smart and hyper and adorable, and also provides nice distractions during awkward moments.

One of the things that’s surprised me most is the amount of tv people watch here. Obviously a lot of people can’t afford to have tvs, but most of the other students in my program are living with families that own tvs, and the consensus seems to be that sitting around the tv all night long is pretty much the norm. my family even eats dinner in front of the tv. Granted, most Ugandans don’t talk while they’re eating (something that’s proving to be VERY hard to get adjusted to, considering dinnertime in the u.s. is when most catching-up happens), but still….i was surprised. A really popular show most families have been watching is the African version of American Idol (I can’t remember what it’s called).

My mother is divorced – something which is VERY taboo in uganda. She didn’t tell me directly; my brothers did. I’m actually happy that I don’t have a homestay father, because that would’ve just been another sensitive situation that I’m glad I don’t have to worry about navigating. So I really want to talk to my mother about what it’s like being divorced in a culture where a divorced woman is so stigmatized, but obviously I need to wait for her to bring it up first. But then, last night, out of the blue, the father appears in the house (he was introduced to me as “andrew’s father”), sits down on the couch and has food brought to him, hardly saying a word to anyone. Apparently he works for the Ugandan parliament and travels a lot, but other than that I don’t know much. He asked me a few questions about the u.s. and then suddenly stood up and left. Hmm…..

Now I know you’re all wondering about the bathroom situation…. They have 1 flush toilet and a shower that doesn’t work, so I take bucket showers in the bathtub. The toilet is in my mother’s room, which means I have to go through her room to the bathroom if I need to go in the middle of the night. They have a pit latrine in the back, but I haven’t used it yet. They have a major garden in the backyard (as do most Ugandans) where they grow most of the food they eat, so even if I’m eating only starches, at least they’re hella fresh, right?

I apologize if this post wasn’t the most eloquent or well thought out; people are streaming back in and I’m feeling very ADD. I know I’m going to think of a million other things I should’ve included as soon as I finish, but this is going to be all for now. I’ll try to include pictures soon! Love you all!!!