nvuddeyo!

"kulikayo" means "welcome back" in luganda, and the response is "nvuddeyo" which means "i have returned."

so i'm back from the east. but before i can even begin writing about what went down there i have to say

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD I GOT MY PACKAGE TODAY I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY OH MY GOD.

seriously. i got it and opened it and the first thing i saw was the j.crew catalogue and i couldn't even go on. i had to set it aside and wait a few hours. literally. and then i sort of began rummaging through it and as soon as i started getting a sense for how intense it was i almost started to cry so i set it aside again. i'm afraid i'm never going to actually be able to look at everything without wanting to die. it's so amazing i feel guilty. i don't deserve you all, but for some reason you seem to like me so i'm just gonna go with it. all of my muzungu peers were SO JEALOUS of me this morning. i think they're all living vicariously. i looked through the jcrew catalogue like 10 times with 10 different people and it's so covered in drool it's falling apart. god you guys are amazing. clearly i don't have the words to thank you properly. hopefully i'll be able to get through it tonight and then tomorrow maybe i can fully acknowledge how damn lucky i am. mama, i did see what you included for jethro....you are so cool. he's going to die. i already told him that everyone back home wants me to bring him back with me, and i think he's down.

seriously i'm so overwhelmed by the package that i can't make this a proper post. i'm just going to post some pictures and that will have to suffice for now, k?

first, here are some pictures of my living room and dining room and bedroom (complete with mosquito net) in kampala:




here are pictures of the eastern excursion/rural homestay

(1) the house i stayed in with my partner and 2 of my sisters (we didn't stay in one of the grass huts because it was pouring rain the whole time and they said the huts leaked)

(2) our bathroom (there's a hole in the corner where you squat and pee but the ground isn't slanted enough so it's basically impossible to pee without peeing all over your feet. there's a pit latrine outside for things other than peeing, but you damn well better not have to poop during the night because it's pitch black and likely pouring and you have to walk across the compound to get to the pit latrine). this is also where you bathe. 1-stop-shopping!

(3) our sitting room

(4) the grass huts that the rest of the family sleeps in

(5) family portrait

(6) 1 of my 15 rural siblings, faye -- the cutest little girl EVER (she also had ringworm, i think, which made me sad)

(7) my rural homestay partner, stephanie, and i

(8) our typical dinner (unfortunately they don't eat much matooke in the east, so i'll have to take a photo for you here in kampala where we eat it at EVERY MEAL. i've actually come to really like it and i missed it last week)

(9) the obama calendar our rural homestay family had hanging in their sitting room