But I Don't Dream in Colour...

[this is taken directly from my journal].

10-12-08 12:35pm.
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I just woke up from another dream which suggests that my dream world doesn't consider Rexville [where my grandparents live in New York, USA] and Bukoto [the village in southern Uganda where I currently reside] to be so far apart. In this one, some aunt and uncle--not sure who and can't remember their names, but I half-recognised them, just as I do every time I go to Lewis family reunions. They were driving from New York to visit Heatwoles in Virginia, and they had room in their mini-van, so they gave Melissa a ride here. How Uganda is on a driving route between Rexville and McGaheysville, or why Melissa was in NY in the first place were not relevant questions until I woke up. As I was talking to this aunt about some mundane topic of American life, who should wander down the hill (our compound isn't actually built on a slope), but Amber. Stan and Diane had stopped, too. I returned to the house to find a large contingent of my Lewis cousins eating matooke and beans side by side with my brothers and sisters. Strange wonders from this scene: Maama was not at all surprised by their presence, had enough food for all these extra people, and was letting guests eat on the floor with our family. When I asked Maama if they knew what they were eating, she said no, but they seemed to be enjoying it. The last thing I remember is me saying, to the great amusement of my Ugandan family, "Tugenda kulya ensenene"* and not translating into English. Oh, the strange wonder of dreams.
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*In English: "We're going to eat grasshoppers."

A Name with a Vowel

Gann ended an email this morning with the following quote...

"And by the way, congratulate your parents on giving you a name with a vowel at the end--your new family would put it there if it wasn't already there!"

And, I laughed right out loud!

Yep, I'm the kid who got lucky enough to have parents who (unintentionally) named me properly for my East African adventures :)

My New Home...

As I have been compiling medical forms and studying for my online TEFL certification class, my contacts in Uganda have been busy figuring out where I will be living for the next year. Dale and Gann, the MCC reps based in Kampala, recently sent me some information about my host family (apparently, they visited Bukoto last week).

I will be living with the Katongole family ("pronounced kah-ton-gol-eh with the o sounding like the English words 'tone' and 'goal' and the accent on the second syllable"). Mr. Joseph Katongole is a businessman who spends most of the week in Kampala. Mrs. Janet Katongole keeps the house and family in order while he's away. They have 9 children: 3 adults who've finished university, 3 at various secondary (boarding) schools, and 3 still at home. They living in Bukoto trading centre, about a kilometer from Jude Junior School, where I will be teaching. I'll have my own bedroom, toilet, and bathing area (with rainwater)... and electricity whenever the power happens to be on. Gann writes, "We think you will be very comfortable there--Ugandans are very hard to persuade that a visitor should not have the very best!"

Some of my family: Michael, Janet, and Aloyisius.



A picture of my house with Dale, Aloyisius, Michael, Janet, Gann, and Father Peter Paul (the parish priest in Bukoto):


The last few days have been filled with many goodbyes, as friends and family send me forth into the great unknown of East Africa. The sadness of saying goodbye is soothed a bit, however, by the joy and excitement of meeting (through pictures and email descriptions) people I will soon know very well.