Meme

[amalthya]

I decided since I'd literally gone from one end of the world to the other in 2006 that I might be interested to do the standard post-a-month meme that's been going around with delirium6969 and flatvurm. I'm not going to do the first line of each entry, just the first entry of every month.



January: It was sort of fun, heading out with Eric. New Year's Eve is always one of those nights that's filled with possibilities. Also, despite the constant drunkery, it's one of those evenings that you always remember years later. While on the way to Kampala, I was struck again with this surreal, sort of out-of-body experience as I looked back to last New Year and the years past, once again realizing that I'm in Africa. I'm sure it sounds like I've said this a million times, but living a relatively "normal" life here doesn't usually scream at me "You're living Uganda!"

But looking at the sky -- it's nearly famous, the African sky -- just brings it all into focus again. Did I ever think that I'd be spending a wild New Year in Kampala, Uganda?

February: Well, I'm back in Goma. The flip-flopping yesterday was sort of heinous, but, in the end, we were checking back into the Kivu Sun. It meant tasty dinner, but you start to become somehow cynical when you're not sure why you're running.

Supposedly, "something" did actually go down last night but we're not privy to details. I do know that when we came in, there were tons of blue-hatted military, I'm told the "RDC" were packing serious heat and had they not had huge guns and angry faces, I totally would have taken a picture.

Anyway, I doubt we'll flee to Rwanda again. It's just too expensive! Although, I must say, that Gisenyi is like going on holiday from Goma. It's so pretty, so green, so serene.

March: Yesterday, after I came back from the office, I was sitting out in the playfield as Etaito slept soundly, his face smushed into my tummy, snoring idly. I looked over and saw this bird, building a nest in the tree right outside the compound. The tree was vibrant, blooming flowers in this almost iridescent purple color.

And suddenly, Goma sort of... came alive to me. I'm not really sure how best to describe it, but I saw past the gray, harsh volcanic rocks and started noticing the living, breathing aspects.

April: Wow, I feel like I had a really perfect New York Day.

I can't blog about the whole thing now because it's 1:00 am and I have to sleep in order to be ready to go for the wedding at 11:15 am.

But I had brunch, watched Digital Cable, went to South Street Seaport, saw the Bodies Exhibition, got driven to Brooklyn, saw the renovated Brooklyn Museum, saw reverend_dave introduce a movie for the Brooklyn Film Festival, learned to dance bad 70's dance steps with David, got photographed by god-knows-who doing said awful dancing, colored abstract art and wow!

May: Steph needed to be back for French class at the Alliance Français in Kampala on Saturday at 10 am. So, we had a LOT of driving to do in a very small amount of time. Minimal missing-work time, maximum drive-age.

We took the big JGI land cruiser, which is an utterly shitty car and pretty uncomfortable, but the only car we've really got that can take the bad upcountry roads.

We left at around 6:30 am on Friday and headed up through Kampala towards Masaka. The weather was nice.. good considering the Land Cruiser has no air conditioning or amenities of any kind.

Since we had no radio, and despite my coughing and Peter-Brady-sounding cracked gravelly voice, I actually read Memoirs of a Geisha to Steph the whole way up and the whole way back.

June: I can't believe I'm writing this, but a marching band just went past the house. I did take some audio, just because it felt so surreal.

As it gets closer to the election, I'm getting more comfortable with the sounds of screaming in the street strangely as it were. I mean, people are excited and as the 32 candidates pass out alcohol to their constituents to encourage them to vote their way, people are bound to get rowdy.

July: I did get to meet and greet with some of the most famous primatologists ever, and that was also incredibly cool. I didn't get a chance to see as many of the talks as I would have liked, but I definitely felt like a part of this bigger "community" of people that was wonderful. I got lots of email addresses, and made lots of promises to keep in touch.

August: I swear I'm okay.

I found that, after replacing social interaction with the internet for a good part of the last year, that I wanted no part of my computer, the internet, or any of those things connected to it.

So, two weeks without internet, LJ, posting, email...

Did you miss me?

September: I'm also feeling at home in my neighborhood, although, admittedly, it's not the best. I'm only self-conscious about it when people visit and make comments, but I'm amused that the bodega across the street carries nothing but rice, Goya products, and pre-made powdered juice in the jug. Or that C-Town, my local grocery store, locks up its toothpaste and deodorant in a special cabinet. Or that, inexplicably, the ice cream truck continues circling the neighbourhood, tinkling its jolly melody, until past 10 pm at night.

October: I spent my entire day waiting on line yesterday. I'll be damned if I wait in line to get on the plane.

Also, wireless internet that's free at the airport is da bomb!

November: Why is it when I froogle for "peanut butter" DVD (in attempts to find a movie I want to get) do I get primarily porn listings?

December: What should be more disheartening? The fact that I only got 2 points lower on this last chemistry exam (9/25) than the one I actually knew what was going on in, or that I seem physically incapable of getting out of bed and going to class sometimes?



I've decided after reading all of this that wow, I really miss Africa. So much so that I'm even tempted to just bail and go back. ::sigh::