Adjustment

It's pouring rain today in Kampala and even though the glass shutters are closed on the windows, a bit of mist is still making it through with the breeze. It's lovely and cool. It reminds me a bit of Dublin.

I lived most of my adult life in Indiana - first in West Lafayette at Purdue for college, and then about three hours northeast to Fort Wayne where I finished school, started a career, got married, and did all of those things that you do when you're building a life somewhere. When I left for Boston three years ago it felt a bit like I was leaving everything I cared about behind.

I think that was why I struggled for the first six months or so. I felt like a fish out of water...I was constantly getting lost, every week or so another two feet of snow blew in across the landscape, and nothing was familiar. Most days I felt like an outsider...like the only person in New England who hadn't lived there for six generations. The fact that my family and friends were thousands of miles away didn't help either. But as time went on, things became familiar and I started to develop an appreciation for Boston. I loved the city - the museums, the restaurants, and the architecture. I made friends, I discovered my own favourite places, and in short - I adjusted. After living there for almost two years, I didn't want to leave.

But I did, and this time to Dublin...a modern city built from the bones of its ancient ancestors. Guinness and music and witty banter. I still struggled. It was the same situation - nothing was familiar, I couldn't find my way around, and I felt like an outsider. This time though I had a good friend who helped me get settled. I also had 20 other classmates who were equally new to the area. We sort of struggled together I suppose, and for these reasons it was an easier and shorter adjustment period of just a few months. As you probably could tell from my Goodbye Ireland post - I now love living in Ireland. It is literally everything that it's hyped up to be - an incredible place with incredible people.

I'm glad I had those two prior experiences before I came here to Uganda because I'm not sure if I would have been able to go straight from Indiana to here - it is just too different from anything I've known before. And it's easy to feel like an outsider when everything around you is different from any prior experience. But CDRN has made me most welcome - they've treated me like family - and for that reason it has been easier. I have adjusted relatively well.

I wonder how it would be different (or if it would be different) if I were still in my 20s. As I've gotten older I've noticed that I am a bit fixed in my ways. Is it easier to adjust when you're young? It seems like it...my classmates are having a great time in their respective placements (the proof is in their Facebook posts). And I'm having a good time as well, but I hate to admit it, my experience is tempered a bit with my reaction to everything I'm taking in...all the new sights and sounds around me.

When I talk with family and friends they say, wow, what an incredible adventure you're having! What an exciting life you lead! It must be so much fun! Well....it is. But it's also a bit nerve wracking sometimes. What this experience and all of the other experiences where I've had to adjust are teaching me, though, is how to be more flexible - how to adapt.

This morning at the guesthouse the cook didn't show up to make breakfast. It was his day off and nobody was covering for him at 7 am when the first guests wanted to eat. I was sitting outside watching the sun rise over the hills when one of them approached me.

"Do you know where the staff are?" he said.

"You mean the people that work here? Uh...no." I replied.

"Nobody is here to serve breakfast and the kitchen is locked." I could tell he was annoyed. I wanted to help, but there wasn't much I could do. I shrugged and went back to watching the pink and grey sky. That's what life is like here - sometimes people show up to make breakfast, sometimes you have a Snickers bar. You adapt.

And this is probably the greatest gift that I've received so far from my stay in Uganda, an opportunity to learn to be a bit more flexible. I'm hoping that the next place I move to, wherever it is, I'll not worry when I'm lost and I'll not care that I'm an outsider. I'll just enjoy the mist and watch the sunrise.