Love's Much Lovelier

You know that old song that says “love’s much lovelier the second time around”?  Well, I have discovered this week that song it totally applicable to my being here in Gulu.  My first six weeks in Gulu last year were some of the most blissfully happy of my life.  I was just so completely smitten by this place and my life that I didn’t have one depressed thought for weeks.  Then there was the moment where I literally nearly socked a bus driver for completely unrepentingly losing an entire case of varnish I had traipsed all over Kampala to find.  It came at the tail end of a very stressful trip to Kampala where I felt lost and taken advantage of at every turn, and I really probably would have hit the guy if my friends David and George hadn’t been there to cool me off.  And like all good things, my time of bliss came to an end.  It wasn’t over night, but a couple months later I settled into rather disparaging feelings about this place I was living.  I wanted a shower, I wanted a bathroom, I wanted to cook pasta, I wanted to stop sweating.  Thankfully, I was able to find a really great place to move into (shower, toilet, and pasta-cooking stove top included) and my body acclimated and I even felt cold sometimes.  And then I felt like I was at home.  I was prepared to stay in Gulu for a while.  But there were still highs and lows, and the highs were pure elation and lows were some of the lowest I’ve experienced. 

Today makes two weeks exactly since I landed in Gulu Town again.  So perhaps I’m putting my horse before the cart here, but I think I’ve calmed down here.  The last two weeks has brought a whole host of emotions (many of them ranging between thinking I’m completely crazy for trying to do what I’m trying to do, and then feeling like this is the most important thing I’ve every attempted to do) but thankfully, none of my emotions have raged the way they did last year – good or bad.  Since I knew exactly what I was coming back to, there was none of the anticipation, excitement and discovery of a new place.  Of course that’s a bit sad, but with it comes none of the feelings of frustration, exasperation and annoyance at all things that are difficult about becoming accustomed to an entirely new culture.  And truthfully, I’m thrilled at the fact that things are bit more even keeled.  As many of you know, I’m a rather dramatic individual, I really experience the highs and lows of life fully, and so those times in life where things are a bit more equal, I almost feel happier about being here than in the crazy elation of my high points.  So all I week I’ve found myself humming, “Love’s much lovelier, the second time around, love’s more comfortable with both feet on the ground.” 

Inside this little (little) doorway is the Gulu Municiple Education Office.  I went on a serious goose hunt looking for it today.  How did I ever miss it?  It's in totally plane sight!

I’ve certainly experienced frustration – I opened my bank account over a week ago, and I still can't access my money.  The company in Kampala making the recycling containers, told me a couple days ago it would take four weeks to fix their broken machine that is supposed to cut my boxes.  Water has been off about 10 of my 12 days here, and power follows right behind that.  But somehow I just feel easier knowing it will all work out eventually, the water will come back, as will the power.  I talked to the boxes guy about how we can work out the problem and he’s going to help me with the sample so I can take it to another company next week.  My donation funds have now been transferred to Uganda, and I should be able to access them soon.  And I had a lovely chat last night with a German girl about how her heart breaks when they print off books worth of paper so they have a copy of everything when the power blows.  She told me to come to her office as soon as I could with my recycling boxes. 

My friend John (on the right) is making the stencils for our recycling containers.  All those things on the shelves ?  More stencils!

In America, once I figured out my fundraising process, everything happened so quickly.  The money started rolling in, and I started making preparations to get back here.  I could hop in my car and cross off an entire list of things in one morning.  I felt a bit like a gerbil in one of those rolling balls.  I could run and spin and really get somewhere, you know?  Landing in Uganda was a bit like hitting honey in my rolling ball.  It didn’t come to a screeching halt, but it has certainly slowed down.  So I have learned to write two lists – the one that I need only myself to cross off, and the one I need others' help to cross off.  One I know I can put deadlines on, the other I know may take days to get anywhere.      

I'm off to Kampala this week (finally!) to get things going and meet with a few recycling programs there in the city.  Wish me luck!