21 January

Yesterday was day two of work and it was slightly more eventful than day one. We spent the morning meeting with the outreach department who handles home based care, orphans and vulnerable children, and voluntary counseling and testing. Then we sat around and did nothing for over an hour. We went back to the project house for lunch where we couldn’t eat other than bananas anything becaaaause the power was out (surprise surprise). I’m thinking that we need to stock up on crackers and such for when there’s no power. After lunch one of the drivers took us around town to show us the market, the clothing market, and two mini-marts. Side note: the hangers here are big circles to show how the clothes can accommodate large hips and posteriors. He even bought us a bar of chocolate at one of the mini-marts; we tried to refuse but he was adamant that he buy us something. It never ceases to amaze me how warm and welcoming the people here are. We came to the office afterwards and sat on a bench only to be told that because people were behind schedule there was nothing for us to do soooo we went home. Luckily the power cooperated with us and we were able to watch the whole inauguration.

Today is a rainy day which is icky but I guess we better get used to it. We are at the office right now waiting for something to do but thankfully some of the outreach department is out on field visits so we have desks and internet to keep us occupied. It sounds like we will be meeting a few more people today but for the most part it sounds like there is not a lot to do. I’m sure eventually we will be of use but who knows when that will be. Friday we are supposed to go out to visit one of the partner NGOs that Walter Reed works with...this is assuming that there is a truck to take us which is always iffy. I know that I am sounding negative right now and making it seem like we are being totally useless but I know that most of the problem is getting used to the slower pace of things here. In the US you would never be at a job for a week without having something to do but here that’s the way things are. I think that is all for now. The next time we have a sunny day I will be sure to take pictures of the house and post them so you can see our sweet digs. Why wait for the next sunny day you might ask...because the lighting in the house is terrible and makes everything look dismal. Perhaps that’s part of the reason that the first night we were in such low spirits...eating dinner under a half working light bulb.

Things I am already craving:

-Cheez-its (reduced fat of course)

-real bread

-brownies