I've initiated the process to resign from the Peace Corps and return home to the United States.

The Peace Corps was often a disappointing experience. I was able to do good work and am proud to say I made some small difference in the world while I was here. I feel the overwhelming bureaucracy of the Peace Corps and the averse effects of foreign AID essentially made it impossible for me to realize the potential that this experience could have been.

While here I've fought HIV and AIDS; I designed and oversaw construction of a basketball court with Rebecca Workman; I participated in the planning and running of a camp to develop the Boys of Uganda into positive leaders; I promoted the use of highly efficient mud stoves to reduce fuel cost at my school, I introduced my organization to cost control practices, I taught important life skills to Orphans and Vulnerable children once a week; I advocated for volunteers as a representative of our training class; I developed a new model for communication with Peace Corps Invitees and successfully implemented it.

While here I conversed in a foreign language, I experienced a way of life far different than mine back home, I bathed in a bucket for 18 months, I helped slaughter and cook a delicious pig, I washed my clothes by hand, I made lifelong friends, and I let myself fall in love for the first time in my life.

Yesterday I found that there wasn't a single day left in my scheduled 8 remaining months of Peace Corps that I looked forward to. This experience has nothing left to offer me. I'm proud of what I've done and for the most part in the man I have been while here. I'm glad I'm leaving when I had nothing left worth doing, not when my 2 years happened to be expiring.

I believe this will be my final post. And so...

Mom and Dad, Thank you for the life and love you have given me. If I have done anything good here it is because you raised me into the man I am.

Annie, thank you for all the support and love.

Elaine, the support I received from you and the old team was incredible.

Nick, One of the greatest outcomes of my Peace Corps experience is making friends I intend to know the rest of my life. Can't wait for our future adventures.

Kendall, You were right, it was worth it.

Alexi, We weren't close friends until I really needed one. Thank you.

Matt, Yatzee! I couldn't resist. You better come to a Clemson-UNC game with me.

Drew & Christy, I miss you two already. We've got lots of good times ahead.

Becca, Thanks for taking care of me when I most needed it. I'll see you in America.

Jenny, Knowing you changed my life, I'll never forget you.

I had mixed feelings about the one line from my previous blog post in which I said one of the highs of my week was that I wouldn't have to move to Texas. I'm not going to remove it, but wish I'd thought through how it might be interpreted.

It was intended as dark humor. I think most people who know me well and understood the dynamic of Jenny and my relationship understood that. I think people who know me also are aware how much I needed that humor.

I had the opportunity to spend some time in Texas during the holiday and enjoyed it so much. My only criticism I have ever made of Texas is that it simply is not my home and I find it hard to feel at home there. I don't regret spending Christmas there at all and certainly don't regret having had the pleasure to meet Jenny's family and friends.

Highs:

I don't have to live in Texas. I am blessed with the love of so many lifelong friends, without whom I do not know how I would get by.

Lows:

Jenny broke up with me. My watch band broke. My organization is once again unhappy with my dedication.

What I Did:

Was planning to go to my org's end of month meeting that is held on the last Tuesday of the month. For some reason they decided to have it on January 24 and not tell me. Did some financial analysis and critiquing of my org, telling them things like falsifying flyers and bribing the ministry shouldn't come out of the development fund.

What Is On The Agenda:

I'm participating in a training reform committee this week. Will also try to do some reading before heading back to site and repairing things with my org.

Sanity Meter:

Perhaps the sanest I've been in a long time. A certain clarity comes with retrospecting loss.

What I'm Reading:

Stephen King's The Stand.

Highs:

Life skills in the village, my org is continuing to use the mud stove we constructed, I've got the latest financial data from the school compiled for our monthly meeting this next Tuesday, and I made it to boys weekend!

Lows:

Misplaced my iPod shuffle charger and had to buy a new one in K'la at a very high premium. Continue to struggle with attention recieved in the village, I'll no doubt be jacking up my iPod volume this upcoming week.

What I Did:

As said lifeskills, and some prep stuff for this upcoming week's business meeting. Now I'm playing black jack and drinking passion fruit and Malibu cocktails.

What Is On The Agenda:

Need to get a letter of recommendation from a departing PC employee, get a communication out from the Bridge Group to the incoming Volunteer 'class', lifeskills Wednesday, Basketball tourney at Becca's site next weekend, also helping her with some Wat San project planning while I am there. And of course... the end of month meeting at my organization!!!

Funny Story Of The Week:

I was jogging when a 20 something year old man sitting on the side of the road (Ugandans do this a lot) called out 'Muzungu' to me. I've garnered a bit of a reputation lately for not putting up with people calling me a 'muzungu' for their own entertainment. So I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to this punk who promptly got up and ran into the banana trees. A few miles later, on my return I run by the same spot and another gentleman calls out 'muzungu' behind me. I turn to find a man about my age standing in the middle of the road making boxing gestures at me, about 20 yards away. I walk about 10 yards from him, and take off my sunglasses, causing him to retreat. He then begins his gestures once again from a safe 20 yards. I make a similar gesture, putting my fists up in a defensive position. He starts walking in slowly to me, and I close in on him. At about 10 feet away we pause. A crowd has started to form. I take one step in closer and he once again runs away in retreat. I hold my two fists above my head like Rocky. The crowd is cheering 'Muzungu, Muzungu.' For the first time in a while it doesn't bother me.

Sanity Meter:

Sanity is extremely variable these days. I'd be lying if I said my only confrontations with people while running came with adults. The constant attention drives me nuts, yall know that by now. But I've made a point of really taking advantage of my time away, and getting away on a more frequent basis.

What I'm Reading:

Finished Michael Lewis's Liar's Poker and I hope to finish C.S. Lewis's The Silver Chair on my ride back to site. I'm going to try to knock out Machiavelli's The Prince, which I stalled on a while back, before I go into Stephen King's The Stand.

I doubt my blog is going to be used by Peace Corps recruiters anytime in the near future to convince potential volunteers of how rewarding the experience of Peace Corps is. Obviously my blog has been a downer lately, and it should be, because it is my primary means of communication with my world back home, and I have been struggling lately. I write what I feel, that is important to me. Even when I feel mostly frustrated with being here there are moments, however, and reflections that are truly rewarding, I've had a few of those this last week, and I feel they also need to be shared.

I live a very comfortable life here. I have much more than I need, and much much more than the local people have. It is amazing living off of about 2-3 USD per day (we are actually paid 5-10 but in the village I rarely spend more than 2 a day).

I like the fact that I've been washing my own clothes by hand for the past year plus. It is rough on the hands, tiresome, and not always fun, but it is somehow rewarding to me to live without the benefit of machines to perform basic tasks. It isn't something I would ever want to do in the US, but I value having had the opportunity to live in a different way.

This is Africa. (TIA) We say this when we don't have much of an explanation for why things are so back assward here. Walking from my village trading center to my home the other day I paused to look around. African children were playing, women in traditional African dresses were walking to the village, a man was farming his small plot of land by hand using very basic tools, goats were everywhere, and there are no paved roads within miles. When you deal with it every day the experience sometimes becomes more of an annoyance than a reward. I'm certainly not going to claim that I feel the experience makes it worth it or that overall I enjoy the experience, but moments like the one I observed do sometimes bring a smile to my face. So few people will have the opportunity to live like I have lived the past year. The experience, if not wonderful, is surely incredible, and not even I can dismiss the value of having lived in an incredible way for an extended time period.

If nothing else, I think being in Africa has confirmed once again what my passion is in life. I am never happier in this country than when I am teaching. Even though I have to use an inefficient translator and 90% of the students just stare at me blankly, I love every second I am actually teaching a lesson.

To my regular readers it shouldn't come as any surprise to hear the statement, 'my sanity is questionable right now.' As a result I'm taking every opportunity to get out of my community that I can. It is also inspiring me to celebrate the few opportunities I have to be myself. I've had the opportunity to 'go all Ryan Luckie' a bit this year and doing so is probably one of the few things keeping me from going over edge. I'd like to take this opportunity to document two of the 'lapses in sanity' or 'moments of pure genius' (debatable) I've recently had.

I believe I documented a while back (although I'm not sure) about how my rolex (egg wrapped in chapati bread) guy one day tried to charge me an extra 100 shillings (about 4 cents) for my rolex one night. The result was that I wen't to his competitor the next evening, and the next 6 months that I ate rolex. Well his competitor had a new trainee up one night since I've been back that tried to charge me the increased rate. As with last time, I paid it, but have not been back to that rolex stand since. I've returned to the first guy who burned me to determine if this was now the village standard price or if he had learned his lesson. I can proudly say that I've taught a very important lesson to the rolex businesses in Nakyenyi about customer loyalty. The young entrepreneur, seeing his chance to capture a significant and steady share of the rolex market in Nakyenyi wen't back to the original price, and has been my rolex guy ever since. It seems crazy and perhaps insignificant to document this to such a degree, but it is perhaps one of my biggest victories in this country. We are supposed be creating a greater understanding of American culture among Ugandans. I've had volunteers tell me after befriending locals that the locals attempt to charge them more money because "you will give me more because you are now my friend." I've taught people in my village the lesson that I don't care what new circumstances they have at home, I don't care if they are short on cash and they need a little boost, and I don't care if you and I chat every now and then and you now consider me your friend. When their is competition and little differentiation between products price is king, and my customer loyalty has a memory of 1 sale, the last sale. One of the rolex guys in town lost my business and I did not say a word to him for 6 months after a price hike, the beneficiary of that mistake then threw away his lock on me as a client. We'll see if my new prefered vendor has learned anything over the next 6 months.

I also had a great 'Ryan Luckie' moment in a taxi today. A mutatu is a 15 passenger van. I was in a mutatu today with 26 people. I had my backpack and was perfectly comfortable, not because I am now used to traveling in a mutatu, but because I've had it with mutatu conductors and just wasn't taking any BS today. It is illegal to have more than 14 passengers in a mutatu. Drivers typically pull over a mile before a police check and have a motor cycle or several take excess passengers around the check point. Our car did that today but it wasn't necessary on my bench. In the second backseat row of the mutatu (typically a more crowded one) I was asked to extend when we already had 3 people. A 20 minute standoff and screaming fest insued between me and the conductor in which I just kept falling back on my position, 'THIS IS MY SEAT! I PAID FOR THIS SEAT!' When my conductor tried to jam people in the front back seat and then position himself in the back with me I put my chaco to his torso and physically push/kicked him out of the car. He tried to kick me out of the car after we had been driving for over an hour but I refused to pay him a single shilling for the journey thus far. We had a verbal contract for my transport to my town and I was not backing down. It is overdramatised and doesn't sound impresive on the blog I know, but it remains perhaps one of the greatest lessons I can teach Ugandans. They are the customer, they are in charge. Why anyone ever let a conductor put another passenger on their lap without the cost of the journey changing baffles me. I'm taking it one step further. I negotiate a price and I will not accept anything less than my fair share of the legal capacity of the vehicle. Whether the conductor intended to sit 4 in a row when he negotiated the price isn't my concern, he's the one breaking the law, and his car says 14 passenger limit on the side. I look forward scuffles over this in the future. I'd love to get thrown in a Ugandan jail for not paying my taxi fair one day just to make my case. Until then I'll be inspiring Ugandans, 13-25 passengers at a time.

To my regular readers it shouldn't come as any surprise to hear the statement, 'my sanity is questionable right now.' As a result I'm taking every opportunity to get out of my community that I can. It is also inspiring me to celebrate the few opportunities I have to be myself. I've had the opportunity to 'go all Ryan Luckie' a bit this year and doing so is probably one of the few things keeping me from going over edge. I'd like to take this opportunity to document two of the 'lapses in sanity' or 'moments of pure genius' (debatable) I've recently had.

I believe I documented a while back (although I'm not sure) about how my rolex (egg wrapped in chapati bread) guy one day tried to charge me an extra 100 shillings (about 4 cents) for my rolex one night. The result was that I wen't to his competitor the next evening, and the next 6 months that I ate rolex. Well his competitor had a new trainee up one night since I've been back that tried to charge me the increased rate. As with last time, I paid it, but have not been back to that rolex stand since. I've returned to the first guy who burned me to determine if this was now the village standard price or if he had learned his lesson. I can proudly say that I've taught a very important lesson to the rolex businesses in Nakyenyi about customer loyalty. The young entrepreneur, seeing his chance to capture a significant and steady share of the rolex market in Nakyenyi wen't back to the original price, and has been my rolex guy ever since. It seems crazy and perhaps insignificant to document this to such a degree, but it is perhaps one of my biggest victories in this country. We are supposed be creating a greater understanding of American culture among Ugandans. I've had volunteers tell me after befriending locals that the locals attempt to charge them more money because "you will give me more because you are now my friend." I've taught people in my village the lesson that I don't care what new circumstances they have at home, I don't care if they are short on cash and they need a little boost, and I don't care if you and I chat every now and then and you now consider me your friend. When their is competition and little differentiation between products price is king, and my customer loyalty has a memory of 1 sale, the last sale. One of the rolex guys in town lost my business and I did not say a word to him for 6 months after a price hike, the beneficiary of that mistake then threw away his lock on me as a client. We'll see if my new prefered vendor has learned anything over the next 6 months.

I also had a great 'Ryan Luckie' moment in a taxi today. A mutatu is a 15 passenger van. I was in a mutatu today with 26 people. I had my backpack and was perfectly comfortable, not because I am now used to traveling in a mutatu, but because I've had it with mutatu conductors and just wasn't taking any BS today. It is illegal to have more than 14 passengers in a mutatu. Drivers typically pull over a mile before a police check and have a motor cycle or several take excess passengers around the check point. Our car did that today but it wasn't necessary on my bench. In the second backseat row of the mutatu (typically a more crowded one) I was asked to extend when we already had 3 people. A 20 minute standoff and screaming fest insued between me and the conductor in which I just kept falling back on my position, 'THIS IS MY SEAT! I PAID FOR THIS SEAT!' When my conductor tried to jam people in the front back seat and then position himself in the back with me I put my chaco to his torso and physically push/kicked him out of the car. He tried to kick me out of the car after we had been driving for over an hour but I refused to pay him a single shilling for the journey thus far. We had a verbal contract for my transport to my town and I was not backing down. It is overdramatised and doesn't sound impresive on the blog I know, but it remains perhaps one of the greatest lessons I can teach Ugandans. They are the customer, they are in charge. Why anyone ever let a conductor put another passenger on their lap without the cost of the journey changing baffles me. I'm taking it one step further. I negotiate a price and I will not accept anything less than my fair share of the legal capacity of the vehicle. Whether the conductor intended to sit 4 in a row when he negotiated the price isn't my concern, he's the one breaking the law, and his car says 14 passenger limit on the side. I look forward scuffles over this in the future. I'd love to get thrown in a Ugandan jail for not paying my taxi fair one day just to make my case. Until then I'll be inspiring Ugandans, 13-25 passengers at a time.

Highs:

Good chicken masala, my org is using the mud stove we built, and Peace Corps has approved my out of site plans for the next couple weeks.

Lows:

I'm on the verge of snapping and becoming violent with village children. This week they took to actively teasing me for their own enjoyment. Every child in my village knows to call me 'ssebo' (sir) and not 'muzungu' (white traveler). On my way to dinner one night a group of children ran into their home and started taunting "muzungu, muzungu."

The next day after running 7 miles I decided to walk the last mile and a half of my loop. A child called me 'muzungu' and then said 'okoyee' meaning, "you are tired!" I leered at him and walked on. He waited until I was out of his immediate vicinity and then ran out in the road an started shouting "okoyee" at the top of his lungs.

I don't know how much longer I can make it here. I hate the people. If I could have gotten my hands on that boy I honestly don't know what I would have done. I find myself having violent fantasies. My primary method of relieving stress is running and now it is more stressful and mentally painful for me to run than to sit inside. I find myself leaving my house less and less since I got back. I think I'm a worse man for having been here and that the Peace Corps has cost me all of the good within me that inspired me to join it.

Rhetorical Question:

Almost everywhere we go in this country has vermouth, but nobody knows how to make a martini. If you try to explain what a martini is to a Ugandan they get confused and usually bring you a shot of Martini and Rossi vermouth. The question I ask is who is drinking the straight vermouth? (I'm assuming nobody) And then why does every single place have vermouth?

What I Did:

Essentially hid in my home and poked my head out every now and then to see if my org was using the mud stove.

What Is On The Agenda:

I resume life skills next week and plan to do some work on a proposed water sanitation project.

Next weekend is my much needed boys' weekend with Nick and Drew. It is becoming very clear that many such excursions will be neccessary to get me through the next 6-9 months.

Ugandan Annoyance of the Week:Timid waitors an waitresses. The ability to look someone in the eye and project their voice more than 3 inches is not a requirement to be in the Ugandan food service industry. I've decided I've had it. From now on the more timid they are the more boastful I will be until they reach an acceptable volume. I frequent places that cater to white people and pay a premium on the menu to be there, I've decided one of the things I am paying for by doing so is a level of service that would recieve a 10% tip in the US, not someone whispering to me while looking at the floor and then brining me something other than what I'd ordered because one of the ingredients was "finished" (out).

What I'm Reading:

Read Michael Lewis's Moneyball a second time and am now reading both Liar's Poker (Michael Lewis's first book) and C.S. Lewis's The Silver Chair.

Here is my best attempt to duplicate an actual encounter that took place one of my last days in America this Christmas holiday.

The Scene: Jenny and I are at Target picking up supplies for watching the a bowl game that evening. We are walking down the chips aisle as another middle aged couple is walking down the same aisle from the other direction.

Lucky: What type of chips do you want to get?

Jenny: Whatever you want.

Lucky: Well, chips are more important to you than they are too me.

Jenny: Yeah, but your a picky chips snob.

[Woman from the other couple begins giggling uncontrollably and ducks in behind her man as Jenny and myself are meeting them in the aisle]

Man From Other Couple (to Lucky): Get used to it, brother, it doesn't stop.

Although I don't remember the next interaction with quite as much detail we ended up in checkout with the same couple and Jenny thought it necessary to mock my South Carolina driver's license when I was carded, setting off a similar reaction with the woman and soliciting another exclamation of empathy from the gentleman.

I arrived back at my site to find that the nozzle on the rainwater capture tank outside of my home had broken off sometime in the last month and been replaced with a plastic bag and a rope. I guess I need to start trying to fix my filtration system since I am going to be going back to manually pumping brown water from the water table 200 feet below.

There are a bunch of new baby goats at site, that is kind of fun.Jet lag has had a funny effect on me and I'm sleeping a lot during the day, something usually very hard for me. It may be partially because I don't have anything really going at site right now and I just don't want to be seen by my organization if I can avoid it. I've been sleeping 5-8 hours a day through goats, a tree with about a thousand birds in it, Ugandans arguing, and baby's crying. I don't think Jenny has ever been so proud of me.

My aversion to going outside has had both positive and negative impacts. I've finished the last 200 pages of Atlas Shrugged and Tina Fey's Bossypants since I've been back. On a less positive note my avoidance of contact with Ugandans has left me surviving almost completely off of the reserves of American food I brought back with me.

I feel something very different than I did last time I came back from America. I still had some hope of turning this thing around back then, now I'm just kind of running out the clock. Peace Corps reminds me more of a prison sentence than a job these days. I've pretty much decided that I will resign in July. I don't anticipate returning to my site after COS conference. I've got some things I want to do with my organization between now and then, I've got some responsibilities at the PC office that I'm excited about, but overall my tank is just getting too empty. I don't think Peace Corps is all bad, although there are days when I plot the destruction of the entire agency. I just don't think I have the heart for development work, and I don't enjoy people enough to take positives out of the cultural exchange aspect. I'm not just going to sit in my cell... sorry... house (although there are bars on the windows) and wait the time out, but I am counting the days. I hope I use the last couple hundred here to do something worthwhile, if not at least I've got this rocking flying monkey from Laura and her family, it is sure to provide some decent entertainment down the final stretch.

If my first year and a few months in Uganda were marked by insomnia, which I would say they were, then my final 9 months is off to a very different pattern.

After getting to my site and then going to bed at a normal hour the first night I found myself needing a nap around 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon the next day, I slept till 8, then was up until 4, then slept until 10 am, then got up and made breakfast, and then slept until 5 pm today.

I am feeling a little sick, with sore lymph nodes and mouth, so getting up doesn't really seem that appealing and I guess my body can use the rest. Plus my appetite just isn't there right now and I'm struggling to stay hydrated as it is. Hoping for a recovery in the next few days.

Power just went out after being mostly consistent since I've been back. I'll try to get an America themed post up tomorrow.

I'm now back in the village after a month mostly not at site. America was wonderful and I can't thank the Luckie and Everett families enough for such a wonderful Christmas holiday.

I arrived back at site to find that spiders had over-run my place, that I'd lost my phone in transit, that I'd come down with a cold while traveling, and that my site now had a rooster that can't tell time. (I actually didn't figure that one out until 4:30 this morning)

I'll try to put together a post about America stuff up in the next few days.

Today was field day at the camps. Be sure to check out the Camp BUILD Blog, link on the right. Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

It would be fair to say I have Peace Corps fatigue. Lately I've been struggling to convince myself that I am doing more good than harm by being here. But in the Peace Corps you learn to take a lot out of small victories. Three friends of mine have done something amazing though and having been a part of it is probably the most rewarding part of my Peace Corps experience thus far.

Camp BUILD (Boys of Uganda In Leadership Development) is underway and is truly a great accomplishment. Cormac Molloy, Shelley Price, and Christy Prouty have done an incredible job over the last year planning it. In a year when I probably only had 5-6 days when I accomplished something by getting out of bed I'm about to do it 5 times in one week.

Follow the many Camp BUILD adventures all week on the Camp Build Blog

Highs:

December is here, meaning I have pretty much checked out for the year. Site is abandoned, I have minimal responsibilities, and my US Christmas Vacation is right around the corner. Had some great talks with my parents this week that were much needed.

Lows:

My Dad said it best, "I have trouble letting things go, and I think you and I are the same in that respect."

What I Did:

Communicated with my GLOW and BUILD nominees and did some prep work myself.

What Is On The Agenda:

Going to BUILD tomorrow morning with 4 village kids in tow. Tonight I'm packing for America as well.

Ugandan Annoyance of the Week:

The Taxi Racket: So many expats have their heads so far up their asses when it comes to assessing prices that huge segments of the local economy revolve entirely around ripping off white people. Case and point, a taxi from Garden City to Annex Hotel is about a 1 km trip. I have constantly throughout the last year paid 5000 shillings for this trip. (about 2 USD) Coming out of Garden City once recently I went from cab to cab to cab and they were all telling me it was 10,000. They had started a cabal. I had to walk outside the gate to get the fair rate because these punks decided it is better business to sit around and wait to rip off a clueless expat than actually do honest work for an honest price.

What I'm Reading:

Finished the Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay by Michael Chabon. The book won the Pulitzer prize and was a fun story at times, especially the dialogue. I, however, did not enjoy Chabon's ultra ivory tower use of the English language. The book read like Chabon wrote the entire thing and then went back through with a thesaurus, repalacing everything he could with some rare and obtuse synonym. I'm sure Chabon is a genius, and I know the literary critics dug it up, I just am a 'less is more guy.' I read Kav and Clay and think... "This guy is a tool." That statement is probably my most succinct review of the book I can give.

I'm continuing Atlas Shrugged thought I've been distracted a bit this week. Still planning to be done done with it prior to arriving in the US.

Clemson Prediction of the Week:

VT 35, Clemson 16... the embarrassing downward spiral continues.

I'm skipping Highs and Lows this week.

What I Did:

Prepared some stuff for BUILD and then really just focused on preparing for Thanksgiving. Dinner was incredible at 10 Tables Masaka. Pumpkin soup, steamed turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans cooked in bacon, and sweet potato pie for dessert.

The next evening some of our friends came out to my place and we put my suspiciously long kitchen counter to use.

What Is On The Agenda:

Prepare for BUILD and pack for America.

Sanity Meter:

At a new low.

Ugandan Annoyance of the Week:

Lying.

In order to avoid disappointing a potential customer Ugandans lie blantantly. An example is my taxi driver who I contacted prior to Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner I gave him a call and he said he was on his way, 15 minutes later I called him back and he said, I am in Nyendo (about 10 minutes away) and am coming now now now now now. I said, "I don't care if you are coming now or where you are, when are you going to be here," he said 15 minutes and I said ok. 20 minutes later he wasn't answering his phone, 30 minutes later I ran out in the rain and got soaked on a cold night looking for a car.

What I'm Reading:

Trying to finish Kav and Clay tonight and then knock out a huge chunk of Atlas Shrugged before BUILD.

Highs:

The countdown to America is winding down. I really like what I'm getting Jenny for Christmas / birthday, the kids have gone home for the term meaning I'm going to have plenty of opportunity to read the next few weeks.

Next week is Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday.

Lows:

I've continued to be overly hostile with my organization. Limited electricity lately.

What I Did:

Sent out solicitations to EWB chapters all across America in promotion of my bio-gas project. Rounded up all the camper info for kids from my village I am nominating for leadership camps. Also taught my final lifeskills lesson of the term and attended an end of term assembly at the school. I then made a quick getaway to have dinner with a friend Thursday night.

What Is On The Agenda:

Finalize Thanksgiving plans, do some EWB related networking, correspond with the people I have nominated for the leadership camps, and then get some reading done.

Ugandan Annoyance of the Week:

Eratic access to electricity and a dying computer battery.

What I'm Reading:

Finished Slaughterhouse 5. At Ronak's insistence I am putting Stephen King on the back burner and reading Atlas Shrugged now. I'm about 200 pages in and I love it.

Also grabbed Tina Fey's Bossypants from Jenny which I'm looking forward to.

Clemson Prediction of the Week:

Clemson wins, North Carolina State University loses. I get yelled at for checking the score at 1 am.

I'd like to bring some attention to the bottom of my blog, particularly the text that states:

"The views expressed here are mine and in no way reflect those of the U.S. Peace Corps, any agency of the U.S. Government or the government of Uganda."

also the text at the top of my blog which states that this blog is,

"Both a documentation of my Peace Corps experience and a tool for communicating with my friends and family while I am away."

I have undoubtedly been critical of the U.S. Peace Corps, have expressed ideas concerning obstacles the Ugandan Government seems to be struggling to overcome, and as can be implied by the Romney banner to the right of this text, I have also shown not to be supportive of my own President who sent me here.

Isn't Freedom Great?

Despite all this frustration, I'm still here. I'm here because I feel I can still be successful, make a difference, and help accomplish the 3 goals of the Peace Corps, to empower the people of Uganda with skills and knowledge I have acquired in America, to create a better understanding of Americans by the Ugandan people, and to create a better understanding of Ugandans by Americans.

Should anecdotes about my frustrations with Ugandan English, frustrations with the Ugandan education system, or frustration with any agency of the U.S. Government be perceived as an actual threat to any of those systems I'd advise you to review the paltry traffic this blog receives and remind you that the Ugandan Government has requested American teachers to help it's education system, Ugandan English does violate many conventions of the English language, and my calling an institution of the United States Government ineffective can hardly be considered whistle-blowing.

So, in closing... This blog will be here, available to my family, friends, and people I don't remember from high school that decide to Google me until Blogger.com takes me down. Every post will be linked from my Facebook profile and I will remain listed on www.PeaceCorpsJournals.com.

I am sometimes bitter, sometimes inspired, sometimes happy, sometimes lonely, sometimes I feel I am making a difference, sometimes I feel like I am part of the problem, sometimes I think Ugandans do everything backwards, sometimes I feel like they know some great truth that was lost by western civilization.

These feelings will continue to appear, uncensored, in every single post.

Highs:

Had my 1 year medical examination in Kampala this last week. Not only have I not been sick at all this year but was surprised and excited to hear I had no dental problems (PCVs are infamous for dental issues).

The medical appointment allowed me to spend most of the week in Kampala with friends eating good food. I even got runs in while traveling which is rare for me.

Added Platinum to my investment portfolio recently and am really excited about it. Have been wanting to add precious metals to my investments but just haven't seen an opportunity that wasn't overbought. With the price of Platinum currently under gold I'm feeling really good about this move.

Clemson somehow, for the third time this season, overcame a 14 point deficit to defeat Wake Forest and win the division. Most amazing part of the win, 0 turnovers caused, 3 given up and we still won.

Lows:

Michael Vick and Cam Newton my two fantasy QBs have now gone 2 weeks without a touchdown between them. Previously they had both been in the top 5 for scoring QBs. Currently I am the most scored against person in both of my two fantasy football leagues.

Drama and derision over a personnel issue the VAC has become involved with is starting to give me a headache.

Another low output reading week.

Just all around bad luck at the casino. Decided to play in the poker tournament but found that I just didn't have the bankrole to keep up with a re-buy dependent field. My pocket aces getting rivered by a guy who called me with top pair, a three kicker, and one card to go didnt help either.

What I Did:

Not a whole lot. I enjoyed my time in Kampala. Did help Cormac negotiate a bus for Camp BUILD.

What Is On The Agenda:

Final lifeskills class of the semester, putting the finishing touches on my mudstove, seeking out an EWB chapter to adopt my biogas program, and planning Thanksgiving.

Sanity Meter:

The time in Kampala was good for me, but I also anticipate my fuse will continue to stay short as I re-enter the village.

The past month has been rife with evacuation fantasies. The fantasy always revolved around being home in time for Thanksgiving, carrying out my Christmas plans, and then starting work sometime in January. I wonder how I will react to being home / Texas in December.

More and more I am just ready for my Peace Corps service to be over. I don't think I have any pride for the Peace Corps left in my being. Lately things have picked up and I'm actually accomplishing more, but despite this Peace Corps has taken on such a negative connotation in my mind that I'm ashamed call myself a PCV.

What I'm Reading:

Finished Golf's Sacred Journey. It's a fun quick read, but not having much interest in Golf it didn't really serve as a page turner. The lessons it teaches are universal and the lesson it teaches about what we value and make the center of our life can be applied to anyone's philosophy.

This week I intend to finish both Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 and Kav and Clay. Afterwards I intend to do the following:

In November: Read Stephen King's Salem's Lot

Finish C.S. Lewis's The Silver Chair

In December:Read Stephen King's The Stand

Read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

The last two books average about 900 pages each. If I knock them both out in December despite a busy schedule it will be a pure victory, even if I'm only racking up two titles.

Highs:

Had a productive yet quick turnaround at site, taught a good lifeskills lesson, and then got to Entebbe for Camp BUILD (Boys of Uganda in Leadership Development).

The mudstove looks ok at site. Time is flying by with America trip #2 in sight. Got my leave request signed by my Supervisor and will turn it in to the Peace Corps office next week.

Am planning a Masaka area Thanksgiving that is picking up a lot of steam. Shockingly not a lot of people want to cook for 20.

Ran 3 times this week including a continuous 6 miles once. Hoping to get back up to 8 soon. Might try to run a half marathon at the end of the month thought I am really trained up for it yet.

Lows:

Clemson is no longer undefeated, but we weren't a legit contender anyway. Lots to play for still, a 13-1 season with a top 5 ranking going into next year is still on the table.

For the second week in a row my organization postponed their monthly meeting, meaning I will not be able to attend. Later today I need to send them an email reminding them they need to apply for a new Peace Corps Volunteer. Hopefully they won't ask if I will recommend to Peace Corps that they get one, cause I'll tell them the truth.

Have had a short fuse lately and have been snappy at folks in my village.

Had multiple other incidents while running that have not been document on this blog.

3 of my fantasy running backs going into the week had injuries, just as I'm about to be in the biggest matchup of the season, me and Danny for the top position. Darn you Bradshaw, Wells and McFadden!

What I Did:

Scouted out 10 Tables restaurant, and Backpackers Masaka hostel for Thanksgiving. Traveled to Entebbe so that my org could cancel our monthly meeting, and held my weekly lifeskills class. Then went to training for Camp BUILD.

What Is On The Agenda:

Peace Corps medical will take up the vast majority of my week. Also trying to promote a chapter of EWB (maybe a Fluor Chapter) to pickup my Bio Gas program. Also need to finally work on the darn BUILD and GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) applications.

Peace Corps paid time in Kampala means casino nights!

Sanity Meter:

Snappy, mildly insane, short fused, but really happy when Ugandans are not driving me crazy.

What I'm Reading:

Finished Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut after several weeks struggling to get through a book. After really enjoying the book's intro I was mostly disappointed with everything once the trip to San Lorenzo started.

I'm on out of site excursion a lot lately so I'm stuck in the middle of Kav and Clay. I'm trying to knock out Golf's Sacred Journey this week by David L. Cook. It's a short book I got from Jenny's dad. Probably best described as an easy and peaceful read.

Ideal week would mean I knock out the golf book, Slaughterhouse 5, and maybe another quick read.

Ugandan Annoyance of the Week:

Muzungu. I am just tired of being called a Muzungu and no longer tolerate it.

Also sick and tired of people messing with me for their own amusement or their lack of discipline to control their curiosity. People who mess with me these days get messed with back.

I've commented lately that I feel my fuse getting shorter and shorter the longer I stay here. My skin has thickened and many things just kind of brush off me now, but, sometimes it is just the new little thing that really gets me.

Yesterday for instance I was pretty impressed with myself. My day started off with annoying goat sounds. I rode into Masaka with 6 people in my row of Mutatu, including the 250 woman next to me who was breastfeeding and the conductor who was sitting on my lap. Within 30 seconds of getting out of the car I got a call that they were canceling the meeting that was due to start in 3 minutes. Grace asked, "are you still in Nakyenyi," (my village that I had travled 2 hours from that morning on my own dime) and when I said, "no," she hung up.

Still I was feeling good. I used the internet in the office, got some stuff done and departed for my village at about 1 in the afternoon. I got back early enough to do a 5:00 run, and somewhere along my route, I snapped.

There were a lot of kids walking home and I was quickly annoyed by them saying, "how are you" or "see you", when I got down into the valley I heard kids at the borehole about 300 yards from the road screaming in rapid successession at the top of their lungs the previously mentioned greetings.

It is hard to describe the tone they use when doing this, but as far as typical American tones go it would best be described as a tone of violent anger or rage. I realize that they are just trying to make themselves as loud as possible but it is off putting regardless.

I got to the halfway point of my run and turned around, went over a hill, back into the valley, and then as I passed a group of three 5-7 year olds one shouted out at me in his voice of rage, "stop." I continued for 10 yards and then stopped and turned around. I did so with the intent of simply talking, but as soon as I turned around they took off sprinting.

And that is when I snapped.

The next thing I knew I was sprinting after the group of 3. With the 10 yard lead and the second it took me to decide to chase them they had a 15 yard lead. When I closed to about 7-8 yards they became desperate, realizing the 6-1 muzungu was probably going to outrun their 20 in legs. They split up and ran into the bush swamp. I continued pursuit of the smallest one who I believe had been the one intent on my stopping. When I'd closed to within 3 yards of him he gave up.

And so I was left standing, catching my breath, over a 5 year old African child who was on his knees begging for his life in the local language in the middle of a bush swamp.

Just a quick observation as I'm annoyed by a store clerk calling me a muzungu, a boda driver saying "we go" as I walk by, and a woman in the Ugandan equivalent of a Kinkos telling me that the virus ridden computer that takes 10 minutes to start up has "refused your frash." (flash)

Ugandan children don't have Kidnergarten. They play in the dirt with balls, empty basins, and old tires, but they don't have coloring books, blocks, clay, or as I always enjoyed, magnets.

All these things allow a child to discover, express themselves, learn fundamentals of problem solving, and learn how things work through experimentation.

Ugandan children, however, start school at about the same age reciting whatever ridiculous curriculum is being spewed out by the ministry of education at the time. Thinking for yourselves is discouraged, regardless of whether the instructor says 2+2=5.

When I did my lifeskills 3 day workshop in February I put up a timeline of my life on the board as a demonstration and then asked the children to draw the timeline of their life. They copied my life, including going to Clemson, quitting my job, and joining the Peace Corps. This is one of the biggest frustrations because I believe that the only development is education, everything else is just aid.

Clemson has struggled with this in recent years, including Saturday. They held the ball for nearly 40 minutes, destroying the effect of our up tempo offense. When we played them several years ago in the ACC Championship game there was not a single punt the entire game. If a team is not ready for them they will march down the field and wear out your defense. There are two well documented ways of supplanting this, and my secret 3rd strategy.

1) Have the ball last and keep scoring. This is what we tried in the ACC Championship game a few years ago. Last person to score wins.

2) Train up your defense to stop the triple option. Easier said than done. Teams have managed it before, Clemson was able to do it for one amazing half of a game in 2009, Iowa did it expertly a few years ago in the Orange Bowl, others have managed it as well.

3) With an offense that thrives on time of possession and tends to score every single drive why not directly attack their strategy. This is going to sound bold, perhaps crazy. But I say onside kick it to these guys every single kickoff. If they are scoring every time anyway giving them a short field will just mean that your is only on the field for 5 minutes instead of 10. You take away their ability to get a 80 yard run by making your safeties cover less ground, and you potentially get an extra 2-3 possessions a game while tiring out their defense.

I know it is crazy, but I honestly think it is crazy enough to work.

Clemson is not an elite team, I knew that before Saturday, but they do what they do very well. I just hope they can at least start acting like an ACC Championship team and pull things together for the rest of the season. There is a lot of young talent out there. I hope we can get em up to championship caliber for next year.

Highs: A lot to cover here. Prior to mid-service Jenny came over and we made eggplant curry. The next morning the construction program at my vocational school built a mud stove.

That afternoon Britt joined us and we did life-skills with the kids at my school, including giving them the sex talk, a talk on how HIV is transmitted, and how to use a condom. Each week at life-skills we have a question box that students can ask any question in. Britt started going though the questions to see if anyone had written anything incredibly off the wall. (some of the people in our group have gotten questions about mermaids and unicorns) Britt pulled this question out of the jar and handed it to me...

Engineers Without Borders has accepted my Bio-Gas program and will allow a chapter in the US to adopt it. Still a long long long way to go but a major first step is out of the way.

We had our Mid-Service conference this week and had a Halloween party. My costume was a hit and had people in our group doing double takes all night long. I went as Cormac Molloy... that won't mean much to many of you but this picture may help explain things...Jenny and two of our friends went as the McPoyles from Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

The night (morning here) of game 6 Jenny and I woke up to watch the game in the hotel lobby. It was a lot of fun, but see the Lows section for the rest of the story...

Lows:

Darn you Freese!!!

Was simply exhausted by the end of mid-service.

What I Did:

Covered a lot of this in the highs, but in brief, prior to mid-service I had a couple volunteers join me at site for mud-stove building and life-skills. Then it was off to our mid-service conference. I was one of the planners of the event (which happened in Masaka, my city) so I was pretty busy most of the week. Afterwards we made a much needed escape to Jinja.

What Is On The Agenda:

A few days back at site, analyzing the finances of my org, weekly life-skills, and then Camp BUILD (Boys of Uganda in Leadership and Development) training.

Sanity Meter:

Sane. I was working my butt off most of the week, which is my element. I'd rather be painfully exhausted by work than be relaxed and read 2 books a week. This week I was painfully exhausted and right now I'm relaxing as a reward. It feels great.

Ugandan Annoyance of the Week:

Not a strictly Ugandan thing but am just sick of cold showers. Have stayed in 2 hotels this week, taken 3 showers, and 2 of them have been cold.

What I'm Reading:

Kav and Clay is too big to travel with so right now I'm reading Cat's Cradle on my Kindle. I didn't read at all from Sunday until Saturday morning out of simply being busy the whole time. I'm hoping to knock out a good chunk of the book today.

I'm loving Vonnegut and will probably read several more of his books in the year I have left here.

Highs:

Spam and Cheese sandwich as I continue to cut into my stockpile of care package items.

Clemson continues to roll and is at home this week against UNC. The real high is I get to throw it in Matt Boddie's face next week at mid-service. Don't worry buddy, basketball season will be here soon.

Attempt 2 at the final piece of my Halloween costume was successful. I'll go into more detail of this venture and the mistake I made at a later time, with pictures and a great Jenny quote.

Lows:

Friday morning I woke and found the loaf of bread I had purchased 36 hours earlier had molded over. I screamed, "I HATE UGANDA," and then proceeded to cut the moldy crust off and make toast.*

Don't judge.

*The picture is not my actual bread. It was just a little fuzz on the crust.

Don't judge.

What I Did:

Procured a bunch of sawdust from a sawmill in Masaka. Answered some follow up questions sent by Engineers Without Borders. Transferred our financial records for the quarter into excel. Started preparing the monthly report for next Tuesday's meeting. Followed up with the secondary school for on Camp Build and Glow applications. Taught my weekly lifeskills class. Played soccer with the kids at my school after they made me promise to at lifeskills.

What Is On The Agenda:

Busy busy Monday. On Monday I plan to construct a mud-stove at my site in our kitchen, teach a lifeskills lesson, and finalize all the info for my orgs monthly meeting which is on Tuesday.

Tuesday it is off to Masaka for my group's Mid-Service Conference.

I've been semi responsible for planning this conference but have been doing so over email with Ugandans so my success or failure is going to rely mostly on game time execution. Here, the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry, that is in the rare instances when they aren't ignored, lost, mis-understood, forgotten, circumvented, or sabotaged by a Ugandan.

Friday it is off to Jinja... my favorite place in this country.

Sanity Meter:

Sane. But I've got a monthly meeting coming up with my org, and even though I'm pretty steady lately my fuse is pretty short when it comes to dealing with them.

Ugandan Annoyance of the Month!!!

Deputy Headmaster Dan

He's getting his very own blog post in the near future. I hope I can get a picture of him.

What I'm Reading:

Finished Stieg Larson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I liked the first book best but enjoyed the series. I think the Stieg Larson books are all a bit overhyped, but they are decent reads.

Am trying to knock out the Pulitzer Prize winning "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" prior to mid-service but have just been too busy lately, which is really going to hurt my average. Also I don't want to lug the 600+ page book around the country for a week so I think I'll start some of my Vonnegut while at mid-service.

Clemson Prediction of the Week:

Clemson 42, UNC 31

also... Sammy Watkins reveals in the post game press conference that he can fly... but just hasn't needed to yet.

Though it is debatable whether or not this moment of clarity reveals improving or deteriorating sanity on my part it is was a moment of clarity regardless.

I had been planning to go into Masaka on Monday to buy saw dust to use for a mud stove at my site. While I was in the pit latrine I received a message that there would be protests in the city and that violence was expected. (side note: the revolution has to wait 2 more days!) So instead of going to Masaka I decided it would be a reading day. After a few chapters I got bored and was disappointed I wasn't accomplishing anything. That is when I had my moment of clarity.

The average Ugandan man is about 5' 6" tall. It is extremely rare to see a Ugandan over 6 feet, although it does happen from time to time. Because of all this the standard size of a Ugandan bed is 6' 1". I just so happen to be 6' 1". Of course sometimes I like to stretch and I also like to position my head about 4 inches from the headboard. None of this would be a problem if the standard Ugandan carpenter didn't put a headboard and footboard on every bed.

Anyhow, Monday morning I had pretty much had it. I pulled out the 3" saw on my Leatherman and commenced destroying the property of my organization. One hour later I was sitting on my bedroom floor, covered in sweat and saw dust, admiring my work.

I'm pretty proud of myself right now, and was certainly proud of myself as I stretched this morning and my feet went 6" over the edge of the bed.

Take that Uganda!!!

Highs: Dinner with Jenny Friday night. Hamburgers, bacon and cheddar mashed potatoes (thanks for the bacon, Elaine!!!), and green beans. Power has been pretty consistent lately. Tahj Boyd is ok which means Clemson remains on a collision course with GT.

If Uganda goes 5 more days without a revolution occurring then I am eligible for Completion of Service should an evacuation happen!

Related Note: Am Now Officially a Junior!!! Congrats on swear in to the new Freshman class of Peace Corps Uganda.

Really enjoyed talking with my little sister, Shannon, one morning this week.

I redesigned my blog and like the way it looks. Also like that Mitt Romney is separating himself from other nominatable opponents. Herman Cain doesn't have staying power, in my opinion.

Lows:

Rainy season is dragging on and limiting work and movement. The death of my external hard drive. Complete failure on an attempt to buy some artificial hair for my Halloween costume. The orange sports coat is a partial fail. 4 Buttons, poorly made, and the tailor stained the color. It will be decent and fun enough to wear around Uganda but won't do for alumni and booster events back home.

My neighbor with the sewing machine is continuing to fill orders for a large contract and tends to start work around 4 AM.

The applications from Camps BUILD and GLOW are horrible. See follow up post in near future.

What I Did:

Weekly lifeskills, worked on a proposal to improve Peace Corps training, re-designed the blog, tried to recruit kids for BUILD and GLOW, wasted a fair amount of time.

What Is On The Agenda:

Head into Masaka and visit the saw mill to obtain saw dust for a mud-stove project at the school. Talk with Grace and the tailoring instructor about starting one of Jenny's quilting groups at the school. Administrative stuff preparing for the Mid Service Conference. Try to finalize the BUILD / GLOW apps. Miscellaneous admin stuff around the school. Weekly life-skills.

Celebrate 1 Year Since Swear In on October 20th!!!

Sanity Meter:

Very sane right now. Football season is giving me something to look forward to once a week. There was a time when the things I was looking forward to were spaced 2 weeks to 1 month apart and the time in-between was tantamount to torture. The weeks are flying by right now and I think that I'll be in the US for Christmas in no time at all.

What I'm Reading:

Complete reading failure this last week after my ultra week. I'm about 2o% in to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest and will finally finish it this upcoming week, but 2 weeks to get through a 500 pg page-turner is pretty weak for me.

Clemson Prediction:

Fight Tigers, Fight Tigers, Fight Fight Fight!!!

Clemson 35, Maryland 21

So Jenny's neighbor was pregnant and Jenny solicited her neighbor to name the child after her. Jenny's middle name is Scott, so she felt well covered regardless of the sex.

I received a call one evening from Jenny asking me to guess what the baby was named. Not hearing any satisfaction in her voice, I begged into my phone, "Please not Ryan."

Baby Ryan or Ryani as most Bantu people will call him, (All Bantu syllables end with vowels), represents the completion of a milestone many Peace Corps Volunteers involuntarily achieve, having a child named after them.

For more details on the Baby Ryani affair check out Jenny's Blog.

This morning I woke up early and wasn't sleepy, so I called my sister for an hour. Then I couldn't sleep so I read Time Magazine on my Kindle for an hour. Then I was getting sleepy just as the tailoring instructor started up the sewing machine at 4:30 in the morning.

There was a debate last night so I decided I'd get up and read the analysis since the sewing machine wasn't going to let me sleep.

I got to thinking about how I'd like a Mitt Romney banner add for my blog and ended up stealing the coding for one off the MittRomney.com website. It didn't fit my side bar correctly so I began the 4 hour task of completely re-designing my blog.

Voila!!!

I am going to shamelessly use my blog to make a cheap plug that my 4 readers will ignore.

READ MONEYBALL!!!

Whenever a good movie comes out that I really enjoy, I am always mad at myself afterwards for not having read the book. I never go back and read the book after having seen the movie. So I want to make a big plug for people to read Moneyball before the movie comes out.

I've now read 37 books while here and Moneyball is my favorite thus far.

It's short and is simply an incredible story. As good a book as can possibly be made about a team that, everyone knows, ultimately did not go on to win anything.

I am going to shamelessly use my blog to make a cheap plug that my 4 readers will ignore.

READ MONEYBALL!!!

Whenever a good movie comes out that I really enjoy, I am always mad at myself afterwards for not having read the book. I never go back and read the book after having seen the movie. So I want to make a big plug for people to read Moneyball before the movie comes out.

I've now read 37 books while here and Moneyball is my favorite thus far.

It's short and is simply an incredible story. As good a book as can possibly be made about a team that, everyone knows, ultimately did not go on to win anything.

Highs:

Clemson is 6-0!!! I ran this week for the first time in a few weeks due to excessive traveling and the rainy season. My time was slow and I only kept up a jog through the first 6 miles but I'm hoping to be back to smoothly knocking out 8 in no time. I'm considering the half marathon at the Jinja Source of the Nile Marathon next May. Once I'm back to my 8 mile regular run I'll start researching and training more seriously.

Neutrals:

Neither a high or a low, but a very neutral and worthy compromise. I am no longer a fan of the New York Yankees in any way. I renounce them and am exclusively a supporter of the Texas Rangers. In Return... I will never have to listen to any positive comments or allegiance to the Dallas Cowboys from a certain North Texan, who is now a light supporter of the New York Giants.

Lows:

I can't stop picking at the callouses caused by my Chacos and as a result I have exposed flesh sores on the sides of my feet. I burned my finger lighting a cheap match the other day; cheap flint material stuck to my finger as I struck it and just burned there for about 2 seconds. Did not get to listen to Clemson dominate Boston College because of poor internet reception. I'll have to arrange to be in a big city for the North Carolina and GT games.

What I Did:

Read a lot, worked on some admin stuff for Peace Corps, and taught a LifeSkills class.

What Is On The Agenda:

More lifeskills, rolling out some new project ideas with my org, trying to push forward on the mudstoves at my school, and more admin stuff for Peace Corps. I'm working on an application for a training committee for Peace Corps. It is a complete waste of time because like everything Peace Corps does they just keep trying to re-invent the wheel over and over instead of just greasing the perfectly good wheel they have. I'm starting to get annoyed working with so many 20 somethings. From the start I immediately was blown away by how intelligent a group of people I had met in the Peace Corps but the lack of experience, work ethic, and drive is just driving me nuts.

Ugandan Annoyance of the Week:

"Master? Master?"

One of the teachers lives in the unit next to mine and I hear people coming in all the time saying "Master? Master?" looking for him. Apart from the obvious cultural uncomfortableness created from having Africans saying "Master" all the time is the annoyance that comes from Ugandans repeating things unending until they are answered. The other day a girl sat in the room for 3-5 minutes and must of said "Master" 20 to 30 times.

Reflection:

I was walking to the secondary school this week to pick up applications for Boys and Girls leadership camps Peace Corps volunteers are hosting in December. A man approached me saying "treatment" over and over. He pointed to his feet and I saw that he had no toe-nails. I told him "I don't have" and continued on. The incident just reinforced how pissed off I am at the Peace Corps. I'm a health volunteer assigned to orphanage / vocational school. I have no responsibilities and my organization has no aspirations other than to receive more money. Peace Corps Uganda has no Wat San program but brings in volunteers anyway. From a work standpoint I just wish the assholes in the office had taken another Health Volunteer and let me go to a country that has a Wat San program.

What I'm Reading:

This week I read two short stories and a novel. Early in the week I knocked out Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. It was decent, but left me with the same impression I had of Hemingway in high school when I read A Farewell to Arms, 'this guy is over-rated.'

Mid week I knocked out the third installment of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, The Waste Lands. I'm really enjoying Dark Tower but am going to be walking away from it for a little while. Many of King's other works crossover and touch the Dark Tower series and I want to get a better appreciation for what is going to happen in the later part of the series, so I'm delving into a couple other King works, namely, The Stand and Salem's Lot. It won't give me the appreciation of a fan who read Dark Tower and King over the 30 years it was being published but will, I believe, enhance the reading experience.

After knocking out DT3 I decided to take on another short story and pad my finished list a bit. I read Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. I'm really enjoying re-discovering Steinbeck and will probably end up reading some more of him while here. His foreshadowing is both obvious and beautiful. I enjoyed the characters and story development in East of Eden a lot more, but East of Eden is a 25 hour read, Of Mice and Men is an easy 4 hours!!!

I've knocked out the first chapter of Stieg Larson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest and am going to start reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay along with it. Kav and Clay is a physical book and is large so I won't travel with it, but will read it at site.

Highs:

It's OCTOBER!!! Clemson is undefeated and will be in the top 10 by the end of the day. I took a great nap yesterday. I stayed relatively busy this week at work. And in the past week I have finished 2 books and found a copy of book I've been wanting to read at the Volunteer Resource Center!!! Got my cool phone working and I love it.

Lows:

None to be had. I'm pretty darn happy right now.

What I Did:

Finished my Bio Gas program application for Engineers Without Borders and submitted it. Gave my organization a tounge lashing about how they use the development fund... Cooking oil for the staff and buying a private hire for the staff to go shopping are not development!!! After that had a few reading days in the village and caught up with some emails for VAC and planning the mid service conference.

What Is On The Agenda:

Tie up the loose ends on VAC and Mid Service stuff. Get back into weekly lifeskills and spend some time on stuff with my org so I don't feel bad about taking a little me time this upcoming month.

Sanity Meter:

The lack of work gets to me still but my extracurricular right now are making up for everything else. Very happy.

What I'm Reading:

Finished The Reason for God by Timothy Keller and Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor. Debt of Honor is a good Tom Clancy read kicking off the back end of the Jack Ryan story line, has a ton of legacy characters from the previous books which makes it fun. The ending is a little cheesy (I also knew what happened because it received some national publicity and CNN gave it away), but overall a great special ops / modern warfare read.

The Reason for God by Timothy Keller was a good read, but I prefer my C.S. Lewis. (Keller's greatest influence)

I picked up The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay at the PC Resource Center and am excited to be reading that soon. I think I also read The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway and Dark Tower Book 3, The Waste Lands, by Stephen King in the next few weeks.

Just for the Heck of It:

Fight Tigers, Fight Tigers, Fight Fight Fight!!!

Had a busy weekend in Jinja (including about 15 in public transportation) so I didn't get this out, but see below for last week's update.

Highs:

Meeting Mr. and Mrs. Everett, killing it at the casino (my winning streak is now over 1 Million Shillings), the Peace Corps winning a boat paddling race in Jinja. I commissioned the tailoring of an orange sports coat, and Clemson is off to a 4-0 start against 2 ranked teams!!! My counterpart returned to site after weeks in the hospital and then at home recovering from surgery. Hopefully this will correspond with a renewed committment to getting some work done around here.

The ending of Season 7 episode 2 of How I Met Your Mother, I've been calling this story line for years, I hope it lasts more than 1 episode.

On a side note it is so gratifying to see season 7 up there, after Arrested Development crashed and Two and A Half Men became the king of comedy I lost faith in good shows surviving. I just figured America was too dumb to like something smart. I got into HIMYM after season 1 had finished and was worried from the start that it wouldn't last, glad I've been wrong. (as I've been told I am 95% of the time)

Lows:

15 hours of public transport (though it was worth it). Insomnia kept me to about an average of 3 hours sleep the last 4 nights of the week, though Sunday night I slept like a rock. No books finished this week is going to hurt my average. My fantasy team lost to Nick Duncan (unless Jason Witten scores 5 TDS and gets 250 receiving yards).

What I Did:

Not a whole lot. I put the finishing touches on a Bio - Gas grant.

What Is On The Agenda:

End of month meeting and prep work, sending off the Bio-Gas grant, scoping out Hotel Brovad (we've been told our mid service training will be in Masaka at our local Peace Corps partner hotel), picking up the orange sports coat, maybe getting a smart phone with my casino winnings, and then dinner in Mbarara with Jenny's parents and other friends on Friday.

Sanity Meter:

This category had disappeared from the blog for a little while, not because of any particular aspect of my sanity but because I just have forgotten to put it down. I'm still naming the goats, but haven't come up with anything better than Rocky Road. The young children who live in our compound run past my door quickly when they must pass by. When I open the door while they are crossing they break into a frantic sprint often crying from fear, I feel like Boo Radley.

Mr. Everett had picked up on my dissatisfaction with work from previous blog posts and was asking me about it. The conversation helped me realize that it is beyond frustration at this point. The lack of mental stimulus, meaningful human interaction, and purpose during the week is having a more and more profound effect on me. At this point it goes beyond frustration, although I don't know what to call it.

What I'm Reading

Am on the back end of both Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor and The Reason for God by Timothy Keller. Hope to finish both this week and get back on track. Next I think I'll knock out some short books in prep for my upcoming battle with the behemoth Atlas Shrugged.

I had been on the fence about getting a hotel room in Masaka yesterday so I could listen to or watch the Clemson game on my computer. (not sure what TV pirating is like in the post channelsurfing.net world) That plan imploded when a rain storm started in the mid afternoon and left me stuck in my village. I can get a decent 2nd generation mobile internet connection outside, but the storm was pretty intense, removing the option of me setting up out there. So I rigged up my computer in between the bars on my window and prayed that my battery would hold up. It did and for the most part I had a seamless broadcast via 104.9 the Drive!

Clemson 38 - Auburn 24, over 600 yards of offense!!!

Next week I'm in Jinja meeting Jenny's parents and am really curious whether the satelite at NRE will pick up the 3:30 broadcast of FSU @ Clemson. Regardless I expect I'll have a strong enough signal to radio stream.

Other notes of getting it done:

I predicted Clemson would either lose by 3 or win by 14. I just didn't see this game being close if Clemson showed up to play. Well I bullseyed it, 38-24 'Tigers with a lake'!!!

And the thing I am most excited about on the getting it done front!!! The ACC raided the Big East again!!! I've said for several years now that the Big 12 is a time bomb and cannot stand, and that there is only room for either the Big East or ACC; one would have to kill the other. We just took two of their best schools, and I don't think we are done yet. The northeast market is ours for the taking. I didn't think the ACC had the drive or ambition to start a war. Good for them. Go get Rutgers and UConn... even though I'd prefer Annapolis and one of their rivals. ;)

This week might get published a bit early so I can take advantage of Kampala's 3g internet before I head back to site. Also want to make sure I get my weekly Clemson prediction on the books.

Highs:

I HAVEN'T BEEN AT SITE SINCE MY LAST WEEKEND UPDATE!!! It's been great to be away, even though things were only marginally productive this week at the Peace Corps office. Thursday I attended a gala at the US Embassy and was asked by Peace Corps to work the greetings line, escorting US expats and Ugandan government officials from the Ambassador to the party area.

Won 300,000 shillings at the casino during the week, paying for all my expenses involved in the visit.

Am all booked up for the trip home. Jenny and myself have expanded our originally planned 48 hours in Columbia to 4 days, the night of the 17th to the 21st. More details on plans and get-togethers to develop sometime in November.

As I write this I am eating a bagel with cream cheese at the I Love NY Kitchen, Kampala, Uganda.

I'm bringing basil and barbecue sauce back to my site from K'la!!!

Embassy gala included a live band, open bar with decent red wine, nice cloths, huge hot dogs made by US Marines, and good company. Really it was only missing one thing... but she really did need to be at site.

Really enjoyed the sing alongs on the bus trip back to Entebbe after the gala. The Weight and Piano Man were definite highlights.

Lows:

Low productivity on all fronts. Didn't get much work done for my org this week, didn't accomplish very much in the VAC meeting, didn't even get many pages knocked out in my book.

What I Did:

VAC meeting and follow up with minimal real work this week.

What Is On The Agenda:

Throw myself at work this weekend through next Friday, then off to Jinja to meet Jenny's parents.

What Am I Reading:

Finished Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy not as good a read as I was expecting. I'm thus far undecided on whether or not to continue the series.

Got into Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy but it was not an intensive reading week.

Clemson Prediction of the Week:

This prediction is going to be a bit half ass.

Clemson will either win by 14 (if they show up), or lose by 7 or less, if they decide they want to pull a Clemson and accept defeat instead of rising to the occasion.

Highs:

Getting out of the village for a few days and a good meeting with my organization. Found a satchel in the second hand market today that I'm going to use when traveling and I don't want to bring my REI backpack and my NorthFace day pack.

Also, City Top Restaurant of Mbarara for the first time in probably 2 months!!!

Got a Fluor Polo shirt in the mail and cool mug with a picture of the Jack County Station on it. Friends from Fluor continue to treat me better than I deserve.

Lows:

Getting fat. Just not working out a lot lately. Rainy season combined with travel and the opportunity to eat good food has not been good for me.

My light packing week out of site turned into a week and a half out of site, meaning I'm going to run out of clean clothing about 3 days before I return to Nakyenyi. Haven't formulated a plan yet.

What I Did:

Had a meeting with my org Monday and detailed out my ideas, our capacity, and how I would like to proceed with obtaining funding for biogas. After which I started writing a grant for Engineers Without Borders. We are almost assuredly going to get shut down (and for good reason because my organization isn't qualified for a program this big), but I've decided I no longer care about the big picture, I just want to do something. If this falls through I will proceed on getting a Peace Corps grant and trying to build a smaller scale digester. After my meeting I spent 3 days in Wakiso so I could deliver a 5 minute explanation to trainees on what the VAC is. It's good to a girlfriend on the training committee.

What Is On The Agenda:

3rd VAC meeting of the year is Sunday - Monday and the first full meeting in 6 months with a Country Director. Will be interesting to see how committed she is to addressing policy reforms she has communicated she is on board with. There is a 50th Anniversary event on Thursday I was going to go to after returning to site but now my Program Manager wants me to serve as some type of glorified usher and attend training for my glorified usher duties on Wednesday. For this reason I believe I'll be hanging around Entebbe Tuesday instead of going back to site. Maybe I'll buy some clothes in the market since I will no doubt be beginning to smell by that time.

American Annoyance of the Week:

Thats right. I'm annoyed with the federal government this week because the exchange rate on the dollar is down about 50% since I arrived but my living allowance hasn't changed by a shilling. So the Peace Corps gets the same number of US dollars for me each month but I have about 2/3 the buying power I did a year ago. Transportation and food costs are up big time. What really hurts is that when prices go up here they go up in ridiculous increments, usually 30-50% all at once. I still live a quality of life far superior to what I expected when I came here, but I am missing the good old days when a beer cost 2000 UGX and dinner was less than 10,000 UGX.

What I'm Reading:

Finished Stephen King's The Drawing of the Three and am really starting to enjoy The Dark Tower series. I didn't have a very good reading week after making into Wakiso so I'm trying to finish Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the next 24 hours to keep my pace going. I've started Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor but expect it to take me a full week of 4-5 hours a day to get through. The mammoth Atlas Shrugged is on the radar soon and that may take me a few weeks to get through so I want to get ahead of my 1 book a week pace before I tackle it.

Name: Lucky BastardsLeague Name: Peace Corps LitePlayers: 6

My Picks:1 Chris Johnson - RB - Tenn2 Michael Vick - QB - Philly3 Darren McFadden - RB - Oak4 Reggie Wayne - WR - Ind5 Jason Whitten - TE - Dal6 JETS Defense - Def - NYJ7 Sidney Rice - WR - Min8 Anquan Boldin - WR - Bal 9 Ahmad Bradshaw - RB - NYG10 Sam Bradford - QB - STL11 CJ Spiller - RB - BUF12 Jacoby Ford - WR - Oak13 Marques Colston - WR - NO14 Jonathan Stewart - RB - Car15 Ryan Succoup - K - KC

Peace Corps is hard!

Very Special High Note:

IT'S SEPTEMBER!!! "Cause there ain't no cure for the summertime blues." My Father and I have long called the late summer the Dark Period. College sports haven't started, baseball is mostly decided but the playoffs haven't started, (he doesn't care about this) and there is nothing new on television. But September brings an end to it all. College Football, Fantasy Football, New Glee and How I Met Your Mother!

Highs:

All Volunteer conference at a resort hotel (including waffles in the mornings), fantasy football draft with my PC buddies, winning 300k shillings in the casino, throwing Jenny in the pool, and lots of other fun this week. August was a rough month at times, but September is looking good.

Lows:

Going home. Which I am doing at my own pace. Also disappointed that some folks couldn't be at All Vol or weren't there very long.

What I Did:

Worked on some presentation materials Monday, met with my org Tuesday before heading to All Vol, and then spent the rest of the week in luxury, listening to presentations and hanging out with friends.

What Is On The Agenda:

Meeting at School Monday about Rocket Stoves and meeting with the director of my org Tuesday about our proposed Biogas Digester. Then off to the training house for an introductory presentation to VAC. Then I am in the tragic position of being all the way out to K'la 3 days before the VAC meeting. Plans are not yet established but am hoping to avoid any that involve me returning to my site for 24 hour period mid week.

What I'm Reading:

Finished The Hobbit, and was much happier with the second half of the book. Started reading the second book of Stephen King's Magnum Opus, Dark Tower, (entitled The Drawing of the Three)

Might also knock out Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy this week if I get sick of Stephen King.

Clemson Prediction Of the Week:

Clemson 24, Troy 10

Sorry about being late, I traveled without my computer this weekend (shocking, I know) and didn't get back until 8:30 at night during a thunderstorm on Sunday.

Highs:

A good meeting Friday with my org, looks like they might be following some of my suggestions, but may just be holding out a carrot to fool me.

Lows:

Biogas outlook looks troublesome, my org just isn't strong enough of an organization to support the kind of project that I want to build. Struggling with isolation in the village.

What I Did:

Worked on biogas design, had a pre term meeting with my org on Friday, and read about 5-10 hours a day.

On the Agenda:

In the office Monday preparing some notes for the upcoming monthly meeting with my org, Tuesday is the monthly meeting, and after the meeting I leave for the All Volunteer Conference at Ridar hotel.

What I'm Reading:

Finished Larson's The Girl Who Played With Fire and read half of The Hobbit by Tolkien. I'm not crazy about The Millennium Trilogy but find them entertaining enough to finish. I'm very disappointed by The Hobbit. I haven't read it in 15 years and don't remember it being written as a children's book. The style is very similar to C.S. Lewis, with narration addressing the reader like a child. Still I wanted to brush up on it before the movies are released. I hope to finish it before the All Vol Conference.

Ugandan Annoyance of the Week:

Ugandans give all the power to the salesmen, and don't seize any powers as consumers. I was in the taxi park yesterday trying to get a Mutatu to drop me off in my village. A mini bus to Masaka costs 10,000 shillings and car to my village costs 3000 from there. A bus to Mbarara (100k past my site) is 15,000 shillings and will stop at my village if I pay full price. A Mutatu going to Lyantonde (40 k past my site on the way to Mbarara) was running for 20,000 shillings and the Ugandans were paying it, and they wanted me to pay 20,000 to get dropped off at my village. The trend of driver's being in charge, not the riders is just one illustration that this country isn't ready to develop, the people aren't willing to stand up to any entrenched interest.

Prior to departure my Aunt Cathy, who babysat me as an infant and has always been one of the closest members of my extended family, gave me a journal to write in while I was here. She wrote a personal note in it and passed the journal around so that others could made an entry as well.

I never read it. I didn't need it yet and don't enjoy reading about myself. Most of all I knew a day would come when I did need it. That day was today.

Those who keep track of the blog know I've been struggling lately. I wouldn't call it homesickness, because I don't feel that I've ever had a home during my adult life. But I miss people, specific people I love as well as random easily replaceable people. It's been almost two weeks since I've had a face to face conversation with anyone. If I could talk to a random fool in an airport bar about college football for hour it would make my day, week, possibly month.

I've been reluctant to read the journal because the people who wrote it in believed I was doing something good and worthwhile, and I now know that whether what I am doing is good or worthwhile is a question great philosophers would struggle to answer definitively. Regardless, as I said, I needed something today, and it was on my shelf.

I blog too much, so most people have probably given up trying to keep up, but thank you to everybody back home, you all got me through the day. (just 400 or so more to go) I miss you all, whether we used to talk an hour a week on the phone or 5 minutes after church a few times a year.

Highs:

Saturday night at the casino. The comment Justin left of my Facebook Sunday morning. Talking with my parents Saturday night. Best Rolex in the World at Nile River Explorers in Jinja, Onion, French Fries, Curry, and Avocado.

Lows:

No power most of the week. No human conversation from Sunday to Saturday.

What I Did:

Read 2 books and got down and dirty with the biogas design. Unfortunately I'm running into some snags. I think I might go into Masaka today pick up some supplies and do a more detailed post in my Biogas or Bust series.

What Is On The Agenda:

Students are returning to the school today. That doesn't mean a whole lot as far as my work but means some people from my org might stop by. If they do then I'd like to lay out a couple project ideas, schedule a sit down with them evaluating ideas concerning biogas, and put together a general plan for the next 2 months.

What I'm Reading:

Finished Stephen King's The Gunslinger and George Orwell's 1984. The Gunslinger was really just a setup for the Dark Tower series, 1984 was depressing but I'm glad to be getting back into the habit of knocking down some literature every now and then. I'd like to average one book a week the final year I am here.

I've started 3 books since finishing 1984 and expect to start one more today if I got to Masaka and the wifi is working.

I had intended to go right through Machiavelli's The Prince, but am finding it is a tough read if you aren't familiar with 15th century European history and politics.

In desperation I figured the next Chronicles of Narnia book would be a fast and painless read so I opened it up and knocked out a chapter. Unfortunately I'm just not motivated to get through this series. This will be the first time I finish a book before the movie comes out.

I then picked up and started reading Michael Maren's The Road To Hell, Michael Maren is a former Peace Corps Kenya Volunteer who has since worked in international aid and has cataloged the unintended and devastating consequences of aid. In the opening chapter he remarks how his village bribed a Government official to get a Peace Corps Volunteer, used him to raise funding at the school, and then the savvy local politicians and business men took the bricks and supplies to build themselves bigger houses. His experience mirrors my own too closely. I really feel I need to accomplish something in Africa before I read his book or I might just give up.

Finally I resolved I wanted a medium length page turner so today I plan to go into Masaka and download Stieg Larson's The Girl Who Played With Fire. I read the first book in the trilogy about 6-7 months ago and am ready to revisit it. Hopefully I'll finish this and maybe another book this week at site.

Highs:

Meeting with the new country director at ROCO training center, Jinja with Jenny, the double blackjack at Nile River Casino, receiving a care package from "Queen Mum" Mama Haig and a trip to Kayunga to try and put the finishing touches on the basketball court project Rebecca and I have been working on.

Also really enjoyed the blog posts I was able to do this week. Some people saw the year in review post as a real downer, but I think it is important to present all sides of this experience. Finishing that post on a strong note and putting together my 100 great memories post really put into perspective how amazing an experience this is.

Lows:

Had a grumpy spell earlier in the week that make me bad company, once I got past that the week has been good.

What I Did:

Basketball Court project in Kayunga, biogas design, worked in my orgs office and reviewed a request for proposal and started brainstorming for a project we might be able to run, and met with the new country director to address stale policy issues arising from the change in administration that has been going on for the last 6 months.

What Is On The Agenda:

Meeting with my org to brainstorm and put together a proposal for a program. I don't like the idea of helping my org win financial awards, but would like to see if I can help them develop a program worth of funding.

Continuing design of my biogas digester.

Launching a Wat San promotion program in my community by marketing chlorine tablets at local storefronts.

Preparing for the vocational school to resume a new term.

What Am I Reading:

Finished The Shining by Stephen King, now on to The Gunslinger, the first installment of his masterpiece 30 year anthology, Dark Tower.

Ugandan Frustration of the Week:

When trying to brainstorm with Grace about how to structure our proposed program I asked her what she thinks we should do. She responded, "go to the people." I then asked, and then what will we do with the people. She responded, "we will help them." I asked how specifically we would help them, to which she responded, "we will mobilize them." I then informed Grace that if she said one more buzz word I was walking out of the office and starting my weekend.

I apologize for the blog being a bit of a downer lately. Noticing this myself, I resolved to think of 100 great memories from this past year for my 100th post. I thought this might be overambitious as writing lists often starts out quick and then fizzes out about 25% of the way through. What is amazing is how quickly this list came together. Less than 24 hours went into it and I don't think I ever sat at my computer for more than 2 minutes between thinking of a memory to include. By the end I was having to edit memories out. Particularly notable memories are in bold.

1.Sharing a cab from the airport with Kendall and Rebecca. 2. Saved By The Bell freeze frames and rewinds in our staging group skits. 3. Staying up all night in Philly with members of the training group so we would be able to sleep on the plane. 4. My first taste of Matoke. 5. Playing soccer against village kids in Lweza. 6. Christy Prouty, refusing to go near the long horned cow on one side of the soccer field. 7. Falling in love with tea time. 8. My rocking language group, Drew Rountree, Rebecca Workman, “Uncle” Gary Goodman, and Ven Kitone. 9. Jenny guessing my birthday. 10. Bryce introducing me to Rolex. 11. Trivia nights in training. 12. Skyping with my Mom’s class for World Wise Schools. 13. My first slice of pizza from the I Love NY Kitchen. 14. Finishing my first of 26 books, Catch-22. 15. Introducing people to How I Met Your Mother 16. Matt Boddie telling me I should run for VAC. 17. Cooking day in training. 18. Romi Pineapple Wine 19. Being the first member of our group to drink the Wargi from a bag. 20. Discovering the Simba Casino and the complimentary Jack Daniels. 21. Moving onto Iguana Dance Club afterwards. 22. The story Matt Boddie told us the next morning. 23. The silent dance party. 24. The QA session with Christy and Michaela. 25. Nick Duncan going double or nothing in roulette. 26. Singing Glee songs with Nick Duncan in the streets of Kampala. 27. Nick Duncan making Bloody Marys the next morning. 28. The Tien Game. 29. Blatantly breaking the dress code the last 3 weeks of training. 30. The Jenny / Amanda Dynamic. 31. Having to shout over the rain as I delivered my VAC campaign speech. 32. Nick Duncan riding my coat tails. 33. The end of training talent show, especially “2 Malayas in a Bar.” 34. Jason Gauthier’s chicken impression at the Homestay Thank You Celebration. 35. Passing my Language Proficiency Examination. 36. Chilling on the couch with Naz at Ted Mooney’s house. 37. Waffles at Ridar Hotel. 38. Christy Prouty saying, “and by that I mean, forged.” 39. Nick Duncan delivering the speech from Independence Day at swear in. 40. Our group swearing in 45 of 45 volunteers. 41. Being awarded the “most likely to be the next person in a relationship” superlative. 42. 2 hours later it kind of being accurate. 43. Reading by candlelight. 44. The Frickadellen Café. 45. Building a fort so I could watch the Clemson vs FSU game all night in the hotel room without disturbing others. 46. Jenny’s reaction to the fort. 47. Waking up to strange goat sounds at 6 AM. 48. The unexpected deposit in my US bank account. 49. Spending Thanksgiving with people I loved, even if it was thousands of miles from home. 50. Rum & Passion Fruit Juice on the beach while trying to get Jenny to come back to Entebbe. 51. Singing Billionaire on the dance floor at Night Ridaz. 52. The midnight sausage rolls in Entebbe. 53. Lotus Mexican Restaurant before heading back to site. 54. Rebecca in the ally at Centenary Park. 55. Amanda and Michaela’s kitten story. 56. Friends coming to my village for Christmas. 57. Christmas music, decorations, and movies. 58. The Chaco Incident 59. Yatzee. 60. The Christmas Meatloaf 61. Beer Pong on my 7 foot kitchen counter. 62. The scrabble weekend. 63. Receiving my Kindle in the mail. 64. The Gambler @ the comedy club. 65. Nick Duncan’s set at the comedy club. 66. After the comedy club. 67. Trying to throw Jenny in the pool at IST. 68. Hanging out in the sauna, drunk, with Cormac. 69. Drew & Nick’s misguided attempts to help me at IST. 70. The Booze Cruise. 71. Matt Boddie barely making the bus at Nile River Explorers. 72. Team Sh*tshow on the Nile River. 73. Titanic 2. 74. City Top Restaurant. 75. FoPo Fo Sho. 76. The Toothbrush Incident. 77. Sneaking away to the beach with Drew & Nick during the GAD meeting. 78. Receiving a care package from friends at my old company. 79. Peace Corps 50th Anniversary Party in Lweza. 80. Building a basketball court with Rebecca. 81. Chicken Mole at Anna’s Easter Weekend. 82. Helping Nick Duncan kill a pig. 83. Eating the pig. 84. Sneaking away to Jinja. 85. The espresso milkshake. 86. Meeting Jenny’s sisters. 87. 14 People in a Toyota Corolla. 88. AWOL Safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park. 89. Josh Mask Day. 90. The ridiculous clothing market in Kasese. 91. Launching the Bridge Committee. 92. My 8 mile morning run at Malaria training. 93. Sesse Island. 94. Seeing Harry Potter 7 part 2 in the theater. 95. Throwing out Matt Boddie at first base during the JICA Baseball weekend. 96. Tien giving me a 4000 shilling chocolate bar for no reason at all. 97. Telling my Mom on Skype that Jenny and I would be stopping by Carolina for a few days around Christmas time. 98. Measuring the cow dung and beginning design of my Biogas Digester. 99. Finally accepting that Peace Corps is what it is, even if it isn’t what I wanted it to be. 100. One year later… still 45 volunteers.

Below is a special post commemorating one year since leaving home. It also happens to be the 99th post on this site. Tomorrow I will publish a very special (and more upbeat) 100th post.One year ago today I said goodbye to friends and family and departed for my Peace Corps service. The application process had lasted one year and five months giving me ample time to evaluate my reasons for going. A year later I think it is appropriate to evaluate the experience, analyzing the fulfillment and un-fulfillment of the reasons I came and the unintended consequences of this journey. I came here to serve my God, by providing a service to the poor. I believe this to be my greatest failure and darkest aspect of my Peace Corps service. Spending a year in Africa has only left me questioning whether or not my Peace Corps service has any benefit to the poor. I make small positive steps along the way by participating in small projects and promoting new ideas that are good for society, but simultaneously I am contributing to the welfare state Africa has become. It will forever haunt me that I cannot definitively say whether my time here was part of the problem or part of the solution for Africa. Grade: FAILURE I came here to serve my country, by dedicating two years of my life to public service. I still believe in public service, and hope it will play a part in my future. One very frustrating aspect of my Peace Corps service is that I do not believe the Peace Corps has done an acceptable job of finding places for Volunteers to conduct meaningful service. This was made more frustrating by the fact that congress wants to double the size of the Peace Corps. Why do they want to double the size of an organization that already struggles to find meaningful assignments for its volunteers? The answer is because we are cheap diplomacy. This experience would be so much more rewarding if congress cut the size of Peace Corps in half, but ensured that more effort was put into making the service meaningful. Instead my government has chosen quantity over quality, wasting my time and skills so that they can claim to be increasing the size of very popular program. The “leaders” of my country have undermined the very purpose of the Peace Corps to make themselves look good. Grade: D I came here to take back control of my career, by broadening my experience and stepping outside the influence of my former employer. Here is where I believe I have had my greatest success. I do not know what the future holds for me from a career perspective. I have ideas of course, but nothing is determined. I’ve gained experience that will influence my life in immeasurable ways. I’ve gained a resume item that may open unexpected doors. I’ve stepped out of the shadow of my pathetic college transcripts. Most importantly I’ve stepped out of the passenger seat and started steering my career myself. Does this guarantee better driving or the desired destination? No it doesn’t, it does ensure that I’ll determine the route myself. Grade: A+ I came here to give myself new perspectives on what I wanted out of life; I did so with the hope of evoking a change in myself. This experience has done much more to underscore the point that I don’t know what I want out of life. After years of frustration and belief that my job in America was meaningless, I came here with the intention of doing something worthwhile and found myself in an even more meaningless existence. All I’ve really done is further separated myself from people I loved and made myself more cynical. I can say that being here has had the positive effect of showing me what I don’t want out of life. I do not want to work in “development.” The only real “development” is education. Next time I’m feeling altruistic about my career and want to throw hundreds of thousands of dollars down the drain, I’ll teach. Grade: C So I’m averaging pretty poor on fulfilling my reasons for coming here. But by far the most rewarding part of being here are the unintended consequences… I’ve lost 20 lbs. I’ve read 26 books. I’ve gained insight on how much my company actually appreciated me. I’ve fostered a new appreciation for the US by exposing myself to an even less sustainable system. I’ve met a girl with an extremely high tolerance for my personality. And I’ve made friends I hope to know for the rest of my life. The Peace Corps isn’t what I wanted it to be. The two primary reasons I came here have left me empty and bitter. Most days I feel that the right thing to do, and the brave thing to do would be to resign and try to find something worthwhile to do back home; that staying here is the most cowardly thing I’ve done my entire life. But recently, I’ve started to accept that the Peace Corps is what it is. It has lost its shine and its positive connotation in my mind; I think I’ll always be a little embarrassed to say I was in the Peace Corps, but these two years are reshaping my future. I hope 20 years from now to believe it to have been worth it.

Goal 2

Peace Corps has 3 goals:

The First is to provide our host country with skilled persons to help transfer skills and knowledge to the host country residents. The second goal is to provide a better understanding of Americans on the part of the host country residents. The third is to provide a better understanding of the host and its residents to Americans back at home. Check out this video of what we might call a "goal 2 activity."

Shameless Plug

A new blog has been started up by a friend of mine and I want to plug it. It now appears on menu of my friends' blogs but want to specifically tell you to keep your eyes out for...

Pooping Outside the Box

The second entry took place in my pit latrine, and I almost fell out of bed when I was told what had occurred. It was a Christmas miracle!!!

Highs:

Got an email back from a water purification tablet manufacturer Tuesday telling me they had an organization in Uganda that I could pick up some promotional materials from. Wednesday I was able to head to the office and pick up some promotional materials.

Becca invited me to come up and check out / consult for the basketball court next week.

Lows:

Just not in a good place right now. I'm coming up on one year here, and the thought of another year plus just seems insurmountable. Too much time alone with my mind. See sanity meter.

What I Did:

I spent Friday in my organizations office, and dropped off a proposal for mud stoves that my supervisor shouted at me for never making for her. I had researched mud stoves several months ago and then hadn't seen my supervisor for about a month and she had never mentioned mud stoves again. Apparently she has been waiting for a written report. I've been waiting for my organization express any sincere interest in doing anything. I imagine when she sees my report isn't going to seek any funding for my organization to build this mud stove she will lose interest.

What Is On The Agenda:

Helping Becca with the basketball court, doing some detailed design on Biogas and trying to put together a presentation of different options my organization can pursue. Possibly meeting the new CD in Kampala late in the week to talk about stale policy decisions as a result of the last administrations early exit.

My org is also meeting with parents next week in preparation for the next term. I'd like to exert some influence on them and get them to be a bit more proactive with recruitment and collection of meal fees.

Sanity Meter:

This heading was originally intended to be kind of a joke. Little kids calling me muzungu and harassing me can make me feel insane at times, hence the name was born. Lately it is taking on another meaning. I have an active mind. I debate decisions with myself. When I know I will be having a conversation with someone, I spend hours thinking of every possible answer that person will come back with and what my response will be. I consider outcomes, fringe impacts, and solutions to every problem. When I actually have things to do, I have less time to do this stuff. When I have 15 awake hours a day and only 2 legit work hours, this crap tends to fill in the voids. Point being I literally feel like I am losing my mind, a bit. I regularly go days without any intelligent conversation, sometimes weeks if I stay in my village through a weekend. The lack of human interaction is weighing on me.

What I'm Reading:

Will finish the Shining by Stephen King in the next 48 hours, putting me at 26 books in 1 year. You may have picked up on the fact that a book about going crazy from isolation might not be the best choice for Peace Corps Volunteer in a remote village. Trust me the irony has not been lost on myself.

The other week I had the opportunity to weigh the cow dung produced in a single night at my site. It is a major milestone in my planned project of building a biogas digester at my site. It took a while to get to this point but have now finally been able to start work on design. After about 6 bags of this crap we came to a final measurement of about 338 kg. This would put us at about a 17 cubic meter digester tank. My initial calculations of the gas cap required suggest it would weigh over 900 lbs. This greatly destroys the feasibility of my proposed design in that it would have to be manually lifted into place. Even if this were possible I'm not confident in my ability to design a steel vessel with the kind of accurarcy needed for a potentially dangerous piece of equipment. Most of the problem surrounding my design came from the choice of a water jacket for the digester. This week I'm going to start doing some markups where I suggest designs without a water jacket, and where I suggest building a series of biogas digesters each with a capacity for 100 kg of loading per day. Hopefully by the end of the month I can have my proposed design complete and start working on fundraising / grant writing.

And Just For Nostalgia...

Highs:

Measured cow dung for my org's biogas digester (detailed post to follow). Attended a Peace Corps vs JICA (Japanese equivalent of Peace Corps) softball weekend. Purchased plane tickets for Christmas in the States.Lows:

I got in a screaming match with Grace and called my organizations "work plan" toilet paper.

What I Did:

Measured poop for my biogas digester, conducted my kickoff weekly lifeskills class, and submitted our schools first monthly report to my organization. I then proceeded to call my organization's workplan 'toilet paper' at our monthly meeting.

What Is On The Agenda:

Weekly life skills, some action items from the monthly meeting, doing some VAC related tasks, continuing to measure poop / design the biogas digester. Pursuing the idea of starting some Village Savings & Loan activities.

Sanity Meter:

Variable. Which appears to be the case for the foreseeable future.

What I'm Reading:

Finished the 5 Love Languages and Devil in the White City.

Devil in the White City was a good read if you like non fiction, The 5 Love Languages was informative, and weird, reminded me of those personality tests you took in college that seemed to know your personality better than you knew yourself. I think I'm going to have to read the revised edition for singles though since most of the book is written in the context of marriage.

Currently reading Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas even though I love the writing I am about sick of the content. The book has mostly been an extended drug trip. Never having had interest in drugs or drug culture I can't really get that into it.