A cubicle is a cubicle is a cubicle

Arua was fun. It was gritty and adventurous.

Kampala is not. It's big and crowded and boring.

Maybe I'm just saying that because I have, for the past two days, sat in front of a computer with very little to do. Yesterday I was completely overwhelmed by my full time access to a decent internet source, yet I realize, no one is awake while I'm emailing, so I have to settle for delayed gratification. Sure, it's nice to get into work the next day and have emails waiting from your friends and family, but I'm so used to the instant back and forth that resembles conversation.

I get picked up in the morning around 8:30, and I arrive in my cubicle. I don't even work in a cubicle in the US. I check my emails. I try to make a phone call or two, and in general I wait until someone important and relevant to my work has the time to talk to me. That happened briefly this morning, but I didn't get too far with it. Tomorrow should be better. Adwoa and I are debriefing with the two activity supervisors at 10 to tell them about the Arua training. I made one phone call this morning, and the planning for the similar training in Bundibugyo is underway.

I took a trip to the close by grocery store today at lunch. The Shop Rite is apparently where all of the ex-pats shop. I treated myself to a can of sour cream and onion Pringles.

I discovered a serious ant problem in the office. This isn't new to me today. I noticed it yesterday too. This morning I came in and found that someone had thrown away the plastic cup I had filled with water the day before, which was annoying because it was just water and I didn't want to keep using more plastic cups. So I got another and drank the water. When I came back from the Shop Rite, I found a parade of ants marching right up and over and into the empty cup. Stupid ants. It's water. Not juice or something else truly march-worthy.

At home it's not much more exciting. I'm staying in a house in the suburbs. I spent about a half hour last night trying to figure out how to work the DVD player. I got frustrated, quit and watched MTV all night instead.

Having access to phones and email is good, but I really feel like an addict of some sort. First there was my flurry of emails yesterday, and then getting annoyed that no one checked their email in DC before 9am. I finally yesterday got a land line number to send to a few important people, and I was so excited to think that I might actually get a call from my fabulous boyfriend, who I haven't spoken to since I arrived. I even had a dream that I heard the phone ring at about 5:30 in the morning, and I got out of bed and flew down the hallway to the phone, which of course, wasn't ringing. I was even more disappointed when I arrived in the office and realized I neglected to include the country code on the number I gave out.

Today I got a cell phone too. Not that it's mine to keep, but to borrow and to pay for minutes as I use them.

Here I am in East Africa and it's about as interesting as being in DC. I have a cell phone, I sit in a cube in front of a computer all day, I go home, I watch TV and zone out. The main difference is that the weather here is warmer than it is back home. I guess I should be happy about that! And maybe Kampala will grown on me if I can just get out of my suburban hideaway once in a while.