Host Family

It is a little bit strange how normal it feels to live with a family that is not my own, as if they were my own. In my program we had multiple days of orientation. We were told things like don't ride the dangerous boda-bodas, don't walk by yourself in the dark, there was even a little squatty potty talk. There wasn't really any talk about the whole host family aspect. I have had friends go on study abroads before and heard them refer to their "mom" or "dad" and I have always thought it sounded a little bit contrived to call these people mom and dad... like I always thought it seemed like they were pretending or playing a little bit. But now I live with a family and I have two brothers and two sisters, a papa and a toto (the word for mom). It doesn't feel like I am pretending or like they are. They are my Ugandan family. I know it will probably take all semester before I really get to know them well. But they feel like family now.

Right now toto and papa have malaria. Which sucks, but not as bad as it sounds like it does. I asked toto how many times she has had malaria and she answered "this year?" I said "No, ever, in your whole life." She kind of laughed and said, "Kelsey an African can not count how many times they have had malaria!" I do not know the reason but malaria is worse for foreigners. Maybe because Africans have like thousands of years of resistance built up towards it... maybe because we are babies...

Speaking of being a baby. I need to get used to cockroaches. That is one of my goals for this semester. I no longer yell or scream when one crawls towards me... there is just a sharp intake of breath hahaha. Last night I went outside to take a bucket bath. We bathe in this little room in between the house and the road (so awkward to bathe with people like talking right outside the wall. There is no roof on the room so you feel like you are bathing outside. I was pouring water from a jerrycan into a bucket and there was a cockroach crawling on the wall right next to my face. I stood up and watched it for 2 minutes thinking about how badly I did not want to get undressed and bathe in a room with cockroaches in it and I quietly whined for Kevin to come kill it. Kevin is my 14 year old little sister... She picks up these giant cockroaches with her hands and throws them away from me. Heart her. But she was not in ear shot. I ended up kicking it and it fell and scurried away. This is like a daily occurrence and it would make me feel much more like a 24 year old if I could man up and not be so grossed out by these little giant bugs.

I am sitting with other Americans and everyone is discussing their strategies for going to the latrine during the least cockroach infested times of the day. I think I will save that for another blog post. Someone just passed around a cold pancake and we like devoured it. American food! hahaha I love it here.