Yes, I think I did leave home…

You know, strangely enough, I haven’t really felt any “culture shock” or real feeling that I’m back in East Africa this whole week. I’ve kinda felt like I had never left (except without that awful, Iwanttoseemyparents Iwanttoseemyparents Iwanttoseemyparents spoiled brat feeling I had the very last week I was in Tanzania last time. But then, by then I had already been away from home for almost a year…)

Everything seems the same…just more luxurious.

I actually have: air con, hot (and high pressure!) showering water if I wanted, all kinds of food, super fast internet connection, constant electricity (haven’t had one glitch all week), relatively clean streets, mild weather, fifty different places to buy imported stuff (that sounded bad – I don’t actually buy much from them, just the fact there seems to be many, when there is only one in Kampala), own kitchen…and I could probably go on.

In Kampala, the place/community I stayed at was much more simple. (I guess I am in one of the richer parts of the city now). And as far as I know, there’s only Garden City where you have a fancy supermarket.

In Nyandira (the Tanzanian village I stayed at)…well, it’s not a fair comparison. Although, part of me enjoys that life more.

And prices are almost double the prices in Kampala. Pretty crazy. Plus I used to live on about $4 CAD a day when I was in Nyandira. Now, depending on how much we eat out at non-local places, much more.

But the other day, it kinda hit home a bit harder…

I was sitting at my desk, and ants were crawling on my computer. It’s kinda normal, especially on the kitchen counter. Then my friend came, she had some chocolate with her. So I ate a piece and I guess some bits fell into my cup.

15 minutes later. My cup was swarming with ants.

Ah. Yes. I remember this.

Apparently, the ants came out of her laptop, because she had the same problem at home.

I don’t think I was shocked. Just kinda really felt like I had actually left Vancouver :P