friends – Experiment: In Progress

Sorry for the long absence my dear blog. Work is just crazy. No other way to describe it.

But for once, things non-work related.

I spent the last weekend in Kampala (the only time I ever got off!) with an amazing friend I met in Norway, who’s also working in Kampala. It was so nice to meet, chat, go to New York Kitchen (OMG – the brownies), have shisha, and go dancing. I really wasn’t ready to go back to Tororo by Sunday. Hence I might be going again this weekend (especially since my friend is leaving Uganda…). I know, I know. Once a city rat, always a city rat.

Kampala’s so much nicer than what I remember. It’s so much cleaner. Less crowded. Nicer people. I really don’t know why. Maybe it’s just because I’ve gotten used to life in east Africa. Cold water showers don’t even faze me now.

Even more than the city comforts though, I really, really enjoyed seeing my friend again. So much to talk and discuss. There aren’t many people who understand how I see development. She does. Grab on to those friends, I say. Rarer than diamonds. Life is unfair when they make all the cool people live far away from you do (and that’s part of the reason they’re so cool – they’re always moving to new places!). Teleportation should just be invented already.

Ok, I’m ranting. But I’m tired. And there’s lots of work tomorrow.

**I wrote this post a long time ago and totally forgot to post it!**

On Christmas day, I received the most heart-warming present. Not only was it tear-jerking, it was also delivered at the exact time I needed a little boost. My friends are too amazing for words.

I’ve been a little bit homesick for a while. Not the full-blown ‘I-don’t-care-(insert whiny voice)-just-get-me-on-a-plane’ kind of homesick. Just missing family and friends. Missing those conversations that make me the happiest person in the world. Missing communication that doesn’t require words, because you know each other’s emotions and gestures inside out. I wasn’t surprised when this hit; it always comes and always quietly sneaks away.

And, I guess, to compensate, as one of wiser friends pointed out, I socialize, socialize, and socialize. I mean, I love my friends here – they’re interesting, intelligent, and fun. It’s not, though, the same kind of friendship that I have with people I’ve known for years. Maybe it’s endearment, maybe it’s the ‘test of time,’ maybe it’s just habitual comfort, but my friends over the years mean a lot to me. In some ways, they are part of me. Yet, socializing is draining. For an introvert (or maybe an ambivert), socializing doesn’t charge my batteries as for extroverts. As much as I love meeting new people and ‘going out’ I need equal, if not more, time alone. I haven’t had quality alone time for a while.

So when this pink eye and fever hit, it might have been a blessing in disguise. I was forced to stay home. It took me a few days to get into ‘alone mode.’