Aida

This is my name most of the time here in Uganda...people hear "Aida" when I say "Heidi" because it's a name they're familiar with that is somewhat similar...I've even started responding to it when people call across a room or are trying to get my attention when I'm looking another way, "Aida!" "Nisioni!" (that's me!). Oh and it's pronounced "Ida" as in "Idaho"...well, kind of....

Another funny interaction I've had in the last week or two is about another part of my identity, but I didn't think it would follow me to Uganda...that's the identity I have of being a "P.K." I was showing a couple of the nurses at the health center the photo of my family the other day (and everybody says "where's your mom?" and when I point to her in the middle they all say "ah! She looks so young!") and one of the nurses, Jophes, asked what my parents do for work, and I told them my mom is a Nurse Practitioner, kind of like a clinical officer here, and that my dad is a pastor, and he says "ah, so you're a P.K.?!" with this grin on his face, and I looked up suddenly and said "how do you know P.K.?!"...he mentioned it again today when I said I'd been sick over the weekend, he said "well, she's a P.K. so she could just pray to feel better!" Geez louise, it's the same in Africa as in the States!!!! Ah!