patience

the air was cool, the sun was setting, I felt the muscles all over my body relax.  Uganda.  We walked down the metal deplaning stairs to the tarmac of the Entebbe airport and across to the terminal.  I know how this works, how to fill out the Immigration form, I know which line to stand in, where to find the luggage carts and what to expect when I exit the baggage claim area.

We got in the Masso's Hilux, the driver's seat is on the right, the stick shift on the left and the driving happens on the left side of the road.  One hour ago we had left a country where I'd been sitting on the left, shifting on the right and driving on the right.  Confusing.  I told Larissa and Caleb to remind me which side of the road to drive on - worried I was going to inadvertently drive into oncoming traffic.  We all agreed that would not be a good idea.

How do YOU spell R&R? Krest Bitter Lemon at nearly every eatery.  Hot showers.  Nacho's from Lotus Mexicana, Pad Siew from Oriental Thai at the Metropol, chicken in cream and spices   Gin & Tonics, the privacy and the sinking comfort of the living rooms and apartments at BMU, the quiet calm of the porches at the ARA in the mornings (see photo above) complete with fresh fruit, toast and tea, laughs with good company over food that makes your mouth happy, and drinks consumed a bit too fast after long days of business and travel... Somehow R&R days in Kampala tend to get eaten by errands...every time.  It's a problem.  But Larissa and I still managed to salvage some significant chunks of down time which was sorely needed...when Larissa is passed out on the couches in the executive branch of Stanbic Bank, and I was mistaken for her MOTHER by another customer, it's time for a break.

Being out of South Sudan for the first time since I went in 3 months prior, the week before last was a time of consideration and reflection.  Not that everyday isn't that already that way for me, but it was even more so.  Watch out world.

On my first boda ride in a while the driver was particularly chatty and my interactions with my new friend Benard, the MAF logistician, all of it made me smile.  I've missed the cadence of Ugandan English.  I've missed the patterns of speech that I'd become so accustomed to hearing - the retorical "what?" at the ends of questions - "We are going to do what? Make dinner."  The "thank you's" for everything.  The "mmm"s and the "ehhh"s - the jolly sense of humor and creative ways of interpreting things that Ugandans tend to have.  I don't know how to put words to it, but it made me smile inside and out.

And realizing how these things put me so at ease, I was reminded of my relative newness in life in Mundri.  It took 3 years for me to be so at ease in Uganda, how in the world do I think for some reason things are just going to fall into a place of such ease in a short 3 months?  even subconsciously misplaced expectations are brutal.

My enjoyment of these typical Ugandan facets of life has also made me consider my enjoyment of things South Sudanese....the beautiful contrast of their dark skin with the whites of their teeth in huge smiles, the sweet smell of the hookah, the accessibility of amazing ethiopian food, the beauty of the red earth against the green foliage of rainy season and the brightness of the blue skies and white clouds, the ready and gracious hospitality of the Moru people, the combination of gnut paste and local honey eaten by the spoon or finger full, hibiscus tea chock full 'o sugar with a fresh mandazi to accompany it, the setting sun out the kitchen windows over the counter as I finish working on getting dinner on the table, and the list goes on.

I am reminded to have patience.  I am reminded of the pay offs of such patience.  I am reminded of the time nuances take.  I am reminded of the joy they have the potential to yield.  I am reminded with perspective.