A Ginger New Year

There’s something different about the week after Christmas. I guess some of it is Christmas excitement gently subsiding whilst other bits are from the clashing of holiday mentality with going back to work for a whole 3 days before relaxing again. The festive feelings were helped by several treats in the delightful form of Christmas pudding, Christmas cake and delayed Christmas presents. In some ways, the fact that the presents were delayed so much has pleasantly stretched out the Christmas season (like when you can’t be bothered to take the Christmas decorations) but I don’t feel too inclined to write to thank those responsible.

Yes late Christmas presents!

Tuesday only required limited work, predominantly as a chauffer taking clinical staff to and from the village. To my delight, they’ve been doing a few road repairs so a route that is both prettier (which is genuinely saying something) and faster than the usual route has been brought back from the dead. I did have to use my work-brain once or twice (and it wasn’t too painful) but I spent most of the day reading Tom Wright and playing hearts which I thought was a decent 27^th Feb.

In fact, the evening made it even better as we finally started on the rather large Christmas pudding we’d been given. However, as might be expected, nothing’s quite as simple here. Unfortunately, the Dr doesn’t have a microwave so I’d travelled to the village and back with the pudding before stopping off at BJH (which also doesn’t have a microwave). It took a brief tour of mzungu houses in Senior Quarters before I found the right combination of someone being in and having a microwave (thanks Manna) before I set the wheel of the microwave in motion and then drove back across town in record time where the Dr had been coordinating her heating of the brandy sauce. It worked beautifully.

I actually managed to get some work done on Wednesday and Thursday, but more exiting by far was realising that there were lots of job I was no longer needed to do or that required my participation only in the form of sitting passively behind the administrator in question in an supportive way (something I like to think I’ve always been good at). This has happened several times recently, and I find it really encouraging and also releasing.

Yes Ginger!

In that spirit, I left on Friday to spend New Years in Jinja with Nat, Dan and Sam. I remembered to bring my toothbrush, books AND sun tan lotion, but did leave my towel at home which excused me from trying to meet Natalie’s request that all the boys showered EVERY evening. It was a great weekend, relaxing, playing games and reading at this place that has a gorgeous view of the Nile; a view that often included monkeys climbing in the trees, lizards swimming in the river and lots of exciting birds. The place also offers the Grade 5 Rafting (playing Settlers is way cooler) so there were quite a few large tour groups which was a bit different to normal life here, but was also sometimes funny.

As much fun as the various games and banter were the first night, the most notable thing was my meal. We’d gone to the posh restaurant that’s a 30 seconds walk from where we were staying and I’d dodged the expensive meals and gone for Kiddy Ribs, holding out hope that it was one of those places that cooking so much it didn’t really do kid meals. I was not disappointed; all I’ll say is that if a kid can eat that many ribs he deserves to have a medal placed round is incredibly fat neck. Unfortunately, when everyone joined in for an attempted repeat the following night it seemed someone with greater experience of children had taken over in the kitchen as the portion was decidedly manageable.

Just after the New Year

The New Year itself was marked by a countdown and fireworks (though they did bear an unshakeable resemblance to 8 flares being shot by sinking ships). After the hugging and handshaking was over, we did what all cool 20-somethings (that’s an upgrade for you two, Dan and Sam) did and got on with some more Hearts. As a pleasant change, there was also beer and wine available (all of our organisations have no-alcohol policies when in Mbale).

Monkey!

Being woken on Sunday morning my monkeys eating fruit nosily on the roof of our dorm was a nice break from roosters* and we had another relaxed morning before heading back to Mbale which had a delightfully homey feel to return to.

January should have quite a different flavour to it. I’ve got a few new jobs lined up, the most unusual one being teaching a clinical officer to drive. Still, I’ve also got the final stages of quite a few different projects, some which are still going from when I started such as finishing accounts ’10-’11 take 2 (now with improved software), general banking dramas (starring Barclays and Stanbic in a battle of ineptitude and lost paperwork), trying to convince the government to give us the money it owes us and then little things here and there which it would be cool to have done before I go.

And then there’s life beyond January! Five weeks from now, I’ll be back in the UK which is an exciting but also sad thought. I’m very very excited about what 2012 has in store, but I’m also starting to occasionally feel sad about leaving. I realised it’s the first time I’ve left somewhere on my own and of my own decision (as in not as part of a group leaving to go off somewhere as at school, Bible college or uni) and it’s also the first time I’ll be leaving without knowing for certain what I’ll be up to next to (though I’ve got some things lined up in Feb that should be life-landmarks ;)). I’d really appreciate prayer around what God wants for me when I get back, that He’d give me wisdom in finishing well here, both with work and relationships and that he’d guide my emotions to His plan.

*Loads of the chicken have been dying from a chicken disease that’s making the rounds at the moment. I find some parts of that sad. Thankfully Bernard is doing well plus, with the demise of his competition, he’s now started to rule the roost! If he ever starts crowing outside my bedroom window, I’ll start to be seriously conflicted.