Small Adjustments

From the States (above) to Uganda (below).

I am back in Uganda after my 2.5 weeks in the States. Between family happenings, speaking at schools and enjoying fall it was a full and good trip.

Being back in the States obviously makes me think about my move there next year. Overall this trip made me feel good about my decision to be in Uganda right now and the decision to move in June. I think this mindset is making me more aware of the big and small things I will need to adjust to, both in leaving Uganda and living full-time in the States. Here are a few stories from the past weeks of small adjustments I may have to make:

1) One day I was in the States I was thinking about what I needed to do that day. I wanted to do laundry and thought to myself- Well, I will do it if the electricity is on. It took me a few seconds to realize- Wait, the electricity is always on! My mindset was still trying to work around the constant on and off of power that I surprised myself by thinking that way in the States. (And yes, I know power can go off in the States during random hurricanes but it has been 50/50 lately in Uganda.)

2) One thing that is very important in Uganda is proper greetings. This usually includes shaking hands when encountering a friend or acquaintance and sometimes shaking hands upon departure also. In Uganda, if there is a room of people and someone new comes in, they will go around and shake everyone's hands. During my visits to schools I realized I was shaking people's hands a lot. This was appropriate for meeting new people but I was doing it at the end of meetings too, and realized that maybe that is not common in the US. Some people seemed kind of surprised. And I am still not sure, because it is so normal in Uganda, that it is hard for me to discern if it is normal in the States.

3) On my flights back from the mid-west, where I was visiting schools, I had a short layover in Minneapolis. I was walking briskly between gates and felt like I was walking in the opposite direction of everyone else, having to make my way around all the people walking towards me. Then I realized, I was walking the opposite way of everyone else because I was on the left! I quickly moved over to the right side of the concourse and was moving with the flow of traffic. It is a subtle thing (I think related to what side of the road we drive on) but Americans tend to walk to the right and Ugandans tend to walk to the left.

On my Amsterdam to Entebbe flight on Sunday I sat next to a woman who had lived in Sudan for 5 years. She moved back to the States 3 months ago and was now traveling for work. I asked her about how her transition back has been so far and she said, Some things she expected to be hard are not and small things she didn't expect have been difficult. I am wondering what other small things, like the ones I mentioned here, will come up for me.