When Monkeys Crashed Our Party

I've spent the last 9 days at back-to-back Peace Corps conferences. The first was a gathering of all Peace Corps Volunteers in Uganda, meant to provide us a forum for sharing experiences, ideas, etc. The second conference was for the 16 members of my original Peace Corps group. The purpose of this second workshop was to prepare us for readjustment into America, resume writing, grad school and job searching etc.

Our particular Peace Corps group (the same people I entered the country with in Aug of 2007) likes to call itself the "Screaming Eagles." To solidify of our group identity and set us apart from other groups (and also because it's just a damn good idea), we try to organize a wine and cheese party each time the group gathers. The hotel where we are currently staying, however, happens to have a few clusters of monkeys that run around stealing food off peoples' plates. As we prepared the table with the variety of cheeses, bread, crackers, and wine we could scrounge together, about 20 small monkeys stealthily neared our food table. We volunteers formed a human fence surrounding the precious delicacies and attempted giving the 'evil eye' to any primate who dared approach. We were largely successful in defending our bounty despite clever monkeys approaching from above (in trees) and from behind our backs, and were undoubtedly entertained by the whole situation.

One of the things we've been warned about in terms of readjusting back to American life and culture is the lack of humor in everyday, seemingly mundane activities. Here in Uganda I laugh daily at the humor in my day to day life, whether it's because I've been asked to give an impromptu speech at a 300 person gathering, or I made a big cultural manners gaffe, or even I am asked a very strange and funny question about America (like, do we have vegetables? Of course we have vegetables...). In America a trip to the supermarket is fairly straight forward and doesn't provide much room for exception-- things are incredibly consistent. Yet here in Uganda life is inconsistent and a harmless trip to the supermarket can turn into search all over town, an invitation to a funeral, or even a wedding proposal.

Although the inconsistencies of life can at times be incredibly frustrating for a Westerner, they're undoubtedly what keeps life here so lighthearted. When a Ugandan enters the market and the vendors have run out of rice (no rice?!?), she just brushes it off and adapts to an alternative. Instead of becoming angry at an unmet expectation, she deals with the issue maturely and without much complaint. Meanwhile, I stand waiting, frustrated, in disbelief that my planned meal cannot be prepared.

When we planned a wine and cheese party, we had envisioned a relaxed conversational setting. Instead we stood, moderately tense, protecting our goods and not able to let our guards down. Luckily we were all able to recognize the humor of the moment and how adaptations like this had become normal for us in the Peace Corps experience. As we're all experiencing some anxiety over returning home to a place we haven't lived for two years, the humor made me realize that although I'll face some major challenges readjusting, the truth of the matter is that I've learned to adapt to practically anything thrown my way. Monkeys at the wine table are not that big of deal, and readjusting home (although significant) will be doable. It's just a matter of how we choose to deal with it.


For those of you wondering when to expect me home, it seems I may be traveling home in mid-late November. More information to come :)

Thanks for reading my inconsistent blog posts!

Megan