Monday, June 06, 2005

Le Citron Velu

This past long weekend (it was Mothers Day on Friday, a civic holiday here) myself and four friends hopped on a privately-hired matatu for a relaxing weekend at the Hairy Lemon, a chillout/camping/swimming/ tanning/napping spot on a small island in the middle of the Nile River. It was lovely and relaxing, except for the fact that I am turning into a nervous wreck over the recent addition of Deanna Flesh to the week's menu at the Insect Cafe. In addition to the numerous flea bites, I have now been blessed by the beautifying effects of several large tsetse fly bites. They are big and red and big and painful. I look gohhhhrgeous, dahling.

Other than that, I really have a dearth of things to write about. Work has been work. Other stuff has been other stuff. I am suffering from the slow drip drip drip of friends leaving Uganda and going back home with the ends of their contracts here. By the end of July my social circle will have shrunk by about 85%. That process has already begun in earnest, so I'm already not going out nearly as much. Although, to be honest, that's partly because I don't really feel like it. Excessive drinking in the same bars week after week might just have been a habit I exhausted in Kingston somewhere mid-1999. I'm feeling much more enthusiastic about things like good books and games of Scrabble than I ever did before.

Ah heck, who am i kidding. This has got to be just a phase. I'm sure I'll get back to the unhealthy lifestyle patterns that make life fun any time now.

A lot of my knitting/cooking foods with many involved steps/reading/gym time is being spent thinking about the what the heck i'm going to do with myself post-Uganda. I have so many options, but they're all so much harder than, say, just getting my contract here get extended by another six months.
  • I could go back to school. (but that wouldn't be until September of 2006, and what would I do until then? And do I want to stop earning money for two years? And what program would i do? And how much benefit would an MBA have anyway, considering the expense? and if i don't do an mba, what would i do instead? and what would look like significant improvement upon my existing education to justify taking two years out? Etc?)
  • I could keep working here, for this company. (But why? And do i really want to? Sure, i'm saving more money here than i could at home, but is that enough of a reason? And are people really going to buy that i've really done this job anyway? Cause i barely believe it, frankly. So getting more experience here might not even matter?)
  • I could keep working here, for other people. (But why? Would it really make a difference to my career?)
  • I could go home and get a job. (But what? BUT WHAT? WHAT I ASK YOU?!)
  • I could go home and try to do there what i do here. (But who will let me? and how will i get people at home to see my work experience here as legitimate? and if i can't convince people of that, what kind of job can i do where i don't end up feeling like the last couple years were a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME?)
  • I could curl up in a ball and wait for someone to pay me for that.
  • I could start capitalizing words appropriately.
Wasn't life simpler when there were no choices? (Hmm, now that i'm done the fourth grade, what should I do with myself? I could go to grade five, or i could... Wait. No. I think i'll just go to grade five. The decision is final, and I feel really good about it.)

10 Comments:

At 8:09 p.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

eeew teste fly bites.. sounds like a fun weekend though, sorry I missed it. I think you should either keep working for casements or you should move to some other African country and get a marketing job, like TZ or even South Africa, I mean really, do you want to leave that wonderful continent and go back to cold cold expensive canada? Anyway sounds like fun decision making time. I've got serious decisions too whoppee... miss you

 
At 8:47 p.m., Blogger Deanna said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 8:49 p.m., Blogger Deanna said...

kelly, it was totally a fun weekend, you shoulda been there! (Although katie pulled one of her responsible-lady-with-imaginary-errands acts and only stayed for one night! I think you could've convinced her to stay!)

Yeah, the idea of going back to all the coldness and expensiveness is not high on my list of Things That Are Appealing. So we'll see!

 
At 9:00 a.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Deanna
You don't know me, but my daughter is going to Kenya to work (read volunteer) at S.H.E.R.P. for 6 months, beginning in October 2005. Samburu Handicapped Education & Rehabilitation Program.
I don't know the lay of the land over there very well, but was having aa good laugh at your writings , while looking for something else totally unrelated to your blog. I thought if my daughter could read your stuff it would give her some insight to writing a blog.
So if you don't mind I am going to forward your site to her. Best of luck with your future.

 
At 8:58 a.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cool blog! I have just started my own and was looking on cnz and saw your post and came here. Noticed the reference to Kingston ... I was there around the time you were ... ahh, yes, Stages and AJ's and The QP ... heard that one of the two on Princess Street had a fire ... and The QP had to be closed down for a bit due to something illegal ... craziness runs amuck in that city!

Anyhow, cool blog!

CD
http://www.smilesarethesoulskisses.blogspot.com/

 
At 1:55 p.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

Deanna, Deanna, Deanna! Remember five years ago when we were sitting in an unairconditioned basement bathroom cum office? You were talking about how you didn't know what to do next. And then you went back to school and embarked upon this really cool experience. It is NOT worthless, my dear. Even if people do not take your experience seriously (which I doubt, frankly), you have gained incredibly skills and enhanced your confidence in your ability to do marketing jobs - and probably all kinds of other stuff too. Sort of the business equivelent of spending two years in the bush, tree planting, or working for some cool upstart not-for-profit. Please, don't sell yourself short. You are far too worldly, talented, and well, short. Hee hee. Dilysa joke.

Are you seriously considering the MBA route? I think this may be a good choice for you. You could be one of those rare business professionals with ethics! Imagine the good you could do! The money you could make doing it! Imagine most of all the joy you would bring back to my life by returning to the great white north. Sigh.
Mind you, you won't have a driver in Ontario.

Miss you.

 
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