Balancing like a Boda-Boda

I haven't had the inspiration to write since I moved back to Kampala...until now.
My life here over the past three weeks has been full of great ups as well as a few dips below sea level. However, I am finally settling in day by day. After weeks of being somewhat homeless, jobless, and overwhelmed, I have finally moved into a cute house in an area of Kampala called Kansanga. Kansanga is a few miles/km out of the central Kampala area, and only about a 10 minute drive to the beautiful Lake Victoria beaches. (This is where I happily spent my Sunday).
I am living with nice German woman, just a bit older than me, who is completing some research, and her puppy. Our guard, Mark, and our housekeeper, Grace, are both lovely and keep our compound very safe and clean.
Finding a home was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders though I'm still feeling the financial strain that most 20-somethings are feeling ...all over the world. Seems that jobs are not easy to find right now...anyone agree? :-)
Since coming to the conclusion that I should find an area of work to specialize in, such as teaching or counseling, I focused my sights on International Education. More specifically, Montessori Teaching methods (or something along these lines). If you don't know about the Montessori Teaching Method I highly recommend Google-ing it.
I found a local Montessori School not far from where I live here in Kampala and decided to check it out. This is an Integrated School which educates 28 students between the ages of 4 and 9, half of which have learning disabilities. Within an hour of talking to the Head Teacher I was offered a position as a Teachers Assistant at the school. This should be great experience in case I decide to pursue a career in International Teaching and go back to school for it next year. The children are presently out-of-class due to the holiday season but I will be helping with some odd jobs in the classroom during this month and officially starting my teaching internship come January. I am really excited about this new career choice!
As for a job with a salary....This is in the works.
Along with assisting with Mr.Tayeebwa's PhD research, I have a few leads on other jobs in Kampala such as working for a TV station, and collaborating on the creation of a Documentary film. We'll see what pans out...
Thanks to all my friends here who have been an enormous help with my house/job/life search.
A small anecdote:
Today, I walked up and down the lengthy Ggaba Road, where they make and sell any kind of furniture, wood carving, house decoration you could imagine. In search of shelves for my new bedroom, I bargained for what seemed like hours in the sweltering sun, to save what is the equivalent of $1.15. Now I am laughing at myself, but at the time, I was in so deep in the bargaining game that I truly lost track of how little money was really at stake. Eventually I picked out wooden shelf unit (something like what you would find at Ikea..except with an African twist) and a giant woven basket to put clothes in, paid the final "last" price and now had to figure out a way to get back to my house with all this. Solution: Boda-Boda.
The Boda-Boda, motorbike, driver strapped the shelves horizontally to the back of the bike with twine and rubber strings. Then behind that he somehow connects my gigantic basket. He jumps on his bike, then I sit squished between him, and my new shelves. I tell him to go slow (that was for you mom)...so of course every car, truck, lory, bicycle, goat/person walking, baby crawling passes us. As we are driving (balancing) the 4 km to my house he decides to strike up a conversation on the politics of Uganda vs. the rest of the world. I only caught every other word he said since the wind carried the rest, but lets just say he has issues with Museveni but loves Obama. I told him to join the club.
That's all for today. I will try to take some more pictures soon so you can all picture what I have described above.
Its funny how quickly you get used to seeing certain things while living in a new environment. I no longer think its strange to wait in traffic while a herd of cows walk down the center of the road, or see goats nursing on the sidewalk, or a bicycle carrying 15+ mattresses riding alongside a massive big-mac truck. This Is Africa.

Time to go eat the beautiful pineapple that sits in my kitchen...its calling my name.

Love to each and every one,
Hannah

p.s. Happy Birthday L.A.S.!