June 7

June 7, 2009

Today was pretty easy going. Sundays revolve around church and since many businesses are closed there is little to do. I played the typical Sunday and took this day to clean, do laundry, and catch up on things. After the mango fly realization, we are having to iron everything. And I mean everything. I ironed my socks, boxers, shorts, shirts, wash clothes, and towels. Andrew later told us his experience of having one of these parasite infections and it just clarified our suspicion and uneasiness about it. I did take a good portion of the morning reading yesterday’s newspaper. There I got insight into the stereotypes associated with homosexuality and gender roles. Especially in regards to homosexuality, it is considered a Western thing and completely unacceptable here; but it is here. I am learning so much from reading the paper, maybe I should start reading it at home. Oh, and the biggest cause of mental retardation are malaria, meningitis, and measles. Three communicable diseases that can be successfully immunized or successfully treated. Interesting.
As I spent hours ironing, Ginger fixed us banana pancakes for lunch. Good, but I prefer my wife’s. It is really hard living with someone. I never had this kind of issue moving in and living with my wife. I guess love does play a big role in getting along with people. We are just on different schedules and work at different times.. I like time by myself and being independent. We do need to be coordinated, but if you try to push me to do things or force your own schedule, I shut down. My wife knows this and I have never appreciated or missed someone so much in my life. My wife is perfect for me, my best friend, and the one that I want to spend all of my time with. She knows me, understands me, respects me, and appreciates me. I miss that. I miss her so much right now that I want to tell her just to fly out here and we will worry about how to pay for it later. The potential problems I could cause and my feelings of longing for her out weigh the experience, and I am struggling with that. She called today but the damn connection here is so poor that it made our conversation very frustrating and short. I am so pissed off right now.
Ok, enough of Debbie Downer. I do feel comfortable here. I spent my afternoon cleaning up and then Andrew came over to hang out. We sat around talking about the town cross-dresser, school infrastructure, life in Uganda, and the culture of marriage. It was nothing that I took notes on, but a means of establishing rapport with him and building a meaningful relationship. It has been a successful day.

Stories from Andrew:
Andrew has been an amazing informant. Only the most amazing stories of field work have situations as fortunate as we have found ourselves in here. Having an informant that is so eager the help, learn, and share is more than we could have ever imagined. His stories are often hilarious, insightful, and he offers the information without us even having to ask.

Cross-dresser
A couple of days ago we passed a guy in his twenties, dressed in Capri-pants and a tight shirt showing his stomach. He had on shoes with heels, white face make-up, shaped eyebrows, eye-shadow, black lipstick, and black fingernail polish. He was carrying a boom-box, circa 1990 in the U.S., and walked with it blaring local music. It was quite a scene and everyone was commenting and paying him a lot of attention. When we asked Andrew about him he told us it was the “guy who dresses as a lady.” It went on to explain that he often dresses as a “lady” an that there is only one other in town, and he dresses in really nice ladies clothes. He told us that the guy we saw is known around the whole city and that he often gets arrested for confusing men. He said a lot of men that he is a “lady” and then get mad when they find out he is a man. It blew my mind that he could get arrested for “confusing men.” Hilarious.

To spare Andrew, as I do not know how much he would want me to share, I will just do a small summary. He told us of sliding down hills when he was younger (like sledding) and running into a herd of cattle, getting attached by African red ants, getting attacked by African killer bees, being infected with mango fly larvae, his moms progressive stance against gender roles so that him and his siblings wouldn’t have to depend on other people to take care of themselves, and the rite of marriage in this culture. Marriage was particularly interesting in that most people get married in their late twenties or early thirties because of finances. He explained that people that get married young are married and thought that that may be the case with me. Hahahaha. Here, men have still pay bride price and the cost of all the wedding and wedding events, plus provide all the essentials for the couple to start their lives together. It is a major financial undertaking that many men can not do until they have become well established in their profession.

Weed
We have been asking Andrew many questions about the dug culture here to get at the possible prevalence of intravenous drug use here. We still haven’t gotten to the root of that particular topic, however, Andrew tells us that pot is very popular and cheap here. While it isn’t promoted by the government, it also isn’t targeted either. He told us of a story of government officials shutting down a pot plantation, yet they did not prosecute anyone. He explained that the guy told officials that it was the means through which he supported his family and therefore wasn’t charged. Anyway, on can buy pot in either joint form or bricks. The bricks being cheaper because they have not been processed at all and the individual must process it. This is kind of what I anticipated. It seems pretty popular around here too since every night our house fills up with a marijuana aroma from one of the compounds we are down wind from. While I don’t particularly care one way or another, the smell is starting to annoy me.
I also found that the stimulant used here is called “got.” All cultures have their stimulants that people use to keep themselves up such as in driving or during long work days. In the U.S. cocaine is popular while in Ecuador the chewing of cocoa leaves are popular. Got, this cultures stimulant, is a weed or grass similar in appearance to tobacco, but a little greener. It is put between the lower lip and teeth, just like dip. I know how it looks because it has now been offered to me on the street. That story later.

Andrew’s help
So it is still not completely clear of what role Andrew is to play as a research partner, but it is becoming more clear. He is our liaison (aside from informant and tour guide) between the foundation, mentors, and us. He asks us our intended schedules and plans, sets up meetings with people, and then plans out our schedule. It is the most helpful thing in the world and is making our job so easy. We have a number of meetings set up for Wednesday and Thursday with Tuesday being a holiday and Saturday he is taking us out to his village to see his family. A busy week, and I am so excited.