Lights Out

Hello All!

We hope everyone is having a bunch of fun getting into the holiday spirit!  Things are beginning to feel a bit like Christmas here.  Well ...maybe that’s a bit of a stretch.  That’s one of the strangest things here.  There just really aren’t any seasons.  It still feels like a beautiful spring day.  I took this picture yesterday, just because I wanted a little documentation what a mid-December day looks like in Africa.  It feels just the same as it did when we arrived here in August.  And since we are right on the equator, the sun still rises and sets at the exact same times as it did when we first got here.  However, as much as we love and miss seasonal changes, we are not about to complain about weather like this.  Whatever country we are in, it is obvious the world is a very beautiful place in so many different ways.  Luckily we sang a little Christmas music at church this morning, and I’m starting to get that familiar uneasy feeling that I should go do a little more Christmas shopping for my wife.  So it’s beginning to dawn on me it is getting to be that time of year. 

Christmas break is coming up for us both.  After this week, Erin gets off 3 weeks from school, and the eMi office shuts down for 2 weeks as well.  So we are pretty excited.  I may have to talk to POH (my employer in Atlanta) about this ‘shutting down the office for two weeks at Christmas’ policy for when I get back.  I think I could get used to that.  …Of course we’ll see how we feel three days into it, and we get antsy and ready to get back at it.  Though…we both love our work, but for no particular reason, I don’t know if I’ve ever been as ready for a break as this one coming up.  At eMi, there is no end to the backlog of work.  I’ve worked longer hours back home, but there always seemed to be an end in sight.  Here, not so much.  So, it is nice to just shut things down for a while and hit it hard after a break.  I’m looking forward to just enjoying being in Africa with my wife.

We are sorry we’ve been so remiss getting out an update.  We’ve been hoping to give some reports to what all we have been working on here.  But I haven’t done a good job of getting it wrapped up.  But we do want you to know we miss you all.  Below is a piece Erin wrote a little while ago that we were holding in our back pocket.  As I sit in the dark, it seems appropriate to go ahead and post it. 

As your holiday family plans get finalized, decorations are all up, and the smell of Christmas baking fills the air, we so hope every one of you is feeling excited about the Christmas Season this year.  As I write this in shorts, about to take off my shirt to cool off a little more, while rolling my eyes as Erin is playing ‘It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ on her computer, know that even though we miss you all, we are so amazingly glad to be here in Uganda this Christmas serving a nation of some of the nicest people you will meet.  ...and are so, so thankful for all your encouragement, kind words, and support to make it possible!

Much Love!

Erin and Gary

Like many of the things we do around here, I find myself writing this blog by lantern-light.  Perhaps you have heard us mention the intermittent power here. Today we would like to describe a little bit more about that, including the many benefits and a challenge that we hope you'll try.

If you ask a Ugandan about the power load-shedding, you will get many explanations ranging from something about Kenya and the hydroelectric dams to people stealing power to, inevitably, something to do with the government. All we know is that we will be without power at some point every 2 days (or every day... maybe we shouldn't make predictions).  Sometimes we get lucky and it's only off for a few hours in the evening, but other times it is off for a whole day. Fortunately for us, our jobs have generators and/or inverters, so our work is not affected.  Our neighbors are not so lucky, but they do the best they can to adapt to the situation.  At first we were a little annoyed by the frequent dark evenings, but we, too, have learned to adapt.  In fact, we have come to appreciate the many benefits brought by the lack of electricity.  These include:

• It is much easier to do the dishes when you can't see just how dirty they are.
• Similarly, it is much easier to rinse laundry when you can't see how soapy it is.
• Your cooking skills are greatly enhanced when they depend entirely on the senses of taste, smell, and touch. Forget 'presentation' when you can't see your food!
• Everything stays very organized quite naturally when you know you'll have to hunt for things in the dark.
• It is delightfully quiet with just the hum of generators across the street and no stereos blaring.
• Any 'homework' only lasts as long as your computer battery - then you're off the hook.
• We get to do fun things like snuggle up under the mosquito net and read together or play cut-throat games of Uno or Skip-Bo.
• Romantic candlelit dinners are a regular occurrence.
• All bugs and geckos 'disappear.'
• We get to do a whole lot more talking and listening to each other - it's amazing what you can learn about your spouse when distractions are removed.
• You can walk around with no makeup (for the ladies!) and in your pj's and nobody knows the difference.

So you see, not having electricity all the time is not only okay, it's actually a wonderful thing!  In fact, we've already decided that when we're back in the States, we're going to have "Africa nights" where we don't utilize our electricity.  Who knows, maybe we'll have you over for a power-less dinner!  (This is very common - we have attended many a dinner party in the dark...)

So here is your challenge - after seeing all of the benefits of a power-less night, don't you have an irresistible urge to give it a try??  Go for it!  See what kinds of fun things you can do when you don't have electricity. You could even make it interesting and have your spouse/friend/neighbor spontaneously choose an evening for you so that you also have the joy of having no warning that it's coming.  Have some friends over - eat dinner by candlelight, play some games - we promise you'll have a blast.  Or just snuggle up on the couch with your family and talk about some of your favorite silly memories.  If nothing else, think of the money you'll save with these power-less evenings!  We hope you'll give it a try - and when you do, drop us a line to let us know how it goes and maybe share some ideas for other benefits we can enjoy in the land of electricity load-shedding.