During my first few weeks in Uganda, we were staying at a beautiful hotel because COVID-19 prevented us from doing homestays. We were in heaven with all the yummy food and fresh juice. However, as the week went on and we began to order food at the hotel on our own, we found that we were waiting almost two hours for the food. When we first sat down at the table, they waited a very long time to bring the menu, and then to get drinks, and then eventually, to get our food. We realized it would be best if we started to order ahead. But even when we ordered ahead, it took an hour or so. It began to get frustrating because we felt like we spent all day waiting for food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We didn’t have our own kitchens to cook food, so we had to order from this restaurant.
Really quickly, we realized we needed to accept the waiting times as is. We made jokes about spending all night at the same table. I ended up becoming very grateful for the experience because it forced me to be so present. We didn’t have internet most of the time, so all we could do was sit at that table and speak to each other and to the waiters we eventually became very close to. It was a good lesson in learning to enjoy doing nothing.
Ugandans say they live a slow life. There is never any rush, and they often operate on Ugandan time, which is sometimes an hour behind. It was honestly quite nice to be forced to slow down, and I plan to take this mindset back to the U.S. While the rest of the U.S. is running, I plan to walk. I am an anxious person, but I this experience challenged me to simply let go.
A month has now gone by since I have been in Uganda. I won’t lie; the cultural adjustment was hard, but I am so happy here and I have finally gotten the hang of things.