Still Busy!

Things are still pretty nuts at work as we start Enumerator Training in two days! We are still scramming to finalize the survey and translate it and prepare the Enumerator Manual for the training. I do think that things will go well, though. We are lucky to have our team leads returning and a lot of the same people from the baseline working on our survey teams, so hopefully things will run smoothly! Last year, enumerator training seemed to run much longer and be more tedious than expected, so I put together a Powerpoint to hopefully make for an efficient start to training. No matter what, it will be a long week. I have little doubt that I will be in our office super late tonight, getting the survey finalized, and running around tomorrow to ensure that all of the training materials are ready. Sunday through Thursday is training every day, 9-6, although without a doubt I will be there closer to the hours of 7:30-9. A major yuck, but it's all worth it to ensure that the data we collect is as precise as possible (for IPA and my thesis' sake!) Saturday, we leave for the field and Sunday marks the beginning of enumeration. I can't go along for the surveys, because the "muzungu" factor is too big...although as we joked, they could simply add a muzungu dummy in the variable to account for the fixed effects of my presence.

I'm looking forward to and am anxious at the same time about the actual enumeration. We will be in the field for about 2 1/2 weeks, and I don't really know what to expect for my daily routine or lodging accomodations. I'm able to sleep through the night on a thin, rock-hard mattress at my house and a noisy leaky toilet and fan, so I imagine I will be able to sleep just fine, but I'm worried about having all of my electronics stolen. I can take them with me most of the time, but I don't know if I will be able to go for a jog or take a shower without stressing about my computer being stolen. I guess I will see what happens when I get there, and maybe use my luggage locks (although it seems like that would attract more attention than prevent theft). We'll be staying in the district center and leave for the trading centers from there.

For daily schedule, I am guessing I will wake up around six, make sure that the team has all of their materials, and send them off to the trading center around 7 or 7:30. Then, I will call the team leads to check on the progress throughout the day, but won't have much to do until they return at night for debriefing. The first few days, I will probably go in the early evening or afternoon to oversee the monetary payouts and make sure that things go smoothly, but in general there won't be a whole lot for me to do during the day. It will be nice in a way to have time to read, work on my thesis (I'm hoping to get a first draft done during these few weeks), perhaps take a practice GMAT/GRE, but I'm a little worried about going crazy! I will of course bring my yoga mat and super cool resistance band set, but as I said, I don't think I can do much jogging without fretting over my personal belongings. Pia said that if I end up feeling like I am truly not doing anything and would be more productive in Kampala, I can come back, so we will see how it goes. I want to be in the field and see more of the country, but I also don't know how to manage things like laundry, exercise, eating vegetables, etc. and it might not be that much fun. It would be ideal to go for 3 days, back for a few days, out for 3 days, back, etc. and go back and forth, since none of the districts are more than 2-3 hours away. The roads are absolutely horrendous here, but I still manage to doze off in the matatus on the way to/from the field. There is a lot of government/corporate corruption, and the money designated for roads often ends up in the pockets of officials or spent on crap materials so contracts are renewed more often. It doesn't help that we ride around in matatus (called 'taxis' but are more like buses) designed for 12 people but often crammed with 15-18 people, so the road bumps are complimented by being very squished and not so lovely body odors.

No matter what, going into the field and being here is truly an experience. It's different than I expected, and challenging in ways that I wasn't expecting, but I do know that I will grow from it. Nevertheless, knowing that I will be wiser and more patient when I return to the U.S. doesn't make being here any easier. There are so many frustrations every day where if I didn't have seven years of yoga experience, I think my eyes would bug out of my head!

It's also incredibly hard to be so far away from family, friends, and most of all the boyfriend. I knew that I would miss him a lot, and while it has gotten easier, I am impatient to get back home. Anyone who is in Chicago in February should understand how big that statement is ;) Luckily, we are generally able to talk once or twice a day, which makes life a lot easier. Communication with everyone from home has been good and bad--the time change is generally good, because there are no distractions during my work day, when most people are sleeping. I am lucky that one of my best friends, David, keeps an insane sleep schedule and is usually awake during my work day to help me out with various issues like activating credit cards. I am going to make him a delicious batch of cookies AND a trifle (his favorite) when I get back.

Luckily, I am busy here and have plenty to look forward to when I get home :) And now, I've spent way too long writing this entry and need to get back to work.