OK, I’m fully back  now, and have adjusted again to Southern California life. The reason I know I’ve adjusted to Southern California life is that I’ve already been to Starbucks and complained about the line, and have driven in and complained about the traffic in my neighborhood. By the way – that whole “carmageddon” thing… it turned out to be no big deal, and I really wish news people would stop making up stupid words like “carmageddon.” But I digress.

It will take some time to process and think through the Uganda trip. Actually, I guess “process” and “think through” are pretty much the same thing. Anyway, it’ll take time to do that. At that point, I’ll write more. But as I’m easing back into life as a regular person in SoCal, there are a few things I’ll miss about Uganda, and a few things I won’t miss…

Things I’ll Miss…

Being an optometrist;

Getting up every day and knowing I was going to do something that mattered a lot. Let’s face it – my job here matters too, but I doubt if anyone’s going to die if I don’t teach them about music. My job is more about improving quality of life, and not so much about saving life;

Henry the Crazy Driver. I swear, I need to get that guy over here and have him do all my driving, because I doubt if a stupid thing like “carmageddon” would stop him;

The team members. These people got up every day and did impossible things. Well, at least, really hard things. And they did it with a good attitude and a lot of fun. Plus, a lot of them are my Facebook friends now, which is probably the most important thing;

The way the Ugandan people say “yes please” when they really only need to say “yes.” Or, when they don’t even need to say “yes.” Like, I might say to Henry, “How’s it going Henry,” and he’d usually answer, “Yes, please.” Anyway, I thought that was funny;

Good-Looking Ugandan Kids. I’m just saying –  there are some good-looking Ugandan children running around. Not that there aren’t good-looking American kids also, but I think the Ugandans have a greater percentage of good-looking kids than we do.

Things I Won’t Miss

Ugandan Coffee, and African Coffee in General. It sucks;

Internet Service from a Company Called “Orange.” It sucks also.

Neighborhoods that smell like sewers (probably because of their proximity to actual sewers);

Diarrhea. Although I guess that’s available here, too;

Cats at 4 in the morning, who meow so loud they sound like goats;

Malaria medication;

African Coffee (worth mentioning a second time).

Anyway – It was a great trip, and I hope to go back in a few years. And if any of you are considering a mission/humanitarian trip of any kind, you really need to consider Loving One by One as an option.

Finally, I’ve posted some photos at PhotoBucket, if you’d like to see them. There are more there than I put on Facebook (and some of the same ones).  Here’s the link…

Photo Album