Happy Belated Women's Day!

The image of confidence.

Last Wednesday, the 8th, was International Women's Day, which is actually celebrated here, to my disbelief. I got the day free from the office; unfortunately, I took advantage of the mid-week day off work by staying out dancing until 5 a.m., and drinking something called Zed into the wee morning hours... which I found out today happens to be fermented pineapple juice.... which apparently is also a suitable replacement for jet fuel. Or nail polish remover.

As a result, I was in genuine pain for most of Women's Day.  I drank cup after cup of freeze-dried instant coffee, and water, and managed to pull myself out of bed, and my pajamas, by 1p.m. in order to take my bicycle for repair down the street (it needed its wheels trued, and brakes fixed, and new pins put in the tubes.)  I hopped a boda and headed out past Bukoto, where I met up with Andro, a South African who has about 123 different projects currently running, from goat farming to web advertising to logistical management to professional soccer recruiting for a local university. Our plan for women's day involved playing a "friendly match" of footy in the Namboole national stadium with Victoria University's semi-professional boys team, and a random sprinkling of students and staff.  And myself--the only female among about 80 men.  Happy Women's Day!

I really hope I can get my hands on some of the pictures to share with you: me in my matching, red and white oversized VU uniform, sticking out like a cowlick among the African players, all of whom were wondering what this crazy muzungu thought she was about to do on the field.  The hilarious part is that I am an okay soccer player in the US.  But here, people ask me if I play professionally.  They call me Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach. It's so rare to see women that know how to play, and the fact that I physically challenge the guys, actually steal the ball, and get past them occasionally is surprising to these dudes. It's really good for an ego boost.

The whole crew. Happy Women's Day!

I also find it somewhat ironic that I spent Women's Day getting sweaty, beat up on and laid out completely a couple times by overaggressive, smelly men, all the while running around seeing double and cursing fermented fruit.  The other women here that I know went to a fashion show and charity event at the hotel pool.

In other news, Andro has taken an interest in me, and fairly avowed to help me solve my problems and get clear about what I want out of life, and then get aligned to a more focused path. He used to coach small business owners or something. He has the most random stories from things he's done in life: his years in the Israeli army, pulling dead bodies out of ravines on his first weekend as a mountain rescue volunteer, being part of a violent robbery in his parent's store as a teenager, creating a 10,000 grossing "Movember" prostate cancer fundraiser in a week.  He's also a "fixer" and annoyingly optimistic, and kind.  So, some people are ridiculously nice to me. It helps me deal with the other stuff, the disappointments, the culture shock, the stress. I also got a pair of really sweet emails from two close girlfriends back home this morning. It means a lot to get to wake up to that stuff.

(I also have to start posting my own friends' comments within my blog because I was starting to suspect that no one even reads this thing!)  Apparently there's something wrong with the comment portion, or it makes you have an account sometimes?! I don't know--I've checked the settings, and can't seem to figure it out.  Ahem ahem, let me know you're out there people. Just give me some kind of sign girl, oh my baby...

another worth publishing mentionable:

"i'm really glad that you took the risk and went over there, even if i do have selfish reasons for me not wanting you to go. i'm totally jealous of this crazy experience you are having and your freedom to have new experiences everyday- I think that is what life is all about and what is really at the core of true happiness. Very inspiring! ok, i just wanted to share that with you- and keep the posts coming! -loveyou, k8"

I think the core of true happiness is not so much these adventures, rather than the people with whom we experience those adventures. One of the things I first wrote about--that bittersweet feeling of suddenly realizing that you've made a difference in people's lives, that they do really love you and will miss you--that feeling makes you never want to leave, but then also realize how fortunate you are to have known that kind of friendship and love.

And sometimes you have to leave to remind yourself that it is there.