Atim makes Toast

It's odd, the things one misses when far from home.  For me - toast is one of those things - it's my comfort food.  So this morning, I was able to make toast and I will never take this simple act for granted again.

First, realize that there has been no cooking.  The lovely gas stove I bought, courtesy of Howard and Brady - two other PCVs who took on the task of researching stoves, making a deal and getting stoves for all of us who wanted them - has been sitting all shiny and dormant, because there is no propane in all of Gulu and much of Uganda.  I go every day to the gas station and ask, only to get the reply "It is finished."

Usually, when I ask "when will there be gas, there are postulations made:  maybe Friday... Saturday...Tuesday.  Maybe next week.  After some days - a shrug.  On Saturday (a week later), I asked  and the man began to laugh rather hysterically. Even I know what that means.  So my lovely Ugandan neighbor, who has gas from earlier, dug around a discovered he had a two burner electric stove and loaned it to me.

I was very excited - except, we've not had electricity since I got it.  That's been three days.  Last night it came on unexpectedly at about 8:45 while I was reading my Kindle via book light.  The fan came on.  I jumped out of bed, plugged in my computer, phone, electric kettle to boil water for drinking and the iron.  The secret to the Ugandans looking smartly pressed is that WHEN the electricity comes on, be it 1:00 AM or whatever, one gets up and irons all the clothes, then goes back to bed.  Last night I, acted like a Ugandan.  In fact, my Acholi name is "Atim," an Acholi born in a far away place.

I did not make toast last night, but did iron clothes - then it went off again for the rest of the night.

This morning, awakened by a raging thunderstorm, I was aware when the fan came back on, so I got up and excitedly made coffee and remembered I'd bought some really good "whole wheat" bread yesterday.  Even thought ahead to buy butter (no frig - so it lasts however long it lasts).  Finally found an outlet that worked and made toast in the skillet.  So I sit on the floor writing you this tid-bit, drinking my coffee and crunching into a piece of warm, buttered whole wheat toast and feel complete

It's definitely a red letter day and even walking to work in the mud can't take the glow of this one.