20 Banana’s A Day Keeps the Doctor Away

***I'm so sorry I haven't posted a blog in almost three weeks. I was away from campus for a week and then when I came back the Internet decided to make posting blogs nearly impossible. I'll try to get a couple out in the next few days.***

Friday, February 20th was the start of my time in Tapchorwa village, nine kilometers from Kapchorwa town. With only two pairs of clothes and a mind full of uncertainty, I climbed off the bus prepared for anything, only to discover I had wasted a whole lot of time imagining rural home stays. It’s funny how sometimes you’ve simply thought too much and completely overanalyzed a situation. (You like that, Jason?) Rather than being the semi-intimidating experience I’d imagined, my rural home stay was by far the best experience I’ve had in Uganda to date.

Because the experience was just so much...filled with new experiences, funny stories, and immense growth…I am going to break up the experience into a series of different blogs.

Each day of rural home stay, Emily (my American roommate for the duration of rural homestays) and I would wake with excitement and joy for the day of endless food looming before us. Okay…that might be a slight exaggeration. Though I am one who enjoys good food…possibly too much…the monotony of African cuisine is far from my ideal food day. There was one day in particular, though, that struck me as outstandingly exciting. Imagine a day of eating this…

8:00am – Breakfast: 2 cups of very milky African milk tea, 3 slices of bread, four bananas
11:00am – Morning Tea: 1 cup milk tea, 2 bananas
2:00pm – Lunch: 6 cooked matoke bananas with groundnut sauce and top-up (African ketchup); 1 cup milk tea for dessert
4:00pm – Afternoon Tea: 1 cup milk tea, 2 bananas
7:00pm – Evening Tea: 1 cup milk tea, 2 bananas
10:00pm – Supper: mashed matoke bananas (4-5 bananas per serving) with beans, 1 cup milk tea for dessert.

Seeing that plantains (matoke bananas) are one of the world’s super foods, I don’t think I’ll be getting sick any time soon…