"Straight to Video"

Shout out to my brother Christopher Koza and his band as I am sitting here writing this and listening to his new CD which I just received here in the mail in Uganda...yes, Chris Koza even has his music as international as Africa....So that means anyone who reads this, go to http://www.chriskoza.com/ and pick up a CD...Anyways, on to Peace Corps now...

<--Myself, greasy as after a long day with my little brother Hassan and Namakula at homestay

Having spent these past few weeks-post training- to get accustomed to life on my own and in a new environment has been grueling and difficult at times, but also a blessing in truly realising how adaptable the human species is...Although individual personality is also a key attribute in determining one's ability to adapt, in essence it amazes me what we as a species are truly capable of. True I still hold many ammenities with me from me that I have taken here as well as photos on my wall to remind me of my life thus far, but to be able to move 7,684 miles away to a truly different (yet clearly livable) world is an incredible and daring feat in itself. I have met many incredible people over these past few months, and while I dearly miss all of you back home, these relationships are truly my lifeline...The stresses that overtake one's mind in being ask for candy dozens of times a day by the same children or being glared at by a local (honestly though most of the time just a simple wave brings the biggest smile!) is often followed by a text or call to another PCV to gain confidence in oneself again. Living in Kaliro has been an experience in itself. The town is rather small, which makes it incredibly easy to walk through in a matter of a few minutes and see every member of town, often sitting in their dooka (store) selling the same exact thing at the same exact price as another 10 metres away. I walk a gorgeous walk everyday and find amazement in the fact that I could easily go hours without speaking English. Although my Lusoga reminds me of my family's Japanese exchange student Ikko trying to speak English when I was young, it invigorates me to have at least a complete greeting and short question and answer in a different language, and the Ugandan people absolutely love this! Some of the greatest smiles come when you surprise a Ugandan in speaking their mother toungue and that also brings out one of the biggest smiles I could have here.

I will leave this at that, and will hopefully post in a week or so again. One other note though, I have a new postal address now, so SEND ME MAIL to:

Daniel Koza
c/o Lisa Balland
PO Box 161
Kaliro, Uganda

Also be sure to write Air Mail and Par Avion on it, and also write RELIGIOUS MATERIALS and draw a cross or something on it! Good chance it will arrive with less trouble faster!

Well until then peace and love from Uganda to yo all, and I miss you all!

Here is a little poem for you all:


For the moment each and every star
Is their for your own unique dream
In 500 years maybe some other truth
Will change what we hold true
But for the time now and even then
As living is so short and often a battle
Take every smile and every fright
To heart as what makes this
World so beautiful and evolutionarily
Tangible to each and every being
Forgetting who you are will not be
The end of it all but just remember
That someone, 7684 miles away from you,
Is thinking about you and loves you...

Urine...Cow Puddles of Mysterious Substances...Cow Dung...Mud

Quote For Zen: "Keep the motion in picture or else there'll be little for you to hold on to."
- Jet's "Hold On"
Quote For Humour: "My bag smells like a fart!"
- Another volunteer, taking notice how is bag smelled bad, and
who knows why it smelled bad?? The mysteries of life...


First a wee little disclaimer: Not having internet on a regualr basis by all means makes it rather difficult to get good announcements out to you all and makes it difficult for me to have a clear mind of thoughts to get out to you all. I intended to load a few pictures on here so you could all see me with my Rastafarian dreads, having lost 50 lbs and cooking in a pit in the ground (which you would not see anyways even if I had pictures because this is not the truth...) but I haplessly left any pictorial resources at my site which is approximately an house taxi ride from my current location. ALSO I do have a new address, but that has been left at site as well...therefore I will get those out early in this week; i.e. I will commute 2 hours roundtrip not including wait time for taxi simply to send you all my address and show you the beautiful me!

Okay, now to some good ol' dirt on myself Ugandan-style.....

Having not written for nearly a month on here and lacking the mental capactiy to remember if I emailed any mass messages out to you all, some information that I spill out to you could be a repeat, but bear with me as the majority of info is new, and for the most part follows chronological order from a month ago...

So yes, life is odd and filled with many moments that I have come to call 'African Moments'(AM). By my own definition an 'African Moment' is: any moment in a day when an event, or series of events, causes one to reflect back momentarily on this situation, and when comparing to the rest of their life, the realisation occurs that the only time this could or has ever occurred is in Africa. So the first AM I wish to mention is one in which I might of already written of, but is of great importance in my growth as a person and in knowing when sh** hits the fan that one just has to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride of life.

**AM1**--Prior to leaving a restaurant in town I went to the latrine to urinate and without power and the ability to see, I proceeded (of course by accident) to urinate on my feet while wearing my Chacos. Half-heartedly disgusted I began to walk home, soon to encounter in the blinding light of head-on traffic a large puddle containing many fluids of unknown origin and the thoughts of these fluids making there way in to any sores and pores on my feet made me stop and take a deep breath. Not more than 5 minutes later I find myself landing my right foot deep in to the nice relatively-fresh cow pie and then not more than 5 minutes after this I find myself slipping, backside down in to a puddle of mud...This has come to be an accepted series of events that hardly takes any ounce of shock but more awe and laughter out of ones mind.

So in summary, the past few weeks I was given an opportunity to visit my future site, which is in a small town and I will be teaching at the school. Visiting the town, and being away from training was definitely a blessing. Training is good, it has given myself and many other volunteers to experience many facets of Ugandan life and culture, but this visit to my future site was an eye-opening experience to view my future home and good just to get away. Living with the homestay and training was good, like I said, but deep back in my mind I knew that it was only temporary, so the pains of working through an 8 week training that was often wrought with stress and confusion and cultural clashes (in the most educative sense of the phrase) made visiting the future site all the more important. The experience of riding in the matatus, or taxis, has become to be an experience (not exactly an AM) that would be more in line with simply living. Each time I take a taxi, I squish in as far as a can to the point where my body will be immobile for however long the ride is (30 minutes to maybe 5 hours) and go to my happy place, my place of Zen and eternal thought, and wait until I have arrived at my destination. So in a nutshell, visiting my future site (and now my home for the next 2 years) was good for the mind body and soul, not to be cheesy, to successfully not flip out during training....even though I and everyother volunteer probably did at least once!

Training wound down quite fast, with each day being filled somehow whether or not one even felt like they were doing anything. It was sad to leave homestay even though it was very stressful at times, it was by all means an incredibly important experience to help in being integrated in to the culture. The last few days with the staff and volunteers was bittersweet though, as we had all grown over the past few months to become the closest of friends and in a matter of a single afternoon we were all whisked away to our new homes, new jobs, and new friends (to be made). Of course we will always have our European Vacation in Brussels and our past 8 weeks in training, life as we all knew it was about to change. It felt like the last day of freshman year of college when everyone was going back home, there parents (our supervisors for our new sites) were there with their cars to pack all of our belongings, and we left waving, saying see you in a few months! Prior to our leaving though, our last weekend had a great event, with all of our host families and us at the training centre, as one big hurrah and thank you for the time and energy spent making us feel at home. This afternoon was spent with dancing (per language group, which I will get pictures on here eventually) and speeches made. I had the great embarassing honour of singing the United States National Anthem at this event, laughing and smiling as I struggled through the words that should be engrained in my mind. Our language class did a local dance, as well as many of the other groups, and we sadly said goodbyes to many of the families we had come to know over the past weeks. The last few days of training were spent doing a last bit of logistical work in Kampala, visiting the Peace Corps office, the US Embassy and shopping for items for our sites...and to be honest, just spending as much time as well could with all of our new friends until we left...Being at the US Embassy was like being blasted back in to the states...Proper flush toilets and sinks and paper towel and coffee and marble floors and other muzungas and the list goes on...Quite strange to say the least. Our swearing in event, where we were all officially sworn in was held at the Ambassadors house, along with all of our supervisors and Peace Corps staff. Of coruse, again I was the one, requested about 30 minutes for the event to sing the National Anthem (along with another volunteer), and then the morning proceeded with the ceremony and we became official!!!! The next 2 years of life was beginning...

Okay...yeah, I would be bored to reading this blog, so I will supply you with one more humouress anecdote before I continue on with my life-story...

**AM2**--So this just happened about 5 days ago. After a day of community integration at my site, i.e. taking my 35 minute walk in to town, buying a few items, struggling with language and walking back home, I was struggling with the concept of being away for 2 years...Mild cases of homesickness tend to work themselves in to the day, but sometimes things are so busy it jsut gets bottled up until one big moment. So this day was a particularily busy day. I had gotten up early to assist the Science students with a computer class. They were writing projects for admission in to University, and many of their computer skills are lacking, so I happily offerred to help. After doing this for a few hours, I trekked across the village about 30 minutes to assist the other volunteer in town with ridding her bed, etc. of bed bugs by spraying the items down with Doom and lying them out in the sun. After spending a bit of time doing this and making another trip in to town to get a few items, it was time to return home to my site. Of course every walk through town, or in this country for that matter a muzunga is a spectacle, especially though in the village children are found running up to grab you as you attempt to speak in local language. Arriving home it was about time to play basketball with the students at the school, which I have begun to do. Now at home, in the States, everyone should know my basketball skills are quite lacking, but here, I felt like a god of basketball...Nonetheless after an our of sweating constantly and having dust kicked up from the dirt court, I returned home, ready for dinner. I boiled some water for tea and for drinking, and scooped a nice heaping spoonful of honey in to my tea. As I licked off the side of the jar I realised there was something chunky in my mouth. Lookin in to the cap of the jar I see dozens of ants crawling around. I proceed then to throw the honey down, squirt hand sanitiser in to my hands and then lick my hands in attempts to santise my mouth. I then proceeded to add a shot to my tea in disgust of the experience and in efforts to cleanse my mouth and stomach...I sat on my outside step, drinking my spiked tea and rubbing my face in hair, covered, in dirt, sweat and grime from an average day in Uganda. No matter how average this experience felt, it was still an 'African Moment' as I never would have or could have imagined occurring in my life prior.

So I just wrote a lot more than I thought, so I will quickly piece the past week together. I have been an officail volunteer since April 10th, 2008 now. So approximately 10 days down and I am feeling pretty good. The majority of these first few months will be community integration and scoping out secondary projects, so at times, even in the past week, the thought of confusion and being lost has been a primary thought. Finally having an opportunity to settle down in what is 'home' has been very good. I now have a place of my own, a community to learn and grow with, and a place to call work. Life, although moving slower than it ever has before, has begun to take on much new meaning. Everyday is filled with a mixture of speaking English and speaking Lusoga. Filled with assessment of possible projects and wondering what to do with ones self. Filled with laughter and crying. Any emotion imagineable is present. It has been odd being away from all the volunteers that I came to know and love, but also it has been refreshing finally coming to a place to live amongst the culture as your own entity. Starting this next school term, so in approximately one month, I will begin to teach Microbiology and Biotechnology. I will also be assisting with computer classes for the students as well as helping the Department of Music. I recently attended an Athletics (Track and Field ) competition at the school, and I expressed and showed knowledge in the throwing of discus, javelin, and shotput, so there are hopes that I could be of assistance with the Department of Athletics as well as potentially coaching students in Basketball. These are only a few of the opportunities, in a matter of the past 10 days that I have sought out...And these are only at the school level...Yes, there will be days of non-activity, or simply sitting at home moping, an doing laundry, but clearly the opportunity is there to be amongst the community, making a difference one by one in the lives of people here in Uganda.

Okay, I fear this post has been too long, so even though my mind is racing to tell you as much as possible, I shall stop.

I know I have expressed before, but if you have any questions at all then ask me, and I will as my best attempts respond on here. Peace and love and go Daniel Koza, yeah me!!!

My Current Life is Normal

To start off, I have decided that to best my experience here in Uganda that being politically correct should be the primary plan of action in writing to you in all...That said I will NOT be censoring my personality unless a written request is received to withhold information, therefore anything of complete disgust and poop jokes will be allowed in this blog.



**Better than Good**



Against every urge,

We find ourselves fighting the same fight.

A battle never won or lost,

But constantly dreading.

A puzzle with no sides,

An endless mirage of uncertainty.

Can there be a climax

of more than satisfaction?



- First one to find this author wins a letter from me in the mail...postal mail...





So in waking up this morning I realised a few things: The abnormally loud mooing of a cow merely 30 feet from my bedroom window is no longer a shock, but an anticipated sound of udder (haha no pun intended) beauty; waking up at about 6:00am, before the rooster crows is no longer met with pangs of frustration; the sounds of cockroaches roaming my bedroom floor in the middle of the night has turned more in to a game of discovering which bag it has gotten in to rather than a having a night of fear and terror, and the drug-induced dreams of the night due to malaria profylaxis has come to be an expected fantasy of joy instead of the oft-produced insomniac day(night)dreams of scary shadows on my walls. The walk to school/work (The Training Centre) is a parade of school children, bicycle taxis and the smell of dung which I soon find is on the bottom of my shoe. I consider buying fried casava pancakes on the side of the road but consider the alternative, just not eating and waiting for something better to come along-and often nothing better does. Each day thus far has been met with many highs and lows and clearly, thus far, each day has been conquered and my life has been passed along to the next. I spend my evenings convincing myself to return to my host family, not because I am not happy to be with them, but because I have grown up to be an independant being, therefore living under another family's wings makes life all the more difficult, especially when there is a clear cultural and language distance. Communication is oft-stagnant and awkward, but is met by an uncertain but friendly smile from my host sister, making me feel like I am doing something right. As I take tea and then supper, I find my presence could be a nuisance, but ultimately a learning experience for both me and all those around me. This current life is my life. Just more than one month ago life got flipped-turned upside down to this equatorial alien world. I feel as though the past year did not even exist, or even more dramatically that the entire past 23 years of my life did not exist. Everything I know, everything I do, everyone I see is my life right now, and ultimately my life...a temporary one at best though, but one that I have thrown myself in to whole-heartedly.

Peace and love to you all. In the very near future I will mention a few more detailed factual incidents and such, but for now, you gotta take what spills out of this little brain of mine. I wish you all the best with your endeavours back home, and peace out.

7 Minutes tell You About 4 Weeks!!!!!

OKOKOK...So I know it has felt like years since I wrote anything on here, but do not worry, it has only been about a month....OKay so I am using a computer that has about a 3 second delay on when I hit the keys and when they come out on the screen, alsop random capitol letters will type...therefore I Will not be worrying about grammar or spelling ri...ok then. so the past few weeks have been up and down up and down up and down. we are still currently in training, we swear in in about 4 weeks. being with the host family has definiteily been a worthwhile expereince but at times daunting. the communication barrier sidefinitely a struggle at times, and even though i am learning the language i am only learning key phrase and statements for hte time being. trainining has been...well what can i say.........(I AM DOING MY BEST PART TO CENSOR THIS BLOG FROM THE US GOVERNMENT.....MANY OF THE THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOU THAT ARE COMPLETELY TRUE ARE THINGS LIKE THIS IS THE MOST DISORGANISED EXPERIENCE IMAGINABLE.....BUT I CAN NOT TELL YOU THINGS LIKE THAT)........OKAY...so i need t ogo because i haVE 3 MINUTES...do not get worried at my censored statement above...the experience has been amazing and worthwh8ile./...ui will write moer soon..peace and love to all..the ugandan people are amasaing! they are lovely and appreciateive even though there is much struggle to seperate their need and their dependency on muzungus.... byebye for now...!!!!!!

The End of the End in Philly...

QUOTE OF THE DAY:  "I just got robbed by a sweet old lady on a motorised cart!"

- Jim Carrey in "Dumb and Dumber"

Well well well...I will leave this one short and sweet once again as I am sitting in the hotel lobby in Philly waitin' to hop on a bus to the airport to head out officially!  I will summarise the past few days for you all:

- Leave PDX and while on plane by chance hear 2 others talking about Peace Corps.  I proceed to pass a note to them like I am in 3rd grade (fortunately Mr. Webber didn't catch us this time) and introduce myself to them.  Layover Phoenix and arrive in Philly.  After catching a taxi and proceeding to the hotel, I get ahold of a few other volunteers I had been in touch with and meet them at this little Irish Pub near the hotel.  After crash-course introductions and a good night's sleep it's time for registration the next day.  Now all the other volunteers have arrived and we sat and enjoyed some pleasant sessions on logistics and such on going to Uganda and joining the Peace Corps.  After some Indian food dinner and a 20 degree trip to the Rocky steps at midnight it's time to sleep and wake up for our last full day in the good ol' U S of A.  This day is a lovely day with more sessions and sad goodbyes to the staff that has helped us over the past few days.  Last night in Philly was filled with a plethora of appetisers, a few drinks, about 20 volunteers and a lot of open-mic bands.  Closing of bar, they let me play a few tunes on the piano as a going away present for me as I fear I will not be able to play for 27 months!  Sleep...wake...eat dry toast...pack...and now I am going to make one last run to the loo and we are off on the bus to the airport!  Now remember I will not have an opportunity to write for a good week or two, so please be patient and realise that no news is good news!

This has by all means been an incredible experience thus far and we are not even in Uganda yet!  It is incredible how face friendships can be made in the matter of a few days when put in to a foreign situation.  It's amazing that I know that I already have dozens of people looking after me and caring about me.  I miss you all, and I wish you all the best these next couple of years!  By all means keep in touch and I look forward to all of you visiting.......

T-Minus 3 days...

**QUOTE OF THE DAY**-- 

Alfalfa- "Why am I soaking wet?"

Porky- "Don't worry, Alfalfa.  I used to have the same problem."

After a 9am wake-up, a shower, an egg-turkey-cheese-salad-tomato sandwich and 6 cups of coffee I have begun to tackle that endless search for the best way to pack for 27 months...Although all that is necessary for survival is available in Uganda, there are many little comforts such as the boxers with pumpkin pie logos or my 50% off clearance after-shave from Fred Meyers that I do not dare forget. Yes yes I know I could go without these items, but lets face it, if I have the room to pack them, and my bags are underweight, why not bring a little bit of home with me.  The hardest part of packing for this journey is the organising of all my possessions.  Imagine packing a little of everything you have experienced in your life in to two bags (plus a carry-on) and how do you organise that?  ZIP-LOC BAGS!!!!!  Anyways after half a dozen trips to REI and a couple of trips to Powell's Book Store, I feel as though most of my shopping needs have been met.  Once I have gotten through one solid run of packing I will post a packing list.

It's surreal to imagine that in a matter of a week I will be off US soil and commencing a journey that for the majority is only seen through photographs.  Any and every emotion imaginable has passed through my head not once, or twice, but constantly throughout each and everyday.  Sometimes I find myself just sitting in a daze with hardly a 'single" thought going through my head, disallowing me to really grasp the short amount of time I will be living this current life.  Believe me I am excited though, the constant stream of thoughts is not of fright or uneasy bowels, but instead of anticipation of a whole new world, a new fantastic point of view.  No one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming...Oops, that is from Aladdin...But either way I hope that as I write to you all I can somehow let you all live vicariously through me via my words...

Well I gotta get back to packing, watching Little Rascals and drinking too much coffee.  But I will post on here a couple more times before I embark over the frigid Atlantic to the planet Africa...That's right, it's another planet, I bet you guys never knew that.  They actually found out that Pluto was right below Australia, and not light-years away in space, that is why it is not a planet anymore.  Wow I am..nevermind.  Bye for now!

OH...And the picture attached to this is the living room in my parents house as I attempt to gather all my belongings...

The FIRST Email--Finally Figuring this Blog Thing Out...

((((REMINDER::This was written approximately one week ago??))))

Hello All!!  Well it appears that going with my new hotmail account (daniel.koza@hotmail.com) will be too much of a burden...SO I will be utilising good ol' gmail for all my emailing needs!  Sorry to be throwing you all through these burning loops of fire, but unless some horrendous act comes in to play where my hands are taken from me and I can no longer type and no longer write emails then I will expect...that is right...EXPECT to keep close tabs on all of you via (kozadaniel@gmail.com)........Also I found that many of you did not get the first email I sent, therefore I will be copy/paste that whole little thing in to the body of this message.  If you have read it then read no further than this paragraph, but if you did not receive the previous email then be sure to read, because there will be a quiz on it when I get back in 27 months, so without further ado, here we go:

CHANGES TO PREVIOUS EMAIL:::::

I had said that the PO Box would be good for the first 10 months...what I meant was the FIRST 10 WEEKS....

Also if a package/letter (or anything for that matter) is sent, make sure to write things like "Par Avion" or "Air Mail" on it...Also if something bulikier sometimes writing "Educational Materials" on it helps..

Cheers,

Daniel Koza

Well the time has come for me to write this wee message to you all.  In just under two weeks (February 9th, 2008 at 8.30am to be exact), I will be sitting at Portland International Airport with a large pack on my back, a bag in hand and another duffel collectively filled with choice items for my life over approximately the next 27 months.  Why will I be doing this you might ask?  Well I have decided to join the Peace Corps and will be beginning my journey to the African nation of Uganda.  Some of you have known for months of my pondering over this opportunity whereas other of you will likely be shocked (and hopefully not appalled) over this decision.  Although I am excited as a Honey-Baked ham on Presidents Day, this decision has been no walk in the park.  For the past couple of months my mind has gone back and forth like two little kids on a teeter-totter, but I have gotten to the point where the fat kid (hello Peace Corps) is kicking the little kid's (basking in the comforts of home) butt and keepin' him floatin' up high in the sky.  I am ready I tell you..mentally at least...but oddly the stress and nervousness have not caught up to me yet.  But enough of this gibberish, I should tell y'all what I will be doing!

On 02/09/2008 I will be stepping on to a plane to fly out to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  I will spend a couple of days with approximately 56 other potential volunteers and on 02/12/2008 we will all fly out and after a quick layover in Brussels will disembark to the soil of Uganda.  Our first 10 weeks in Uganda will be spent living with a host family and attending sessions and on-sites along with the other future Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV), and assuming that my language and culture training go along smoothly, I will be officially sworn in as a PCV and will be sent to my assignment.  More than likely at this point I will be living on my own and will spend the majority of my days traveling by bike to different school districts..OH, so my official title at this point will be "Primary School Teacher Trainer."  Essentially I will help current instructors in multiple school districts in improving their teaching ability.  Aside from this primary project, more than likely I will be involved in a number of other side projects which I will not know until I have arrived.

AGONY---This is what I feel at the moment, because moments ago I accidentally deleted my entire email list...Therefore I had to re-type all the emails back in, which took me nearly another hour...SO then I am going to copy and paste a pre-typed email from Microsoft Word, and I accidentally deleted half of this email.  So for all you people that this is likely good news, because it is less junk for you to read, but for me it is pure agony.  But nonetheless I will leave this email with all of my contact info.

Cheers,

Daniel Koza

MAILING ADDRESS:

Daniel Koza, PCT

United States Peace Corps

P.O. Box 29348

Kampala, Uganda

NOTICE:::  This is my postal address for only about the first 10 weeks, and then after that I will have a new address which I will post to you all.  Also if anything is sent to me only send things in envelopes (small little white ones or the big padded ones ) as large box type packages tend to get lost/stolen.

I will be setarting a blog as well at http://danielkoza.blogspot.com but the site is in its most premature stages as my technologically challenged self could not figure out how to make things work on the blog...But feel free to check it out.  I will be posting this email on there soon.