This House is Not a Home ... Yet

So I thought it would make for an interesting read if I posted a little something about moving into our house … Here it goes.

AHHHHHHH! … would be the perfect way to describe the process of moving. I myself am a first timer. I have never rented a house before. So to do it in a foreign country is … yeah.

As soon as we arrived in Gulu, Erin and I met up with a Ugandan friend, Jeff, who had been looking for our house since last semester. We proceeded to drop off our things at our hotel and proceeded to go inspect the houses. We started out looking for a furnished house, but we would learn that that was just unrealistic … It took us two days to see them all, but we had six options. One beautiful yet expensive house, one very nice house that did not have running water (umm no thank you), 2 very shady and awful hole-in-the-grounds, a nice house by Gulu University (too far from town though) and then the one we finally decided on in Pece :)

It was a tough choice. The house by the university was just as nice as the one in Pece. The only thing holding us back from it was the distance. What we would pay each month to boda into town would cover how much extra rent we would pay for the house in Pece. The choice seemed obvious, but we still had to consider how our third roommate would feel about the decision when she arrived.

The “we would be closer to town” argument won of course and the “it’s getting too expensive to stay in this hotel another night” pushed us to pick the house in Pece. All in all we made a good choice. The house has two bedrooms (one very huge), an awesome living room, bathroom and a very nice kitchen. But it all had to be cleaned, the walls had to be painted and it HAD to be fumigated (which is something we are still waiting on)

My first night in the house: I felt liberated from staying in Kampala and hotels. I had privacy … I could settle down, make it a place of refuge if I wanted, and call it home … eventually.

It had been a hectic couple of days, because in a week Erin and I had looked for a house, decided on a house, worked out a plan of payment, had 3 meetings with our land lady, finalized the lease agreement, spent 3 days pricing and shopping for house items, ordered bed frames, a table and chair set and a living room set. PHEW! I’m exhausted just thinking about it. In between all of that we made countless runs to the bank and various areas of town. Sadly my research took a back seat during that week …

Our third roommate and friend, Lindsay, arrived from the U.S. a few days later. Her arrival would add relief and a little more stability in our lives. (Considering this was her 5th visit to Uganda and this time she bought a one way ticket)

Now, MOVING IN! … well that was more easy said than done. As of this moment we are still moving in. Today we moved in our living room set. Tuesday my shelf will be ready.

Most of our frustration living here has not come about from finding this place, but from everything that needs fixing! And by everything I mean EVERYTHING!

Plugs, electrical wiring, door handles, a sink pipe, window panes! BUT the two biggest things: Electricity and Water! … Blackouts are frequent here so we expected it. However we didn’t anticipate it to be everyday! With phones and computers needing to be charged, tempers began to flare. Having no water for days at a time did not help.

The Good news is that they fixed our water problem today, but for some reason it ran out again this morning. (I’ve learned not to get my hopes up). If we could have water AND electricity together, running at the same time for at least a week then my faith in our “house crew” would grow … Not to mention that every time they repair something they break two more things. It’s becoming a habit that needs to be broken.

So as of now I’m taking it one day at a time … just like everything else. We still have plenty of repairs left, but with furniture coming in and the bond growing between me and the girls, this House will become a Home.