Winter's coming in Canada, dry season coming in Gulu

I find myself back in Montreal, back at school and missing the sunshine in Gulu.  But you know the grass is always greener.  I'm quite sure if I was in Uganda at the moment, I'd probably be suffering in the sun as the dry season begins in the north of the country.  I've never had the chance to experience the hottest of days there or the cold winds blowing at night, but if rumors hold true, it really isn't the best season of the year.  I feel the same way about winter in Canada, minus the hot ofcourse.  And extra cold wind.

I was recently talking with some friends of mine in Gulu, ok to be fair it was in August, but I was discussing with them the challenge of explaining to people in Canada that my aspiration in Gulu is to one day own a house with a flushing toilet.  In Gulu if you have indoor plumbing you are doing pretty alright.  Maybe like having a hot tub in Canada?  I'm not sure.  But it's a status symbol, and a cultural security blanket I dearly miss some days.  I think I know maybe 4 or 5 people who have flushing toilets in Gulu, but trustly me I know where everyone that is marginally public, or at least accessible to white people, and I take full advantage of these every chance I get.  I don't want to say I plan my day around it, but it's kind of a big deal.  Especially on certain days.

I bring up the toilet because this inability to communicate about things too far outside one's culture go both ways.  Just as people in Montreal may shake their head that at my dream of a porcelain posterior rest, people in Gulu often shake their head in disbelief or confusion when I talk about Canada.  To begin no one quite understands that if white people are rich, as we are largely stereotyped to be, how come we don't own land?  Winter is another topic difficult to explain.  How do you tell people that you miss the sun, when they see it for the same amount of time every day?  The best proof I can offer is to bask excessively in it when I have the opportunity.  I have a running joke with several friends that I lay in the sun to charge my solar panels or maybe inverter, to keep me warm in the night.  Ugandans rarely are sitting or visiting in direct sun if they can avoid it.  If there is the shade people will use it.  Somehow I like so many other white people struggle to learn this message.  I justify that I have to make up for lost time because of Canadian winters.

Will I miss the changing of the seasons?  This is likely to be my last full winter in Canada for a couple years.  From this vantage point DEFINITELY NOT.  While the changing of the leaves is fun, and the smell of autumn unique, I don't enjoy seeing less and less sun, wearing more and more clothes, and spending more and more time indoors.  I love that in Uganda open shoes (known commonly as sandals or flip flops in Canada) can be worn 12 months of the year.  That shorts are not friends you get to see only 3 months a year.  I know snow is nice and all, I used to plan my life around access to it and mountains, but at the end of the day, I choose SUN.  Even if it means giving up a flushing toilet.