This is what Africa sounded like.

[Note: I think I started writing this in February. And edited it in March. And failed at posting it until April. Where has my life gone??]

So, I cannot wrap my head around the fact that I've been back in the States for two months.*** I still plan on blogging here a bit, especially since I've had time to process through some things...but do I have time to blog now? No! My dear academic institution, Wake Forest University, is a great stealer of time and energy, and I have yet to adjust to its rhythm... I miss African time.

BUT, here's something quick---were you wondering what my semester sounded like?
You were? Well then, today is your lucky day!

Here is my Africa Playlist...songs that were played on the radio, sung in church, frequented on my ipod or circulated within our SIT group in Rwanda/Uganda:

Waka Waka--my official Packing-For-Africa song

Waving Flag (Spanish Version)--i.e. the first Youtube video that I attempted loading on less-than-awesome Internet, while nomming vegetable samosas in Kigali's Bourbon Cafe.

Dancing in the Minefields.....thanks to David from my SIT group, this became the 4th most played song in my iTunes last semester. I played it incessantly from the Shokola days onward, especially when things were hard, and yep, even put it in my ISP thesis title. Apparently my transcript even reads: "ISPR 3000--Independent Study Project: Dancing in the Minefields." HA.

Dutty Love? Whaaaat?-- An actual conversation:
"Morris, who sings this song?? I hear it everywhere, and Farida sings it all the time..."
"Uh, it's Sean Kingston. Don't you have him in America?"
"Oh. Duh. Yeah."
[Did my Rwandan homeboy-brother know more about popular American music than me? Yes, yes he did.]

Inkoramutima by Meddy!--here's some sweet auto-tuned deliciousness from the ever-popular Rwandan star, Meddy. This kid was everywhere; I actually think his songs taught me more Kinyarwanda in the long run than our teacher...Here's some more if you're as shamelessly addicted to Meddy as I am: slurp!

Morning Comes (Delta Rae)--sighhhhhhhhh. Beautiful Erin shared this with me during a bumpy van ride in Butare.  We were decompressing in the back of our matatu as the sun set, circling those never-ending, ever-gorgeous Thousand Hills, after a very intense, devastating, inspiring, redeeming weekend...and this song was perfect. Every time I hear it, I feel the deepest pain and the deepest joy all wrapped up in 4 minutes of awesome harmonies... Please join me in stalking Delta Rae too; they're amazing.

Come Back When You Can--Achsah, my SIT soulmate, gave me a ton of music, and this was one of my favorites. Reminded me of home.

I Am--speaking of awesome Acshah, I nabbed this song from her and it is my JAM. Apparently it was also Morris's, as there was much brother-sister bonding over this song. If Morris thinks I'm cool at all, it just might be because I put I Am on his birthday mix.

A Weather--Achsah also introduced me to A Weather, who will forever remind me of the time I thought I had malaria... I didn't have malaria, mind you, but there was this one day in Gulu when I looked like death, rocked a fever, slept for 23 hours and thought I might die. I listened to A Weather on repeat the one hour I was actually conscious that day...and I think they healed me.

Cindy!!!--when we were in Kampala, we went to this random promo-concert for a cell phone company...and who was there!??! This chick Cindy. She was fun.

And here's some hawt African club music.

Also, Party in the USA, which was frequently played alongside the hawt African club music. Ironic, no?

Halel--ooo-ooo-eee-ahhh.--Hedwig and I sang this together all the time...before bed, sitting outside of Coffee Hut, while my Mama watched dubbed-over soaps...all the time.

Trading My Sorrows--Sang this at Hedwig's church...and learned the accompanying dance! As for this video, if you got rid of the 80's outfits, 0:16-0:28 is essentially what Hedwig and I looked like (we sang to each other   oh so vigorously..)

The Lion King on Broadway--sometimes, I would wake up to Hedwig jamming in our room with my iPod, singing, "Hey-la, hey-ma-meh-la, hey-la...He lives in you!" And then there was that one glorious morning during ISP time when Achsah was attempting to write her paper in our gigantic, furniture-less living room...and Erin and I distracted her by interpretive-dancing the greater half of the Lion King Broadway Soundtrack, embodying every African animal we knew. It was The Best.

The Very Best--this makes me want to take a long van ride through the bush.

I Celebrate The Day--another favorite from Achsah...in preparation for Christmas.

Miracle--in preparation for Hanukkah (Allie lit cut-up candles for eight nights and made latkes!)

Oh Africa!--for celebratory dances at the Mzu...Also, the soccer players featured in the video were emblazoned on the sides of buildings in Gulu. Oh Africa!

Christian worship songs in Hindi?--Yup. Remember that time when I pulled 3-all-nighters in a row, drinking thermoses of coffee and eating sim-sim paste out of a tupperware container, writing my ISP? Well, near the end of that ridiculous experience, I was writing on my bed in the Kampala hotel, and I looked out the window at all my SIT pals lounging on their balconies, and I had the overwhelming urge to listen to some soft sitar, stare out my window at them and thank God that they were in my life, and that we were in Uganda. Hence this song.
 
I am grounded; I am humbled...--this song sounds silly, but listen to the words. It pretty much summed up my entire study abroad experience in one line: "My soul is just a whisper trapped inside a tornado." I am grounded, I am humbled by how big and complicated and beyond my brain the world is. If I learned anything last semester, it was that I know and understand very little. I think that's a good place to be.

AND without further ado, I think THIS is the most played song in Uganda. It would wake me up at 6:30 in the morning at the Mzu, wafting through my open bedroom window...and then I heard it 74893 times throughout the day...and then I would fall asleep dreaming of the day when Achsah and I would make a acoustic cover of it. Seriously. That cover is a-comin.

*** How about it's now been more than three months? Whaaaat? My astounding lack of free time has forced me to blog during work (ohhh the perks of working at the library!); here's to hoping I finish writing this in the next 2-6 months...


(more to come. more on my mind. praying hard for Uganda.)