I had no internet over the weekend, so here is an enormous post detailing my recent adventures and misadventures 🙂 Sorry about the lack of pictures, it’s being all slow again in uploading them :-/

6/25/2010

Today was moving day. I was sad to leave the Red Chilli, but had an awesome last breakfast– a girl sat down at the table across from me and we got to talking. She asked me where I went to school and I told her UC– turns out she went there 8 years ago! We talked about Clifton and etc. and it was so awesome and strange to talk to someone who knew where I’m coming from.

After breakfast, Kitjko picked me up and we headed to the Makerere University guesthouse. There was some confusion with the room, but we got it sorted out eventually. I’m staying in a 3-bed room by myself, and then I am moving into another 3-bed room tomorrow because my first room is being taken over at that time by other tenants. The guesthouse is welcoming when you first come in, with huge couches lining the walls in the lobby, but then grows more sinister as you get to the area where the rooms are. The walls lining the hallway leading to the rooms are made of iron bars painted beige, and the lighting is fluorescent and harsh. The light in the bathroom across the hall is one bare bulb with a red filament. I wish I was making this up. Things are feeling very Bates Motel right now.

Anyway. After we got things settled, I had to get my money situation sorted out. Richard #1 and I went to the bank, and I practically cried with joy at the news that my wire transaction finally went through for my internship fee, after over a month. We took boda-bodas back from the bank (not my choice!!) and I had my eyes closed half the time, but then I figured I had better keep them open in case I needed to scream to warn the driver of incoming cars and other boda-bodas. We got back and I wrote a press release for the hippo Anthrax disaster, and then went with Kitjko and Stephen to finalize some things with my room. Afterwards, Kitjko asked me if I wanted lunch, and I said sure. I kind of wish I had said no because I wasn’t really all that hungry but I thought they wanted to eat, although it turns out they were going somewhere on their own after they dropped me back off at the office. Kitjko walked me into a takeout joint, where they served just about every type of grease you could imagine. I got chicken and chips– a fried hunk of chicken smothered with soggy French fries. I took it back to my desk to eat it. Probably one of the most disgusting things I’ve eaten in a very long time, to be honest. I finished as much as I could before I started tasting straight grease on my lips and had to stop. I need to figure out where the healthy options are around here… hah.
Sam was in the room, working at the desk in the opposite corner like he usually does. He’s always doing a lot of stamping and filing. I’m not really too sure of what Sam’s role is in the organization, but he’s always around doing tasks for everyone. I like Sam a lot. He has a good heart, and has already been a good friend to me in the week I have known him. Despite his scorn for my lack of religion, he seems sort of protective over me. He came to check out the room I’m staying in at the University guesthouse to make sure it was satisfactory, and waited for me while I was in a meeting for an hour to show me how to catch a taxi back to the University. He walked me up to the front door of the guesthouse and said shyly, his head bobbing up in the air about a foot above mine on his beanpole frame, “I will miss you when you are gone on Monday, and next Friday when you go to Bwindi.” For some reason, this struck me as being really funny. I always have a hard time understanding Sam because he has a really thick accent and I am constantly asking him to repeat himself, or looking at him in sheepish confusion, or just smiling and nodding and saying “yeah” a lot. I didn’t realize he enjoyed talking with me so much.

Sam asked for a way to keep in contact. I decided not to give him my number because I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea, so I asked him for his email and told him I would write to say how things are going in the field. It’s nice to feel like I have a friend out here. I think I’m really going to like my supervisor, Joseph, too. He gets back from a conference in Nairobi on Sunday (he’s called me twice to see how I’ve been doing while he’s been gone!) and we’re traveling to Queen Elizabeth with Stephen and Michael and Kitjko. We’re going to be quite the group– four Ugandan dudes and a white girl driving over pothole-filled roads for 6 hours in a massive white van with gorilla logos stamped on the sides. I am absolutely ecstatic that this is my life right now.

Also, funny quote of the day:

Richard (pointing at the mole on my chin): “Did you get this while you’ve been here in Uganda, or has it been like that always?”
6/26/2010

Today has been near-perfect. I woke up at 7 automatically, as my body tends to do, but I rolled over to go back to sleep and woke up again at noon. Glorious. I needed sleep. I stayed up late last night reading after a feast of fruit (!!Cubed pineapple and watermelon!!) and pieces of rolled, doughy chapatti bread dipped in salty beef broth (which had green peppers in it!! I could eat them because they were boiled in broth. Hallelujah!)

So today, after waking up at noon, I showered, which was quite the event. The shower here is not a shower, but a bathtub (I switched out of the bucket shower room to get a cheaper room), and it has a shower head attachment. However, said attachment has no water pressure, so I was on my hands and knees in the tub, dunking my hair and other various body parts under the tub faucet to get clean. The shower room has a nice green bulb, unlike the red one in the toilet room, so that made for a slightly more pleasant atmosphere. Almost like I was bathing under a waterfall in a rainforest. Almost.

Then I went to the front desk because I have to switch rooms (again) today since someone else is moving into my first room, which I’m cool with. I’m thriving off of change right now. They put me in a smaller room, which I actually prefer, which has a cute little window and again, three beds.

I then set off into town. My goal was just to wander aimlessly and check out the sights. The road was rough and the sides of the streets were filled with shacks selling airtime cards and dresses and plastic jewelry made in Japan. Most people who I passed called out to me. One guy said “Hey hey, give me some money, eh?” while holding out his hand, but most called out “Mzungu!” or “Sistah! How are you doing?”. And then there was one guy who called me a “Canadian lover.” That one was a surprise. Whenever I passed by a flock of boda-bodas, they would all motion me over and smile and nod, but I just said, “I’m walking, it’s a beautiful day!” or ignored them altogether.

I walked for about an hour before I decided I should take a boda-boda. I wanted to explore the craft market, but none of them seemed to know where that was, and I didn’t know either. So I finally just found one and asked him to take me to the Millennium Supermarket shopping center, which is close by to my internship office, where I could stop by and pick up my laptop charger that I accidentally left there last night. The dude asked for 2,000 shillings, which is a pretty awesome deal for the distance, so I hopped on. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve come to really, really like boda-boda rides. They are a convenient and fun way to get around the city. I’ll try not to make a habit of it, but I’m not going to be in Kampala for much longer anyways.

At the shopping center, I spent awhile in a craft store (and got some goodies for some of my favorite people) and then got a mango smoothie from a nearby takeout restaurant. It was smooth and tangy, like a frozen mango lassi. I sat outside on a lacquered bench to drink it while I watched the shoppers at the fruit market.

After, I walked down to my site and was surprised to see one of the dudes there, listening to the World Cup on a portable radio. He’s always out on the porch listening to that radio. I can’t remember his name. He looks kind of like a Ugandan George Bush. He’s always super nice to me and was happy to see me there, and thanked me for stopping by. I got my charger and then walked down to the main street, where a pack of boda-bodas sat waving. I smiled and walked over. “Makerere University guest house. Do you know where that is?” I asked. One of the guys nodded. “Do you really know?” I asked. Sometimes they will tell you that they know, but really don’t and end up getting lost. This guy seemed legit.
“How much?” I asked.
“Four thousand,” he said, stone-faced.
“Hah. Three-thousand,” I said.
“Four thousand,” he said.
“Three thousand,” I said, smirking. He knew I could just leave and find someone who would offer a better price.
“Okay. Three thousand.”

His posse cracked up, mimicking our conversation as I triumphantly sat down on the back of the bike.
“Four thousand– No, three thousand! Oooohoohoo!” They had underestimated the little mzungu.

I really feel like I’m coming into my own here. I know how things work, where things are (sort of), and what’s a good deal and what’s not a good deal. It’s only been a week, but I feel fairly confident in Kampala. Just smile and walk with your head up and you’ll be fine.

6/27/2010

I slept horribly last night. There was a mosquito buzzing around the outside of my net the whole night, and it somehow bit my leg through the net in about 10 places anyway. I woke up to the sound of singing. At first I thought it was two maids singing together while they cleaned rooms, but then I realized that it was actually a church service going on in the meeting room DIRECTLY outside my bedroom. Therefore, I couldn’t go anywhere. I waited for an hour. I listened to the songs and the strange chanting and clapping. But it became apparent that this service was not ending anytime soon. They just kept going in circles, praising God and Jesus and then singing another song and clapping some more. It went on for three hours, and then some people lingered out in the room to talk amongst themselves. I was finally able to leave my room to pee around 12:30.

I mean, honestly. You can’t make these things up. I love it 🙂

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June 28, 2010

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