Uganda, pt. 1

My weekend in Uganda was easily one of my craziest and most fulfilling weekends in Africa.
I left Thursday afternoon with 7 of my fellow MSIDers for a Ugandan adventure. Our first obstacle was the bus. It was supposed to leave at 4pm, but we finally started moving a little before 5—only to go to the other side of town to have a side mirror welded on for an hour. After a quick stop back at the bus station, we finally made our way to Uganda about 6pm.
The next obstacle started at the border of Kisumu and Uganda, about 2 hours into the ride. We had to check out of Kenya and cross into Uganda at the border, which was easy if you possessed a valid visa to be staying in the country. However, since one of the students on the trip was the victim of a matatu hijacking almost 2 months ago, her passport was stolen. Thankfully she had a new passport by now, but unfortunately the US Embassy effed up and never gave her another copy of the visa for which she had already paid. When it was her turn to go to the window, the man behind the counter said, very matter-of-factly, “You are in this country illegally. I am going to have to arrest you.” Somehow she talked her way out of being arrested and the man let her buy the visa to Uganda, but this took a lot of persuading and tears. Once we finished with that line and crossed into Uganda, we had to go through one more immigration check. By this time, the bus conductor was getting very angry that we had not gone quickly through the first check, so he made us bud about 20 Kenyans to get into the line. It was white privilege at its best, and none of us fully wanted to skip everyone, but the conductor was angry, so we followed his orders. From the border, it was about a 3 hour drive to Kampala, and since we left so late, we got into the Akamba station around 11pm or so.
From here, our first decision in Uganda was to find some food. STAT. We ended up at a Cuban restaurant, after going to Nakumatt Oasis downtown, finding an ATM, and asking lots of people for directions. We ate some delicious foods, drank some beers, and surveyed the city, making plans for our bar-hopping day on Friday. By the time we finished, it was almost 3am and we still hadn’t found a place for the night (or remainder of it…). We found some piki pikis who could drive us to the hostel-Red Chili-and we got the hell out of dodge. Half way through the ride, it started raining hardcore (and I left my jacket on the bus), so by the time we got to the hostel, we were totally soaked. After talking to the grounds keeper, we found out that there were only 6 beds available, so Kyle and Tony decided they would adventure outside the hostel and find a hotel in town somewhere (don’t worry-Kyle is ROTC and Tony has a healthy, verging on obsessive, respect for knives). We woke up to Kyle calling Ben at 9am, relaying that he and Tony were in jail and we needed to bail them out—of course this WAS A JOKE, but nevertheless, the recipient did not think it was that funny. Friday morning, we showered (with a HOT shower!), ate some delicious breakfast, and got ready to meet up with the boys in town.
We went back to the Cuban restaurant for some drinks-Pina Colada Cuban style in Uganda was my first choice—and continued to hop around the city until lunch. We settled on a Japanese place that served Hibachi-some of the best food I have had since coming to Africa (and consequently some of the most expensive, it was about $8 to split with Teresa). The legacy of the Japanese place does not stop with the delicious food—Ben (who recently turned 20) discovered Blow Job shots for the first time in his life. He couldn’t even order it without giggling like a little girl—but we certainly enjoyed taking those all afternoon with our fantastic food. After Hibachi, we went back to the town center to hit up a casino for the afternoon. This was Ben’s first time in a casino, and he won $75US on the black jack table! Meanwhile, Kate and Jamie tried to get the band to let them sing on stage; one of the security guards got really annoyed by them and sent us upstairs to sing and the karaoke bar…which we did, even when it wasn’t our turn, all night. The whole MSID fam got up for “Sweet Caroline”, and this song will forever hold a special place in my heart 
Most of us made our way back to the hostel shortly after to find that the valuables we left in the office (passport, computers…and entire bags) were locked up and not retrievable until “sometime after 7:30 the next morning”. So I slept in my clothes and didn’t take my malaria meds until the next morning. Shoot.
In the middle of the night, 3 Indian guys came into the room (it was a hostel, so it was a huge open room) and drunkenly spoke to each other (not in English) for about 20 minutes until they decided to get into their beds. Again, at about 6:15 their alarms started to go off and they began to get up and wrestle around, making tons of noise. There was not reason for me to get up before 7:15, since that’s about when breakfast starts and there was no way for me to get my stuff out of the office. However, as time (and noise) continued, I got up, gave them an angry look, and went off to the main building to see what I could find. I went on fb, ate some delicious breakfast, and hung around until the rafting company came to pick us up…the office still wasn’t open. Thankfully, someone with keys finally showed up-we grabbed out stuff, put on our suits, and jumped into the shuttle for the hour and a half ride to Jinja.

My thoughts today...

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes, and leap!

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you can't pull me down!

I'm through accepting limits
'Cuz someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But till I try, I'll never know!
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love I guess I've lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost!
I'd sooner buy
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you can't pull me down

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately:
"Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I am
Defying gravity
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No Wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!

family reunion

I just witnessed a family reunion at the local shopping complex. An older mzungu, possibly from the UK somewhere, and his Kenyan girl friend coming home for the fist time in 5 years. They have a beautiful baby girl who keeps running around and she’s cute as hell. They proceeded to pray, take photos, and talk about their lives. This small display of affection really lifted my spirits today. Lately I’ve really wanted to come home. I dream about being home with my friends and family and I wake up and am upset that I’m still here. Being called out for being an mzungu is really starting to get to me. I feel alone a lot here. Like I’m the only one doing what I’m doing and experience what I am. Some times I just wish I were invisible. Other times, I wish I were at home driving my car through the countryside, with the music blaring. I miss my favorite foods, my bed, my bathroom, my mommy, my friends….I just want to be at home. And then I see something as wonderful as a family reunion, and I realize my feelings, while not insignificant, are not the end of the world. I’m truly learning and experiencing here. Though I’ll be glad to go home when the time comes, I refuse to let myself wallow in pity. Buck up and take it. This is life and it’s staring you right in the face.

Hello from Kisumu!

So I know it’s been a real long time since I’ve posted…I have limited access to the internet here, unlike I did in Nairobi. Unless I get on at my internship, I have to pay for it 
Anyway, here’s the scoop of Kisumu:
1. It’s soooo much better than Nairobi.
a. The city is smaller and cleaner. My buggers are not as black as they were in Nairobi. Gross.
b. The people on the matatus and busses do not try to steal your stuff at any chance.
c. There is almost always a matatu ready to take you where you want to go, with an open seat.
d. The food my family makes rocks. They are mostly vegetarian, so we eat more meat substitutes (except chicken, they like chicken-and know how to cook it!). They make their own peanut butter and honey, so we always have both on hand-without preservatives! They also make brown ugali, so I feel as if I’m eating something other than ground corn.
e. My family is pretty well off
i. I have a flush toilet and a running (COLD) shower.
ii. We have 2 bathrooms
iii. 2 televisions and DVD players and Nat Geo
iv. We have an oven—I CAN BAKE!
v. We have an electric water boiler. My water tastes like water, not smoke!
vi. We eat lots of different varieties of fruits
vii. We have this delicious cabbage, tomato, onion mixture at dinner almost every night (it’s loaded in cooking fat, but tastes good!)
f. It is only a short bus ride to Lake Victoria.
g. It’s so much safer here-I can walk after dark and not feel as if I’m going to be killed/robbed/raped at any given moment.
h. The food is way cheaper-like half the cost or less than Nairobi
i. I don’t have classes
j. My family is teaching me Kija Luo (that’s the tribe Obama is from, in case you didn’t know, but everyone in Kisumu will tell you. They also think that Obama is Kenyan (not American or the result of an exciting trip…)
k. Taxis and transportation is MUCH cheaper-and there are pikipikis (small motor cycles/large mopeds) everywhere (a 20 minute ride is about $1)
l. The sweet lady who runs the Kiosk keeps track of me every day and is very nice to me. She has even invited me into her home and made me eat and drink soda
m. The markets are cheaper than Nairobi’s. I’m going next weekend, if there’s anything you want-let me know now!
n. I know what things cost, so if someone tries to rip me off, I know right away and can tell them. Most of the time I’m escorted to a hotel or taxi, etc. so they can’t rip me off.
o. My fam has a baby-she’s the eldest son’s daughter. She’s 6 months old and beautiful. I get to hold her every day and sometimes she sleeps on me 
p. The man who sells pudding (cut up fruit) comes to the office every day for me because I told him to. It's 30/= (about 45 cents) for a bowl of fruit (watermelon, pineapple, avacado, and bananas). Delicious!

2. Things that are not so great about Kisumu
a. I get constant attention from each and every man (except the white ones). This is becoming very frustrating and exhausting-I just want to feel invisible most days, and it’s making me long to be home much stronger than when I was in Nairobi.
b. It’s freaking HOT. All the time.
c. There are a ton more mosquitoes…and malaria
d. I have to finish all of my papers by the end of the month. I haven’t finished even one yet.
e. Internet access is limited-mostly just cyber cafes. Also, if there’s a place with wireless, it’s slow and I have to pay for it.
f. My family is super religious-they are Seventh Day Adventists (which is a sect of Christianity, but they are biblical literalists-if it’s not blatantly spelled out in the bible, it didn’t happen. Consequently, they do not celebrate Easter or Chirstmas because they are explicitly dated in the Bible. This means no Easter eggs or Christmas presents. )
g. I miss my family in Nairobi, they were always so excited to see me and let move around more freely.
h. My family has 3 very angry guard dogs that they put outside between the gate and the house that will attack any intruder (including me). This means that if I want to come home late, I have to call someone to save me from the dogs at night. The last weekend I went out with my friends, I just paid for a hotel room downtown to avoid this. My family does not believe in drinking or going out to have fun.
i. There are no chocolate banana milk shakes from Java or Heinz ketchup
j. I don’t have a good place to get exercise, like when I was in Nairobi-walking to and from school every day. I live too far away here. On that same topic-I have to pay to take a matatu each way to my internship here (40/= per day, which is about 50 cents). This is the place where I get asked for my phone number most often.
k. Everyone speaks Kija Luo—NOT Kiswahili, so I feel as if I’m trying to learn another language as fast as possible, without using my skills in Swahili)
l. There is no good dark chocolate in this entire city.
m. People don't eat lunch until 1-2pm. And we don't take a 10am or 4pm tea break. I have to bring snacks every day and then I have to share with everyone.