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| Log of my Placement in Ntungamo, Uganda |
August - October November December January - February March - April
November 3
Brrrr!! Didn't think it would get cold in Uganda, could have brought a few more warm clothes. Rains most days, usually twice. Rain only last 20min and really cools things off. It's still 24 degrees during the day when it's not raining, but gets much colder at night now.
This weekend Craig and I went camping at Lake Mburo National Park with Pete & Jan, and Brenda. Craig's bad luck with travel seems to be consistent. He and Brenda made it smooth from Kampala but the bus they got on took it's time leaving and they were running late so we decided to dive the 25min from the main road to the park gate to ensure they would stay open for us to get in. Returning for the gate Pete let me drive! What fun! 4-wheel driving for the 1st time AND I was on the wrong side of the road and vehicle. It's strange shifting with your left hand. Lots of bumps and ditches to go over, it was really a blast. Pete spent most the trip white-knuckled and encouraging me to drive more to the right before I ended up off the road! Back in Sanga we waited about 15min for Craig and Brenda then hit the road again back to the park. About half way we blew a tire, hmmm, must be Craig. Pete and Craig hurried to change the tire and we rushed to the gate making it just in time, they had locked up but it was still 4min to 7pm so they let us through.
We arrived at the campsite in the dark and set about pitching our tents. As I worked on ours I was swarmed by tiny green bugs and a good number of mosquitoes. After setting up tents needed to go to the bathroom, which was some distance away and their appeared to be some dark figures out there. So as a group we ventured out and discovered large scary looking Warthogs grazing away. They paid no attention to us. When we returned we spotted a hippo near the truck, exciting and scary. We stayed well clear of that area. That night many hippos walked past our tent, we could hear them and see the evidence in the morning. In the middle of the night I had to go but fear kept me within 5 feet of the tent.
Saturday morning Brenda, Jan and I walked the 15min up to the ranger station to book our safaris. Along the way we saw 2 Impala Antelope that let me get within about 5 feet of them. Then we saw a family of warthogs, 3 adults and many babies. They are much cuter during the day, although Jan said I couldn't bring one home. We booked a boat trip and 2 walks and headed back to camp. While we were gone 2 buffalo occupied the road back into camp and Pete and Craig were worried that they were blocking our return. Luckily they were gone by the time we arrived.
At 11:30am we headed out on our boat trip. This was the highlight of my weekend. We saw hundreds of hippos! They are so cool and cute! Once again no one would let me take a baby hippo home. In the boat we got pretty close to them (25ft?) and could watch for a bit till they got angry and chased us off. We also saw 3 crocodiles. 2 were small, about the same size as Oro my pet Iguana (2ft body + a tail), and one medium probably 7ft total. The boat ride was about 2hrs. When we returned 2 more VSOs who live in Mbarara arrived, Lionel & Lydia.
At 4pm Craig and I went on an animal walk. Jan and Pete gave us a ride up to the ranger station. It was a 2 and ½ hr walk around the park with an armed ranger. He was really nice and friendly and we had great luck seeing the animals. Saw probably a thousand zebra, hundreds of Impala, some Waterbuck & Topis (larger shaggy antelope), lots of warthogs, and some baboons. We also saw 2 buffalo. You could tell our guide was scared of them. The loan males who have been kicked out of the herd are very nasty and often charge. He took his gun off his shoulder and got it ready. They did get up and did look pretty dangerous, they are really big.
When we returned to the office Jan and Pete had not yet returned and we decided to walk back to camp. About 30 ft down the road we ran into a buffalo and made a quick retreat back to wait for J & P. From the vehicle on the way back I took a good close up picture of him. When we arrived back in camp we found out that that same buffalo charged Lionel& Lydia. Lydia was pretty scraped up from falling in attempt to get out of the way, and unfortunately their new digital camera was smashed. They are both lucky to be alive as these buffalo kill many people and usually stick around till you are done in. Felt really bad for Lydia, she was really shook up.
Sunday 8am we went for a second animal walk. Brenda, Lionel, & Lydia joined us. We didn't see near as many animals this time. We did get to see Impala remains dragged into a tree by a leopard. They have about 30 leopards in the park and hyena too, but they are rarely seen. We still enjoyed the walk though. It's very surreal to sit out in the savanna watching zebra, impala, buffalo, & warthogs all grazing nearby and think to yourself, "wow, I'm in Africa, and those are wild animals!".
After the walk we packed up and waited for lunch which we ordered at 10:30am because we were starving. At 11:45 I asked, "is the food almost ready?", the waitress replied, "food??? I thought you didn't want it till after 1pm" Not sure why she would think that, I suppose just cause most people eat lunch at 1pm. Anyway told her, "no, food now, now!!!" At about 12:45 the food arrived. Brenda and I had veggie curry and it was too spicy! I had to share Craig's fish. When we walked away from our food to pay you should have see the monkeys attack the fries! I think they are quite familiar with this food. They are cute, until they attack you for your food and try to bite.
November 4
Back to life in Ntungamo. Monday morning was spent putting the computers and the office back together after the painting done on the weekend. Disgusting! Thick layers of dust. I whipped down all the computer equipt. Then as soon as everything was clean and put back together the power went out! Figures. Since we'd done all the filing last week there wasn't much that could be done. I went home and worked on the work plan for Craig and I to do a skill trade in each other's placements for a week then took a nap. Around 3pm the power came back and I went back to the office to finish out the afternoon.
On Friday I received a package from my mom with a TONE of soup packages & pens, and some allergy meds. Thanks mom! There was also a package of spaghetti mix that I used to make dinner with. It was a hit. There were 5 of us. Roger, another VSO, was in town and came for dinner with his co-worker Adam. They are working on a program developing useful community service for prisoners to do, like build schools. Guess that means they won't be cutting my grass anymore!
Today has gone smooth. Had a long department meeting in the morning and some good training sessions the rest of the day. The meetings here are unbelievable. I wish I could tape one. They would be unheard of back home. The things you hear! "This man came to me and wanted to beat me, so I locked the door to my office and said you say that again" "if I do that I'll be killed!!!"(he meant that literally) "I closed the room & board at that school because they housed the girl students in a room next to the prostitutes" "The finance dept refuses to sign for documents requesting money so they can choose later to claim to have lost them" and it goes on, wish I could remember more.
November 11
Had a good time at the annual VSO conference over the weekend. It was in Mbarara at the Lake View hotel. It was nothing fancy, but it was clean, had a pool that wasn’t too green, and hot water in the showers, so I’m not complaining. It was really great to see everyone and catch up. Fun to hear about their jobs and living situations. Lots of common adventures to share. When I first looked at the schedule I was dreading long boring sessions but I was pleasantly surprised to find they were really well done and interactive. I really enjoyed everything.
On Sunday Brenda and I held an IT workshop. It was an informal discussion on how those of us in IT can share skills and resources. It went really well and we’ve decided to start an IT group that will meet regularly to share our skills. Our 1st meeting is going to be December 13th in Kampala.
I was also nominated to be on the Volunteer Committee representing our area a group of about 10 volunteers down here. Our 1st meeting will be January 31st in Kampala. I also have to go to In Country Training 2 in Kampala January 16th. And this coming weekend (Nov 15th) I am going to Kampala and Craig and I are going river rafting with a bunch of others. I will also be doing a job exchange with Craig for a week where he is coming here next week then later I will be going there for a week. Seems I will be spending a lot of time in Kampala! I can’t believe I have only 3 months left to my placement. It has gone so fast! This Wednesday there will be 100 days left. Jan and Pete have purchased wine and Pringles to celebrate. They are a lot more excited about going home than I am.
I am dreading the end of my time here because it means I have to figure out what I want to do next in life. I had an interesting talk with the head of the Education Dept. last week. It was the end of our training session and he asked me where will I go when I leave here. I told him “I will go to Kampala to wait for Craig to finish, then we will travel.” He said “when will you go back to Canada? And when will you have children?” I said “I don’t know, when the money runs out, and sometime after 30.” “Then what will you do in Canada?” he asked “I don’t know, find a job and make some money.” He then shooed everyone out of the room and said “don’t be offended but I feel I need to give you some guidance”. He said “I am 56 you know, and when you are my age you want to know that you have accomplished something in life. You need to find a direction now, you need a plan.” That was about it and we were interrupted. It’s so strange to everyone here that I don’t want to stay home and settle, buy land, and raise a family. It’s funny cause 3 years ago I guess that’s what I did want. Now, I don’t know what I want. After meeting people here having children and volunteering I don’t seem the need anymore to “settle down” somewhere. Someday when I have kids I can be anywhere doing anything. I also find it ironic that he says I need a plan, when I have been addicted to plans my whole life! Often the “plan” has over ruled any sense of logic as to what I really want or should be doing, just because it was part of the original plan or end goal. Anyhow enough theorizing. Basically time is going too fast. So I’m not going to think yet about what comes next, rather I am going to put all my energy into enjoying the time I have left here.
I also got my 1st hair cut at the conference. I have cut Craig’s hair twice now and it was his turn to do mine. I don’t know who was more nervous, me or him! He started cutting away and then I hear, “damn!”, and I’m like “what?!?”, well “it didn’t cut straight”. I started getting worried. In the end though, I lost a little more than I had planned but, it’s actually quite straight and looks good. Everyone at the conference was impressed and he even received a few requests from other girls to cut theirs! Next he asked if he can die my hair! I said sure. By the time we get home we could be so good at doing each others hair we can save some cash by not having to go to salons anymore.
Been meaning to write about happy people here in Uganda for a while now. Not long ago I was driving through downtown Ntungamo (that’s the 1 of the 2 streets we have) and just noticed how everyone was smiling. There are always lots of people around, working at shops, walking down the road, or just loitering, but ALL of them are smiling. These are people who have so much less in the way of monetary value, food, & health, but yet they all seem happy and relaxed about it. Find me 1 street in Vancouver that you can drive down and see all happy smiling people? Not likely. Yet in Vancouver more of those people you see live in nice homes, eat good food, have good health, and a job! Makes me wonder why we work so hard at home to make more money and get so stressed about jobs and bills. Is it really worth it? Would we all be happier if we had less?
November 16
Where to start. Yesterday I came as close to death as ever in my life. It is hard to explain such an experience. You'll never understand unless you raft the Nile yourself. Not to mention it's a little difficult with access to only a thumb and finger on my right hand, which I will explain later. It was crazy, powerful, exhilarating, and left me speechless. It was incredible and I can't wait to do it again.
River Rafting the powerful Nile River.
Video of me at the 1st rapids we went over BujigaliFalls.AVI
Friday I traveled up to Kampala from Ntungamo to join a groups of 16 VSO volunteers on a trip river rafting the Nile. I was a little nervous since I have never been river rafting before and these are class 4-6 rapids. In BC you don't get anything past a class 3 I'm told. If you look back at my 1st pictures you can see the ones from Bujagali Falls we took on our 1st trip to the Nile. That little waterfall and big rapids were our starting point. My 1st rapids.
Saturday morning around 7:30am we were picked up in our coach buss from Speke hotel to head to Bujagali. Bujagali is about 30min from Jinga, Jinga is about 1&1/2hrs from Kampala. We went with Equator Rafting, and I do recommend them. The company is owned by a Ugandan who owns massive amounts of Uganda, including the Speke hotel chain (Speke is one of the 1st explorers to discover and follow the Nile). The outfit is managed and run by a big Aussi and the guides are Canadian and British.
The package was $60us, included transport, breakfast, lunch, dinner and option of return transport that evening or accommodation. 2 months ago the package also included a photo CD which I was really looking forward to, but they have discontinued that service. Therefore we have no pictures from our trip but we have borrowed some pictures from friends to show you the rapids we went over.
The day began with receiving life jackets and helmets then some instruction from our guide. Turned out Matt, our guide, is from Canada and has worked for Hyakk river rafting out of Chilowack. That meant Craig and him had some common friends, small world. So we learned how to paddle, when to get down that means off sitting on the side of the boat down into the boat and hold onto the safety rope for dear life.
Time for our 1st rapid - Bujagali. What a rush! My 1st rapid, felt like I got knocked around a little but held on fine and had fun. Unfortunately the guy behind me got smoked in the face, could have been my paddle or the person next to him. Nice bleeder on the chin. 1st blood of the day.
Rapid 2 was harder. Craig and Matt were in the front of the boat with me behind Craig. As we hit this rapid I saw them both fly past me. Then I saw Juan in the water in front of us as we were about to hit another big wave. We made eye contact and the look of surprise and terror on his face really scared me. He was facing me and I could see the wave we were all about to hit. At this point I thought I was the only person left in the boat. After the rapid I turned to see that in fact Juan was the only one we lots and everyone else was just piled up in the back. Craig landed on Anna's head and she had a sore neck, but everyone seemed all right.
Rapid 3 - my 1st time over a rapid without a boat! My 1st experience of what it feels like to drown and not be able to get air. It was much harder in the water than I expected. We hit a huge wave that towered over the boat at just the wrong time and the boat flipped. It all happened so fast. Suddenly I was in the water gasping for air and there was no air to be found. Every time I thought I had found the surface I got hit on the head by the boat and knocked under. I started off behind the boat and the waves kept pulling me under the boat. Suddenly I found myself at the front of the boat and it still kept pummeling me and running me over. I decided I was not fond of being anywhere near the boat and would avoid it in the future but for now, as instructed I just kept holding the boat. When it was over I discovered I was still alive and uninjured much to my surprise, and I had 2 paddles in my hands! That was the other thing they told us, Don't Lose Your Paddle!
Unfortunately Juan did not fair so well through this one and hit a rock. The guides were really surprised. Of all the rapids this one is the deepest and there shouldn't have been rocks, but if you are shot down hard enough you can find them. Juan had some large gashes on his knee and toe and that ended his rafting adventure. Our boat is down to 7 people.
After this rapid there was a long flat spot with enough current to keep us going and we floated down the river in the water as Juan received 1st aid. Craig and I drifted together and were just in awe at the scenery. So incredible to say to yourself, wow I am floating down the Nile river! What an experience! I kept a close eye out for the crocs and monitor lizards that also inhabit this river. Luckily saw none.
The rest of the rapids between here to lunch and after lunch were great fun. They included 1 waterfall that really was a waterfall and 1 where the guide had us close our eyes until right before we hit it. Through these and more we managed to stay in the boat.
The very last rapids were optional. No one has ever done the top of these so we had to get out and walk a little. Then we were allowed to set back in 1/2 way through for the 2nd part. It also meant we got to have a good look before going and watch 3 other boats, none of which stayed afloat. Our guide told us that as we hit the second hole we should toss our paddles and hold on, but hold on lightly. If the boat flips here you want to get away from it because it often stays stuck in the hole and surfs, you don't want to be surfing under it.
The second boat that went held our friends Vix and Liz. They barely set off into the water when the 2 or them were thrown from the boat above the rapids. This was bad news sent a gasp through the crowd and sent the guides on land running and the rescue kayakers into motion. I held my breath and my heart pounded. I immediately started praying for their safety. Liz managed to catch a nearby rock and climb out. Vix bounced her now sore tailbone across the same rock and continued on. We were told by our guide that she didn't stop and went over the rapid. We all had second thoughts about taking on the rapid, but our turn came and we all went for it.
Pure insanity! My second experience of almost drowning. We hit the 1st huge wave and I felt paralyzed but our guide is shouting harder! Paddle harder!!!! I paddled best I could from inside the boat. then as we approached the hole he yelled paddles and hold on! I threw my paddle and lightly gripped, felt the boat go up and up, thought it was going over and let go. Found out after it didn't go over but we all bailed except for our guide who had the surf of his life for 5 seconds before it really did go over. Meanwhile in the water I was shocked at the length of the rapids. I thought that they ended right after the hole and was surprised the continued for a long distance. It was wave after wave crashing over me. I thought I would never get air. Finally got close enough to get one good gulp 1/2 water 1/2 air before being swept into another series of waves crashing over me. Then another good water clear gulp and I was able to get my bearings, I could see now that the rapids continued and wanted OUT NOW! So I started to swim towards shore as hard as I could. Once out of the rapids I relaxed and started coughing up 1/2 the Nile I'd swallowed. Be interesting to see if I get sick in the next week from swallowing so much water.
That ended our in-water experience. Time to get on shore grab a beer and trade exciting stories with friends. Vix was fine she had been picked up by her boat and went over the rapid with them. Matt from our boat looked very roughed up, the back of his knee has a serious rope type burn. The guides think he was caught between the boat and wave during the surf and got burned by the boat. On the bus and head back to camp.
My Injury
I was the last person off the bus when we returned. We all had muddy bare feet and when I stepped onto the step with mine I slipped. I grabbed the top of the door to steady myself and felt my hand get scraped. Once off I looked at my hand and saw a deep V-shaped cut and though, ok, this isn't good. I sat down refused to look and asked the guides for 1st aid. Tyler, 1 of the Canadian guides, got his 1st aid kit and they tried to fix me up. In the process a girl came by and said she was a doctor and offered advise. After the guys left she said for me to meet her down at dinner and she would re-do the cleaning because the guys didn't clean it properly. Craig stayed with me and was so sweet. I was so faint, I am such a wimp with my own blood. Debbie is a volunteer with VSO and a doctor so between her and Jo they fixed me up. The cut is deep and at home I would have received stitches. But since they had each had 1 beer, and I didn't want to see any needles we decided I could live with a scar and used steri-strips to close me up. Got a good sized bandage on holding my middle finger with the cut and the one next to it together, hence the difficulty typing.
Well that sums up my 1st rafting experience. I can't wait to go again!
November 30
On November 22 Craig traveled out from Kampala to work in Ntungamo for a week helping us set up a network. He had a relatively smooth ride out but was somewhat squished from sitting next to the largest man in Uganda. Saturday Pete, Craig and I went down tot he Sky Blue at 11am and watched the final game of the World Cup of Rugby. After that it rained so we had to skip the walk we had planned and take a nap. After our nap there just enough time for a quick walk up the hill behind my house.
Sunday we did head off for a big walk. We went to the hill Pete and Jan have named Fig Tree Hill, since on top there is one lone fig tree. The drive is about 15min from our house. It's a nice climb up and a killer climb down. At the top Craig climbed the fig tree and somehow made it out of the tree again.
Monday it was time to begin working. Craig was a great help with our network and some problems we'd been having. A full day and 1/2 was spent running network cable to connect the Education department computers to the Human Resource department. Tuesday we showed up to discover it was a public holiday announced Monday evening over the radio. Idd is a Muslim holiday celebrating the new moon. We had set up a big department meeting and were perplexed when no one showed, then the office attendant told us about the holiday. Things sure are different here, that would never happen in Canada! It worked out ok for us though as it was much easier to hang the network cable in an empty building.
Since we had the digital camera in town I took a bunch of pictures around the office of the people I work with.
One afternoon we headed out to Kiziisi where another volunteer Tomas runs an Internet cafe to raise money for the hospital there. He is about an hour away from us down a dirt road that left me with a very sore neck. He gave us a tour around the hospital including the waterfall where they generate their power.
Thursday after work Craig and I climbed the hill behind my house one more time this time going to the top of the hill. We found some escapee goats. Seems to me it you want your goat to stay put you shouldn't tie it to a tuft of grass!! Craig grabbed the end of the rope so we could take a picture to show you. We had a nice hike and at the top pulled out the beer we brought and enjoyed the view. We stayed a little too long though and got caught in a down pour with no trees around to hid under. It was serious rain and we got soaked through. Of course I had to be wearing thin tan pants and thin top with green underwear and black bra! It stopped raining by the time we got back to the little town we had to walk through. All the people came out and laughed at us. Craig commented on it being like the Emperor walking through town in his "New Clothes". Men that walked past us would turn and stare at my bum. My clothes stuck to me and would not stop. I've included the picture Sarah took for us when we got back, doesn't do it justice but you can imagine.
Friday we headed to Lake Bunyoni to meet up with a bunch of other VSO for the weekend. This time we stayed on Bushara Island. The island was great, so peaceful and beautiful. Lots of birds and nature. Unfortunately they never got my reservation and they were over booked. The system is you call someone in town to book your reservation. then they send the message 20min up the road to the boat man. The boat man then radios the island. Somehow one of these links broke down and they didn't know we were coming. In the end we were able to get a place each night and got the second night free for the trouble of bouncing us around. Bushara is run by ACTS a Canadian NGO. My friend from high school, Danika, is here working for ACTS. Their group also visited the island the same time as us and it was great to see them and catch up. I loved the food on the island had crayfish as part of every meal. Craig ordered macaroni and cheese for every meal! Juan taught us to play an African board game called Maeso that we had fun with all weekend. Craig's cell phone getting smashed, the constant rain, and confusion over the reservation put a little bit of a damper on the weekend but we all still had a good time. We were also able to get our Christmas reservations sorted. I am looking forward to going back on the 22 for a week and hopefully the weather will have improved by then.
December 1
Sunday we all headed home. Craig and Juan went back to Kampala and had their smoothest ride yet. I caught a ride home with Roberto and Rebecca back to Ntungamo. Ntungamo was quiet without Pete and Jan. Tuesday Purnima arrived and stayed to work with me the rest of the week. Wednesday Jan, Pete, and his son Mike returned and stayed till Friday morning. Work was really busy all week. Lots of people around to train, often training 2 people at the same time on 2 different topics.
Coming south after picking up Mike at the airport Jan and Pete had a car accident. They were passing someone who decided to turn into them and ran them off the road into a ditch. They just missed a long drop that could have done some serious damage. Thankfully everyone was ok and the truck looks like it just has bent wheels. They were able to get it to Masaka and left it there to be fixed and borrowed on of Roger and Wendy's vehicles to continue their trip.
December 3
Had my 1st drunk Hannington experience last night. Jan and Pete have told me about it but this was the 1st time I've seen him myself. Purnima arrived around dinner time to stay the week. We had dinner and were relaxing, talking in the living room waiting for Sarah to come home as Purnima is staying at her place. Round 8:30 there is a slight tap on the door, I wasn't even sure there was anyone knocking, I opened the door expecting to see Sarah and let out a little scream when I saw tall black man standing in my doorway, literally in the door he much have been pressed up against it before I opened the door. I laughed once I recognized him. He said, "You have a visitor?" and walked into my living room. I followed him and that's when I caught the strong liquor smell. He had brought his radio and said he wanted to sing for us. I had heard about his singing and told him maybe some other time, we're catching up and he should leave. He insisted he wanted to visit with Purnima so I promised I would bring her over 1st thing in the morning. I was having such a hard time not laughing at him, he is such a clown and so sweet and silly. I finally had to escort him back to Pete & Jan's where he's staying while they are away. Poor Purnima who didn't know him was a bit frightened but I assured her he is completely harmless.
The next day at lunch he said to me, "How are you feeling about me coming over last night?". I told him I was disappointed in him because I thought he knew better. When I have guests I will introduce him to them but he should not come over uninvited and that he scared Purnima. When Jan and Pete came home they really gave it to him. He is supposed to be house sitting but he can not defend the house when he is drunk. If he does it again he will be fired. He said, "yes, Tammie is disappointed in me", Pete said "I'm disappointed AND mad!". Poor Hannington, I feel sorry for the kid, but is it his own fault, he's been warned many times not to come around if he has been drinking. He really is harmless though.
December 5
Friday after much debate I decided to go up to Kampala for the weekend. It's a long way to go for just 1 day. But better to go and have a little fun then spend the weekend all alone. So I headed up around 11am and got to Craig's at 6pm. We were both tired so watched a movie and went to bed really early. Saturday I was looking forward to relaxing by the pool but of course it had to rain all day. It is much hotter in Kampala than down south. You can really feel the difference. It was nice to get warm. We spent the morning at Hospice trying to upload my website and gave up when the power crashed. Went to the club for a workout and shortly after Vix and Juan arrived. We all had a sauna then they all went swimming but it was still too cold for me so I went for a nice long warm shower. Then Matt and Anna arrived and we played volleyball for a while.
We decided to go to Le Petite Bistro for dinner. That meant finding a taxi for us, normally this is no big deal but of course we were due for an adventure. The 1st taxi we found wanted 15,000/=, no way. Juan fought with him down to 6,000/= and we decided to go. Then I said wait, show us your head lights. It was about to be very dark and this taxi, an old old Datsun looked like it was on it's last legs. Friday nights are known for bad traffic. Sure enough his lights did not work although he gave a valiant effort in trying to flash them for us. We told him sorry and he went to drive back to his parking spot. Only instead of turning around the car he decided to back up down the road with a ton of traffic coming at him honking and getting out of the way. Then Matt says "he is going to drive into the ditch" sure enough not 2 seconds later he drives into the ditch, this is like a 6ft ditch. Does he stop then when the car almost topples over? Nope, he revs the engine and tries to drive out scratching along the bottom of the car. Some people finally pushed him out and he took off. We were really glad we didn't go with him. In the meantime Juan found us another ride. Really nice man who's wife jumped out and said he should drive us because they really need the money. So we piled in and off we went. Traffic was crazy so we encouraged him to follow other taxis and drive on the shoulder of the road. Then when there was no more shoulder he decided to drive down the wrong side of the road! We had a near death experience as a large trucks headlights loomed down on us and we got out of the way just in time. After that we asked him to stay in the traffic lineup.
French restaurant was great. Took 4hrs for our food but was well worth the wait. We all had big juicy steaks, almost as good as The Keg. Dinner ended at 11:30pm and we headed into town to go to a club where the Afrigo Band was playing and had a good night of dancing and pool playing. We got home at 5:30am and I headed to bed while everyone else sat on the porch and talked till almost 7am. Needless to say I was not looking forward to my long bus ride home. Caught the buss back around 1pm and got home about 7:30. Caught up with Purnima and Sarah for a bit and went to bed early.
December 12
Strange Country.
When you buy a bottle of pop here there are 2 prices. The price if you
drink it and leave the bottle behind and the price if you want to take the
bottle with you. Same for beer. A bottle costs 200. I guess in
Canada we pay the 10 cent deposit all the time, but it just seems so strange
when you start to walk away with your bottle and they freak out and ask for more
money.
Imagine finding cow dung, or say 10 cows crossing your driveway as you go off to work in the morning downtown Vancouver. Strange.
In Canada you use cardboard coasters with adverts on them to put under your drink to catch the drips. They have the same coasters here. Only rarely is a drink cold enough to need a coaster. Here the coasters go on top of your drink, they are to keep the flies out!
Christmas
It's so strange to me that Christmas is only a little over a week away. It
doesn't feel like Christmas at all. No shopping, no Christmas carols, no
Christmas parties, no Santa's, no wrapping paper. Nothing. I did see
a man carrying a turkey on his shoulders yesterday though. It's really hot
hear in Kampala and still 20 degrees if the sun is seen in Ntungamo. Rainy
season should be ending soon and we have our fingers crossed for sun at
Christmas on the lake. I did find a nice multi-purpose (wanabe Swiss Army) knife to give Hannington for Christmas, only 6000! ($3 us)
December 16th
Finally some sunshine! I don't remember the last time we went a day without rain. Yesterday and today have been nothing but warm sun and blue skies! I'm hoping this is the end of the rainy season and that we will have sun for Christmas!
December 18th
I had my 1st Malaria test yesterday. For a week now I have had really bad headaches, so bad they've been making me feel nauseous. I never got headaches at home. In our medicine book it says that sudden headaches can be a sign on Malaria so Jan took me down to the clinic in town to get tested. My testing experience was much different than Craig's. Craig had a little test kit that was like a pregnancy test, turns Blue if you have Malaria and Pink if your pregnant! Kidding. The clinic in town is a dirty room with a doctor and an assistant. The assistant grabbed a dirty glass slide and whipped it on his pants to clean it. Then the doctor pricked my finger with a needle that was from a sealed package thank goodness and squeezed blood onto the slide that went under an old fashioned microscope. I'm told to wait upstairs for 15min for the results. The assistant brought me a piece of paper 15min later that said "no mps seen", I asked "so that's negative?", he nodded and we were done. Glad I don't have Malaria for now. I will go back again in 2 days if the headaches don't stop as the tests are often unreliable.
December 20th
On Saturday Craig traveled down from Kampala to join me in attending Emanuel & Regina's wedding. They are both employees of the District and although I have never met them I was invited to their wedding. Craig had to rush to make it in time and ended up on a Matatu that made surprisingly good time. In his morning rush he forgot to bring dress pants to wear! Luckily I ran into Didas at the office who worked with Sarah and he was able to bring over 2 pairs of pants. Didas is twice the size of Craig though so a belt and shortening were required, it the end I figure he looked smart enough to attend the wedding. Next his shirt and my dress needed ironing, we're already running late at this point so I'm in a rush to get it done and of course the power goes out. So we decided to just sit tight and wait, 20min later power came back and clothes got ironed.
Time to go to the church, or should I say find the church. This turned out to be a task. Ceremony was scheduled for 1pm, I think we arrived around 3:30pm! I actually don't think we missed much though. It lasted another 5min, all in Runningcoli so we were in the dark about the happenings, the only thing I think I recognized was that they did communion.
Wedding over time to head to the reception. For some reason we thought there would be a good formal feast waiting for us, boy were we in for a surprise. Line up and there is a big pot of Matoky, rice, and cow that they spoon into a bowl for you then you are expected to eat with your hands. Since we were all dressed up I hunted down Jovia who runs the canteen and requested forks for us. After eating we went and sat outside with everyone waiting for the events to begin. They had some Rwandan dancers perform that were really great. At 8:30pm still no sign of the bride and groom so we gave up and went home. My house is like 100ft from the wedding so we could still hear every word of the wedding that followed. There were a few hours of speeches in Runningcoli then things quieted. At 10:30 we decided to go back and see if the party was starting but the decorations were being taken down, bride and groom had left, and most people were also leaving. Looked like the party was over so we went back to bed. Boy were we mistaken!
Around 11:30 the party started. Around 4am Craig still hadn't been able to sleep and I'd managed a few winks with earplugs but the noise was extreme! You have never heard music so loud. I volunteered to go ask them to turn it down.
December 21st
Sunday we headed out to Kabale. Caught a matatu in town and were on our way. About 1/2 way we got a flat tire. My 1st flat and Craig's 3rd. It was a relatively painless process of simply changing the tire. Luckily we had a spare, most matatu's I have been on do not. We continued on, had a quick Internet stop them went to Crater Bay for lunch. After lunch and confirming our reservation for the 24th we got a canoe and headed over to Bushara island.
December 28th
Bushara Island (www.acts.ca)
Luckily there were some cancellations on the Island so we were able to get onto
one of the permanent tents for our 3 night stay. AND it was Cisticola one
of our favorites with a nice view for the second 2 nights. The first night
we were in Firefinch and it looked like it had not been inhabited in sometime.
That night we spent 45 min chasing and killing big juicy spiders out of our
beds! Or should I say Craig did the chasing and I did the screaming and
pointing.
That evening was really quiet on the Island we sat at the inside fire with a family from England. 3 generations. The grandparents came over for Christmas but the mom, dad, and 3 kids have been living in Uganda running an export business for 7 years. Right before bed everyone gathered around grandma for a story telling. It was the perfect Christmas family feeling. Craig and I felt really lucky for getting to be there with them and listen to her story. The story was about a shop owner who had a dream that Jesus was going to visit him the next day. All the next day he waited. There were many people that he got to help that day, a baby that needed shoes, coffee for the cold street cleaner, etc. At the end of the day he was disappointed because Jesus never came, but when he fell asleep he dreamed again of Jesus and asked why he did not visit and Jesus said but I did: as you do unto the least of these so you do unto me. The grandma was a very good story teller. She used really good details and never paused once to think, she couldn't have done better if she was reading from a book.
Monday we relaxed before lunch and in the afternoon the sun came out so we went down to the dock. Just before dinner Roberto & Rebecca, Tania & James, Vix, Liz, Cory, & Neil arrived. That night we had a great time at the campfire with them. They brought marshmallows for roasting and we played Trivia Pursuit and Movie Charades.
From Tuesday on the rest of the week the sun shone all day. It was great for tanning and swimming. The rainy season is over and the dry season has begun. It was below 19 and up to 21 degrees during the wet season and now instantly it's 26 degrees at night when I go to bed and 23 in the morning. Strange to have the instant change from rain everyday to no rain at all without any easing into it, it just changed in 1 day.
On Christmas Eve we had to leave the Island and headed over to Crater Bay on the mainland for the rest of our vacation.
Christmas
Christmas morning Craig and I opened presents. He got me Christmas lights, Cosmo Magazine, travel size game of connect 4, blowing bubbles kit, Kenyan coffee, Belgian seashell chocolates, and African bracelet and hair pin. I gave him a huge chocolate bar from Heathrow Airport that I had Pete’s son Mike bring and Oceans Eleven DVD to watch on his laptop. My mom gave me a manicure set and other stuff in a little stocking. My toes are all stained yellow & brown from the red earth here and don’t come clean anymore, it was so nice to put nail polish on them and feel girly again. My heals are all cracked and sore and the heal balm feels so good. For 2 mornings I enjoyed the strawberry jam on my toast. Yum!
Most days we just swam and tanned. Did a little hiking around and some canoeing. My arms and shoulders are really sore from the canoeing, those canoes are really hard work to get them to go anywhere.
We arranged for a Christmas dinner to be cooked for us all. It was satisfying but I sure missed having a traditional turkey dinner. We had a crayfish masala starter, roast potatoes, fries, mixed veg and chicken. The chicken was rock hard and I couldn’t even chew it. Desert was fruit salad and banana fritters. That’s deep fried bananas, yumm!!! I’ve definitely decided that crayfish is my fav thing to eat at the lake.
Overland
On Christmas day 1pm Overland that place next to us started a disco.
The music was super loud all day and then much to our surprise they shut it down
at 7pm. The place was packed there were hundreds of Ugandan's showing up
to visit. They were even charging a cover to get in. Crater Bay got
the overflow of about 30 people. This made tanning a little uncomfortable
with them staring at us.
Boxing day Dinner
A few minutes down the road from Crater Bay and way up on top a hill it
an amphitheatre like building. Craig and I hiked up there and found out it
was a restaurant. The menu looked ok so everyone decided to hike up for
dinner and watch the spectacular sunset over the volcano. Upon arrival we got
the coldest beers ever, the sunset was amazing, and some of the guys wee happy
cause they had TV with English Football on. Unfortunately ordering dinner
was quite difficult, the man at the counter did not speak English so he called
another man to come up from the hotel way below at the lake. When he
arrived he explained that the food was down at the hotel. If we wanted we
could have it brought up but it would take a while, or we could just go down.
Since they had a bonfire going and the sun had set we decided to go down.
Turned out they were having a BBQ so we decided to go for it. Then some
people had to go to the bathroom, turned out the bathrooms were back up the top
of the hill! The lady running the place gave them a lift up. This is
a good long way up a steep hill. (After that we decided the bushes were a fine
option) Seems so crazy to have the only food down below and the only
toilets up top! Welcome to Uganda.
December 30th
Bat Attack!
Last night I went to take a shower. I've been away for over a week so the
shower room hasn't been opened in a while. I was in and out 3 times
hanging up the solar shower, taking soap, etc. out there. On my way out
the 3rd time I noticed a brown package hanging in the door frame on the left.
As I reached out to touch it I realized it was furry. I think I would have
screamed had my heart not stopped. Next impulse was CAMERA! So I ran
for my camera sure it would fly away, but it didn't and I got 2 pictures, then I
ran for Jan to show her. She came over and we discussed how to remove it.
I decided to try to nudge it into flight with my broom. I nudged and
nudged but it did not want to move and started screeching at me and peed.
Then I did manage to nudge it off the wall and it landed spread eagle on the
floor. It was over a foot across with it's wings spread and the body the
size of a small rat. It just lay there so I tried nudging it again.
This time is screamed it's head off! It a very high pitched screech and
Jan couldn't hear it, it was making so much noise I could not believe she could
not hear it and was worried about her hearing but she's assured me it's just
cause of the high pitch. Still the bat refused to move. It had
incredibly big fangs that you could see as it was screaming. Poor thing,
probably the worst day of it's life. We decided to wait for Pete to come
up with a new plan for removal. As we waited it crawled into the corner
and shook. Cutest little pig-like nose. Pete put a box over it and
slid it outside into long grass where it stayed. I was then able to have
my shower and it was gone when I got out. I now know that it is definitely
bats that live in my roof right above my bead because they make the same noises
all night.
Tomorrow I will be traveling to Kampala for New Years. We haven't decided what to do yet. There is some talk of going to see Shaggy, Mr Boombastic himself, just cause it would be something and somewhat crazy. What ever we do it's bound to be a good time when everyone gets together. On Friday Craig and I are thinking about having a BBQ at his place. On Monday morning I have a meeting at VSO to discuss work I could do for them after my placement.
Happy New Year!!!
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