First Couple of Days

Sunday 5/23

We finally made it to Kampala after a long journey. I spent a lot of the time sleeping. I guess this time around I’m a little more relaxed because I could sleep on the plane. On the plane ride from Detroit to Amsterdam, I requested a glass of wine with dinner and the flight attendant asked me how old I was. Irritating. We arrived in Entebee a little late because we were delayed in Amsterdam, but it didn’t take as long as I thought it would to get our visas and our bags. They weren’t checking us for swine flu this time, and I made sure that I got a stamp on my passport. All of our bags made the trip safely.
It didn’t take us very long to find Rev Obed, who drove us from Entebee to Kampala. Meagan was pretty tired at this point, and so was I. I realized how tired I was when I was standing on the wrong side of the van, trying to figure out how to open the passenger door when there was no door at all. Many things were just how I remembered them. People are still driving just as crazy and the roads are so congested, continuously choked and slowed by people getting in and out of taxis, people trying to peddle small items while you are stopped, cars that are stalled, etc. The temperature outside was very comfortable with a light breeze. By this time it was pretty dark and you could see the different lights across the small towns that we passed.
Rev brought us directly to the compound, and we are staying in exactly the same place as we did last time. Grace, the lady who cooked and cleaned for us two days a week last summer had sent one of her nieces to wait up and prepare a meal for us. I felt much better after having a shower and eating a little something. The niece’s name is Janette, and she didn’t hang around for too long.
I went right to sleep, but had trouble sleeping all the night through. Grace came to check on us early in the morning. She looked really good and she said that her new baby was doing well. I also spoke with the grounds keeper who we had made friends with last summer named Gerald. He was always very kind to us. Since I was awake I began to unpack, but I didn’t get very far before I fell asleep again. It seems like I didn’t have this much trouble adjusting to the time change last time. I didn’t wake up again until 2:30 or so in the afternoon. I woke up Meagan so that we could begin to adjust to the time difference. We were both still groggy when we left the house.
We walked into town, one because we didn’t have any money, and two because I thought it would be a little bit easier for Meagan instead of riding in the taxis. I think walking down the side of the road with the way that people drive was a little unsettling to Meagan. However, it was nice to look at everything with fresh eyes. There were some new buildings that I didn’t remember. My favorite coffee house is gone =( I dumped as much information on Meagan as possible with the hopes that some of it would stick. I know it will take some time for her to learn all of the different areas in the city.
A funny aside, as we were leaving I showed her how we go in and out of the gate, and then close the door behind by reaching through the peep hole to close the latch. She was a little unsure about having to reach through, which was funny because we came back later and she tried to unlock the door. As she was feeling around for the latch, the guard came up from behind the gate to open the door and grabbed her hand. She screamed and jerked her hand out. We all laughed.
Anyway while we were walking the 3-4 miles into town, we stopped in the coffee shop where my friend Joan used to work. She wasn’t working that day, but was supposed to be in the next day. I’m looking forward to getting in touch with her again. We continued to the exchange bureau and got our money. Then we stopped at the internet café. We will be limited for a little while on our internet usage until we get our modem back. It seemed to be faster than how I remember it. Meagan’s wasn’t working at all which was frustrating to her. I think she was anxious to get in touch with her mom, but we got it all worked out.
From there we went to another coffee shop that was closer by. I was starting to get really tired, so we some drinks and some fruit. Meagan ordered this drink that turned out to be terrible. It was ginger tea with a lot of lemon in it, so it was super sour and made your face contort when you drank it. Later the waitress explained that it was supposed to be for people who have colds, which makes sense because it was pretty potent stuff. I took the safe route and ordered a latte, which was delicious, so I shared it with Meagan while they made her another drink. They could tell we didn’t like the tea. The fruit was fantastic. Meagan said it was like she never had a banana before that day. I agreed that they were excellent, and they make you frustrated at what they try to pass off as bananas in the US.
We also had watermelon, pineapple, papaya (which they call pawpaw), apples, mangos, tangerines, lemons, and passion fruit. The pineapple and papaya was really good too. I had never had passion fruit before, and it was pretty weird. It has a hard rind which you crack open. On the inside it is sort of slimy with crunchy seeds. Although it tasted good, the texture was too weird for me to handle. Meagan didn’t really like it either.
I decided that we would take a taxi back toward our part of town. We had to stop along the grocery store along the way. Crossing the street to get to a taxi stop is always a little precarious, and Meagan always waited for me to step out into traffic first. It feels a little funny being the leader, although I know it is necessary for the time being. Most of the time I wait for a Ugandan person to step out first anyway. In the taxi is was packed. There was a little boy and a mom sitting next to Meagan who kept smiling at her. He was really cute.
When we went to the grocery store, we picked up some of the things that we will be needing, and carried them back to the apartment. I can tell that I’m out of shape because I was getting tired carrying the water. Towards the end of last summer I could carry a pretty heavy load without getting tired. We lost two eggs out of twelve in the transport, which I thought was pretty good given that they just put them all in a plastic bag with the rest of the items.
We put everything away and Meagan took a shower. The power went out just as she got out. My lovely headlamp was perfect for the occasion and Meagan got to use her too. I’m sure we looked pretty funny walking around the house. We had to cook dinner without electricity, which was fine since the stove is a gas stove. It took a couple tries to get it lit. We finally ate an avocado, which I have been looking forward to for some time now. It was very good. Then we sat down to write some.
Then we had a roach incident. Meagan went to use the bathroom and there were two big ones in the bathroom. We managed to kill them both with a lot of screaming, and spraying of bug spray. At least I know that when I sleep under my mosquito net it keeps out bigger things too. The power came back on shortly after that which was good so I didn’t have to be afraid of the shadows that my headlamp was casting and thinking that they were roaches. The bats were also out last night, but I actually like the bats because I know they are eating the mosquitoes. There seem to be a lot of them.

Tuesday 5/25
I slept a little better, but I was still having lots of dreams. One of my friends from last summer called at 8:00 in the morning and I could hear the phone ringing in my dreams. He said that he was sorry for calling so early, but he just couldn’t wait. It feels good to know that people are excited that I am back in town, and I think that they are really going to like Meagan too. I also know that I’m going to have to do a lot of explaining as to why Dustin is not here, which I will have to deal with as it comes. I’m trying to be professional.
I woke up a little earlier today, 12:00, so hopefully by tomorrow I will be waking up at a more reasonable hour to begin my day. Meagan got up right away when I got up. I love her enthusiasm. I’ve been making lots of phone calls, trying to catch up with people. I feel like we have so much to do, and it will require everyone’s cooperation to pull it off.