Catching up

Friday 5/28/10
I’m looking forward to having a relaxing weekend of reading and writing and drinking coffee. Today we went to the supermarket (again) and the Foundation. At the supermarket we got a blender, which Grace has been requesting for the second summer now to make juice. I’m hoping that we will be able to make smoothies too.
We went to the Foundation to use their printer, and realized that they had wireless internet as well. So that was a bonus. At the very least we can go there to use the internet until we get something at home. And all of the equipment works properly for the most part. Rev. Obed’s computer is a bit slow. I was trying to educate him about things he can do to speed up the processing, like removing files from his desk top, and it sort of reminded me of being a home. We laughed because he said that he always got his son, Michael, to be close by to help him when he had problems. Sounded familiar.
So although it is frustrating to me to get all of this paper work sorted out, things seem to be looking better and moving forward. Monday will be our next attempt to turn in paper work, and again take up the ongoing feud that I have with secretaries in Uganda.
We walked all the way back to the apartment from the foundation. When we were measuring it out on the map it only said that it was two miles, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t write. The map also says that things are at locations where they aren’t. So I’m approximating between three and four miles. What I like about walking on this particular road, is that there are many schools in the area. The children walk along the side walk to go home in the afternoon. They are very cute in their uniforms walking home. Sometimes there are siblings together and the older with hold the younger’s hand. In fact Meagan got a picture of this type of pair while we were walking behind them. Hopefully soon we will be able to post pictures so that you can see for yourself.
We were pretty hot and sweaty when we got home. It is the type of hot where you just can’t eat until you cool off after a while even though you haven’t eaten very much that whole day. Today we are attempting to make banana bread for the first time. As I’m typing I can smell it in the oven. Hopefully it will be a success…

Saturday 5/29/10
We put out some roach poison today. Hopefully the poison will work. I felt like we were trying to protect ourselves from vampires by putting out lines of this powder that they can’t cross. We picked up a taxi and went to our old haunt, 1000 Cups of Coffee to see Joan, read, and have some coffee. She was very happy to see us when we arrived, and she helped Meagan order a drink so that she wouldn’t end up with another cold curer like she did the last time. We mostly ended up talking with people while we were at the shop rather than doing any reading. First we spoke with one of Joan’s regular customers who was a landscaper. Ugandans are very much entrepreneurs. He was telling me how he wanted to start exporting hides to Italy to be made into leather and then having the leather shipped back to be manufactured into different products to sell on the Ugandan market. We also spoke with two women who were alumni of the College of Charleston. They were leading missions for medical students and nurses in a town in the north western part of the country called Mysinde. They were working for a non-profit out of Charleston, so I asked them if they knew if there were any job openings. =). It will definitely be something that I follow up with eventually. I also took the time to talk with the owner of the coffee shop. I remember him from the last time. He was asking about the book I was reading, and coffee, and the different types of customers that he gets. I think that we will try to do the coffee tour again because it was so much fun when I did it last year.
After we were all hopped up on caffeine from delicious coffee, we walked across the street to the market so that Meagan could see the different crafts and things that they had. I knew that we weren’t going to make it out there without buying something, so I bought a pair of earrings and Meagan also go some paper beads. I also found a store that had fake designer bags. They claim that they are real, but I don’t believe it because they are only selling them for like 30-45 dollars. But… they are nice leather bags, so I think that at some point I’ll get one anyway.
We walked home and stopped along the way to pick up something that we could use for chips. We choose pita bread and we ended up buying some fresh goat cheese in the process. Our plan was to make pita chips for guacamole and use whole pitas for pizza crusts. I made a simple guacamole with just lemon, onion, salt, and tomatoes, and Meagan said that it was the best guacamole that she’d ever had. The avocados were perfect.
All in all today was a really nice day. I knew that I needed a day to relax and unwind after the long week, and do something for fun.