Fun Fact of the Day

I'm reading a book about Mobutu of Zaire...here's my fun fact of the day:

The bombs the Enola Gay dropped on Hiroshima  and Nagasaki in 1945 were made with Congolese uranium. 

Thunderstorm that Shook My Boots!!!

Hello All,

                Another post for today and this one comes with a warning:  If you do not like thunderstorms, don’t come to Uganda during the rainy season!!!!  We had a thunderstorm on Monday night and boy oh boy was it HORRIBLE!!!!  At first, I woke up and thought someone was bombing the city.  No joke.  There really are no words to describe how huge and loud the thunder was, but it was the worst I’ve ever experienced by far!  It set off car alarms!  SO HUGE! 

                Okay, so there’s my warning for the day!  And if you do come (which you really should either way), bring a good sleeping pill for the days that it’s going to storm or someone to sleep next to!  J

<3cm

A Ugandan Thanksgiving

Hello All!

                On Sunday, I learned what “Thanksgiving” means for Ugandans.  Saturday, Jaja asked if I wanted to go to a Thanksgiving for her brother Paul.  At first I thought of our Thanksgiving and got all excited and immediately signed myself up!  But then I thought it through and realized this was probably going to be different from our November feast complete with (real) football!  And boy was it ever different!

                Now for a bit of background that will completely put this thing into context…Paul was gathering his family and friends together to literally give thanks for being released from prison.  Remember the riots I wrote about in late September?  Paul’s garage is right across the street from a police station that rioters burned down.  The police accused him of being the ringleader and put him into Luzira (the main prison) for two weeks on charges of treason and terrorism.  He was arrested with 22 other men for the burning of this police station.  He was released after two weeks and all charges dropped- so he wanted to thank his family and friends for all the financial and emotional support.

                When we got there, the house was full with family and friends.  The celebration had already started and people were singing songs!  Now Paul and his wife are Born-Again Christians, so this celebration exposed me to a different religion and style of prayer.  Pretty interesting!  So we sang for a bit, in both English and Luganda (I just took it all in during the Luganda).  Then they had a couple of scripture readings and then Paul, his wife Jessica, their kids, and a friend gave testimonials.  They really spoke a lot about the difficulties of having him in prison and the charges and how God got them through as well as their friends and family.  It was pretty touching and at one point the pastor turned to Paul and told him he was a lucky man because this type of thing mostly occurs during funerals and he was here to witness all this love.  Very true! 

                During Paul’s testimony, he spoke a bit about the conditions and the stress he was put under.  He said out of the 23 men in prison for burning the police station, only FOUR knew how to speak any English.  Only FOUR- that sure doesn’t make it easy to defend yourself or understand everything going on around you.  As one would expect, being in prison is not a cake walk and Paul spoke about still feeling confined even though he was a free man.  At the end of all the testimonials, the pastor led us all in prayer for Paul and his family and then he also decided to add in a prayer for Uganda.  At that point, it was definitely needed.

                After, there was food and people mingled for awhile.  Then we went on and Jaja and I got beers with her cousins.  The conversation started with how born-agains don’t serve alcohol and the reasons behind that, etc.  Then it switched into Luganda and I switched out.  I just sat there listening to Luganda flow around me and daydreamed.  It was quite the perfect place to daydream too, as we were sitting under this awning and it was a beautiful night!!!  It finally hit me why I love this country so much: everywhere you go is outdoor dining!!!  (I’m such my Mother’s daughter!) 

                So all in all, I had a very interesting Sunday!  I learned a lot and had quite an experience!  It was also fun getting to hang out with Jaja outside the house! 

Hope you're having a great day!  <3cm

Good African Coffee

Hi All,

  So I stumbled upon a Ugandan jewel today: Good African Coffee.  It's this coffee shop/lunch place which has delicious food, delicious coffee, and deliciously HIGH SPEED FREE INTERNET!!!  Ahh!  So amazing!  I had a wonderful omelet with tomatoes, cheese, and green peppers and nice brown bread (although not Irish brown bread) with a cup of coffee and a cup of fresh juice!  YUMMMMMY!!!  Then...INTERNET TIME!  I've been downloading music and uploading pictures up to my Mom's Costco account!  And it goes deliriously fast!!!  I can't believe this place!  Wonderful!!!!!

  I just had to share my joy with you all!!!

Love,
CM

Shades of Sin

Ah TV in Uganda is quite the cultural experience in itself!!  The only show that I've really taken a liking to is "Shades of Sin"- a Brazilian soap opera! haha!  It's an hour long and they have probably 1 two-minute commercial break- so it's an hour chock-full of goodness!

Here's the synopsis:

Twin brothers are separated in childhood and they grow up without knowing about each other. As adults, they suffer an accident in the same place, at the same time. One disappears in the ocean and the other decides to assume his identity. Years later, as he finds out he has a son and that the woman he loves did not cheat on him, he decides to reclaim his true identity.

AHHH yes...true quality right there!!  The kids watch it a lot and call it Paco because the main character's name is Paco.  They also kiss me a LOT and I think it's because they watch this soap opera so much and see all the characters kissing!  Pretty funny!!!

Anyways...it's become a little bit of an addiction!  We eat our meals around it! hehehe!!  I'm a bit worried if I'll be able to watch when I get back home! :)

Have a great day!

even MORE rural homestay pics!

Takako, our host-Dad, and I DIGGING
hehe I like this pic!
Me and this little baby goat we named Snuggles because he seriously snuggled when you held him! SO CUTE!!!

Some more pics from the Rural Homestay

This was the view from our hut...hehe our PIG!!!
JACK FRUIT- yes these suckers are HUGE!!! And have the weirdest texture when you eat them! But they're fun to look at!
Cow
Our HUT!
hahahahah Classic Ugandan Spelling!!! Can you catch the mistake?!?!

:)

Ugandan Observations

Hi All,

So here also some general observations about Uganda. Here goes nothing:

· Men wear funny neck ties. Some of them are really short and they look like boys ties while others are way too long.

· Men will wear women’s clothing and vice versa. Now not dresses or anything. But men will wear pink sweatshirts that were obviously originally meant to be women’s clothing. I think this is because most clothes here are secondhand clothes (mainly from USA- I think) and are not necessarily designated as male or female. Consequently, a lot of men here wear pink and I love it!!

· Men and women will hold hands with people of the same sex. This is purely based on friendship and something that doesn’t reflect any romantic feelings. As an American, this is so very different and kind of humorous to watch at times. In Uganda is it illegal to be homosexual and it is very looked down upon- so to have men holding hands with other men is very odd for me to see knowing what a homophobic culture it is.

· People love “Blue Band”. This is the type of butter here. But if you ask for butter, sometimes people look at you blanking until you ask for “Blue Band.” J

· Ugandans don’t get sarcasm. Hence…a lot of my humor is lost on them!! J

· There are a LOT of Spanish soap operas dubbed in English here! La Tormenta, Shades of Sin, etc. etc. and they are LOVED!!!

· Weddings are HUGE events here! HUGE! 300 guests is small here. I think I’ll have to have a completely separate post on weddings because I could write a small novel on what I’ve heard about them. I’m really hoping to maybe get to go to one while here!!

· Chipati is DELICIOUS!!!!

· Big Brother Africa is different from our Big Brother. It is HUGE here!!! People line up the day before it airs to turn on cable just so they can watch it! And…the whole thing is broadcast 24/7 for 91 days! How crazy is that?!? For the past three seasons they’ve even had “Shower Hour”, from 10PM-11PM the roommates take showers and everything is shown. So some roommates will wear bathing suits while others will just go in their birthday suits and nothing is censored. But they decided to take “Shower Hour” out this year.

· Phrases like “I have a small friend” always crack me up. People also say “Oh you know that funny thing”. We just use them differently and I always chuckle when I hear it!

· People question my American-ness. When I told one guy I was from America, he asked me, “Are you sure you’re not from the UK? Because you really talk like a Brit.” Nope…never been to Britain except for a layover. Does that count?! I also got, “Oh, I pegged you for German.” Nope...not German. Just American! J

· There are some beautiful sunsets here!!!!!!

· G-Nut Paste with Sim Sim is my new favorite thing!!! It’s like a watery peanut butter and oh so delicious! I’m thinking that when I come home, I’m going to pack a suitcase full just of g-nut paste!!!

· Bananas are sweeter here.

· The weather is beautiful and I really like it here! J

Horse back riding!

Hi All,

On Monday, we officially started our Practicum Period! As I’ve been having some frustrations with getting my project decided, my friend Gayle and I decided to blow off some steam by going horseback riding…along the Nile!!! J We found Nile Horseback Safaris in a travel guide and decided to go for it!

So Monday afternoon, we met up and took a taxi for two hours out to Jinja. Jinja is a really pretty town, almost city, which sits on the Nile! Once we got there, we got a boda-boda (the little motorcycles) and zoomed up 5 km to the stables! We were on this quiet road and riding the boda-boda felt sooo good!

When we got to Nile Horseback Safaris, we were given our helmets (of course I had issues finding one that fit my massive head) and then swept away to meet our horses! Mine was Sydney: a 12 year old gelding who is retired from the show circuit. He was a sweetie and we had a lot of fun together!

So we set off…went along this cliff that overlooked the Nile! Beautiful! Our guides, Francis and Bosco, were so sweet and took pictures of us! Then we looped through the villages and fields and then looped back! During the ride we trotted for a bit and Sydney had a really fun trot! Then Francis asked us if we wanted to canter or gallop and I freaked at the “c-word”! So I stayed back with Bosco and had a nice little trotting session (my favorite!) and then Gayle cantered! So yep…even in Uganda, I’m still a cantering dork.

When we got back, we chatted with PJ, the Australian owner of the establishment. They have been here for 5 years, running horseback safaris for 3.5 years. All of the horses are from Kenya and there are only SEVENTY horses in Uganda!!!! (25 of which are at this place!) So we felt pretty special on our ride!

All in all, a really great day! It was so refreshing to get out of the city and to connect with a horse again! When we left, I just felt five-pounds lighter and had a huge smile on my face—so…totally worth it!!

Okay, hope you’re having a great day!

Love,

CM

Pics BELOW

Riding Along the NILE!

Me & Sydney with the Nile as our backdrop! hehe!
Self-portrait while riding-- now that's talent!!
That's Francis in front and Sydney's ears!!

Host Family PICS

Taking tea with the family!-- they LOVED to have their picture taken! :)
Silly faces!!

Tacaco our host mom and myself
Me, Host Dad and Mom and their grandson!

Pics!

Our Host-Mom with the white ants

White Ants AKA TERMITESOut host dad
From Left to Right: Our host dad, the LC 3 (District level) Chairman, Tacaco and myself!
The kids running up during the Independence Day Celebrations

Independence Day Marching

Even the Fish Dealers marched!
My host brother marched too! Levy the third from left
Police marching
Marching
Marching

Independence Day Celebrations and Home Life

Independence Day Celebrations: here's the police marching

All chillin'
Our house...note the toothbrushes
FOOOOOOOOOOD

Rural Home Stay Pics

Tacaco cutting up the papaya
This is jackfruit. It is HUGE!
Our host-dad drumming up some white ants (termites)
ME!
One of our family's fields...this one is maize and beans

Homestay

This is our Host-Dad, Bugiri
Crevi (from Davidson in NC) with her gift-goat
Cour-Taco on top of the van...such a pretty pic
Some people gave chickens...
Our group picking out our goats

Enterprising Farmer Visit Pics

This was when we were leaving the Enterprising Farmer-- there's this cliff and then the lower area is where cattle rastling has occurred. Very bad.
SOO PRETTY!
Where we had our talk with the Enterprising Farmer
Katie D (who goes to Bates College in Maine) and the Enterprising Farmer's daughter! TOO CUTE!
They really haven't received much rain and so the maize crop is doing horribly!!

More pics...and some sunrise!

This was on our way home to Kampala.
People SWARM the cars that stop and try to sell ALL different types of things!!!
PRETTTTY!
SUNRISE!! Yes...I WOKE UP for sunrise!
And here's a silly picture of me as the SUN ROSE!! woah.