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