Day 9: Pictures!

Ok - we FINALLY have some pictures up! I can only upload 5 at once, so check back regularly. We'll start to insert them into the blog in the next day or so but they're all accessible at

http://picasaweb.google.com/alauppe/Africa2008favorites02

It is just the absolute best, and they're low-resolution but I think you'll enjoy them.

Today was a huge day. I had my meeting with KLM, and Emmanuel and I managed to run Cat5 (network wiring) to every office in the Diocesan offices.

Firstly, I'll thank you all for your prayers regarding our lost luggage, but please don't stop! I had a meeting with KLM's Country Manager for Uganda. Mr. Hugo van Joolen, is a no-nonsense business man who is obviously entirely competent. He employs a competent staff, and clearly appreciates competent customers. I did my best to be competent, but when you're that guy that checked expensive electronics instead of carrying them on, its hard to come across as competent (checking electronics of any kind, expensive or not, is against the rules, and no airline wants to take responsibility. I understand this.) Now, you and I know that I was carrying so much in the way of expensive electronics, that no one could possibly carry it all on, but thats neither here nor there to the airline. We expect to hear from the regional director in Nairobi soon. I have a feeling we're asking too much. They did give me $100 though :)

On to the wiring - This is/was the biggest, most time consuming task (and the dirtiest!) Emmanuel climbed around through the attic (more like a crawl space. He said he didn't smell any rats so it was okay. lol.) I climbed up the outside of the Diocesan office to run wire from the main building to the side building with 4 offices. At the end of the day we were filthy, exhausted, and fulfilled. Tomorrow we start with RJ45 connector termination. Hopefully we can get things up and running on Thursday and do testing and training on Friday.

Oh - Boda Bodas - we all rode as passengers on motorcycle taxis today. Traffic in the city has been really bad as Moammar Al-Gaddafi, the President of the Socialist PeoplesLibyan Arab Jamahiriya is in town opening a new mosque. When he drives around with his 39 escort cars, the city road system shuts down entirely. Anyway - the Bodas are crazy. The Boda drivers are crazy. See, here motorcycles can do literally whatever they want - they're practically considered pedestrians. They split lanes on the right, then jig to the other side of the lane to split there. They go the wrong way down one-way streets too. Its a blast. Honestly, as scary as it is, they drive so slow because traffic is so bad, that there are few really awful accidents, and there is no better / faster way to get around. And its cheap. Thumbs up to Boda Boda guys. (except for that guy that took Carrie for a tour around town because he didn't really know where she was trying to go. lol... Good thing she knew the town well enough to direct him home.)