Uganda: Day 4

We did not sleep last night. In a deliberate attempt to sleep on our own without the use of drugs, we chose not to take Ambien and went to bed at a reasonable hour. And then we laid there, hot and sweaty, for hours on end, until light gradually began to dawn. It could have been one of the longest nights of either of our lives. Naturally this was the morning that we had to be somewhere.

Insert a word of explanation about our situation here. The Diocese shares offices with All Saint’s Cathedral, and so while the two are not necessarily connected, there is overlap every now and then. Our new friend Emmanuel works for All Saint’s as the sound engineer, but has become the technical guy for the Diocese by default as well. Emmanuel and Andy are new best friends, and Emmanuel is showing Andy around the “technical” parts of the offices as he prepares to do all the wiring for a proper internet connection.

Back to today. There was a funeral scheduled this morning at All Saint’s, and so in order to meet Emmanuel, we had to make a deliberate effort to get there at a reasonable hour. We decided on 9 yesterday but actually did quite well to make it there by 9:30 considering we did not sleep. Fortunately for us, but quite sadly for the family, the body did not make the plane in South Africa and so the funeral was postponed until tomorrow.

Andy successfully drove to the Diocese, where he immediately ran off with Emmanuel to dig around the offices. Meanwhile, I had a woman waiting for me with a gomezi, or a traditional Baganda tribal dress to try on for the introduction ceremony on Sunday. Africans typically love it when Westerners wear African clothing. And so there I was, in the “dressing room” of the Archbishop’s office, while several women dressed me and then proceeded to tell me how sharp I looked. Andy took a picture but the real ones will come on Sunday at the ceremony itself, when he is dressed in his traditional kanzu. That being said, there really isn’t enough bandwidth to upload pictures, so you might all have to wait until April.

Moving on. We met several people at the Diocese and Cathedral offices and then the four of us – Sarah and Emmanuel included, hopped into the car so that Sarah and I could go to the fabric district and the new best friends could go on to the electronics store. The fabric district is amazing. It is comprised of probably 50 tiny shops, all carrying bolts of pretty much any fabric you could imagine. Sarah, experienced ex-pat that she is, drives a hard bargain. And so we came away with beautiful and inexpensive fabrics that will go to the tailor next week to make some clothes for both of us.

Aside from the fabric, the best part of the day might be the bodaboda. With A. and E. back at the Diocese, we were on our own to get back. So we hopped on the back of bodas and for just about 50 cents apiece, arrived back at the Diocese in short order. I love this place. Sarah warned my driver that it was my first time, and he promised to be nice. I really felt quite safe. My favorite memory is probably looking over at Sarah while we were driving and seeing her calmly texting away. I saw who she was texting when we arrived and A. and E. were at the gate, eagerly anticipating the sight of me on a boda. They were in great moods because of the deal E. struck with his friend at the computer store. I won’t go into details, but they felt the same about their buys as S. and I did about our fabric.

After talking our route over with E., A. and I headed off on our own in the car to have lunch with Hannington. This was really quite successful, considering that there was only one turn that we were unsure of, and so went around the roundabout a few times before exiting. Lunch was great, except for the fact that we promised to treat Hannington, and then didn’t have enough money to pay the bill. We sort of failed to remember that we needed to change more money this morning because A. was buying all of the computer equipment. Hannington was a saint and pitched in the dollar or so that we were short. Key things to remember: a) it’s important have enough money when you’ve invited someone to lunch; and b) even though it’s awfully tasty, juice is expensive here and should not be ordered when the money supply is limited.

We spent some time in Hannington’s office working on his computer, and then headed back to the Diocese to pick up Sarah. We were blessed with an amazing lack of traffic up until the road was closed. We managed to maneuver around a bypass and made it home in what could probably be labeled as record time. Good thing – we’re all exhausted.

Tonight we eat last night’s leftovers for dinner. Considering we had tacos, that is a good thing. There are a few things to note. Taco seasoning, although it is not available here, is easily made and tastes wonderful. Beans and ground beef cooked together are really great. Cheese here is not necessarily good on tacos. Guacamole can probably be made in most every part of the world, and here where the avocadoes are some of the best I’ve ever had, guacamole is equally as good. Yet again, I have to say that I love this place.

Tonight we expect to be power off, which happens approximately every 3 nights. Fortunately Sarah is well equipped with lanterns and candles – and wow – there it goes. Such timing. It’s so incredible when you compare our lives here and at home. A power outage is unacceptable in the US, especially one that lasts for more than a few minutes. And yet here, it goes for three hours at a time, at least twice in a week. It’s a natural part of living here and it is what people are accustomed to. While it isn’t the worst inconvenience, it is hard on appliances, and the refrigerator suffers for it.

One final thing for today. We came home to clothes drying and a clean kitchen because the maid was in. I would not have a maid at home. Here, it is wonderful.

Tomorrow we go on vacation. We’re traveling to Jinja (this is where the source of the Nile is) because while Andy and I don’t need a vacation, Sarah and Emmanuel do. Plus, who wouldn’t want to see the source of the Nile? We’re staying overnight and don’t know what the internet connection will be like, so there might not be an update from us. Don’t worry, though, we’ll take lots of pictures and I’m sure there will be plenty to say about our travel adventure.