June 7, 2011

I arrived in Entebbe after another long and grueling plane flight. Just some advice for those traveling that far, sit in an isle seat if possible, and always order the beef, never the chicken! I made that mistake while heading to London on the first flight. I learned some Lusoga from a native guy from Kampala who sat next to me the whole way. Oliotia which means hello and Bulungi which means im fine. Apparently greetings are very important here so knowing how to greet someone in their language can help you. There hasn’t been much jet lag, I was just tired I think because after two days of travel and seeing London I only slept for 4 hours or so. Once I found Bryan and headed through Uganda to Iganga I perked back up.

This country is completely different from America. It doesn’t even feel like I am on the same planet as before. Literally everything you do here is different. From taking a shower and going to the bathroom to eating and cooking and sleeping and even buying things. Apparently it is extremely rude to walk and eat at the same time. So after buying my first Rolex yesterday (a form of burrito looking thing with egg and other things inside) I had to stand still with Bryan while we ate our delicious afternoon snack which only cost 1000 Uganda shillings which equals about 50 cents.

Traveling anywhere here seems like a good way to die. If the roads are not busy it is ok to walk down them, especially less traveled dirt roads. Most paved roads are always bustling with Boda Bodas, which are their versions of street motorcycle, and cars driving all sorts of crazy. I have never seen such lax driving rules anywhere else, and I thought Mexico was crazy.

Once I arrived at Musana where all the kids were I was immediately greeted by tons of little singing children. Once they were all done singing to me they bum rushed me and clung to me like little pieces of ceran wrap. Seriously I didn’t have a hand or even arm space to do anything. Walking through all of them to the little church took awhile. I felt like a celebrity with a possie of poperatzie or whatever fallowing me. That is how it is here though, eerywhere you go every little kid calls you Mazoongoo which means white person or ghost or foreigner, depending on where you are at and then comes up to you and fist bumps you a million times.

There is so much more to being here but ill try to explain more in the next post. A page is long enough I think.

Til next time - peace out