A crafty weekend.

So, I haven't updated in a while -- almost a week, I think? I really don't do very much interesting during the week, just go to work. We had a long weekend this week, with Friday off for Martyrs' Day. This week (tomorrow), I'm theoretically starting to work on a humanitarian parole case for someone my organization and others have been working to protect. The case is pretty sensitive, so I won't go into too many details here. But humanitarian parole is a temporary grant of asylum, basically -- usually less than a year, and it's for providing a safe, secure environment to people who are in constant danger for some reason. It could be a medical emergency, it would be a continuing risk of rape (I worked on a case like that with a few Haitian clients during the school year), or it could be a political danger. I hope the case isn't too far along, because it could theoretically involve a fair amount of interesting research and writing for the application. I'll find out tomorrow.

This weekend, one of Emily's interns arrived. Ben is an American who goes to school in Scotland, and has been teaching English in Germany for a year. He seems really cool, and we spent most of the weekend with him, helping show him the ropes. On Friday, we had to go rescue his taxi driver, who got lost trying to find the motel (the same one I stayed at for the first two weeks), and then we took him out to lunch nearby and to get a phone at Nakumatt Oasis. Nakumatt is a giant department store kind of thing, with a grocery section and all sorts of modern appliances. He was pretty tired from but my two flatmates and I went out on Friday night, along with some other of their friends who all seemed really nice. We went to a bar/dance club called Iguana, and Bruno (the guy who owns the motel) brought some friends to meet me. I ended up splitting my time between the Ugandans and the mzungus, which made for a sort of interesting night. And I got a ride home from Bruno and one of his friends, which meant I didn't have to take a boda really late at night -- victory!

On Saturday, I woke up before Emily and Ula (I had come home a little bit before they did), and Ben was bored, so he came over the flat and we chatted just the two of us for a while before everyone else woke up. Then Emily, Ben and I went to an art fair put on by the Alliance (sp?) Francais and German Cultural Centre. It was all local African artists, and a lot of organizations using art to further social causes. They weren't that interested in bargaining, I think because a) there were TONS of mzungus there, and b) the stuff was real art, and much higher quality that what you find at markets. I still ended up buying a fair amount of stuff -- a bracelet, an African love knot, a little figurine made out of Fanta bottle caps, and a poster of a gorgeous piece of art that I wanted but was much too expensive. There was a lot of live dance going on, including traditional Buganda dance that was seriously impressive (see below). We met up with some of Emily's friends from her French class, who have all been so nice so far.

I also got a pair of blue splatter-painted canvas flats that only sort of fit, but I liked them.

After we finished shopping/browsing, we went behind the Alliance Francais and found a spot on the ground to wait for the concomitant live concert of African music. There was a huge variety of music, from jazz to soul to hip-hop, but it was all really amazing -- there are some seriously talented musicians in Kampala. The concert lasted about 3 hours, and then Emily's classmate Sharifa gave us all a ride back to our place. Ben, Emily and I hung out for a bit longer, and then Emily escorted Ben back to the motel on a boda and then came back to the flat.

Today, we all got a bit of a late start -- like 1 or 2pm late. Ula (my second flatmate) suggested that we go to a craft market, and we invited Ben and Emily along as well. We all met at Nakumatt first because Emily had to exchange money, and we ended up getting lunch at a place there called Pizza Connection. I got a burger, which was actually really good... I find myself somewhat pining for American food on the weekends, since I mostly eat really heavy Ugandan food for lunch all week. The Ugandan food is really good -- the woman who cooks for us at the office is amazing in the kitchen, but it is really different. Sometimes you just want a hamburger and fries.

We made it to the craft market by around 5pm, and I was... a bit disappointed, to be honest. It's all in open stores, rather than stalls like in South Africa. Nobody is really that interested in bargaining, which I've always thought was part of the fun in markets. I also don't love the stuff they have for sale; I think partially the novelty of it has worn off after three trips to Africa, and partially I've gotten more responsible. Do I really need another pair of earrings that I'll never wear? No, so I stop myself from buying them. It saves me money and is probably a sign that I'm growing up (the horrors), but it's not as fun.

I did get another nice piece of art (sorry for the flash, it kind of ruins the effect) and a beaded basket/bowl for all the jewelry I brought with me. I thought a little basket would be nicer than the plastic bag I had them in before, and make it easier to look through and find things.

As the craft market started to close up, we all got on bodas and went our separate ways. Shortly after I got home, though, Ben called me to tell me that Bruno and Diane were at the motel until 11pm tonight, and they wanted me to come over. The power actually went out while I was on the phone with him, which I took as a sign from God that I should go. I took a taxi down to the motel and spent a few hours there with all of them. Emily came a little bit later, and actually there's another mzungu staying there who I had met at the art fair on Saturday. It's a small mzungu world. Bruno and Diane were wonderful as always, and made us dinner (matoke) and gave us Diane's amazing ginger tea, and later they broke out the wine. And they wouldn't let Emily and me pay for any of it. The power went out at the motel too, and one of Bruno's friends theorized that it's because the government was moving weapons and soldiers in the area. That didn't make a lot of sense to me, but it was interesting that that's where his mind went.

We played cards for a while... there's a Ugandan game that they taught me while I was staying there that's a bit like Uno, where you have to match either the suit or the number of the card, etc. Bruno and I have a bit of a competition going, because I beat him during our last "tournament," two days after learning how to play. Diane played with me and Ben tonight, and she's good. I lost a lot.


Emily and I came back home when Ula informed us that the power was back on, and now the weekend is over. I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow -- even with the new humanitarian parole case, Kampala is so much more fun when I can just spend time riding around and exploring the city.

There are more big protests against the government planned for tomorrow, but not near where I work. There's an outside chance things will spread/spiral out of control, but for now, the plan is to go to work as usual. At least Thursday is another public holiday!

An apartment and a puppy.

So, it's been a few days, and a lot has happened. I'm now in my permanent apartment, and no longer at the motel. This is both a good and a bad thing -- but more on that in a bit.

My last day at the motel was actually rather dramatic. Things were fine when I left in the morning. I rushed back after work so I could pack everything up and be ready to leave, and Bruno (the owner) came up to my room to tell me that this weird guy who had been a guest... had left in the middle of the night, without paying, and taking one of the motel's laptops with him. Brian, who had been on duty when it happened, had been fired. I thought Bruno was joking at first about Brian, to be honest, but apparently he had a habit of letting people leave without paying. So... that was really strange. They called in an armed guard (armed with a baton, not a gun) to stand at the entrance to the motel; they were worried that Brian might try to come back, and/or they didn't want to take a chance on the same thing to happening again. Still, we all (Diane, Bruno, some of Bruno's friends, and myself) hung out at the reception desk for a while like usual after I finished packing. Bruno and his friend went to a "chidula" (I think that's the word?), which sounds like it's a bar with loud music and dancing and drinks. They invited me, but I decided to stick around the motel.

Diane, Samuel (one of the employees) and I ended up drinking ginger tea, eating Rolexes, and watching soap operas. We watched a Ugandan soap opera called "The Hostel," with acting so atrocious I thought it was a joke at first. But it was still good... I love African soap operas like nothing else in this world. I don't know why, but there's something charming about them. After it was over, there was a Mexican soap opera with really terrible English dubbing over the Spanish. Emily showed up in the middle of that, ready to take me to the flat in Kisaasi. I stalled a bit by offering her ginger tea; Diane makes really lovely ginger tea, with fresh ginger root. We hung out a bit longer, and Diane finally let me pay her (she had been putting it off because she was in denial and said she would miss me too much to let me leave), and we put all my stuff in her car. She had offered to drive me to the flat instead of making me get a taxi.

So, we set off. It's really not very far, although the roads off Kiira Road into Kisaasi are terrible and pot hole-y, so it took a while for Diane to carefully drive around them. Only part of the road is paved, and once you turn off even that road, it gets very dark. But we made it, and I said goodbye to Diane and promised to visit. After she left, one of the neighbors helped Emily and me up the stairs with my huge suitcase to the second floor. And then I met Alejandro.

Alejandro is Emily's very naughty puppy, who she saved from the street a little over a month ago. He has the most energy of any puppy I've ever seen, and it's hard to believe that when she first took him in, he was so weak she didn't think he'd survive. He has sharp little claws that need trimming, and he bites a lot -- not in a mean way, he just chews on hands and fingers. He's not house-trained terribly well, and the first thing I saw him do was poop on the living room floor. Charming. But really, he's a cute little guy -- despite being an undeniable pain in the butt. He looks like every African dog ever: they all interbreed and end up looking exactly the same, and he is no exception.

 Anyway, after a bit of puppy-related excitement, I made it to my room. It was set up like a hotel room, with a queen-sized bed and little bedside tables on each side. It also wasn't terribly clean -- Emily's old roommate only moved out the night before, and I guess there wasn't time to sweep the floor. The rest of the apartment is nice, although it was a bit messy. The kitchen is big and basic, and the bathroom is HUGE. There are two bathrooms -- Emily's room has its own en suite bathroom, but the shower doesn't work. So technically the other roommate, a British girl named Ula, and I share the big bathroom -- but everyone showers in there. The shower's not great, as I discovered this morning, but there's hot water at least.

Emily was going out to meet Ula at a bar somewhere, but I didn't feel like going (the Rolex was sitting in my stomach... those things are heavy!), so I just turned in for the night. The bed is surprisingly comfortable, as is the pillow. My sheets are pink, which... anyone who knows me will know that that's a little strange for me.

I got up in the morning at around 10:30 and spun my wheels until Emily woke up about an hour later. I don't have my own key yet, and I have no food in the kitchen and no real sense of what's nearby, so I couldn't do much without Emily. I did rearrange my room though, so it feels more like a bedroom and less like a hotel room.

Emily decided to make pasta for lunch (breakfast?), which ended up taking forever. There's no strainer, so the pasta was kind of soggy, but it was sustenance. While she was making the food, I saw three kids at the house next-door playing, and the little boy saw me and started waving. It was so adorable that I had to go get my camera, at which point they all started waving and posing for me. This is one thing I love about African kids -- they really love having their picture taken. Unlike in Latin America and Southeast Asia, where the kids pose and then demand money, kids in Africa really just get a kick out of cameras.

In other news, I also met Ula's boyfriend this morning... who is in high school. She's a little bit younger than Emily and me, and he's in his last year of high school, but it's still kind of weird. They were hungover from the night before, so they joined us for the food and then went back to bed. He seems nice enough. He's British, but his family has lived in Kampala for 8 years, so he's also kind of a local.

By the time we were done eating and ready to do something with the day, it was already 2:30. Emily had mentioned wanting to go to the pool at Kabira Country Club, which sounded absolutely lovely. We walked -- I'm still trying to avoid bodas, and it wasn't nearly far enough to justify taking a taxi. The area near the flat is so dark at night because it's wide open during the day: there's a makeshift soccer field, and grass and a stream, and there were about six cows hanging out by the bypass. It was really quite beautiful, and I would have taken a picture if I hadn't left my camera on my desk after the episode with the kids. I'll take pictures this week when I'm on my way to work.

The walk was... steep. Most of the walk is uphill, and the road isn't paved for most of the way, so it was very dusty and hot. We tried to buy Cokes along the way at a little shop, but they were out, so we tried again at the 24-hour little mart at the gas station. I prefer Coke in glass bottles, so we tried to buy them... but the woman at the cash register was like, "Do you have empties?" I told her no, and asked how much the Coke was, and she shook her head. What? Apparently, they won't sell you Coke in a glass bottle unless you have an empty glass bottle to trade in -- but at the same time, there was a sign saying that they would no longer be accepting empty bottle deposits. We had no idea what was going on, so we just bought them in plastic bottles instead. It was a strange moment though, and I couldn't help thinking about how any American would have just slapped a price on the glass bottles and made the sale. Capitalism at work, but not here apparently.

Emily had lost half of her bathing suit, so we went to a nearby all-purpose store called Nakumatt for her to buy a new one. I ended up buying some shower stuff and new hangers, and I also got matches and little incense-type things to make my room smell nice. (The apartment has a general smell of... puppy. I'd like to counteract that effect in my room.) We found Emily a bathing suit, and then headed to Kabira. It cost 25,000 UGX for a "day pass" to use the pool, which is a bit steep, but the country club is really nice so I guess it's worth it. I was really hot at that point, so I jumped right in the pool, and it felt lovely. I haven't been in a pool in so long, I forgot how relaxing it can be to just swim back and forth. I got out when Emily ordered spiced African tea (which is delicious), and we chatted and drank tea for about an hour before they started to close the pool. I knew from our email exchanges that Emily was really sweet, but I have been pleasantly surprised by how easy she is to talk to, as well.

After we left Kabira, I suggested that we go to a coffee place Emily had mentioned earlier. We got in a taxi, but we ended up going in the wrong direction. That's not as catastrophic as it sounds, because the main roads in Kampala run in a loop, and you can end up right back where you started going in either direction. But it would have been much quicker and cheaper to go clockwise rather than counterclockwise, which is what we did. I got to see parts of the city I'd never seen before, though... but we also got ripped off. When we got in the taxi, the conductor/fare collector told us it would be 1,500 UGX each, but when the time came, he demanded 4,000 UGX. It wasn't worth arguing over, but it always stings a little bit to get ripped off. The place we went is called Good African Coffee, and they also had food, so we decided to get coffee and dinner. We both got a drink called an Affocato (I think?), which was one or two shots of espresso mixed with ice cream and milk foam. It was seriously delicious. We also got and ate dinner, which was pretty good as well. I got a burger with fries (I had wanted something else, but they were out of it), and the fries were surprisingly good. It was way too much food though, and I felt sort of gross after eating it all in addition to the coffee/ice cream concoction.

We took a boda back to the flat, where we found that the power was out. It was really, really dark. It sounds stupid to say -- of course it was dark! But there aren't even lights out on the streets, so it was almost pitch black. Luckily, Emily's phone and mine both have "flashlights" built in, so we went in and found Ula and shone some light around the flat. Emily had a couple candles, and we had bought matches at Nakumatt, so she and I each put a candle in our rooms. Mood lighting, or something. Emily and I decided to watch TV on her computer, which died after about 20 minutes. But the power came back on shortly, so the day was saved. I think the power was out for about a little less than an hour.

Emily and Ula started making moves to go out for the night, but I was getting tired and decided not to go again. I'll have to be more fun next weekend. They left at around 10:30, and now here I am. Ready for night 2 in my Kampala apartment.