1/9

My phone randomly stopped working last night. For the first few hours I thought it was spotty MTN service in rural Uganda…understandable. But no. In fact, my social media tax had expired. The official signal that it’s been exactly a month in Uganda since we got off the plane and bought a month of free apps.

Looking through some pictures I want to try and summarize some of the noteworthy things we’ve done and the way of life here since I haven’t really addressed much of that yet. So from the aspects of Uganda life that I’ve loved to the ones I’ve hated and everything in between, here goes.

First: Street meat is GOOD! Before we came it was one of the things we were told to be weary of for food poisoning. We thought maybe a few months in we’d try it when we were missing meat. By now I’ve probably had it ten times. Meat on a stick. Doesn’t get any better than that, huh. Going to the nearby town Kinoni on Friday for some chicken on a stick and a beer is already becoming a tradition. And I’m sure this little addiction will catch up with us eventually. But for now…give me the street meat! (Except for the gizzards. Emma loves them, but as some may know, I’ve had enough gizzards to last me a lifetime. And I prefer them in soup anyway…so for now, I’ll pass.)

Speaking of Kinoni Friday’s! When we order a beer we always get the same question. It’s not “bottle or draft?”, but, wait for it….“Do you want it hot or cold?” Ummmm as cold as you’ve got please. But it actually makes sense. Most villagers don’t have access to refrigeration so they probably grew up drinking it warm. We’ve tried to assimilate with as much of UG culture as we can, but for this is one, we aren’t ever giving in.

While we’re on food, I hate matoke. It’s everywhere. The funny thing is it really isn’t a strong taste, but I just hate it. It’s pretty much a starchy banana boiled to mush. And the more I think about it, the more I don’t like it. It’s going to be a long 8 months because it is an absolute staple. If you’re a guest at someone’s house, matoke for breakfast, matoke for lunch, and yup, matoke for dinner. If there’s a good sauce or broth over it, well, it’s manageable. If you can’t tell, it’s the yellow blob of mash in the picture. Luckily, there was a nice fish stew to mix it with this time.

Last weekend finally made it to Kampala, the capital. There’s really no other way to describe it other than that it’s pure mayhem. Just people everywhere, all selling something, and all of them trying to sell something to the mzungus. We’ll be back, but only when we absolutely need to be.

Next was Jinja, the source of the River Nile! We were lucky enough to have Giana introduce us to an awesome tour guide, Ivan, who showed us a few cool waterfalls along the way. We also got to stop at Sylivia’s house for a night to celebrate her sons birthday! Of course, lovely Ugandan hospitality again. Interestingly, the Nile runs right through the heart of Uganda, but if you ask anyone here, the Mississippi is unquestionably the longest river in the world (it’s not). The legend of ‘Merica I guess. Here are some pics from the trip.

Time works differently here. At first we were antsy and looking for things to do, but now we love the way people view time. A 3 hour ride already feels short and the 40 minute ride to Masaka feels like we’re just going down the road. It’s weird how fast it happens, but time feels different already. Activities do come up frequently, but we’re getting much better at just relaxing and losing some of the American hustle and bustle in us. As Nick said, no “program” (plan or agenda) is the best program.

The kids! There are four young kids around whose parents work at Engeye. So, Joseph, Maria, Trinity, and Nicole are always around and always looking to play. Here’s my dude Joseph:

We slaughtered a chicken! And we is used lightly, because the Engeye grounds keeper Sula actually did it. But my turn is up next! I have an AWESOME video of its head getting sawed off and flopping around but some Snapchatters didn’t appreciate it so I’ll leave it to your imagination. The kids loved it though and clearly Trinity isn’t afraid of a little blood:

I also don’t like the pigs. They’re insanely loud, they smell, and we just look at them dreaming about bacon. Tough combo.

We’re training our bodies to go to the bathroom less and less. The latrines aren’t all that bad when you get used to them, but they still aren’t fun. Things like the latrine and our cold showers twice a week are a grind, but you quickly realize they have no impact on your happiness.

We’ve had two major outings with the Engeye staff, which have definitely been highlights. The first was a surprise birthday party for Bridget, the head clinical officer here, and the second was a trip to Club Ambiance in Masaka. Both were a great time, although the 5am ride home from the club with 13 adults stuffed in a 7-person car was forgettable.

With these outings comes some Ugandan music, which we’re getting more and more familiar with. It’s pretty cool how everyone listens to the same music here. Check out our new anthem, Didadada:

We’ve been trying to convince people to adopt casual Friday’s…to no avail. But we brought shorts and have to wear them eventually, so the fight lives on.

We learned how pineapples grow! Not something you think about until you almost kick one walking through the matoke fields.

Nick has been an awesome partner. No question I lucked out in that aspect of the trip. Having him here with me for the nine months changes the entire fellowship. We found old pictures of us playing on the same team in a Connecticut all-star baseball game six years ago. At the time he was throwing 83 and I was throwing 76, in case anyone was wondering why he played college baseball and I played college basketball. What are the odds we both would have ended up here…

The landscape and sunsets/sunrises are beautiful. Here are just a few:

If you’ve made through all this, thanks for following along! But that’s all for now. It’s Friday night here, which means I have a date with some street meat…

And for those asking, I’m 1/9th of the way done without seeing a snake. Call it a good month.