Day in Kampala

So Grace and I haven't had too many adventures together yet... but I'm sure they will come, since we had a less than auspicious beginning, standing on two different sides of a pillar waiting for each other at the airport :)

I was able to stay up until 8:30 pm on Wednesday evening! Grace made some potatos for dinner...mmm... and then we watched Carz. Well, ok, Grace and her neighbor watched Carz while I dozed in the chair and fell asleep in the middle of conversations. Now I know what it feels like to really be a Spronk. But it's not sleep apnea... just sleep deprivation that was my problem.

I had a GREAT sleep. I slept like a log from 8:30 until about 4 am, when I had to go pee. Then I sorta just dozed again until about 6:30am when I got up. So that's pretty good, I'd say. And Grace has a really nice, cozy, homey kind of house, which makes me feel all nice and warm and sleepy anyways...

It was a good thing I had a good sleep on Wed night because yesterday was one full day! We walked from Grace's place up to Entebbe "downtown" where we caught a taxi (exactly like a Kenyan Matatu, or a 15 passenger van) into Kampala. I was amazed at how friendly and polite and patient the Ugandans are! Everyone was so relaxed, and were happy to all pile out onto the side of the road when someone on the very inside corner of the taxi needed to get out. The conductors weren't even hurrying people along - unheard of in a Kenyan matatu, or even in an Ethiopian taxi like that! I just felt very safe and surrounded by nice, pleasant people during our hour long ride into Kampala.

Once we got to Kampala, we walked up hill in the sun for about 10 or 15 minutes to get to the Babies' Home that Grace volunteers at each week. This place is amazing. I took a bunch of phoots, but, well, forgot to download them onto my computer last night! The place is so clean and well-kept. There are tons of toys and little toddler sized furniture everywhere. The women who care for the babies are wonderful and you can tell that they truly love those children and are really doing what they can to help them grow up and to know that someone loves them.

We went into the class with about 25 2 year olds! It could have been a real zoo, but it was so nicely run, and the children are very well-behaved. We played with duplo, read books, make towers with blocks... these kids have more toys than most Ugandan children do, that's for sure! They all orderly sat down on their little chairs in their own places for snack time, and pretty orderly went to have their hands washed etc. There were quite a few little ones peeing everywhere, and lots of snotty noses... but what can you expect with a room full of 2 year olds? It probably would help to have a potty sitting in a corner of the room, so the children would be able to use the potty on their own, rather than peeing on the floor... but, yeah, they're doing a great job in taking care of them, so you can't really say anything bad about that place! And whenever a child pees on the floor, they know where to get a towel to go and wipe up the little puddle!

I can see why Grace loves going there so much! I also had a great time, and it was so much fun to be surrounded by such cute little kids for half the day. And it's not nearly as heartbreaking as going to other orphanages that I've been to, since this one is so well-run and the children get really good care there.

But man, was it ever tiring hanging out with that many children all morning! We were there for about 4 hours, and by the time we were done, I was so thirsty and hungry. Since it's not exactly cool here, I was a bit sweaty, too. So between the kids' pee and my sweat... well, I wasn't exactly a vision of beauty!

We started trotting back down the hill and found a nice little restaurant with a porch on which to eat. Mmm... a cold Coke, some beef stew and matoke (sorta like mashed potatoes) and we were good to go again. Conveniently, the office where we had to get my travel permit for the next leg of this trip was within walking distance. So we went up the street, turned up a nice little dirt track, and entered an unmarked gate. And there we were, the office! They certainly don't advertise that they're there, and I was glad that Grace had been there before, otherwise I certainly never would have found the place!

As I was sitting there filling out the form (I had filled out an "old" form and had to transfer all my information to the "new" form), I noticed that there were two calendars hanging on the wall from our organization! Funny that, but boded well for getting some good service there!

I handed in my papers, and then Grace went in to ask someone a question about what kind of paperwork she needed to bring her dog into the country. The man there just started to giggle! He couldn't believe someone would want to take their dog. The big head cheese was also there and heard Grace's question, and he said, "that is is rare request". Grace then pulled out her vaccination record for Bridger, which looks quite impressive with signatures and stamps all over it, and that made them giggle even more! But they didn't quite know what to do about it and would have to ask the big cheese about it. So we told them we'd come back later, since we had to pick up my pass, anyways.

So then we had a few hours of time to kill. We trotted off down the road (at a nice leisurely Ugandan kind of pace) and found a bar with a little outside patio. We had some more sodas, and since the restaurant where we had lunch didn't have any chips, I ordered some chips to snack on while we waited. There's something about African chips that just taste oh so good. It must be the artery clogging hydrogenated fats that they're all fried in or something, but they taste so good!

After an hour and half of sitting there and watching the Ugandan world go by, we moseyed back to the office to pick up my pass. As we were sitting there and waiting, a couple came in who were speaking Tigrinya! So I had a nice little chat with them and got to eavesdrop on their conversation a bit :)

There were no problems with getting the passes, in fact, I think they're getting cheaper :) And I loved walking down the hill to the "downtown" part of Kampala where the taxi stands are. So many people, and so many shops and offices and motorbikes... it's a busy, busy, bustling city. It's very typically African in that the shops are pretty much all the same and the sidewalk crumbles in a few places, cars and busses dodge potholes in the roads, people stroll up and down the congested sidewalks selling everything from bras and sunglasses to peanuts and bottled water. And yet, I feel much safer in Kampala than in Nairobi. People are quite nice and polite and don't seem to be as much in a hurry. And I think that if I actually needed help or directions or something like that, someone would help me, instead of trying to take advantage of me!

After that, it was back to the taxi, and then back to Entebbe, where I made Grace dinner and fell asleep while watching yet another dvd!

Today, we've just been in the office here, catching up on emails and trying to figure out how and when to get back "home" to Templeton. In a little while, Grace and I will jump back on the boda and do some shopping in town. I have a few things to get, like some anti-malaria meds and a SIM card for my phone, and I'm really looking forward to getting a nice fresh pineapple and some mangos! Here's praying that Grace drives safely on her little boda :) (Since Grace says I reminds her of her mom, I gotta act like one once in a while, too!).