our first real visit to Kampala.
We haven’t posted anything in a few days, mostly just because we’ve been lazy. After Tuesday, TASO was pretty mellow this week. Casey and I spent Wednesday in the pharmacy counting drugs for the pharmacist. The TASO Gulu pharmacy is a pretty laid-back place. One of the pharmacists, Andrew had his laptop out on shuffle where we heard the most incredible playlist. Everything from Avril Lavigne to Three Doors Down to Dido. That night we went to our favourite chicken place behind our house that consists of a man, a shack, a grill and assorted meats. A piece of chicken, casava chips and a salad is the equivalent to $1.07. What a deal. The meal even comes with a free hot water hand wash, something very rare in Gulu.
Thursday morning Casey felt sick so he stayed in bed and I went to TASO to attend a meeting where I couldn’t hear a word anyone said anyway. By evening Casey felt better. We were invited to Ellie’s house (a fellow student at TASO) for the most delicious Rosh Hashana dinner that’s ever been made. Home made shakshouka, humus and baba ghanoush? Give me that. After we finished eating our apples and honey we headed over to BJZ, a local club, for trivia night. Having Casey on the team really really really helps. Last week we came in third out of eleven teams. This week, after studying our African current events and brushing up on football (soccer) facts, we won the grand prize, a crate of Bell beer!! That is 25 500ml bottles shared amongst six people. ohh yeaa. Casey and I got home after three and woke up at 5:30 to get to TASO to catch a car going to Kampala.
The ride to Kampala was just over four hours, with a few TASO-related stops along the way. Just like the bus going to Gulu, hawkers surrounded our car to sell us oranges, meat-on-a-stick, boiled peanuts, chapati and roasted bananas. We feasted, leaving a mess in the back of the car. The TASO driver, Okello, dropped us off at the hotel, City Square which is conveniently right in the middle of downtown. Ellie and I wanted to go craft shopping so we walked to the National Theatre grounds, which houses a craft market. Casey, hating crafts, napped on a random dirty tarp he found. The locals wondered if he was ok. I bought beautiful artwork. I am probably going to purchase another bag before leaving to hold all of the arts and crafts I seem to be accumulating. When hunger called late in the night we saw what we thought was a chapati stand from our window. It turned out to be a barbecue for GIANT slabs of goat meat. It was absolutely delicious, and, just like our favourite chicken place, it consisted of a man, a shack, a grill, assorted meats and a hand wash. Now we know what to look for when we’re craving random meat.
Though club music pumped late into the night, Casey and I both had very deep sleeps. This morning we met Ellie for breakfast, hopped on a boda and headed towards Uganda National Museum. The building and exhibits were circa 1950, it was pretty awesome. They had drums that we pounded for a good 20 minutes, and an exhibit outside that demonstrated the different huts made in different regions of Uganda. The huts were by far the coolest part. Most were even completely furnished. It began to pour near the end of our museum visit, and we were stuck at the gift shop for 30 minutes. The owner shut herself and her children in one of the shops and locked the door, leaving the three of us outside. Fantastic. When the rain stopped, we caught a boda to Garden City, the local mall. Casey’s boda driver drove on the wrong side of the road, on the sidewalk at dangerous speeds and hit a rain sewer. At the end, the driver asked Casey how much HE would like to pay. Casey told us that he reeked of liquor. Good. We ate at an Indian restaurant on the roof of the mall, walked around, bought some food not found in Gulu and headed back to the hotel where Casey and I are currently sitting. Ellie’s friend, Brenda, came by to pick Ellie up. She told us that there is black and white party later tonight and we should attend. We’ll see how that goes.
-Sarah
