Chop My Money!

The title of this post is the title of the song that has been stuck in my head for approximately 2 days. I've heard this song all over the place in Abuja- in taxis on their radios, at the market blaring from stereos, in restaurants/bars... just about everywhere. For the longest time, I could have sworn the chorus went something like this: "Chuck my money, chuck my money, chuck my money cuz I don't care cuz I get plenty." Turns out they say "CHOP my money." The difference between chuck and chop? Not sure. And I have yet to figure out the true meaning of this song, but it's really catchy. If you're curious and want a little taste, look it up on Youtube (Chop My Money by P-Square, it's not the one with Akon). It's just a little taste of Naija music.

As for life in Abuja, I don't have anything super special to report. It's getting warmer and warmer here; the humidity has sky-rocketed. So air conditioning is heaven-sent. Problem is the electricity supply isn't the most consistent. Our apartment complex hasn't always been running the generator when the electricity stops, so sometimes our apartment becomes a stifling oven of heat. Trying to sleep in this heat is rather difficult, to say the least. It doesn't happen too often though, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining too much. At least I HAVE a/c.

Work is work. It was pretty quiet at the end of March because most of the higher level people were in Atlanta for the annual Global AIDS Conference. I've been working on finalizing the office's standard operating procedures and this week I've been pulled in to help plan a visit from a high profile person in the HIV/AIDS world. It's going to be a lot of work to plan, but hopefully everything will get worked out before the visit.

IT'S MANGO SEASON!!! And they are delicious. Here in Abuja, I've found different sized mangoes- small, medium, large. My assessment goes something like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears:

• Small = fibery but good. Good snack size, but not ideal.
• Medium = These are green in color. They're okay. Too fibery for me. And not quite the right taste.
• Large = Delicious! I like that it's not an overpowering mango flavor. Not very fibery. Perfect! 

In other news, I started playing Ultimate Frisbee here. And it's so fun! I'm terrible at catching... and throwing the frisbee. However, it's definitely something fun to do and I've met a few new people I hadn't met before, which is always nice. The expat community is small in Abuja, but there are still a decent number of people here (diplomats, people in the NGO realm, teachers, military personnel, etc). 

I ate a Grasshopper

This weekend was my last trip into Kampala before I leave the country! It’s rather depressing to think about but don’t worry, the trip was very memorable. We got a matatu Friday morning to do the first leg of the trip to Masaka. I was sitting in the last row of the matatu. We’re speeding along; this matatu driver was a bit of a crazy driver. Eventually I notice the lady sitting to my left is holding the hood of a jacket. I then saw that she had vomit all down the front of her shirt. Oh boy… It looked like she was trying to vomit into the hood and somehow I didn’t think the hood would be that effective for holding her vomit. I always carry spare plastic bags with me (you never know when they’ll come in handy) and pulled one out for her. She then proceeded to vomit the rest of the trip to Masaka (she started really early on in our matatu ride). The entire time I was praying that 1) we wouldn’t get into an accident or else the bag of vomit would probably spill everywhere; 2) she wouldn’t accidentally let go of the bag and get vomit on me which I would have to live with for another several hours until we got to Kampala; 3) she would focus on getting the vomit in the bag and not on me; 4) we’d get to Masaka ASAP. TIA. We arrived in Masaka without any of the above mentioned issues. Woohoo!! Then Claire and I had to wait for 2 hours on a bus for it to fill before we started off toward Kampala. So I sat and waited forever. TIA.

After getting to Kampala, we (being very, very naughty) took one last boda boda ride to get to Haandi’s for lunch before it closed. It was worth it, but I admit, the entire time I was hoping this wasn’t the one occasion we would get into an accident. Don’t worry, we made it in one piece and no more boda boda rides for me. Lunch at Haandi’s was phenomenal as always. Afterwards, we headed to the country office for Claire to do some paperwork for her visa and to drop off something for the country director. Then we stopped at Game (a big grocery store) to pick up some snacks, including Oreos and Salt & Vinegar Pringles. We also got some red and silver tinsel for the room! We’re trying to make it very festive for Christmas. Later, we made it to our hotel and dropped all of our stuff off. Then we were off to Garden City. We went looking for a salon that our program manager told us about, Sparkles. We found it, and Claire got a haircut. While she was getting all her hair cut off, I went on a little shopping spree at Banana Boat. It was rather fun! After we met up again, we went to a small restaurant called New York Pizza Kitchen. It sells pasta, pizza, etc, but it ALSO has cupcakes, bagels, and legit malted milkshakes. Claire had a birthday cupcake, while I tried a milkshake. Yum! Since our trip into Kampala took almost 6 hours, we were both exhausted and headed back to our room. My friend came over later and we watched part of Sex and the City, the movie, and eventually went to bed.

Saturday was another long day. While Claire went to the post office, I headed to the African Craft Market to continue to do some shopping. We met up in Aristoc, the bookstore, and I restrained myself from buying any more books. It was really painful, but there’s no way I can carry any more books back to the US with me. Then we ran some errands and ended up at Café Java. Claire had lunch and headed to Sparkles for a pedicure. I stayed and waited to have lunch with a few friends. It was so nice seeing people in Kampala and enjoying a nice lunch. Later, Claire and I went to see Unstoppable at Garden City. What an intense and stressful movie! But I liked it. After the movie, we met up with some friends, had pizza for dinner, and then headed to the Sheraton Hotel to enjoy some of the lower key night life. We enjoyed the band outside again. Their songs included Toto’s Africa and Bob Marley’s One Love. Very fun. It was a long day but I got everything done that I needed to get done and was able to see some friends!

The trip back to Sembabule was a little less eventful than the trip into Kampala. BUT I did buy a grasshopper to eat while sitting on the bus, waiting for it to leave for Masaka. (I will post a picture when I can.) I tried a grasshopper the last time I was in Kampala so I thought it would be fitting to eat one this time too. The longer I stared at it in my hand, the less appetizing it got, so I tried not to think about it and popped it in my mouth. It was salty... and crunchy...

It was my last time sitting in the New Taxi Park, my last taste of the organized chaos. I'm going to miss walking through the insane maze of matatus to hunt down a mini bus to Masaka. Then the Masaka to Sembabule leg of the trip made me smile since they stuffed 5 adults into the backseat of the car per usual and the fuel gadge sat at empty the entire time. TIA!

It was a great weekend, and I’m really going to miss everything, from the ridiculous trips into the city, the crowdedness and pollution of Kampala, and so much more. Less than two weeks left in Uganda!!!

A Weekend in Kampala

The weekend started with my first official TIA (This is Africa) moment. Imagine: The back seat of a small compact car filled from left to right: me, a grandma, two very generously sized women, a mom, an 8 year old, and a baby. Then in the front: two men squeezed together in the driver's seat. The trunk was filled with at least 100 pounds of stuff and one live chicken. This was how I traveled from Sembabule to Masaka. There is no direct route from Sembabule to Kampala, so you have to go to a largest trade town in the area, Masaka, and then travel from Masaka to Kampala. I spent several hours crushed against the left door, hoping we wouldn't get into an accident, wondering why we kept stopping, pitying the chicken who was squaking away in the trunk, and making sure I kept breathing, due to a combination of feeling crushed, closed windows, and no air circulation). It was definitely an adventure and made me really realize I am now in Africa.

After reaching Masaka (which involved stopping and starting the car every 5 minutes for an hour for reasons unknown to my Luganda-deficient ears), I hopped into a special hire van and off we rolled to Kampala. About half way there, we hit a giant speed hump that I didn't see coming (since I was sitting in the back, am short, and thus visually challenged in the back). I flew up, hit my head on the ceiling/window, bounced back down, hit my tail bone on the seat belt buckle, bounced back up, and finally stopped bouncing. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the ride rubbing my head, not being able to feel my behind, and hanging on for dear life. One exciting thing about the Masaka to Kampala drive, I finally got to see the marker from the Equator.

I arrived safely in Kampala and met up with a girl from the Netherlands, who had gotten my number from one of the people I went to Entebbe with. We got dinner at an Indian restaurant: Haandi. I highly recommend it- the food was amazing.

On Saturday, some girls and I went to a pool. It ended up being 3 Americans (none of which were Caucasian), a Dutch, and a Brit. We relaxed, got some sun, and chatted. Then we were invited to play volleyball with a few American military guys. They were really friendly and nice, and we spent the afternoon narrowly missing smashing people in the face with the ball. After the sunset and we left the pool, a few of the girls made dinner at their apartment. Our night ended with a trip to an "Irish" pub, Bubbles O'Leary, where we met up with the military guys again (plus one military girl). It was an exciting evening of dodging certain persistent men, music, and lots of dancing.

This morning involved a quick trip to Garden City to pick up a new book to read, since I found out the larger bookstore I wanted to go to wasn't open on Sundays. It's called Wuhu Diary and is about an American who adopted a little Chinese girl. Then she brought her five year old daughter back to Wuhu, China, where she was adopted from. The book is about their experience in China. My trip back to Sembabule was a little smoother, but did involve a cramped bus ride on the Masaka Coaster (a bus that goes straight from Kampala to Masaka) and stuffing 5 average sized people in the back of a car for only about half an hour. I had a great time this weekend, which is in many thanks to my coworker who helped navigate me to and from Kampala and the girls I had the privilege of hanging out with.