Valerie's Uganda Blog 09

5th week, Jinja Day 2
Sunday August 16, 2009
10:03pm

Today proved rather eventful, but it still wasn’t particularly exciting. Overall, I’m disappointed in today’s activities – still, it had its highlights and redeeming points.

I woke around 10am and took a shower; Sharon said she’d be out for a “little bit” using Internet yet didn’t return to the room till 11 – an hour after our checkout time! While I was waiting I went up onto the roof to snap photos of Jinja town and ended up running into David, the hotel guy in red who was always at the reception. We took a photo together and I even got his email address after some chatting (he wants me to send the photo to him sometime).

Finally, Sharon was ready to leave and we picked out a boda driver to take us to Mabira Forest Reserve for 5000 each, round-trip. I thought it was a little too cheap to be true. My suspicion were confirmed when we started heading towards Bujagali Falls – how could a huge forest reserve be in the direction of the Nile? I asked him as we were still driving at breakneck speed and I was frustrated to find myself correct: he had assumed we wanted Bujagali. Finally, after much persuasion and asking others for directions, we were on our way to the Reserve – and ominous black rain clouds.

As soon as we crossed the bridge out of Jinja my worst fears materialized: supersized, super-powerful, super-painful torrential rain! When the first drop hit my nose I swear I thought it was a pebble flung from the truck in front of us (even freaking out a little when I touched it and it was wet!). I decided to stop him as soon as we got to a gas station on the other side of the bridge; there we negotiated to go to King’s Palace up on a hill overlooking Jinja.

It was a reasonable distance – when we got to the hill it was quite impressive. The view was beautiful and the ride up pretty exciting (very bumpy). At the top there was a cluster of radio stations – and then we were forced to stop as a wall blocked our path. Some kind of construction was going on here, and we weren’t allowed in. “Where’s the palace?” we asked a worker. “We just want to see the palace, then we’ll leave.” He said we could take a look from the side, but not go in through the construction site. We peered in expecting to see an actual palace, maybe grand ancient one or one torn up by recent war… but it was just a bunch of concrete foundations and supports about a quarter way to actually becoming a building.

Talk about anti-climactic. Turned out they were building a palace for a current king of this area (didn’t know there was one) – so we had actually only come up here to see the view. It was nice, but nothing remarkable. While Sharon was on the phone with her father again, I built rapport with the boda driver, who was 30 and rented his bike for 10 000 ($5) per day. He was hoping to buy the bike when he saved up 2.5 million. When she got off the phone, Sharon also managed to get him to agree to give me a driving lesson when we got back to town.

The ride down was a veritable roller coaster – definitely the steepest thing I’ve been down on a motorcycle yet.

When we got back to Jinja, Sharon got dropped at Flavours and I went with my new boda friend for a motorcycle lesson! Today’s lesson was actually much better than the others: wide roads, little traffic – potholes, ridges and bumps actually turned out to be fun instead of annoying – and the boda “teacher” was very trustful and helpful to me. I think I’m actually improving. Today, I felt confident enough to turn in a wide roundabout (with other traffic) without fear, swerve to avoid bumps, and change gears without being told. And boy do I love riding! I paid 2000, but it was worth every shilling!

Afterwards I went to Flavours, where Simon was already there – we three ate lunch together. I had the fish burger today – amazing value for 6000/= ($3)! Sharon bought me a hot chocolate as well (she agreed to in thanks for my awesome photos). We didn’t leave till 3:30pm, when we went back to the hotel and I had a tearful farewell with the hotel guy David. Then we walked to the taxi park and I bargained for a long time with this hat-selling guy. He was really into me, calling me beautiful, asking my age, demanding my phone number, asking when we should meet next, whether he could travel forever with me (. . . ), etc. He told me he had bought the hat for 4500 from Kampala, but through my charms I ended up buying it from him for 4500 all the same (he started at 10 000).

After that thrillling and moderately creepy encounter, we boarded the bus and said goodbye to Simon. Oh, I miss him now! He looked genuinely sad and very pitiable when it was our time to leave. He seemed a little bemused at how I could smile so gladly when it might be the last time we could see one another; I told him even if that was the case it was better that we remember each other with smiles on our faces, not gloomy frowns.

The ride home was fun at first, then increasingly uncomfortable as four people were continuously jammed into the back seats where I was sitting (Sharon chose a seat in the front).

When we got back, I played with Masage, Patience and Masa, then with Coco (what a fine chicken she is!), then dinner and chatting for a long time with Sharon. Oh yeah, today she told me something strange – that she used to be lesbian. I didn’t really believe her when she said it, and later she told me she had just lied to make Simon less into her (. . . ??)

Also, when I got back I had the sad news that my chick was eaten by a cat while I was gone. Damn it!!

Tonight was a little weird. We heard all sorts of rustling noises outside and cowered in fear… then we found out it was a very large moth inside our room!

-Valerie

5th week, Jinja Day 2
Saturday August 16, 2009
11:32pm

A day marked by disappointment alongside some unexpected redemption. Even as we headed to Jinja yesterday I knew there would be moments for me of regret, loneliness, restlessness. We’ve stayed here so many damn weekends it’s getting a little old.

I woke up at 7:30, shortly after which Sharon got up, but I refused to rise from bed till around 9:40am. It wasn’t that relaxing though, due to an electrician coming in and fixing our shower’s hot water for at least half an hour during the morning.

Then came a predictable disappointment after my shower (which was now hot, thank God!) – Simon wasn’t available to “play” today like Sharon had promised me. I had already expected something like this to happen, so I wasn’t too surprised. Still, it was a total downer and really drills in the importance, to me, of being self-sufficient and never relying on others to keep one happy. I was so, so looking forward to going out for fun today… but no, it wouldn’t happen.

Me and Sharon had lunch at the Flavours café again – I’m beginning to love that place. I was in a pretty noticeably bad mood… sorry bout that. My delicious and totally worth-6500 smoked beef and cheese sandwich with chips and salad cheered me up a little. I found a guide book to East Africa in the library which further cheered me; however, despite learning dozens of important things about Uganda that I should’ve known before coming here, I couldn’t take any notes. Drat!

Sharon ended up leaving around 12:30 to the Chinese Medical Team while I stayed at the restaurant reading. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise however, when the sky suddenly turned torrential and kept me stranded at the restaurant while some of the worst rains I’ve ever witnessed poured down on everything outside. People gathered at the entrance of the place to keep dry. Good thing I wasn’t hiking with Simon or, worse, getting motorcycle lessons!

I stayed there until around 3pm, when the rains abated. Then I lounged in the hotel room watching countless TV programs on Discovery Channel (plus a great episode of Avatar!) until 6:15pm. One interesting program, “Mega Engineering” theorised on the future existence of an enormous self-sufficient, 1-mile-high building which would be its own city – planned to be built in Shanghai. I had no idea crops could be grown entirely from water!

When Nicklodean changed to “Global Guts” (annoying show where a trio of young kids from various countries around the world compete in strange athletic games) I decided it was time to get out of there.

I headed to Flavours again, quite grumpy once again. I hate not “doing” anything. It makes me unbearably restless and irritable.

I was at Flavours, ordered a half-price hot chocolate (yay for happy hour!) and a fish fingers (which I was charged 10000 for an “adult” portion instead of 6000… grr) – the power went out for at least 10 minutes while I was at the restaurant eating… could things get any worse for me? (Not to mention the East Africa guide book was missing as well! God!)

Still, the food was awesome despite the overcharging; the hot chocolate was outstanding. So chocolatey!! It might even be worth the original price of 4000 ($2).

After completing my dinner, some guys stole my seat at the café while I was in the bathroom, so I transferred to the library, where I sat around for an hour reading PCGamer and then Getaway, a travel magazine focusing on African destinations. It was quite inspiring and restored my spirits almost right away.

Then Sharon came over to eat a second dinner and use the Internet. I hung around with her for a while until I decided to head for the “Fast” Internet Café near the Caltex gas station. God, I’ll miss that place. I love the somewhat chubby, definitely effeminate manager there – he’s so adorable somehow! After using Internet for an hour (it was surprisingly fast!) I said a truly tearful goodbye to him. He was sad I’d be leaving – he said “I will miss you.” I told him I’d miss him as well, then walked back to the hotel in the 11:30pm streets.

-Valerie

5th week, Jinja
Friday, August 15, 2009
11:10pm

Today was moderately eventful… only moderately. I woke up at 8:45 after many, many hours of sleep (and still feeling tired). Me and Sharon talked a little last night, but I was a little irritable because I was extremely tired and it was so hot it was hard to sleep. I also had to pee in the grass outside again.

I’m feeling so restless these days; everything’s so repetitive and uneventful, yet we’re leaving our homey life here in just one week – so why can’t I be more enthusiastic? I guess just not enough “me” time, “down time,” again. It makes me grumpy and restless. And the fact is, our “work” here is dead boring, no matter which way you look at it.

So today I was a little antsy. We went for lunch pretty early – the morning was spent asking Ivan and the veterinary doctor for advice on where to visit in Uganda. After finding out and trying to plan, however, even more down because I realized how I’d been wasting my time in Uganda. Why hadn’t I spent more time to plan, research, motivate myself and others to explore?

I spent lunch eating a great instant noodle and a so-so restaurant-made chips (actual potato chips, not French fries). I meant to watch Avatar, but instead me and Sharon talked (mostly argued) for two hours without leaving me a chance for my animation fix. Geez. It’s no wonder I’m a bit prickly today!

Then I was further annoyed by the power outage at the library. Sharon wouldn’t me use her laptop to write my blogs, either. Then we left to board the Jinja bus – 30 minutes before it left. The predictable wait also contributed to my cracking nerves. The ride itself was really aggravating for me, too – we were sitting in the front seat and it was hella sunny up here. And so many stops too! God! I was getting so pissed during the ride, until we happened to stop at a village where there was a little girl who would wave non-stop at me (as I waved back non-stop at her); then I got back out of my funk a little and started listening to some good loud music on my headphones.

Finally we reached Jinja and checked into my preferred hotel, Bellevue. Luckily they gave us a nice room (same as the previous 312 room I stayed in, but it was 210 this time) for 25 000/= (2000 discount), plus I bargained with them for two free passion juice drinks as well! Sweet.

Shortly after I took my boiled kettle water shower since the hot water in the shower was broken (oh, that was surprisingly fun!), Simon came in and we had some “fun” time – also looked at the Michael’s (extremely adventurous, courageous Asian-Australian guy we met while rafting in Jinja) pictures of his “severely beaten” face (even after living in Jinja for 4 months, he had gotten jumped by a bunch of gangster guys after walking in the middle of the night; his valuables were taken and he was left with some face-deforming bruises and bumps).

Then we were off for dinner. Man, that was some awesome times! Simon took us to Flavours café, on his treat. It’s one of the more classy, expensive Western restaurants in town.

We sat outside in the garden on benches lit by lanterns (romantic!). Toilets were luxurious – also there was a “library corner” inside the restaurant with countless books and magazines, including PCGamer (score!). I took one to read while Simon and Sharon spoke in rapid Mandarin on their side of the table.

From the saliva-inducing menu I chose the grilled steak with chips and vegetables – surprisingly quality beef and delicious! (for 15500/= of course) – and a Fanta Berry. It came with a great cheesy mushroom sauce too. Mmm! Then Simon walked us home and we’ve been talking since.

-Valerie

5th week, Busolwe
Tuesday August 11, 2009
10:15pm

Hands-down one of the most boring days ever. Still, stuff somehow managed to happen despite all the odds. (And besides, I can make anything sound exciting; just watch and learn!)

We left for work hella late, as usual. I think it was 10am by the time we decided we were ready to leave.

Strangely, there’s only one bike available to us two these days – so I decided to bike while Sharon got money for a bicycle boda to Busolwe. We ended up waiting by the road at least 20 minutes before a boda showed up. And then we were off! I followed closely behind Sharon’s boda, racing with the driver at times.

At “work,” there continued to be very little to do. After 1 ½ weeks away from the library (due to sickness and unnecessary excursions to Mbale and Jinja), I still feel dead bored now that I’m back. I read a children’s magazine that was surprisingly interesting. Then I spent the rest of the morning till 1pm typing up blog articles.

Finally it was lunch time – relax time! Today’s lunch was quite fun (as it usually is when Ivan doesn’t join us); we went back to the Good News Guest House for the first time in two weeks and I asked them to cook me my special lunch of instant noodles. Though I tried to instruct them in my ancient technique of cooking instant noodles, however, they ended up making an absolute mess of it (how is that even possible??). First, they crushed the noodles to tiny pieces, thereby ruining its essence as noodles (well, duh!). Then I intervened and showed them the correct method of cooking. Things went better after that, but it turned out totally mushy and overcooked, not to mention they poured the entire packet of flavour in first (a total no-no for my style of cooking!). Yes, it was some of the most horribly made noodles ever – but despite that, still far far more delicious than nearly all the items available on the menu. I decided to save my sardines and cookies for another day and instead ate two of their “crappy 200-shilling cookies” and a Stoney. Unfortunately, I suffered for it as I’m still hungry.

We stuck around and watched TV, enjoyed ourselves for nearly another two hours.

On the way back, I got to get “photo man” (a nearby vendor who one day unexpectedly snapped our photos and then printed them and tried to sell them to us) to take more pictures of me, so that I can buy the prints later – they’re only 500/= per two prints!

The rest of the afternoon was blah. We tried to teach at the local school, but there were no classes today – yay for laziness. I ended up chatting a lot with the veterinary guy (don’t even remember his name) who works next door to our library – I got to play with his totally sweet Suzuki motorbike. Sharon wanted to drive it but he wouldn’t let her. I ended up giving him a postcard of Vancouver to show my friendship.

When we were going back, Sharon decided to make a boda driver let her drive the motorcycle. I was surprised, but she actually did it and got home safely (while I ever-so-painfully bicycled all the way back).

The evening was spent watching one awesome episode of Avatar (before Sharon’s computer froze) and then singing and playing hymns with Hirome on the electronic keyboard.

-Valerie