Don't you know who i am?!

i wrote this post on saturday, but was unable to post it, so here it is today :)

Hey all.
As it was Friday night last night, we went out and met up with some friends. We met everyone at a Japanese restaurant where we had completely amazing food. Every time you order something they bring you this little bowl of salad which was so nice, I have no idea what was in it, but some shredded crunchy stuff and then doused in a really nice gingery dressing.

When me, paul and tariq arrived we were bit early so we ordered some tempura prawns to keep us going, (naturally, they came with the salad beforehand) which were absolutely divine, and then people started arriving so there was a bit of a time delay, but eventually we ordered food. There are a lot of male expats in kampala but very few women, so in a group of about 20 men there were only 3 of us girls. Thankfully they were really lovely and I had met one of them before, so we stuck together.

We ordered a baby maha roll which was prawn and some sort of vegetable inside, and then nori and rice around the outside, with a slice of avocado on top. That came recommended to us and was absolutely amazing. I have never really had sushi before, and I was a little bit wary of trying it but it was very nice and at this restaurant they fly all of the fish in fresh that morning, and you really could tell it was fresh. We were the last little group to get our food and so by the time we got our baby maha most people had finished eating! It did have the advantage that we could go around stealing nibbles of everyone elses though, so I got to try a lot of things! The boys had some amazing teriyaki beef from the hot food menu which we couldn’t get enough of, and we were very pleased because we had ordered the teriyaki beef sushi roll, which was yet to materialise. When it got to about half 10 we got a bit more vocal about the fact we were STARVING etc as the owner was sat only one seat down the bar from us, and he gave his chef a bollocking, as they had clearly forgotten our order. They brought a chicken roll rather than beef, but we couldn’t be bothered to argue and it was very nice anyway.

I also got to try sake last night which I have never had before, and was oddly served warm. Not like red wine warm, but it had actually been heated up. I thought that was odd and that I wouldn’t really like it but the temperature definitely added something to it and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would (though I didn’t go back for another cup!). When we were finally through with the sushi the boys all decided they wanted to go to the casino as there was a cash poker game happening and they all have money to burn and wanted to get in on the action. Me, Hannah and Krisha just looked at eachother like please, no! And decided to make our own way to a bar, rather than going to the casino. It turned out to be a good move and a few of the boys came to their senses and came with us to the Irish pub that is so popular with expats in Kampala. There were lots of people there who I recognised, including a south African guy called Rob who I have been on a couple of nights out with, and tieese, the Brazilian girl I shared a hotel room with when we went to Rukinjiri. Hannah and Krisha who used to live here introduced me to lots of other people as well, and it was nice to be socialising a bit independently of paul, as I don’t want to get in his way and it can be awkward for me when I don’t know people and I don’t get introduced.

The boys came and met us in bubbles after a bit, and it materialised that paul had lost a little bit of money (though he didn’t say how much, and I expect our definitions of ‘a little bit of money’ are very different!!) but Tariq had won 400,000 shillings, which is about £100. When we got bored of bubbles we moved on to a club called iguanas which is popular with young visitors on projects like mine, because it’s cheap and has something of an African vibe to it, unlike some of the other places I have been to in Kampala.

We didn’t stay in iguanas particularly long as pauls friend Ron needed to get to Cayenne to meet a friend. I like cayenne as it’s a bit more civilised than iguanas though is less exciting, so we all trooped off. We got there and had a few drinks and it was fairly uneventful, but it was fun. The girls had bought a joint from a boda boda driver and ron seems to have quite a lot of power at cayenne so we went and sat in a corner to smoke it. It was funny because there was absolutely no weed in the thing, it was basically just a rollup. The security man got all suspicious and came over so we put it out and then we were laughing and we were like mate, smell it, theres nothing in it! Although he didn’t look too convinced, he was clearly a little bit fearful of upsetting ron, so he took it away and brought us a whole packet of cigarettes to replace it. They didn’t interest us in the slightest, but it was funny seeing his reaction.

By the time we were talking baout leaving cayenne it was nearly 5AM and I was absolutely knackered. I wanted to go home but paul and tariq insisted on us going to this place called club pa lui where they went the other night and paul upset someone by mooning them. Thankfully we got there and the bouncer said that they weren’t letting anyone else in because it was too late, so we all trooped off home. Ron and Krisha came with us which was nice, and me and krisha were planning to meet up today anyway, and we will probably see Hannah later as well. I’m not entirely sure what we’re going to be doing but they seem to know good places to go from living here so I’m sure they’ll have some ideas.

I cant believe how long this post is! Over 1000 words just describing one night, sorry if it’s not that interesting for you to read...

Love, Lucy xxx

People and power cuts...

hey all, its been a while!

i left the lodge on wednesday with sofia, and paul drove us and two of his own volunteers to his flat. unfortunately we arrived in kampala a bit late, so sophia coudnt join us for dinner as planned, and had to go straight to the airport pretty much when we arrived at pauls flat.pauls two volunteers, florie and lydia were really nice, and we all went out for dinner at mediteraneo. i had been looking forward to lasagne there for so long! it was really good, and as always seems to happen when you go anywhere with paul and tariq, we ended up as a huge party of people at the restaurant. they had begun laying a table for 6, (us and one fried of paul and tariq) while we sat in the bar, but it quickly had to be changed to a table for 12, and as we walked to it we saw tieese (brazilian girl i shared a hotel room with at georges wedding) and a friend of hers, so they joined us, and then a few minutes later some more people arrived, so we ended up being a table of about 15! i think the girls were a bit intimidated and wwhen paul suggested that we go out after the meal, they looked pretty horrified, so the 3 of us went back to the flat and basically went to bed. i kept waking up in the night and wondering if they were back yet, but they didnt get home til 7am! it was than tht i was quite reived that i hadn't gone out. yesterday the girls wanted to go to the craft market so paul drove us there (his volunteers aren't allowed to use boda bodas, too unsafe) and we shopped for nearly 3 hours, which was great but exhausting. after that we met paul at his friend ron (who i have met before)'s restaurant, which was really nice, i think we all ended up eating chicken tikka roti/wraps. they had to get to the airport so we said goodbye to lydia and florie at the restaurant and they went off to entebbe in a taxi. we went back to the flat and just basically chilled out until the evening, (well, i was chillin', but paul was sleeping as he had only had about 2 hours sleep that morning.)

at about 8 oclock we were debating what to do, as we had been invited to a pub quiz at the irish pub, and i would have liked to have gone, but paul and tariq were knackred from the previous night, so they decided to stay in, and get food from the hot food counter at the supermarket (they dont cook). then the power went out, and they got annoyed because they had wanted to watch a film, and now they couldnt. the debated for ages whether we shoud go out now, to a restaurant, as otherwise we would ahve to sit and eat in the dark. eventually it was decided that we should go and buy food and bring it back and eat in the dark, but thwere was some debate about whether to take the bike or the car. eventually the car was decied on and it was a bloody good job because as we were waiting for our pizzas (at the first place we went) it started pissing down. the ridiculous thing about this story is that once we decided we were staying in i put my onepiece on as it was cold in the flat. then while we were in the car on the way to the supermarket paul decided we should go to cayenne to get pizzas and then go tot he supermarket. cayenne is a club that i ahve been to before and lots of pauls friends and acquaintences hang out there, and they are poeple i have met and will be seeing again. we had to wait for the pizzas at a table with me in my pink onepiece looking like an absolute twat thinking oh god i hope nobody recognises me. you get frisked going into most places here and the woman who was searching me openly laughed at me as i went in. oh god. then we went off to the supermarket in the pissing rain and it took AGES because there was traffic and the most torrential rain i have ever seen and we eventually got back to the flat 2 hours after we left.

the pizza was cold and they dont have an oven so we had to reheat it in a frying pan, which was interesting but actually worked quite well. after that there was nothing to do and it was actually quite late so we went to bed.

this morning paul got up and went to work and me and tariq slept in (though tariq sleeps in every day). when i got up i started cooking breakfast (i had bacon for the first time in 8 weeks!!)and tariq got up and as soon as he saw the kitchen and the aftermath of last night he rang his maid like 'hi, i knw its friday (she is muslim) but could you please come in and clean the kitchen?' i looked at it and it wasnt really messy at all, there was just some washing up to be done and the worktops needed wiping. she said she could come at 2.30 but that would mean the we couldnt go out as planned, so i offered to do it. it literally took 5 minutes and now its sorted, so later we will go to mediteraneo (its basically their fave place and it had free wifi) for coffee and stuff and to use the internet and we dont have to wait for hajat or disturb her holy day.

later today some of the people from the lodge should be getting to kampala so i hope to meet up with them for dinner, and then as its friday we will definitely be going out and it will be busy in town and stuff so that should be fun, and paul and tariq know good places to go and people who can get you in for free so we will probably hang out with them.

at the weekend lauren and kathy from the lodge and me are going to go horse riding just outside kampala. i'm not entirely sure what is involved because lauren is organising it but the general gist that i got is that you go all day and its in the hills and stuff and its not expensive, so that should be fun. it'll be interesting to see how much of my riding skill i have retained!

i cant wait to come back to blighty next week, even though i'm having a great time here. i'm missing home and my family and my bed and food (although food isnt a problem in kampala)a lot and it will just be lovely to be home.

see you soon!!

Love, Lucy xx

ageism and art (on the face)...

hey all!

yesterday we had summer camp, and a lot more kids turned up, which was uplifiting. a teacher also came, actually the mother of the girl who i had admitted to hospital with malaria.she tells me her daughter is completely recovered. the kids were bit nuts yesterday, especially as there were quite a few from ruhanga boys who arent used to having volunteers around, ajd arent used to doing those kinds of activities. we let them use the dressing up stuff, and they did colouring in quite hapliy all afternoon, intermittently going outside to check out the outdoor games.

prossy, the racist baby, was quite friendly with me yesterday and even sat with me for a cuddle for quite a while, and wanted to be on my hip for most of the day. i absoolutely love babies, so i was happy to indulge her. when i was stood chatting to the teacher and to Amon, our volunteer coordinator, she fell alseep on me, whcih was so cute, what was not so cute however, was that as i took her into a classroom and sat down with her still asleep in my lap, she proceeded to empty her baldder all over me. that si the second time that child alone has peed on me! she is far too much of a tiny tot to be walking around in underwear, because she wets herself even when awake, but her mother can't afford nappies for her. i'm gonna buy her some today, at least enough to last a week, and then i'll know its safe to pick her up!

yesterday we had the treat of 2 good meals in a row. mash for lunch and chips and meat for dinner. it's not that i dont like the food here, but its so repetative i just have no appetite for it. we get plain rice and plain clumped together spaghetti every day, apart from the occiasional interruption when we get mash or chips. and of course rolexes on a wednesday night, when marass comes. he is coming on sunday for an extra visit, when he has promised to teach me to make chappatis!

today we did face painting with the kids at school which they absolutely loved. we all arrived with our faces painted and they wanted to look just like us, though a lot of them went and washed it off almost immediately. i think some of them thought it was real paint, and if it dried it wouldn't come off easily. the teachers also wanted to try it, though they seemed hell bent on lightening their skins by just using the white paint. it didn't work well. i have noticed a lot of skin lightening products in the shops here, and it is clear that a pale complexion is sought after.

after face painting me and lauren decided we wanted to come into town (mainly so that i could sort out my uni accomodation!!!) so we flagged down the first passing vehichle, which just happened to be a truck. first he wanted to buy 100 bricks from the birckworks next to the lodge, but he didnt tell us that before we got in! we could ahve walked by the time he had loaded all of his bricks!when we were finally underway, he turned to me and asked how old i was. i told him i was 18, anmd he laughed and said 'no no no, you are 30!' i was like ummm no i'm not! then he looked at lauren (who is 28) and said she was 22!he totally didnt believe i was 18 in the slightest. we had also got into the truck with our faces still painted like butterflies, but he didnt say anything about it! we are going out to sals tonight and we plan to keep our face paint on for that!\

tomorrow is saturday and so hopefully everyone who is out on trips will be back by then, so the lodge will be a bit busier. its so wierd that its so quiet now, there are only about 6 of us left!

we watched a film called the tourist last night which has johnny depp and angelina jolie in it, so we were expecting it to be good, but it was absolutely crap, but quit amusing at how bad it was. lauren geussed the ending within about 30 seconds, and we were like, 'oh god that would be rubbish', and then thats exactly what happened!

not much else to tell you all really, see you soon!

love, lucy xx

shopping and summer camp...

hey guys!

today is market day, so we will be spending a few hours browsing and buying i'm sure. one of the girls at the lodge managed to buy a shawl/scarf thing like a pashmina but much heavier and warmer, and i want to try and find one of those because it gets pretty chilly here in the evenings especially when you have to get open air transport, like boda bodas or in the back of a truck.

it was the first official day of the summer programme yesterday, which was supposed to begin at 1pm. i arrived at 5past, i9 was the first volunteer there, and there were only 4 kids and no teachers (who we were promised would be there, 1 per 30 kids)by the end of the afternoon about 20 had turned up in dribs and drabs, but it wasnt a great turnout. i think they had fun though, despite being called through to see lauren, the dental student, for a check up.

there was one kid who i havent net before from the school down the road who had a swollen eye. i asked him what happened, wondering if it was an infection. he answered simply 'my mother. she hit.' i was pretty horrified, but as time went on (not that i condone violence to children in any way) i could understand why she was driven to it. he was a sure candidate for ritalin.

last night it was chris and rachel's last night so we went out to the pub, and then marass came to the lodge to make rolexes. he has promised to come on sunday and teach me how to make chapattis!

not much else to tell you really, i still have my cold, which i think is giving me a sinus infection (THAT wont be fun on the plane)and the lodge is in turmoil a bit because today is a level results day, so lots of people are in the internet cafe with me, trying desperately to access a jammed ucas site.

quite a few poeple left on trips today as well, so there arent many of us left. i am now the 3rd most experienced volunteer at the lodge, after hari and steve.

so excited to be coming home in less than 2 weeks!! its not that i'm not enjoying myself, because i am, but i really miss home and i'm really quite excited to come home and see everybody.

love, Lucy xx