Hello all,
It has been almost six years since I have been back in what I consider the heart of East Africa and it feels so nice to be back. The first time I was in Uganda was in 2007 for my masters thesis work and then when I lived in Rwanda in 2008/2009, we made a few weekend trips up to visit the big city. Its amazing to see how much has changed, and how much has not. Traffic is still terrible, but the air seems a little cleaner. Compared to other places I have been lately, it seems much cleaner than I remember. I don't think I really realized how lush and green it was when I was here the first time, but now looking out over the surrounding area, there are more trees and bushes than I recall seeing in Ethiopia, Ghana, or Nigeria on my last few trips. And people are as friendly as I remember. Very warm. Everyone has a greeting and a smile.
Unfortunately, the second I got off the plane I was hit with a major cold. I blame the 13 month old demon in child form who sat next to me on the plane and coughed all over me, my food, and everything I had with me. I had a great window seat in the exit row originally but then I agreed to switch with a young mother so she could sit next to her five year old. Apparently they were split up by 27 rows. So up I went 27 rows, thinking "sweet, nice deal" and giving myself a pat on the back for being a good humanitarian switching from a window seat to a middle seat. Until I realized I had switched into the bassinet row. That's the row where they set up all the clip in bassinets so the screaming, tiny people can sleep. And two of the three screaming tiny people did sleep. Just not the one in front of me. I think he was up for literally the entire 12 hour flight kicking, throwing things, grabbing things, dropping things, until the last twenty minutes of the flight. Thats when he decided it was time to sleep. Anyway, short story long, I got hit with a major cold and have been confined to my hotel room for the past two days, alternating between sleeping and blowing my nose. My co-worker arrives today and is bringing me DayQuil so hopefully this will soon be a distant, cough medicine-hazy memory and I will leave my hotel and actually see something other than the view from my bed.
If and when that happens, dear friends, I will post some pictures and snappy narrative. Until then, please excuse me while I go blow my nose...
It has been almost six years since I have been back in what I consider the heart of East Africa and it feels so nice to be back. The first time I was in Uganda was in 2007 for my masters thesis work and then when I lived in Rwanda in 2008/2009, we made a few weekend trips up to visit the big city. Its amazing to see how much has changed, and how much has not. Traffic is still terrible, but the air seems a little cleaner. Compared to other places I have been lately, it seems much cleaner than I remember. I don't think I really realized how lush and green it was when I was here the first time, but now looking out over the surrounding area, there are more trees and bushes than I recall seeing in Ethiopia, Ghana, or Nigeria on my last few trips. And people are as friendly as I remember. Very warm. Everyone has a greeting and a smile.
Unfortunately, the second I got off the plane I was hit with a major cold. I blame the 13 month old demon in child form who sat next to me on the plane and coughed all over me, my food, and everything I had with me. I had a great window seat in the exit row originally but then I agreed to switch with a young mother so she could sit next to her five year old. Apparently they were split up by 27 rows. So up I went 27 rows, thinking "sweet, nice deal" and giving myself a pat on the back for being a good humanitarian switching from a window seat to a middle seat. Until I realized I had switched into the bassinet row. That's the row where they set up all the clip in bassinets so the screaming, tiny people can sleep. And two of the three screaming tiny people did sleep. Just not the one in front of me. I think he was up for literally the entire 12 hour flight kicking, throwing things, grabbing things, dropping things, until the last twenty minutes of the flight. Thats when he decided it was time to sleep. Anyway, short story long, I got hit with a major cold and have been confined to my hotel room for the past two days, alternating between sleeping and blowing my nose. My co-worker arrives today and is bringing me DayQuil so hopefully this will soon be a distant, cough medicine-hazy memory and I will leave my hotel and actually see something other than the view from my bed.
If and when that happens, dear friends, I will post some pictures and snappy narrative. Until then, please excuse me while I go blow my nose...
