July 3 - 9 (erin)

There is not too much news to update you on as we are on holidays now! We spend a lot of time at the internet café and just hanging out. It is really hot this week, like I mean REALLY hot. I am so thankful it has not been like this the entire time. My goodness we never would have lasted. No energy…



On Monday we went to Louise’s place and watched a couple of movies and then went home and made spaghetti. On Tuesday I went into town and made a CD at a video store. You can choose what songs you want and they will burn to a CD. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that he had burned me a video CD so I cannot play it on my stereo at home. I will have to go back and make another one. It is all local Ugandan music that we have enjoyed here. The videos are funny though so will be fun to play on computer at home to show people.



On Tuesday for dinner, we used the leftover spaghetti and added egg and fried it. It was good. A new invention…an attempt to be creative with the same old food. Wednesday we walked into town just for something to do and did a big shop at the market and visited our favourite (and the only) bakery. We then spent 3 hours unbraiding Chandra’s hair. And then we met two UBC midwife students at the Brovad for dinner.



And now I am attempting to post pictures on the blog and it is taking FOR-EVER!!!!



Today Jen went to Kampala and Chandra and I met with Berna and some of her friends and colleagues for dinner at the Zebra Hotel. Two of them were seed researchers and kept Chandra entertained. I talked mostly to Berna and Eddy who are both social workers. Eddy is going to Toronto next month for an HIV/AIDS conference so wanted to meet some Canadians. It was a fun night. Not often we have been able to talk to people in our field or that are older and they thought it was funny that we had both been given clan names so they called us Namatovu and Namanda all night. They are going to meet us Friday night for our last night of dancing in Masaka.



We are relieved that we didn’t go away on any trips these last two weeks because it just seems like there is so much left to do to tie up loose ends and do local things we’ve missed. It’s nice to be relaxed and just enjoy the day.



Friday, July 7



Today Chandra and I went to Tekera to help at the project. But first we had bacon! There is a new meat shoppe next to the internet café and they are selling real meat. So I bought some bacon and I cooked it up this morning. It was good, probably the freshest bacon I’ve ever had. (I’m serious about becoming a vegetarian when I get home, I swear…really…you don’t believe me do you?)



Today Chandra and I went to Tekera to help out at the project and see our Josephs. We tried a hand at laying bricks but quickly realized Scorpio women should not be builders…too perfectionist! So instead we sanded and painted all the door frames inside the community centre. It was a fun day but long and we got tired pretty quickly. Then we went to the Tropic Inn for a final Friday night of dancing. We met up with Charles, Berna, the friends from last night and others. It was lots of fun.



Saturday was fairly uneventful. Nothing exciting to report.



Sunday morning Thomas came by in the morning to deliver presents to Jen from a member of Uganda Schizophrenia Fellowship (USF). The gifts were an entire tree of matooke (the bananas), a huge bag of white beans and….a LIVE chicken. Actually we were corrected, it’s a cock and supposedly a very tasty one! So he handed it over to Jen wrapped up in a black plastic bag with its wee head poking out. She put it in the back with all the other stuff. After a while we got worried about it lying out in the back so we (I should say, SHE, as I myself have a fear of chickens) took it out of the bag and lay it in the shower basin. I thought it might be hungry and to be honest it looked like it was dying so I gave it some beans and crackers. I think it was appreciative of its last supper.



Later I got really concerned about it. We had been hoping to give it to Joseph Sr. but he never arrived and there was no way we were going to eat it after Jen so conveniently named it Charles! So Jen ran up to the Brovad and got our friend and regular server, Juliet to come and take it. She was very happy and just picked it up by the wings like it was normal! Well I guess it is normal, just not for us.