Mangos & Watermelons

 

 

This morning I had fresh cut mango and watermelon for breakfast with a cup of Ugandan coffee. I’m definitely going to take advantage of all the fresh fruit they have here – it’s delicious!

 

 

A little update about yesterday: I met Sarah’s gardener, whose name is Sunday. He comes three times a week and looks after the beautiful yard. In the evening we went out for dinner, however, when we got there there was no power. But everything keeps running like normal and candles had been put up around the restaurant. They cook with gas so even if the power goes out one can still order food. I didn’t mind eating in the dark with just candles – it added some character and a cozy feel to it!

Today, while my sister was at work, dad and I decided to check out the pool at one of the hotels in town. It was a pretty cloudy day today so the temperature was nice and comfortable.

Hello ;)

As we had lunch at the hotel’s restaurant I spotted a Stork walking around on the grass. These Marabou Storks are common in both rural and urban environments here, but nowhere more so than in downtown Kampala. One only has to look up in the sky and one can see several flying up above the city. They can grow up to about 1.5m tall and have a wingspan of 3.5m!

Stork

In the evening we went out for dinner and the menu was quite varied. Care for some game meat such as Kudu (antelope), Springbok, Crocodile or Ostrich?! I didn’t try any of those this time, but the food was delicious so we’ll probably be back again. My sister said Ostrich is actually pretty good so maybe I’ll try that next time :)

Now I’m off to bed soon..tomorrow we’re flying to Northern Tanzania for a three day safari! I’m really excited about this, I’ve always wanted to go on a safari :) Hopefully we get to see all of the “The Big Five” which are lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and cape buffalo. I’m not sure how the internet connections will be while we’re travelling, but I’ll try to update my blog along the way :)

Bird Symphony!

Today I woke up to the sounds of all kinds of different birds outside the bedroom window. I was still a bit tired, but too excited to lay still in bed so I just had to get up and start my day. After breakfast my sister’s maid came and introduced herself. Her name is Joy and she’s originally from Rwanda, but works in Kampala and regularly sends money home. It’s not that my sister needs a maid, or actually it’s a good thing because she can be pretty messy at times, but it creates good workforce for a lot of women here.

Later in the afternoon we took a trip to the craft market. Here one can find beautiful clothes, jewelry, sandals, and lots and lots of different nick nacks :) I bought a dress for 25000 shilling which equals to about 11 dollars – not a bad buy or what! The rest of the day today was spent relaxing and going out for dinner. The power went out twice already tonight, but I’ve been warned that that’s just something I have to get used to :)
 

Bird chillin outside the house

 

Craft market

 




The dress I bought :)

 
I also had the chance to look through some of the Lugandan words in one of my sister’s book today. Luganda is the most widely spoken language of the languages indigenous to Uganda. So… Sula Bulungi everyone! That means good night ;)

Arrival

My journey started yesterday in Stavanger then to Amsterdam and then directly to Entebbe which is the airport outside of Kampala. The flights went good, and the about eight hours from Amsterdam to Entebbe went pretty fast actually. Once we landed I could feel the nice warm air! It was starting to get cold in Norway and it probably won't be too long before it starts getting a little bit cooler in Canada too. When we arrived it was already dark so I didn’t get to see much as the plane flew in, but the drive from the airport to my sister’s house was quite the experience! Sarah picked us up in her Toyota Rav4 and the supposedly 45 min. drive to downtown Kampala ended up taking about 2 hours! Part of the main road which we were going to take was for some reason closed so we had to turn around and find a detour - which is not easy when there are barely any signs and the roads are dark. The only lights were coming from all the little shops and food stands along the side of the road. The streets were filled with people and the road was jammed with cars, "matatus" which are like local mini buses and "boda bodas" which are moped taxis :)

We arrived at my sister’s house around 11:00pm. She lives inside the UN Compound which is located close to heart of downtown Kampala. It's a two bedroom house with a huge living room, dining room, kitchen and two bathrooms. There's also a nice little porch were I’ll probably do most of my writing, and a huge yard. She decorated the place herself and got all the furniture hand made to her taste. I must say I was pretty impressed and I'm so excited to be roomies with her for the next couple of months! Last time we saw each other was actually about a year and a half ago! While my dad is here on vacation for about three weeks I will be staying with my sister in her room and then I get my own room - yay :) After I got settled in I went to bed and couldn't wait to see what tomorrow would bring!

Here is a picture of the beautiful sunset from the airplane, about one hour before landing, as well as some pictures of my sister’s house:

Entrance & Drive-way

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Sarah's bedroom

Guest bedroom

I think this chair on the porch will become my favourite writing spot :)

View from the porch to the yard